The much loved and highly anticipated Mr. North Andover show will be held on Friday March 13th, 2020.

Watch as eight North Andover High School seniors, with the help of their sponsors, vie for the title with their own personally designed creative performances. This is an extremely entertaining and very popular event, so purchase your tickets early as this show is known to sell out! 

One hundred percent of the proceeds from the show go towards the Support Our Seniors "SOS" All Knight graduation party:  Tickets are $10 for general seating or skip the lines and get premium seats for $15 by clicking here. 

Any unsold tickets will be sold at the door beginning at 6:00 pm on March 13th for $15 each.

This year's contestants and their sponsors are:

In 2009, the North Andover School Committee established an Educator Hall of Fame to recognize North Andover educators for their dedicated service teaching, inspiring and challenging North Andover students. Nomination packets for the Educator Hall of Fame are due by April 30. 

Educators chosen for this recognition should meet most, if not all, of the following criteria:

• May be living or deceased

• Retired from full-time PK-12 teaching or administration for at least 5 years (Required)

• Spent the majority of their professional career as a teacher or administrator in the North Andover Public School System (typically over 20 years)

• Recognized as an academician that consistently set very high standards and expectations

• Was effective in encouraging students to achieve those standards and expectations

• Would be remembered by students as a teacher or administrator that led them to achieve more than they thought possible

• Provided leadership in raising academic standards either across the district, at the school level, or in their teaching specialty

• Provided an excellent role model for students and staff (e.g., character, dedication, hard work, …)

What a difference a few weeks make!  At this time last month, Dr. Gilligan had just released his FY21 school budget, and the School Committee was reviewing it.  It was a very ambitious plan that proposed raising our spending by 4.52%, a sizable increase and one we haven’t seen in several years.  It was extremely well-received, not only by myself and my colleagues, but also by the school community at large.  It garnered applause because the vast majority of the new spending would be directed to classroom instruction and special education programming.  The School Committee was excited that Dr.  Gilligan was not going to shy away from requesting what he strongly believed to be financially necessary for all our students to succeed.

We had our public hearing on the recommended budget on January 16, and I was impressed with the turnout of parents we had.  They asked tough and direct questions, and I felt that the administrative team responded with specific and direct answers.  We had a great turnout from the Atkinson School community, and they let us know about many of the issues they felt needed addressing at their school.  I believe Dr. Gilligan’s budget begins to tackle some of them this upcoming year with the addition of a new half-time assistant principal and a second school nurse.  They could also see another teacher as the budget provides for the hiring of three new elementary school teachers. Fall enrollment numbers and a needs assessment will ultimately determine where those new teachers will be placed.  

As much as I was excited to have that level of public input, I was over the moon when the town manager revisited the town’s revenue forecast and determined that next fiscal year’s revenue numbers would likely come in higher than 

originally expected.  This determination gave the School Committee the confidence that Dr. Gilligan’s budget was not only doing right by our students, but also doing right by our collective wallets.  Sustainability is key as we move forward.  We were thrilled that the town manager would be supporting our school budget, and the School Committee unanimously voted in favor of it on February 6.  It was nice that most of the school principals and central office administrators were in attendance that night. To me, it shows that we have a dedicated team in place leading our schools who have a tremendous amount of confidence in Dr. Gilligan’s leadership.

Finally, I was very happy to sit in the audience this past Monday night at the Board of Selectmen's meeting when Town Manager, Melissa Murphy Rodrigues, presented her recommended town-wide budget.  I cannot thank her enough for her support of our budget.  With the Town Manager and the Board of Selectmen on board, I feel very confident that the Finance Committee will embrace it as well and that we can go into Town Meeting in May with another consensus budget.  The School Committee was prepared to fight for the needs of our students, but this is a much better outcome.  Floor fights at Town Meeting can be divisive, and hard feelings can linger for years.  As someone who has attended nearly every one for the last 25 years, I can attest to how much better it is when we all come together and agree what’s best for our town.  I still hope you will make every effort to remain engaged in the process.  This isn’t a spectator sport, and solely relying on social media to keep informed will more than likely keep you less so.   I hope you all stay in touch as the budget process continues, and I hope you and your families had a wonderful February vacation week.