Committee suspends rules, adopts Protect Act policy

School Committee · Meeting of August 27, 2026

NORTH ANDOVER — The North Andover School Committee suspended its own rules and unanimously adopted a Protect Act implementation policy before students returned to class. The 4-0 vote came after Governor Maura Healey signed the law August 5, requiring a compliant policy before the September 2 start of school. Member Joseph Hicks said "I don't think we should start the school year without having these protections in place for our kids." The committee also heard first-read requests for six new teaching assistants, costing an estimated $186,510 and funded through a federal IDEA grant increase, and a high school nursing increase from .6 to .8 FTE funded by a state Department of Public Health grant.

Officials also confirmed the North Andover Police Department is adding a third school resource officer, assigning Officer Stephanie Rizzo to the middle school and shifting Officer Wilson to cover elementary schools. Members Kelly Cormier and Alissa Samz, the committee's negotiators, said teaching assistant contract talks have moved past the proposal stage toward finalizing terms.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 3,474 words

Source: the School Committee meeting of August 27, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.