Voters ousted Andover School Committee incumbents Emily DiCesaro and Sandis Wright Tuesday, electing Christopher Shepley and Jacob Tamarkin to three-year terms, according to unofficial election results.
With Tuesday’s election, the school committee has been overhauled from a board that had bitterly clashed with the union that represents Andover’s teachers to one where four of the five members were endorsed by and received campaign support from the Andover Education Association. More than 90 percent of the union’s 850 members voted to endorse Shepley and Tamarkin.
Following a three-day strike in November 2023, the union last year backed Lauren Diffenbach and Shauna Murray, two educators who were making their first run for elected office. The two women ended up winning and ousted incumbent Susan McCready in the process.
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The four candidates in Tuesday’s race for the two seats up for reelection were separated by just 111 votes, suggesting there remains a divide among voters on the direction Andover Public Schools should take. Shepley, the second place finisher, had just 12 more votes than DiCesaro.
| Candidate | Votes |
| Emily DiCesaro * | 1,473 |
| Christopher Shepley | 1,485 |
| Jacob Tamarkin | 1,579 |
| Sandis Wright * | 1,468 |
* Incumbent. Winners in bold.
This year was Tamarkin’s first run for political office. Shepley, a 2024 Andover High School graduate, ran unsuccessfully in the five-way race for two open seats last year.
“Thank you to Andover’s voters for your confidence in me,” Tamarkin said in a statement. “I am looking forward to working together to build a brighter future for our kids and community.”
The school committee race was the only contested race in Tuesday’s election. In the uncontested races, Moderator Sheila Doherty was reelected to a 19th one-year term, while Alex Vispoli and Melissa Danisch will return to the select board for three-year terms. Steven Pekock will serve a three-year term on the Punchard Free School Board of Trustees, while Jennifer K. Hoenig was elected to a five-year term on the Andover Housing Authority.
Throughout the campaign, Shepley and Tamarkin portrayed Andover Public Schools as a district that was improperly managing its finances and not living up to its reputation as one of the top school districts in the state. DiCesaro and Wright, meanwhile, campaigned on their experience and pointed to initiatives already underway to improve student performance and address budget deficits.
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But the election became as much about the Andover Education Association and Massachusetts Teachers Association’s support of Shepley and Tamarkin as it was about more traditional school committee issues like class size, budgets, facilities, and student performance. The MTA’s political action committee offered financial support and members canvased for the two challengers after they were endorsed by the AEA. Shepley was also criticized for reimbursing the Massachusetts State Republican Party for use of its bulk mail permit.
In a filing with the Andover Town Clerk Thursday, the Massachusetts Teachers Association’s political action committee said it had spent $1,307.54 for mail printing and postage in support Shepley and Tamarkin. The state’s biggest labor union also reported $1,416.92 in “in kind” contributions separate from the $1,307.54 it spent on each candidate, including $232.92 for use of a voter list and $1,184 for staff time.
The furor was enough for the Boston Globe to take the rare step of writing an article about a local election, which focused on the PAC involvement. “This is a logical extension of the great political and electoral work we’ve done,” MTA President Max Page told the newspaper, suggesting the state’s biggest labor union would look to get more involved in local elections in other communities.