Andover Considers Cutting 36 School Employees Due To Budget Gap Following Teacher Strike

By Kristina Rex, CBS Boston

February 6, 2024

ANDOVER – As the Newton School Committee and Newton Teachers Association were getting close to a deal on Thursday, February 1st, School Committee Chair Chris Brezski cryptically warned in a press conference that Newton would not become like other districts who "proposed to lay 4% of their staff to fund a contract they couldn't afford." The district he was talking about is Andover.

Andover teachers went on strike for five days – three school days – back in November. Now, in its budget meetings, the school committee says there is a $2.7 million budget deficit, and one of the proposed fixes is to cut 36 full-time school positions.

"At the end of the day, the money is there," said Andover Education Association First VP Julian DiGloria. "It comes down to will on the part of the school committee to actually advocate at town meeting or to push back on the town manager and basically say, 'look the schools in this town are one of the reasons that people move here.'"

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