Every three years, the School Committee and Andover Education Association bargain over the terms of the next teachers union contract. Here is how the current contract talks have unfolded:
MARCH 27, 2008: The latest teachers union contract is ratified by a hand vote of around 90 percent of the AEA's members. The deal is retroactive to September 2007, when the previous teachers contract expired.
JUNE 4, 2009: Responding to a request from the School Committee to reopen its contract in order to consider concessions in contractually-outlined pay increases, the AEA votes to decline. Several ther Andover unions did make concessions, including the implementation of furlough days to save positions at risk due to budget shortfalls.
SUMMER 2010: The School Committee and AEA meet only four times during the summer to go over the terms of the new contract, which would start at the end of August.
AUGUST 31, 2010: The latest contract covering teachers in Andover expires. Contract negotiations continue directly between the two sides.
WINTER 2011: The School Committee says contract talks between the sides have reached an impasse, and the School Committee calls for a state-appointed mediator to guide contract talks.
FEB. 17, 2011: The first mediation session between the School Committee and AEA is held.
APRIL 17 and 24, 2011: Half-page color advertisements in a Boston paper taken out by the AEA outline cutbacks in Andover's school system while saying that polls indicate "that public schools are the number one attraction" to potential Andover home buyers.
MAY 5, 2011: Ralph Nader visits Andover High School to speak, paid for by AEA member dues. Posters around the school announced that the event was aimed at encouraging "STUDENT, TEACHER, COMMUNITY SOLIDARITY" although AEA member Matthew Bach says the event was not organized to influence contract negotiations. The event fills less than one-quarter of the Collins Center.
JUNE 9, 2011: Union leadership changes, with outgoing president Tom Meyers passing the torch to Kerry Costello.
SUMMER 2011: The School Committee and AEA meet only twice during the school district's summer vacation.
NOVEMBER 2011: By the middle of the month, both sides express optimism on the direction of contract talks. The School Committee offers a contract proposal to the AEA, and in response the AEA offers a counter-proposal.
DEC. 1, 2011: The AEA votes almost unanimously to start Work-to-Rule on Jan. 3, 2012, the first day back to school after the beginning of the new year. Nine teachers voted against the measure and there was one abstention, according to AEA President Kerry Costello.
DEC. 23, 2011: Jen Meagher, union vice president, circulates a memo to high school teachers on Work-to-Rule. In part, it advises teachers to simplify lessons, build in down time and discusses how they should handle contract discussions in the classroom.
JAN. 3, 2012: Teachers enter Work-to-Rule, beginning their days picketing outside of Andover's public schools and leaving promptly at the end of the contractual work day.
