It was another busy year in Andover. Here’s our annual recap of five of the biggest local news stories, based on readership.
New Faces On Select Board, School Committee
Andover voters sent a message in March, electing two first-time political candidates to the school committee and ousting incumbent Susan McCready. Shauna Murray and Lauren Diffenbach picked up crucial endorsements in the waning days of the election, including support from the Andover Education Association, the union which represents the Town’s teachers.
It was a relatively busy election season when compared to the past several years: in addition to the five-way race for two open school committee race, there was a four-way race for two select board seats after Annie Gilbert and Chris Huntress said they would not run for reelection. In that race, Kevin Coffey and Ellen Townson topped Ellen Keller and George Thorlin.
Looking ahead to 2025, several candidates have signaled they will run in March by taking out nomination papers from the Andover Town Clerk’s office. Thorlin will challenge select board incumbents Melissa Danisch and Alex Vispoli, while Chris Shepley — who ran this year — will take a shot at school committee incumbents Emily DiCesaro and Sandis Wright
Seeing Stars
Yup, that was Zendaya and Robert Pattinson on the campus of Phillips Academy in November. The two were there to shoot scenes for Kristoffer Borgli’s new movie “The Drama,” which is scheduled to be released next year.
It wasn’t the only time Hollywood paid a visit to Andover in 2025. In February, Brooksy’s Pizza on Main Street was featured in the opening scene of episode three in “Ted,” the new Seth McFarlane series that shot scenes Downtown in the spring of 2023.
Andover seems to be becoming a choice location for filmmakers. “Madame Web,” a Spider-Man spinoff starring Dakota Johnson and Adam Scott, built a set for the film’s “4 Star Diner” on baseball fields near the West Andover fire station in August 2022. The film opened to miserable reviews in February.
School Layoffs Force Special Town Meeting
After Andover Public Schools announced plans to layoff 23 teachers this spring, Annual Town Meeting tried to amend the school department’s budget, forcing a special town meeting.
The layoffs came after APS reevaluated class size and student-to-teacher ratios. Even with the layoffs, APS said, class size would have fallen within district guidelines.
Special town meeting shot down a warrant article that would have used $1.6 million in free cash and an estimated $283,000 in additional state education aide to close a budget gap and, some supporters had hoped, allow the school committee to rehire employees who had been laid off for the 2024-25 school year.
By fall, however, the situation had changed: Many of the 23 teachers who Andover Public Schools laid off last spring were back in the classroom when schools reopened in August.
Grass Roots Effort Comes Up Short
The Town got the greenlight to pave a popular walking trail at Haggetts Pond when the conservation commission approved the plan in October, but not before the issue was the subject of a heated debate at a special town meeting earlier this year.
Andover’s legislative body ultimately rejected zoning changes that would have prevented the paving project, which Town officials say will make the trail more accessible.
“I would respectfully ask this entire committee to deny the project simply due to the fact we’re talking about destroying a priority habitat,” resident Patty Dukeshire told the commission. “We don’t have many priority habitats left to destroy. We should be conserving them. We have other alternatives for a trail project and we should look into those.”
A grassroots effort to block the project was initially thwarted as the proposal went before various Town boards, eventually prompting opponents to petition for the special town meeting. Opponents of the measures pointed to other zoning bylaw changes, which usually come after months or years of study that includes efforts to collect public input.
Scary Afternoon In Shawsheen Square
Andover police believe a suspect in a November carjacking may have fired a gun in Shawsheen Square before stealing a car at gunpoint. The victim told police the suspect pointed a gun at her and took off onto Interstate 495 north in her Acura SUV, which was later reported stolen.
The victim was not hurt.
Andover police said they have identified the suspect and received an arrest warrant but, to date, no arrests have been reported.