Andover IAs, School Committee Reach Tentative Agreement

ANDOVER, MA — The Andover School Committee and the district's instructional assistants reached a tentative contract agreement Saturday, the School Committee chair confirmed.

Both the School Committee and the Andover Teachers Association's Instructional Assistant Unit will have to ratify the agreement, which came two days union members pleaded their case at a School Committee meeting, relying on a recently-released factfinder report supporting their proposed wage structure.

"We are pleased the bargaining teams for the School Committee and Union were able to compromise on terms for a three-year agreement," School Committee Chair Susan McCready said in a statement. "This has been a long and thorough process. We are looking forward to the ratification votes and hopeful we can move forward together."

In a comment to the Andover Townsman, Instructional Assistant Unit Chair Karen Torres said, "At this point all I will add is that our IAs should be incredibly proud of the strength and tenacity they have shown through this process."

Details of the tentative agreement were not available.

At the School Committee meeting Thursday, members of the unit called on the School Committee to accept the conclusions of an independent factfinder report authorized by the state Labor Relations Department. That report recommended the union's proposed salary increases and some of its other requests while recommending the committee's proposals on some other matters.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.