The following letter to the editor was submitted by Andover residents Elyse Salberg, Tara Bodine, and Heidi Knepper. The views expressed are solely those of the authors 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.
Reading some other opinion pieces about the challengers (Jake Tamarkin, Chris Shepley) in the upcoming school committee election, you might think the sky is falling.
Outside PAC money! Conflict of interest!
That’s one perspective. Here’s another.
The Andover Education Association is made up of the people to whom you (or your neighbors) entrust their children for 6+ hours a day, 180 days a year. They could be a beloved band teacher, favorite art teacher, or the classroom teacher who helped them learn how to read.
They are not the enemy, or an outside influence. Even if they do not live in Andover, they may have children in APS, and they definitely dedicate their time, energy, and passion here.
When the AEA members (teachers!) vote to endorse School Committee candidates, it is to share their opinion to help inform voters (and the union is allowed by law to spend money to disseminate their views – eg. holding signs, sending mailers – if they wish). Some voters disagree with that opinion, and that’s their democratic prerogative.
To call accepting an endorsement a conflict of interest, unethical, or not independent is ridiculous. All candidates have biases and constituent groups, including the incumbents.
Neither Massachusetts General law https://www.mass.gov/info-details/conflict-of-interest-law-explanation-for-school-committee-members nor the School Committee’s own ethics policy https://z2policy.ctspublish.com/masc/browse/andoverset/andover/BCA prohibits endorsement or PAC contributions (to be clear, neither challenger accepted any direct contributions). The incumbent School Committee members could have advocated to update the ethics policy anytime since the last election, when the AEA endorsement prompted similar moral panic. Yet they did not.
Perhaps instead of some insidious beholden reason, there is a simpler answer – the incumbents completely discounted the AEA’s concerns and vote of no confidence in Superintendent Parvey during the budget turmoil last spring. Parents and community members were filing FOIA requests, fighting for data that should have been public knowledge. Yet on the superintendent’s yearly review in June 2024, both incumbents marked the superintendent as Proficient for community / stakeholder engagement and conflict resolution.
If you have spoken with Jake Tamarkin or Chris Shepley, or watched the recent voter forums, you can tell that they don’t agree with the AEA on everything. They definitely don’t agree with each other on everything, besides bringing new perspectives and ideas! But they both believe that our schools will work best for our kids if the relationship between our teachers (and the union that represents them), APS administration, and the School Committee is repaired. Demonizing the Andover Education Association and calling it an “outside influence” is not the way to build a strong partnership together, all of us, for our schools and town.
Elyse Salberg, Tara Bodine, and Heidi Knepper
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!