SAUGUS — Attorney General Maura Healey determined the School Committee violated the Open Meeting Law after a former member filed a complaint.
Healey ruled the minutes for executive session minutes lack sufficient detail, including the notes for a March 16, 2017 discussion that sent former member Peter Manoogian in an uproar.
“The minutes list the topics that were discussed — teaching time, insurance, etc., — but they do not provide a substantive summary of the committee’s conversations on these topics,” said Assistant Attorney General Kevin Manganaro in a letter to the town. “We order the committee’s immediate and future compliance with the Open Meeting Law, and we caution that similar future violations may be considered evidence of intent to violate the law.”
Chairwoman Jeannie Meredith said she only had one comment on the decision.
“As acknowledged in the finding of the Attorney General’s office, the committee has devoted the necessary resources to ensure this doesn’t happen in the future,” said Meredith.
In a complaint to Healey’s office dated Sept. 29, Manoogian reported issues with meetings on Sept. 28 and Sept. 14.
Manoogian said the committee accepted executive session meetings from March 16 by a 3 to 2 vote that were “overly vague and did not contain sufficient specificity to allow any member of the public to know when the meeting commenced, when it concluded, what was discussed and by whom, and what documents were presented during the meeting.”
On Sept. 14, he said he asked that the executive session minutes from August 24 be amended to include his “reasons for voting ‘no'” to a salary increase for the school business manager, raising her salary to $137,000. He said the minutes prevent the public from “having a clear understanding of what occured.”
“I was told by the chairman at the Sept. 14 meeting that I would not be able to include my reasons unless the committee voted to allow me to do so as per policy,” said Manoogian.
During the meeting, committeewoman Liz Marchese pulled up the existing policy, which states that specific comments or discussions should not be included in the minutes. But Manoogian disagreed.
“I have a right to have my reasons recorded,” he said.
Meredith responded that she was following the policy and Manoogian argued that it was only her interpretation of the policy.
In an interview Tuesday, Manoogian said Healey’s determination addresses his concerns and speaks for itself.
“The Attorney General called me on this and the discussion we had is it seems like the committee was relying on some archaic past practices that were not in the best interest of the process or the public,” said Manoogian. “You don’t need a transcript but a skeletal outline is not sufficient either. The standard that should be used is that a person who doesn’t attend the meeting should have an understanding of what took place at the meeting.”
Moving forward, the committee has been ordered to amend the executive session minutes and to include missing details from the March meeting within 30 days. Members are to comply with the Open Meeting Law moving forward, or the violations will be considered evidence of intent to violate the law.
