North Andover School Committeeman Laurie Burzlaff has resigned her seat on the committee to take a job with the Town as Executive Assistant to the Town Manager. The job pays approximately $48,000. Burzlaff was elected to the School Committee in 2009 and was reelected in 2013. School Committee members in North Andover serve a three-year term […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL January 2013 The North Andover School Committee has decided that grading children in the school system with the time tested letter grades which reflect their achievement on tests and projects, is no longer needed. Instead, they have decided to create a complicated number grading system that parents say do not reflect […]
By Tom Duggan – January 8, 2013 19 year old Mark Mezzina says he wants to serve on the North Andover School Committee. The Johnson Road resident says that he is against the new grading system in North Andover which replaces the letter grade report card system (A through F) with a number grade […]
UNBECOMING! 12-07-11 Over the years, embattled School Committee Chairman Chris Allen has worked very hard to help the public school children of North Andover get a better education. But, Allen’s behavior of late has overshadowed much of the good her efforts might have accomplished. First, Allen was engaged in using school department resources (and employees) […]
December, 2012 North Andover School Superintendent Christopher Hottel handed The Valley Patriot a bill for $7,099 to fill a freedom of information request last month. The Valley Patriot had requested copies of all emails, sent and received by members of the school committee and the superintendent covering a 30 day period just prior to and […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EXCLUSIVE!! Tom Duggan – Valley Patriot Publisher NORTH ANDOVER – School Committee Chairman Chris Allen thinks that the Merrimack Valley Tea Party and town activist Ted Tripp are “small minded” for opposing the proposed meals tax on the town meeting warrant last week. She also believes, or at least says she believes, that […]
Paying Attention! with Tom Duggan October, 2008 Last May the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) notified the North Andover Public Schools that their high school was being put on warning of losing its accreditation. But, it wasn’t until August 25th that North Andover Superintendent of Schools, Marini notified the public that the […]
By: Tom Duggan – April 2008 NORTH ANDOVER – Several North Andover Middle School students are being investigated by the North Andover police for personal profiles posted on the America On Line Internet service threatening to harm fellow students and naming at least one teacher and a classmate the student pledges to “kill.” These threats […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EXCLUSIVE! By: Tom Duggan – January, 2008 The North Andover School Committee is suing their former acting Superintendent Richard Bergeron for illegally giving himself a $4,484.34 raise without school committee approval. A complaint filed in Lawrence District Court claims that Bergeron ordered a payroll clerk to put the additional money in […]
Tom Duggan – December, 2007 Last month, my 7th grade daughter at the North Andover Middle School came home from school and said that she learned in her Spanish class how the leader of Venezuela (Hugo Chavez) was a “good guy” for giving cheap oil to poor people here in the US. She also said […]
May 5, 2007 We are looking forward to the circus that will take place at this year’s May 14th North Andover Town Meeting. On the town warrant to be decided by North Andover voters is a Proposition 2 ½ Override. A memo of agreement signed on by the Board of Selectman, the School Committee […]
By: Tom Duggan – March, 2007 North Andover School Committee Chairman Al Perry has been seen driving around town in a new 2007 Cadillac Escalade with New Hampshire license plates. This week he admitted that he registered his new car in the state of New Hampshire, explaining that, “after March, I plan to spend much […]
PAYING ATTENTION! WITH TOM DUGGAN By Tom Duggan, February, 2007 Maybe the North Andover School Committee really isn’t incompetent. Perhaps it is completely capable of running the schools efficiently and just refuses to do so. Whatever the case, an education audit released last month on the condition of the North Andover school system showed that […]
VALLEY PATRIOT EDITTORIAL August, 2006 Parents of children in the North Andover school system revolted this past week and demanded that the School Committee get back to work. While individual motivations varied, the common theme was that the schools were facing numerous challenges and the School Committee needed to provide leadership and guidance. Hundreds […]
North Andover School Committee Chairman Al Perry needs to step down. PAYING ATTENTION WITH TOM DUGGAN By: Tom Duggan – May, 2006 Besides his general incompetence on the School Committee, Al Perry is a perpetual elitist insider who opposes reform, defends the status quo and is more concerned with being a member of […]