Here it is from the district IQM2:
Statement of School Committee Chairperson Kristin Thorp
April 14, 2015 Meeting of the Melrose School Committee
The Melrose School Committee held a special meeting on Thursday, February 12, 2015. One of the agenda items listed for that special meeting was to convene an executive session which, unfortunately, did not contain any detail with respect to the subject of that specific executive session. In addition, during the February 12th special meeting, I, as chair of the Committee, failed to disclose the subject of the executive session while still in open session, before convening. This was a mistake where such posting, and my insufficient announcement during the February 12th meeting, failed to meet the requirements of the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law for convening an executive session.
As chair of the Committee I take my responsibilities very seriously for ensuring the highest standards of transparency and professionalism by myself and the members of the Committee. I want to publicly apologize to the complainant, Mr. Mroz, and express my regret for failing to meet the requirements of the Open Meeting Law when convening an executive session during the Committee’s February 12th meeting. I also want to publicly commit that the Committee will work to ensure that similar failures do not occur in the future.
I would also like to note that the Committee has authorized that certain remedial actions be taken to address the concerns raised in Mr. Mroz’s Open Meeting Law complaint. In summary, those remedial actions are as follows:
1. The February 12, 2015 agenda will be revised to reflect that the executive session therein listed was, “to discuss strategy with respect to litigation in connection with a pending Office of Civil Rights investigation involving the Melrose Public Schools, when an open discussion may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the School Committee”;
2. The minutes of the February 12th meeting will be revised to reflect that I should have announced that the Committee was entering executive session “to discuss strategy with respect to litigation in connection with a pending Office of Civil Rights investigation involving the Melrose Public Schools, when an open discussion may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the School Committee”;
3. The minutes of the February 12th executive session will be released immediately, in un-redacted form; and
4. The revised agenda and minutes of the February 12th meeting, as well as the executive session minutes associated therewith, will be immediately posted on the school district’s website.
I thank Mr. Mroz for bringing his complaint to the Committee, and again express my regret over the Committee’s failure to meet the requirements of the Open Meeting Law in this instance.
You can just bet she had to choke on the words "I thank Mr. Mroz for bringing his complaint to the Committee." This whole thing reeks of disingenuous, that they were forced to do this because they were told by their crack legal team that they were dead wrong and this time couldn't count on the new Attorney General to back them.
Where exactly are those "unredacted minutes" that they supposedly "released" immediately? They aren't on the website, or at least anyplace obvious, like was claimed. And where was the rest of the committee in talking about or approving this statement? Did they all just agree in secret that this is what would be done, making it another possible violation? Typical cluster %*ck by the very elected officials their cheerleaders are telling us we must "trust" just because they say so (and that failure to trust blindly means we are by definition not true patriotic Melrosians)!
"a pending Office of Civil Rights investigation involving the Melrose Public Schools"
This sounds serious. What is/was going on? OCR is a federal agency. How long as this investigation been going on? Obviously if legal bills were being accrued from last year this is relating to something that happened last year, and there were a number of somethings, if extrapolating from what others have posted.
It's pretty nervy of the committee to be bouncing along they way they are with their trumped-up fake budget process (everything was clearly predetermined long before the meetings) if in fact they know they are being investigated. Would have thought they might be a little less outrageous. This admission by the chair of breaking the law relates to the state open meeting laws, which have nothing to do with federal civil rights violations, which so far the public has been told nothing about.
Last year a teacher in the middle school allegedly made an inappropriate and racist statement to a student. When the heat got put on her she claimed a stress disability and took the rest of the year off, and used her tenure to transfer to the high school this year. The administration allowed her to hide behind the union. Poor performances all the way around.
Looks like a district brownnoser (or SC member--like Ms. Tech herself or DL's nasty wife or Ms. Energy or any of the Ms. MEF brats and/or Vuvu in Hiding) got very busy in the past few minutes trying to deflect attention away from the major concerns and scandals. Surprised there were no posts about cute kittens or honoring veterans & apple pie.
Congratulations
Apr 16, 2015 - 10:59AM
Re: $5,300,000.00
Big congratulations to the school committee, the BOA, the Mayor and the residents of Melrose. There really cannot be any complaints about the transparency of this project and the ability of the public to be heard. There were no secrets or backroom deals here; just a well thought out project that got unanimous approval by the BOA. Big win for this awesome city of ours!
Parent
Apr 16, 2015 - 10:36AM
Re: College Congrats
You don't need to go to Harvard to feel a sense of pride. Congratulations to all the kids who have worked so hard to get into college!
Great teacher
Apr 16, 2015 - 10:34AM
Re: Beloved Teacher Eason is Honored with MHS Science Scholarship
Thank you for the information - she sounded like a lovely woman and what a great way to honor her memory.
Book lover
Apr 16, 2015 - 10:38AM
Re: Book Drive
That was a great program - thank you for organizing! I hope you met your goals.
Suggestion (Community Service)
Apr 16, 2015 - 10:43AM
Attendee (Beauty & B)
Apr 16, 2015 - 11:05AM
Not surprising that this OML violation occurred in the context of administration trying to hide the Federal civil rights investigation and the bills accruing because of it. Interesting that neither paper has covered the public "apology" read by Thorp, though this is a significant thing, especially from that self-righteous bunch of hypocrites who have made sure Brigid submitted lots of nonsense articles about the SC's "innocence" around similar charges and even citations in the past. If memory serves, this "error" is identical to a similar one in which the administration was told by AG they had better not do this again or it would be viewed as willful. Well, duh! And now?
All of it begs the question of how much else they are hiding while the public passively ignores it all exactly in tandem to the efforts by the administration to brainwash the taxpayers into paying for more bonds and overrides. Oh well, those who can easily afford (or whose families are paying for) all the new "educational" schemes and taxes are off in Orlando while the rest of us wonder how to pay for our skyrocketing water/sewer and electric bills.
Reading old articles and doing some simple searches on the Wicked Local site is extremely instructive! Stepping back a few years, it's very interesting to observe the level of contempt for the law and for the public's interest in how this SC behaved back before it had an internal watchful eye and one courageous voice. This super had better watch out for this pack of vipers because they may soon need a new scapegoat and clearly they don't care what they have to do in order to achieve their nauseating "Goals"! Fortunately there are now a few more tools in the toolbox, even when it comes to cracking down on the abuse of "Executive Session" as this latest Thorp debacle illustrates. Funny thing about that "This is done on the advice of counsel and the Massachusetts Association of School Committees" thing, as the presence of the city solicitor telling the SC to make Thorp "apologize" indicates a new course, as it were. Do you suppose someone's running a bit scared (finally!)?
Also quite interesting: "Only one member of the public spoke during the meeting, after Casatelli's statement. Charlene Weekley, herself a former member of the School Committee, said she found it "egregious" to terminate the superintendent's contract, and accused the committee of "hiding behind executive session" to make the decision. In addition to "embarrassing" Melrose, Weekley also wondered how much the decision will cost the district to end its relationship with LeBlanc-Considine and provide stipends for all those who must assume more duties in her absence." The Melrose School Committee had another courageous voice back then, too, but clearly the community hasn't appropriately supported these voices. So it looks like Melrose just won't learn and deserves what it's getting, sadly. CT had better take heed! With all the bad things brewing (for which she can take much of the "credit"), she shouldn't count on her "friends" on the SC. What will be even more interesting is when the "friends" turn on each other, as is already happening with the nastiness being unleashed for the O campaign. Put on your seatbelts, Melrose citizens (and look in the mirror if you want to know who's ultimately responsible for the mess).
April 06. 2006 12:01AM
School Committee comments on Superintendent's dismissal By Greg Duggan
Ever since the School Committee went into executive session March 14 to relieve former Superintendent Rosemary LeBlanc-Considine from her duties, the public has called for the committee to explain the reasons for its decision. On Tuesday night, March 28, School Committee chairwoman Christine Casatelli opened the meeting by reading a statement about the vote.
"This vote relates to actions that have been implemented, and thus no longer need to remain private," Casatelli said before continuing. Anyone hoping to learn the specific reasons for LeBlanc-Considine's release will likely be disappointed. The School Committee does not record conversation from executive session, and Casatelli said the School Committee "does not feel that it would be appropriate to try to summarize, after the fact, what was said in executive session."
Only one member of the public spoke during the meeting, after Casatelli's statement. Charlene Weekley, herself a former member of the School Committee, said she found it "egregious" to terminate the superintendent's contract, and accused the committee of "hiding behind executive session" to make the decision. In addition to "embarrassing" Melrose, Weekley also wondered how much the decision will cost the district to end its relationship with LeBlanc-Considine and provide stipends for all those who must assume more duties in her absence.
The rest of the meeting progressed according to the agenda.
Statement from Christine Casatelli, chairwoman of the Melrose School Committee
This statement was read at the Melrose School Committee meeting on Tuesday, March 28.
"This evening the School Committee will report out a vote that was taken at the meeting in executive session on March 14, 2006. This vote relates to actions that have been implemented, and thus no longer need to remain private.
'The motion was made by Katherine Clark and seconded by Kristin Thorp:
To authorize the Chair of the Melrose School Committee to notify the Superintendent that the School Committee has released her of the performance responsibilities and duties as set forth in her contract effective immediately continuing through the term of her contract.
Nine having voted in the affirmative.
Zero having voted in the negative.
Zero having abstained.
The motion was carried unanimously.'
Last week, a number of people asked the School Committee to inform the public of what was said in executive session concerning the reason for the School Committee's action. The School Committee does not keep a transcript or record of what is said in executive session. This is done on the advice of counsel and the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, and in accordance with guidance issued by the Attorney General's Office and the Middlesex District Attorney's Office concerning the requirements of the Open Meeting Law. The School Committee, therefore, does not have a record of its deliberations on March 14 and does not feel that it would be appropriate to try to summarize, after the fact, what was said in executive session.
As the vote indicates, the members met in executive session and considered negotiating a change in the Superintendent's employment contract. After discussion, the School Committee decided to release the Superintendent from her contractual responsibilities for the remainder of the contract term and to ask the Assistant Superintendent, as second in charge, to assume responsibility for running the school district. The School Committee also agreed to schedule the meeting that was held on March 20, 2006 to discuss what the members and the Assistant Superintendent feel are the district's priorities and needs during the next couple of months until a new Superintendent is brought on board.
These actions were taken by the members based on their feelings about what would best serve the interests of the school district at this time.
The School Committee feels that at this point it is best to move on and look toward the new possibilities that await us as we complete our Superintendent search. I will be giving a report on the status of that search later on in this meeting.
At this time I would like to publicly thank the administrators, teachers and staff of the Melrose Public Schools who are going above and beyond the call of duty to help us out during this transition period.
Thank you all very much. Your work does not go unnoticed. We appreciate all your hard work in educating our children."
http://melrose.wickedlocal.com/article/20060406/NEWS/304068508
Thanks, "History" for posting this. It's quite amazing to see history repeating itself in the endless bad behavior of the School Committee. Time for something big to put them permanently out of business, and maybe one of these investigations will do the job. They're so arrogant and dumb that they probably think it's all just silly. Well maybe not so much this time. Let's see how long it takes to kick various figureheads to the curb this time around.
Nice
This is an unusual situation where the local press is delinquent in covering the issues that are important. Week after week we see fluff pieces written and directed by the Mayor's office substituting for real journalism in the Free Press and Melrose Weekly. Meanwhile, there is a full blown Federal Civil Rights investigation of the School Department going on, exposed only after a good citizen alerted the AG's office of the SC chair's attempted cover-up, an OML violation under State law. That's two blockbuster stories not being covered. By the press not covering these issues, crooked government officials feel emboldened to violate the public's trust. That was supposed to be the beauty of Freedom of the Press and the First Amendment. It was meant as deterrent against corruption of government officials. Unfortunately, the Melrose Weekly and Free Press are not brave enough to do their job. There should be outrage that means something about whatever has led to such a serious matter, and that is quite clearly being actively hidden by school officials and their boss, the Melrose School Committee. Where is the moral compass of this community?These people need to be handed their walking papers!Just how much of a bill is this district likely going to be footing as this continues to unfold? Is this the real reason behind the freight train known as the done-deal Override that the mayor is assuming will take care of all?It isn't just an "embarrassment.
If it's not Thorp breaking the law - its Taymore - what a disgusting mess we have in the school department and school committee!
You seem to have forgotten to add the city solicitor Robert Van Campen to your list. Who do you think is advising, orchestrating and drafting these inane responses for Kristin Thorpe and Super Taymore when called upon oh so frequently to answer to their violations of Freedom of Information laws and Open Meeting Laws? Who do you think comes up with the strategies to illegally retaliate against parents and children who file complaints with the school department about rogue teachers and administrators and unfulfilled IEP plans?
It Is What it is . Nothing new.
So exactly when did Thorpe decide she had almighty authority to decide what public information my school committee representatives should or should not have to carry out their duties, protecting the interests of the residents of Melrose?? I don't understand why the people of Melrose are not more outraged.
The Secretary of State certainly is!
Well, naturally RD just had to hire one of his old buddies from the Everett's underbelly to represent the City of Melrose in legal matters. Chicago politics at its worst.