ANDOVER — An overwhelming majority of members of the Andover Education Association voted in favor of a no-confidence resolution in Superintendent Magda Parvey Thursday night.
The vote was followed up with a call from union officials that Parvey resign immediately.
“After our emergency membership meeting, we can say that Superintendent Parvey has lost the trust and confidence of educators in her ability to lead our district,” said Elizabeth Tyrell, a math teacher at Doherty Middle School and first vice-president of the union.
The resolution, supported by over 91% of the association during an emergency meeting Thursday, comes within the same school year as the three-day teachers’ strike that took place in November.
At the time, the teachers’ union had been pushing for an 18% increase for teachers and a 34% increase for instructional assistants over four years. The school district had proposed 14% increases for teachers in the contract terms, with a 23.4% increase for instructional assistants over the same time period.
The result was a new contract that boosted pay for teachers by 15.5% and for instructional assistants by 34%, each over four years, according to a press release from the district.
The School Committee warned at the time that the raises would mean cuts in the next budget. The cuts recently became a reality, when pink slips began being handed out to teachers April 10.
According to a spreadsheet compiled by the union, more than 20 people have been notified they are being cut and almost 20 more were transferred to other positions.
The proposed cuts and transfers caused outrage within the union, which is now calling for Parvey to step aside.
“Our membership said loudly and clearly tonight Superintendent Magda Parvey must go,” said Matt Bach, president of the Andover Education Association and a high school history teacher.
The association is proposing a community forum on May 30 to go over the budget in response to what union members believe to be shortcomings from Parvey.
“The reason that we are doing that is because the School Committee and the Superintendent and the selectmen and the Finance Committee have failed to do that up to this point,” Bach said.
Lauren Conoscenti, chair of the Andover School Committee, rebuked claims Parvey had not done enough.
“Union leaders are now trying to scapegoat Dr. Parvey for personnel reductions that are necessary in part because of significant salary increases included in the new teachers’ contract,” Conoscenti said in a statement issued Thursday night. “As the district faces serious fiscal challenges, Dr. Parvey and her team have worked diligently to craft a budget that continues to put students and families first, while proposing difficult but necessary decisions in order to align increased expenses with available revenue.”
The association however remained steadfast with their demand for Parvey to be put on leave.
“We have asked the School Committee to put her on leave and there is no constitution written in the school department that says if the faculty or the education workforce does this, this immediately has to happen. However, what it is genuinely and authentically showing is that the educators and the community and the parents and the students are on one side of the issue and a single person in the management structure is on the other side of the issue,” Bach said.
The AEA public community forum will be held at the Memorial Hall Library on May 30 at 7 p.m.