SAUGUS — A Saugus School Committee member has been formally stripped of his subcommittee titles following allegations of racism that surfaced last month.
During Thursday’s virtual School Committee meeting, member Arthur Grabowski looked on as the board’s four other members voted unanimously, with the exception of Grabowski himself, to remove him from his positions on the committee’s Finance, Policy, and Facilities subcommittees.
“We did ask Mr. Grabowski to resign for the racist comments that we believe could have been apologized for and handled in a much better way,” said member Dennis Gould. “The only thing the School Committee can do now is to remove Mr. Grabowski from these subcommittees.”
On March 28, The Item published excerpts from the board’s March 11 executive session, which was held to address a complaint it received Feb. 7 from Assistant Operations manager Steve Napolitana. The complaint accused Grabowski of making racist statements toward some of the district’s maintenance workers in the presence of Napolitana and School Superintendent Dr. David DeRuosi.
Minutes from that closed session state that, on Jan. 27, Grabowski interrupted a meeting that took place between Napolitana and DeRuosi inside the superintendent’s office at the Roby Administrative Building to complain about snow removal at the town’s middle-high school complex. He allegedly told the two men, “This is why we need guys who can speak English to use the snowblowers.”
When DeRuosi asked Grabowski what speaking English had to do with using snowblowers, Grabowski allegedly replied: “(Non-English speaking workers) are not mechanically inclined to do so.”
During the executive session, Grabowski, who was previously barred from entering school buildings in 2017 following an altercation with a different staff member in DeRuosi’s office, said his comments were not racist and had been made out of concern for a possible safety hazard.
He later told The Item that the incident in question was prompted by his dissatisfaction with the way snow was being cleared from the complex, adding that he felt there had been issues with snow removal since the previous School Committee eliminated the district’s custodial staff in 2019 in favor of hiring an outside company.
He again denied that his comments were racially motivated.
“I served in the jungles of Vietnam and on either side of me were people of different races, people of different ethnic backgrounds, and I never had any issues with (anyone),” he said. “I’ve been called a lot of things in my life, but never have I been called a racist.”
During its executive session, the board unanimously voted to sanction Grabowski’s conduct and directed him to stop visiting school buildings unannounced. He was also asked to take an online sensitivity training class, apologize directly to Napolitana and explain the meaning behind his comments. At the time, the board emphasized that it was not asking for Grabowski’s resignation because it did not want to embarrass Grabowski or create a spectacle for the town.
However, during the March 31 meeting, School Committee Chair Tom Whittredge said the board had since changed its stance after learning Grabowski failed to acknowledge any wrongdoing in comments he made to local media outlets about the incident.
Although the board does not hold power to remove Grabowski from the committee, all four remaining members agreed to remove him from his subcommittee positions.
“You have to start taking responsibility for your words, Mr. Grabowski,” said Whittredge. “We have a large ELL (English language learner) student population … and a lot of them do not feel secure, and a lot of them do not feel accepted. We’re supposed to be creating an inclusive and safe environment for all kids — not just the ones who speak English.”
Now that Grabowski has been stripped of his titles, Committee member Ryan Fisher said the four remaining members will be left to take on extra work overseeing Grabowski’s former roles. New subcommittee memberships will be discussed during the board’s next meeting, which is scheduled for April 28.
“Arthur just assumed that these workers couldn’t speak English and must be unskilled. He’s blamed everyone and everything but himself for this situation and he won’t apologize to the ELL community he’s been told repeatedly that he’s insulted,” Fisher said. “This vote was necessary. He doesn’t speak for us.”
Grabowski declined to comment.
Elyse Carmosino can be reached at [email protected].
