Marblehead school board debates ethicality of recent meeting recess

MARBLEHEAD – The School Committee will rely on its minutes to reflect the angry debate that led to the incorrect calling of a recess during the April 30 meeting.Committee member Jonathan Lederman has called the recesss "unethical" in a public letter, leading to a brief committee discussion last week.Committee member James Dearborn, who stepped down Monday, noted Lederman’s comment and said he hoped the minutes would reflect the language that led Chairman Amy Drinker to call a recesss.Drinker said that Robert’s Rules of Order actually don’t permit the chairman of a meeting to unilaterally recess the meeting. Instead, the chairman is required to call for a vote to recess. She offered to apologize to the committee, but no apology was requested.On April 30 the committee rescinded an earlier vote to study after school classes in Spanish for children in kindergarten-Grade 4, a program Lederman supported. During the discussion Lederman became increasingly angry, calling his colleague’s arguments "ridiculous." After a series of statements – "You killed my study committee," "If there’s a literacy problem teachers need to go" and "You can do whatever the hell you want" – Drinker recessed the meeting.Dearborn said she acted in good faith, whether she followed the rules or not.