The Andover High School social studies department is serving fewer students after a full-time position was eliminated last year, a teacher told the school committee during the public comment period of last week’s meeting.
Stressing that she was speaking on behalf of herself and not her colleagues, Mary Robb said her department was now the smallest at Andover High School and now had the largest average class size. The department is offering eight fewer classes and serving 110 fewer students than it did in the 2023-24 school year.
“I am begging you, literally begging you, if you have to make cuts, do not to touch our department,” Robb said. “Please. And quite honestly, please give back the FTE that was taken because this is not sustainable. It’s literally unhealthy for our students and for us.”
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The school committee is currently working on a $107.5 million budget that is expected to cut an additional 18.7 full-time positions. By policy, the school committee does not respond t public comment because those items are not on the agenda. Chair Lauren Lauren M. Conoscenti did, however, say Andover Public Schools would present a class size analysis next month.
“Our schools need to be fully funded if we want to provide our students with the best possible education they can get,” Robb said. “And we are not doing that right now.”
Last week, the school committee gave preliminary approval to the budget that cuts the positions and also increases athletic and fine arts fees by 2.5 percent. The school committee is scheduled to take a final vote on its budget recommendation when it meets on March 6. Annual Town Meeting needs to give final approval for the budget when it meets beginning April 29.
The district will decide which positions to cut in the coming months as employees resign or retire, and as enrollment numbers are refined. In a note to APS families Friday signed by all five members, the school committee said it would continue to review options and the final numbers would continue to be refined as the budget process continues.
Last year’s budget resulted in the elimination of 23 positions, although many of those employees were recalled in August.