The following letter to the editor was submitted by Andover residents Shannon Scully (photo, above), a former member of the school committee and the Andover High School building committee. The views expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Andover News. You can learn more about our policy on opinion and commentary on our Mission and Policies page.
It is inappropriate for a School Committee candidate to accept financial support from a teacher’s union or any other organization with business before the School Committee. In a disappointing display of poor judgement, two candidates for Andover School Committee have crossed that line.
The largest portion of the Andover Public School budget pays salaries, and collective bargaining agreements with the teacher’s union have an enormous impact on spending. Taxpayers need to have faith that decisions reached between the School Committee and union at the negotiating table are in the best interest of the community and students, and were arrived at without undue personal influence.
Even an appearance of quid pro quo can erode public trust and damage an elected official’s standing. A reasonable person could easily conclude a School Committee member taking money from a union creates a conflict of interest.
Endorsements are not new. Personal contributions are not new. But the infusion of outside PAC money into Andover’s local election is different.
The MTA is the state’s largest labor union, and they should not – again, for the second year in a row – be buying support of local school committee candidates. This goes too far, and rightly shakes public trust in the important work of the School Committee.
For these reasons, I will not vote for Jake Tamarkin or Chris Shepley. They have created an unacceptable conflict of interest for themselves.
Shannon Scully
Andover
Andover News accepts and encourages reader submissions, including letters to the editor and opinion columns. Submissions should be 750 words long or fewer and Andover-focused. Please include your name, title if applicable to your topic and connection or interest in Andover. We also need a phone number so we can confirm authorship. Send us your prose!