LYNNFIELD — School Committee member Kate DePrizio said during an April 5 meeting that she will not share communications she received from “constituents” prior to that meeting, who objected to several committee policies.
During this meeting, DePrizio dropped a bombshell on her colleagues, telling them she had received more than 60 texts, emails, and phone calls over the “last few days” about the meeting.
The complaints, she said, centered around several district policies that were slated to be discussed during the April 5 meeting. The agenda had listed a planned discussion around policies regarding bullying, sexual harassment, and allergies, among others.
When asked by committee member Stacy Dahlstedt if she would share them with the rest of the committee, DePrizio appeared to say: “I can share emails.”
Five days later, DePrizio said she would not, despite being bound by operating protocols for the School Committee and superintendent of schools, which require members to refer complaints or concerns of constituents to appropriate personnel and “avoid making independent commitments or take individual actions that might compromise the committee as a whole.”
“As soon as my committee meeting ended, I started to check in with the community members that had previously contacted me,” DePrizio said. “Many had watched our committee meeting and others continue to see the contentious discourse online. They are adamant that they do not wish to have our correspondence shared. I will respect their wishes.”
The meeting became heated at times with DePrizio interrupting her colleagues on multiple occasions. She referred to the committee’s dealings with the public as “disingenuous” on multiple occasions.
She accused the committee of keeping meeting materials “secret” and engaging in a “cat-and-mouse game” with the public.
Committee member Jamie Hayman said DePrizio is in violation of the operating protocols. The protocols, which are signed by the superintendent and committee members, include a provision requiring committee members to act “proactively” with respect to communication to avoid “surprises.” Another protocol states that “committee members acknowledge that a School Committee meeting is a business meeting held in public, not a public meeting.”
DePrizio denied that her action constituted a surprise, saying: “I am having a frustrated public come to me and I am an advocate for the frustrated public. I was not catching you off-guard.” She denied “blindsiding” her colleagues. In defiance of the protocols, she also incorrectly insisted that School Committee meetings are public meetings.
“I’ll go back to your word, ‘disingenuous,’ and I think it is completely disingenuous of you to come here and violate all of the protocols that you signed saying there would be no surprises,” Hayman said.
Hayman proceeded to give a tutorial on the public meeting operating protocol. DePrizio responded by saying: this “is still a public meeting.”
Committee Chair Richard Sjoberg opened the meeting by saying that DePrizio had requested to make a statement prior to public participation. DePrizio claimed the correspondence she received concerned public participation, but she went on to complain about the public’s access to meeting materials and other matters. She said she wanted more engagement between the public and the committee so the public could be better prepared to speak.
Sjoberg said last Saturday that the committee received only one correspondence about the meeting; it was an email from a parent about the new allergy policy.
Regarding access to meeting materials and public participation, DePrizio accused the committee of continuing to “further this divide.”
Dahlstedt took issue with DePrizio, saying that hard copies of meeting materials are available at meetings and that the process involves two steps: First, the committee conducts an open discussion, then it votes at the next meeting only after public participation.
Sjoberg defended the committee’s actions and procedures regarding meetings, saying the committee recently moved public participation to the top of the agenda because the public had requested it.
“We share policies with the public, we will discuss them and will not vote on them until after our next meeting so we’ll have public participation before our vote,” he said. “We have allowed every single person to speak who has asked to speak,” including those who failed to respect the maximum time limit.
DePrizio claimed “the public is put at a disadvantage,” by not getting meeting materials at the same time as the committee.
Hayman took issue with DePrizio’s claims.
“As representatives of the School Committee, we should have the time to prepare,” he said. “If someone comes to me and I haven’t had a chance to read through (the materials), I can’t speak.”
Hayman said the public has up to three weeks to review meeting materials before a vote is taken.
DePrizio interrupted Hayman several times, saying the committee was disingenuous.
By this point, Sjoberg had heard enough.
“That’s the second time you used that word; there is absolutely nothing disingenuous.” However, he was stopped short when DePrizio interrupted him mid-sentence.
“Excuse me, excuse me, there is absolutely nothing disingenuous about the way we prepare for meetings and the way we allow public participation the amount of time we give,” said Sjoberg sternly. “For you to continue to use the word disingenuous as if there is anything negative in our intention? I completely disagree with you.”
Committee member Phil McQueen said that while he was “absolutely” in favor of full transparency, he envisioned problems with social media if members of the public received meeting materials at the same time as the committee.
“I can see banter online exploding over the weekend and turning into an issue that may not be an issue,” he said. “We are looking at these policies for the first time and are talking them through. We don’t vote on things before meetings. We don’t discuss things outside of meetings.”
DePrizio said she has always “directed community members to the appropriate resources within Lynnfield Public Schools and encouraged them to share their concerns with all of the committee, as well as Superintendent of Schools Kristen Vogel and Sjoberg, specifically.”
