Subcommittee confusion cleared up in Saugus

SAUGUS – The Saugus School Committee met Thursday afternoon to resolve its policy regarding members attending subcommittee meetings, and agreed that members are in fact allowed to attend, but noted that meeting rules must be strictly followed.?No one has said it was a violation of the open meeting law,” said School Committee Chairman Wendy Reed. “It?s the interpretation of participation that leads me into that gray area. I don?t want to tell someone that they can?t attend a meeting. That?s ridiculous.”The issue came up at a School Committee meeting two weeks ago after Reed said she felt “uncomfortable” after fellow member Arthur Grabowski attended a finance subcommittee meeting.School Committee member Frederick Doucette had previously stated he also felt uncomfortable with it but, on Thursday, he said he spoke with the Attorney General?s open meeting office, which clarified a recent rule change.?From three months ago or four months ago they just clarified this,” said Doucette. “There?s this confusion because the old rule has changed and there are now new rules.?I called the Attorney General, I?ve heard what they said and I?ve seen the memo they issued, and that?s it.”The rule change states that members of a public body can attend a subcommittee meeting of that public body, even where those members are not part of the subcommittee.According to the rule: “In those cases, they may sit in the audience and participate as members of the public. They may address the public body with the permission of the chair and may state their opinion on matters under consideration by the subcommittee.”Grabowski said the easiest solution would be to just have full School Committee meetings instead of subcommittee meetings.?I?ve made no bones about it. I?ve never liked subcommittees,” said Grabowski. “We?re a small enough group where we can discuss things. I don?t care how long a meeting goes, it?s our responsibility.”Doucette countered, saying he likes subcommittees because they serve a purpose.?If everything was at a School Committee meeting, reading through everything and researching, they?d go to midnight or 2 o?clock in the morning,” said Doucette.In other business, Reed said Superintendent Richard Langlois recently implemented a “hard freeze” of all school spending other than contractual obligations.?It was explained that we had implemented a hard freeze after realizing the severity of what?s going on with the drastic cuts and layoffs that are still ongoing,” said Reed. “The Town Manager indicated that he wants us to sock away as much as possible for next year to help mitigate cuts.”Grabowski became upset that he was not informed of the freeze.?I?m concerned why an email wasn?t sent out to the full School Committee saying this and why three members knew about it and we didn?t,” said Grabowski. “The relationships with the School Committee, in my opinion, with the superintendent need to be better.”Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].