After about 40 North Andover public school teachers were handed layoff notices last Friday due to an anticipated $3.5 million budget shortfall next year, a disgruntled parent of a third grader decided to mount a three-day write-in campaign for a seat on the North Andover School Committee.
Shannon Gately said she knows it is unlikely she will beat incumbent Joseph Hicks in Tuesday’s election, but she said she is hoping her long-shot campaign will bring further attention to what she calls a misguided decision by the North Andover School Committee to fire teachers as well as close of one of North Andover’s five elementary schools next year. All this, she said, despite the town having taxing capacity to raise more money and as well as a healthy free cash account. She said she was also “offended” that the School Department delivered the layoff notices while students were still in school.
“Even if I lose I am going to consider it a win because I feel like it is sending a message back to the School Committee that it is time to start listening to the people of this town,” Gately said.
Voters in North Andover have until 8 p.m. to cast their ballots at North Andover High School Field House, 430 Osgood St. In addition to electing one member of the School Committee, Rosemary Smedile is running unopposed to another term on the Select Board.
School Superintendent Pamela R. Lathrop defended her decision to reduce her staff and close one elementary school next September, citing “significant financial challenges,” including higher utility, labor and transportation expenses. Teachers impacted included both those on one-year contracts and as veteran teachers at every grade level, she indicated in written statement. The layoffs also mean teachers who remain may be given assignments in different school building next year.
About 400 students walked out of their classrooms Monday morning and joined parents and teachers who rallied to protest the budget cuts on the front lawn of the North Andover Middle School and on the football field at the North Andover High School.
Gately said when Lathrop’s plan to close Kittredge surfaced in January, parents at all five schools reacted negatively because fewer teachers and fewer classrooms mean higher class sizes in every building. The expected school closure will also change the way the district delivers special education, she said.
She noted that the North Andover Finance Committee has the power to propose a higher budget package for the schools, which would then be voted on at Town Meeting on Tuesday, May 13. Additionally, several parents have submitted an article for the Town Meeting warrant to shift more money to the town’s school system. North Andover would need $71.8 million to pay for a so-called “level services” budget.
For his part Hicks told the sell-out crowd at the North Andover Democratic Town Committee Breakfast on Sunday he believes he is in a good position to maintain his seat on the School Committee despite Gately’s last-minute challenge.
“We on the School Committee fought hard to make sure it was only 40 positions,” he said. “We haven’t had adequate funding for the schools for several years. We need a 15% increase in funding, not the 10% that (the School Committee is) going forward with.”
Hicks was the one holdout for a higher budget request when the School Committee voted 4-1 on Feb. 25 to back Lathrop’s $68.2 million budget, which anticipates the layoffs and school closure.