Andover's teachers union and the School Committee have agreed to create a task force to study possible changes to the Andover High School schedule, a key sticking point in contract negotiations.
The goal of the task force is to create a schedule model the high school could use this coming fall, according to Annie Gilbert, School Committee chairwoman.
"At this point, the next step would be for them to coordinate with [Assistant Superintendent Nancy Duclos] and move forward. We hope that together, they'll begin work and it will be productive and timely," said Gilbert.
The task force will contain six teachers and six administrators. It is instructed to identify the best schedule format for Andover High School - which could be a block schedule with a specific number of courses taught per semester or a completely different format. The task force must reach a consensus, according to union President Kerry Costello.
The School Committee will play no role in the task force, said Gilbert.
"We like to leave the process up to the educators," said Gilbert. "In the interest of time, the high school scheduling task force needs to get going, and we'll await next steps."
In recent months, contract talks — which have been in mediation for nearly a year after the last teachers' contract expired in August 2010 — have stalled over the implementation of a new high school schedule. In previous interviews, members of the School Committee have indicated they want a new schedule to be implemented, one that increases the amount of time Andover High teachers spend teaching classes. They want AHS teachers to teach three classes each semester rather than teaching three classes one semester and two classes the other.
Union members have argued in previous interviews that the proposed increase in teaching time would eventually result in a staffing reduction of 20 percent.
Creating a task force has been "a part of the bargaining proposal since we began 74 weeks ago," said Costello. "The proposal for the task force has gone back and forth throughout the bargaining, but certainly the teachers are in favor of it moving ahead at this juncture."
The School Committee hopes a new schedule can be implemented, and members are open to what that new schedule will contain, according to Gilbert.
"We're not looking at the same schedule we already have," said Gilbert. "What we want is a new schedule that's not reflective of the status quo."
"I do think it's achievable" for a new schedule to be recommended and implemented this fall, she said.
"The work of the task force will hopefully bring the parties to a point where we will be able to have a tentative agreement," said Costello. "I believe that my professional colleagues in the education field will put forward a sincere effort to research the schedules used in other high schools, to see if we can glean from those a possible new schedule for Andover High."
Task force members
So far, the following individuals have been appointed to the task force, with one vacancy still open per side, according to Andover Education Association President Kerry Costello:
ADMINISTRATORS: Nancy Duclos, assistant superintendent; Tom Sharkey, high school interim principal; Rebecca Ledig, social studies program advisor; Patricia Whalen, English program advisor; and Aixa de Kelley, counseling program advisor.
HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS: Fred Hopkins, social studies; Sarah Fisher, science; Renee Drueke, special education; Ed Parker, art; and Rebecca D'Alise, English.
