Saugus board to review chaos at high school

SAUGUS – The Saugus School Committee will meet Thursday to discuss last week’s chaotic “senior sleepover” at the high school as one committee member said he’s not happy with the administration’s response.”I’m disappointed that we didn’t find until 7:20 p.m. on Friday that anything even happened,” said School Committee member Arthur Grabowski. “This is a pattern where we haven’t found out about things in a timely manner. To me it’s just another incident where we should have known about it first thing Friday morning. We still haven’t received anything from the superintendent’s office. I’m very disappointed in the whole administration and the way this was handled, and I expect to find some answers.”Between 50 and 75 seniors camped out at the high school Thursday night for the annual “senior sleepover.” While the event is not sanctioned by the school, students have made it a yearly tradition.However, chaos reigned at this year’s sleepover as a contingent of juniors made their way on top of the high school and started throwing water balloons at the seniors, who then retaliated by throwing eggs, garbage and rocks.In the end, one student was arrested for smashing a car windshield while another was accidentally struck by a police cruiser, according to police and student accounts. Several cars were also damaged.Grabowski said he “questions the judgment” of those who allowed the sleepover to take place and called the event a “black mark” on the town. Grabowski also said he didn’t find out about the incident until after The Daily Item contacted School Committee Chairman Wendy Reed for comment on Friday.”Many people came up to me at the parade Saturday and were questioning who allowed this to happen on town property and school property,” he said. “It should have been supervised. I question if there was alcohol involved ? Someone needs to step up and take responsibility for what happened. I would think ultimately (responsibility) lies with the principal.”Reed said Tuesday she was surprised the committee wasn’t notified about what happened.”Usually when there’s an incident, we’re informed because we’re the first ones to get a call,” said Reed. “We requested a report and still haven’t received one.”Acting Principal Jason Merrill and Superintendent Richard Langlois could not be reached Tuesday.The School Committee will meet at 6 p.m. on Thursday in the Roby Building to discuss the incident and will also meet in executive session to finalize the contract for Michael Tempesta, who was recently voted as the school’s new superintendent.Michael Tempesta is no relation to Daily Item reporter Matt Tempesta.Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].