Substitute Teachers Valued at AHS

Articles, Community
January 13, 2022
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Sonja Kruecker-Green

CORRESPONDENT

Across the United States, chaos has, yet again, hit the classrooms this school year: some classes were canceled for thousands of students in Seattle and Denver in November, and several other school districts have followed suit. Meanwhile, students elsewhere have remained at school without proper instruction.

What is behind this chaos? The root of the problem can be found in staff shortages, and a lack of substitutes to fill in for absent teachers.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for substitute teachers across the nation has been overwhelmingly high, yet the supply has remained significantly low. Many districts have had to resort to desperate measures to find people willing to fill in for absent teachers.

The substitute teacher situation in the Andover Public School District (APS) has not been dire despite the nationwide shortage.

According to Andover High School Principal Caitlin Brown, “we do have a lot of teachers that are out, and it’s been harder to fill those positions, or even [find] just like a long-term substitute for when someone is out for a short period of time or sick.” However, this year, the school has more per diem and full time substitutes compared to last year during the hybrid learning model.

The problem lies in the fact that many full-time teachers have had to be absent, sometimes for extended periods of time, and although the substitute pool is large, it isn’t enough to cover the many longer-term absences.

In some states, the full-time teacher shortage has been extreme. A combination of low pay and challenging working conditions, especially in the context of COVID, has led many teachers to retire early. This is especially true in states that have been less likely to support mask mandates, and where the COVID vaccination rate is lower than the national average.

According to New York Times reporting, in Arizona, nearly 1400 teachers left their jobs within the first couple of months of the school year. Likewise, according to Florida Education Association president, Andrew Spar, the school year in Florida began with 5000 teacher vacancies.

Recently, many districts made the announcement that one day of each school week would become a “remote-school day”, in an effort to prevent teacher burnout. The hope was that this would deter more teachers from resigning, and therefore schools might avoid the need for more substitutes.

Even in the nearby town of Lowell, the pool of substitutes remains alarmingly small despite the increase in wages taken effect there in October. In Lowell, changes to the academic calendar have had to be made, converting the last day of school before the holiday break into a half-day, thus encouraging teachers to be in school.

Here in Andover, some attempt has been made to make the substitute teacher salary more competitive with some nearby communities. The current minimum wage in Massachusetts is $13.50 and is set to increase to $14.25 in January 2022. Many substitute teachers in Andover get $75 a day. This means that if they are teaching a full 6 ½ hour day at $75 a day, they have been earning less than the minimum wage.

At a recent APS School Committee meeting on December 2, it was unanimously voted to revise the current substitute rates. More specifically, the daily substitute rate was raised from $75 to $85 per day; the daily rate for substitutes who have at least a bachelor degree was $85 and is set to be raised to $100 per day; the daily rate for substitutes who are retired teachers was $105, and will now be raised to $115 per day. These rate changes for short-term substitutes are set to take effect on January 3, 2022.

Despite the number of short-term substitutes that APS has managed to acquire, there are still substitute position openings that are harder to fill: According to Principal Brown, finding longer-term substitutes for a specific subject or class has proved to be quite a challenging task. This likely stems from the major difference in the necessary background for a short-term versus a long-term substitute.

While a short-term substitute needs only to have graduated high school, in the case of a long-term substitute, “We’d like you to be licensed in the field that you are subbing for, so it is a little bit harder to find, there’s not enough people available to choose from,” Ms. Brown said.

According to School Committee member, Shannon Scully, the longer-term substitute pay is commensurate with experience. The teacher Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) allows the district to employ a “permanent substitute” – defined by at least 10 consecutive days of substitute service – at a daily rate between $280 and $307.

With COVID cases surging in Massachusetts and the threat of a new and more aggressively transmissible variant – Omicron – APS may need to prepare for the possibility of more teacher absences, and thus the need for more substitutes; new approaches to attracting substitute teachers and dealing with staff shortages may become necessary in the future.

Andoverview

AHS Class of 2026 Graduation: A Sentiment of Gratitude

June 11, 2026

Abby Chachus & Kendall Murphy || STAFF WRITERS

A hush falls as a sea of navy gowns, a rising tide of Andover High School graduates enters the Tsongas Center just before 5 o’clock on June 1, 2026. There is something distinct about moments like these. A goodbye that is bittersweet among both the audience and the seniors.

According to Graduation Committee member Ella Murphy, it is a goodbye to “Halloween costume competitions that never disappoint, lunches, wrap lines and vending machine trips,” seemingly inconsequential things, but the memories will stick with all of the students as they move on to their future endeavors.

The graduation speakers shared the value of these moments and their gratitude for the people that helped them along the way. As the ceremony commenced, the opening speakers Zachery Pan and Murphy welcomed everyone and encouraged them to acknowledge their shared experiences at Andover High School. “These moments, these memories, these faces. None of us got here alone.” said Pan.

Their speech gave time to deliver some truly meaningful thank you’s, “beyond the formalities” as Murphy put it, to the teachers and staff that showed up each day with “patience, support, and dedication.” Furthermore, they recognized that this gratitude is not solely meant for the significant ceremonies.

“Gratitude is kind of strange. We tend to save it for the big moments. The ceremonies, the stages, the audiences,” said Murphy.

“But let’s be honest—the people who actually changed your life probably weren’t standing on a stage when they did it,” continued Pan.

They concluded the speech with a request to the graduates to thank those who changed their lives in both the big and small moments, even if it feels unnecessary.

Before graduation, other seniors expressed similar thoughts, like reflecting on the journey that got them to where they are today.

“To all my teachers: thank you for everything. I would not be here without any single one of you.” said Christopher Reardon.

Thomas Enman advised underclassmen to “just enjoy every little minute you get at AHS.”

Vignesha Jayakumar, class essayist and valedictorian, echoed this same sentiment of appreciation, reinforcing Reardon’s message about the lasting impact of teachers and support systems. “We were galvanized from a community of supportive teachers and staff who didn’t just teach us subjects, they taught us how to think, how to question, how to care,” said Jayakumar.

He also mentioned the importance of one learning from their fellow graduates. “We learned as much from each other in the hallways and the bleachers as we did in the classroom,” he said.

After Jayakumar, Graduation Committee members Ben Pelt and Kari Belson spoke. First, Pelt announced the Class of 2026’s class gift to AHS. Next, Belson named Scott Armstrong the 2026 Distinguished Citizen (see page 4).

When Principal Jimmy D’Andrea took the stage, he, like all the other speakers, expressed the value of gratitude, a central theme that resonated throughout the ceremony. He began by thanking each group that got each member of the graduating class to where they were standing in the Tsongas Center, about to leave the comfort of being an AHS student and moving onto becoming alumni, highlighting the strong support system and sense of community that defined the graduating class’s journey.

He also encouraged each graduate to “personally reach out and thank those individuals who made a difference in [their] lives,” reinforcing the ceremony’s message of appreciation, reflection, and recognition for the people who helped shape their high school experience.

Interim Superintendent Keith Taverna encouraged graduates to continue to make the community proud with the positive impact they will bring to the world.

To conclude the ceremony, Graduation Committee members Chloe Ahn and Margaret Farabaugh brought everyone together one last time. “Tonight we stand together because of the strong and spirited community we have built,” said Ahn.

Ahn concluded, “As we become graduates of Andover High School, we step into the world with purpose, passion, and pride… Congratulations class of 2026!”

Students, Faculty Travel to Scandinavia Over Spring Break

June 11, 2026

Samin Faiz || STAFF WRITER

Forty-two Andover High School students and seven chaperones visited Scandinavia this April.

After a six-hour flight from Boston to Reykjavík, Iceland, followed by a two-hour flight to Oslo, Norway, the group began their ten-day-long tour the Thursday before spring break. Through a combination of bus rides, overnight ferries, and countless miles on foot, the group made their way through five Northern European countries: Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia.

“I’ve been traveling with students since 2005, so this might be my 17th tour,” said Brian Shea, English teacher, organizer, and chaperone of the trip. “We’ve now done all of Europe, so Northern Europe was sort of our last frontier.”

Apart from the chaperones, the group was accompanied by a tour director named Yulia, whom Shea worked closely with to structure the daily itinerary and ensure a smooth trip.

In Scandinavia, English is widely spoken, so the language barrier was never a problem for the group. Sometimes, however, the students made connections in ways that transcend the spoken word.

“I played soccer with a bunch of people in Sweden,” recalled Hannah Arnold, a junior who participated in the trip. “That was probably the highlight of the trip for me.”

Arnold is no stranger to international travel. Just two months earlier, in fact, she joined her classmates on another school trip to Peru over winter break. However, for her twin sister, Grace Arnold, this was a brand-new experience.

“I met a lot of new people that I’ve never met before, especially people not in my grade,” Grace said. “It was really nice because I met a lot of great people through that and got to spend time with people I wouldn’t usually get to spend time with.”

The trip offered a flexible balance of group tours and independent exploration. “We had a lot of free time,” Grace noted. “We got to explore cities on our own and shop where we wanted. As long as you stayed in groups of three or more, you were free to roam the city.”

Students observed the region’s distinct economic models. Through agreements within the European Union and the Nordic Council, higher education is heavily subsidized or entirely free for regional citizens.

“It’s really interesting. They tax wealthier people a lot more and their overall tax rates are a lot higher,” one student observed. “The way they reinvest money back into infrastructure contributes to stronger public infrastructure. Education and health care are free, and they even offer stipends to cover the cost of living. Essentially, you pay a lot of taxes, but you get a lot in return.”

Students also noticed the societal impact of these safety nets. “Their unhoused population is significantly lower. If you want help, those systems are available to support you.”

The travelers’ curiosity and maturity left a strong impression on the faculty.

“These kids were wonderful,” said Shea. “All of the students were engaged. They were paying attention. They were enjoying it. They were wonderful travelers. To me, that was the biggest thrill.”

With the preparations for next year’s destinations already underway, the future of travel programs at AHS seems to be brimming with opportunities.

“Next year, we have two tours,” said Shea. “We’re running one tour to Barcelona and Madrid in February, and then we’re running another tour to Greece in April.”

Such opportunities are often highly selective at other schools, but luckily, these trips remain open to the entire student body at AHS.

“There’s no application process,” Shea emphasized. “We’re not looking at grades. We’re not looking at behavioral records. Anybody can sign up when we offer these tours. I put them out there, and I’m like, ‘If you want to go, come.’”

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Substitute Teachers Valued at AHS

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