NEASC Visit Highlights AHS Goals

• April 3, 2026

Anushka Dole || ONLINE EDITOR

Andover High School hosted a re-accreditation visit from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) from March 16-18, as part of a decennial review process designed to evaluate how well AHS supports student learning and identify areas of improvement. 

According to Assistant Principal Alicia Linsey, the process started during the 2023-2024 school year with a visit from the Collaborative Conference team, a group of visiting educators from across the New England area. In preparation for the visit, a team of AHS faculty members and administrators was formed.

“We picked out priority areas and presented those to this visiting NEASC committee … and they agreed with [our priority areas],” said biology teacher Lindsey L’Ecuyer, the AHS committee’s science department representative. 

There were five priority areas that AHS pledged to work on starting in the 2023-2024 school year: developing the Vision of a Graduate, implementing consistent curricula throughout all departments, vertical/horizontal alignment across departments and throughout grades, promotion of school pride, and building infrastructure. 

The Vision of a Graduate outlines the skills and values that the school hopes to instill in every student by the time they graduate. 

Vertical alignment refers to improving coordination between teachers across grade levels to ensure student skills build progressively, while horizontal alignment emphasizes greater collaboration between teachers across departments. 

“[The committee is] working on … finding time in the school day for teachers to collaborate more,” L’Ecuyer said, adding that AHS has begun standardizing curricula to support this effort.  

“There are committees in the school that have been working on documenting curriculum in a consistent format for our core classes … freshman English, for example, [and] biology,” L’Ecuyer said. 

Linsey mentioned that students and parents also play a role in the accreditation process. A team of visiting evaluators—distinct from the Collaborative Conference team—conduct interviews to gather student perspectives on the school climate and learning experiences. 

Although the committee leads the reflection process, administrators are then responsible for implementing action plans based on their findings. In accordance with these plans, faculty members must provide evidence of integration of the district goals.

L’Ecuyer emphasized that NEASC accreditation is more about reflecting on and improving school processes than it is about recognition.

“It’s less of a badge as it is opening yourself up to reflecting on and documenting what you do well and what it’s like setting goals for your school,” L’Ecuyer said.

Beyond internal reflection and planning, the “badge” that the reaccreditation process provides does carry additional, tangible benefits for students. It reassures families and colleges that AHS maintains a rigorous academic program, and that it’s constantly working towards improving learning.

“My understanding is that colleges know Andover High School—they know what our programs are like,” L’Ecuyer said. “[Because] of [accreditation] … they know the kinds of students that graduate from here, and what skills that [they] have.”

Accreditation also plays a role in the school’s ability to receive funding.

“NEASC accreditation is required for eligibility to receive some private, state, and federal grants, loans, and other federal funds,” Linsey noted in an email.

Rising Costs Impact School Budget

• April 3, 2026

Mo Gearin || STAFF WRITER

Looking forward to the 2026-2027 school year, Andover Public Schools is once again facing a budget deficit, but school committee officials say it’s one they anticipated.

The district is allotted a 3.75 percent budget increase every year from the town, allowing the school committee to anticipate a $111 million budget. Despite the increase, the district was faced with a $1.3 million deficit. This trend follows last year’s deficit of $1.87 million, and $3.1 million deficit two years ago.

“The hardest thing is you never want to cut teaching positions,” said Shauna Murray, the school committee chair, when discussing the proposals to close the deficit. Early proposals included the possibility of cutting 11 full-time positions, or full-time equivalents (FTEs). “The biggest part of your bucket of funds is going towards salaries,” said Murray, “because primarily we are a people business.”

Later proposals, hoping to avoid cutting positions, looked at increasing fees and tuition, most notably a 5 percent increase in preschool tuition fees. The preschool tuition fees had been stagnant for a decade: this increase was the first in ten years. The school committee also approved smaller fee increases for participation in the fine arts and athletic programs.
There has also been additional savings in the utility budget as a result of reliance on more electricity than gas, a prime example being the solar panels on the new West Elementary building. Transferring the primarily gas utilities to electric ones saves not only money on the utility budget, but the environment too. Remaining costs come from decreases in out-of-district placements, retirements, and leaves. “He’s really turning over every seat cushion—where can we save money, where can we save money?” Murray said in regard to Interim Superintendent Keith Taverna’s creative approaches.

At a recent presentation, the budget deficit was down to 0.87 FTEs, or $67,000. “As scary as it is to enter any year with a budget deficit, [we have] a lot of faith and trust in our administrative team,” Murray said.

Ever since the teacher strikes in 2023 the school committee has been undertaking communication on municipal finances with the community. “Mr. Taverna and Dr. Parvey did a really nice job of reaching out more to the community to explain why things are the way that they are,” Murray said, in praise of their work with the Budget Advisory Council, and the ‘budget roadshow.’ The budget roadshow communicated directly with PTOs and PACs.