"Great to drop the kids off," Andover parents relieved teachers' strike is over
ANDOVER - Students and teachers returned to school in Andover Wednesday morning happy that the teachers' strike is over.
"It feels great to drop the kids off this morning not having them running around. I work from home so not having them running around is certainly a relief," parent Pat Bassermann told WBZ-TV.
It took 60 hours of negotiations and three days of missed classes but in the end the school committee says the tentative agreement boosts pay for teachers by 15-and a half-percent and for instructional assistants by 34-percent over four years.
In addition to the salary increases, the union will get eight weeks of fully paid parental leave and the option to use an additional four weeks of accrued sick time, bringing the total amount of fully paid parental leave to 12 weeks.
"What the community has shown us is that we have done the right thing standing up for the public schools that the community, the educators and the students deserve in Andover," said union president Matt Bach.
The agreement also increased elementary teacher planning time and extended recess time for students.
"Hey, they got what they deserved. I mean they're definitely probably still underpaid, but happy that teachers are back they're excited to have the kids back and kids are excited to get back," said Bassermann.
A Salem Superior Court judge fined the union $50,000 for holding the strike because teachers strikes are illegal in Massachusetts, but it's unclear when they would have to pay that.
"What we have seen in the last week is this is a community that cares about education, they prioritize education. They showed us my standing shoulder to shoulder with us," Bach said.
Andover's school committee said it must now consider cuts to programs, services, and staff but they refused to answer questions about what any of those cuts would look like.
