SAUGUS — The School Committee voted to place Superintendent of Schools Erin McMahon on leave during an executive session Tuesday evening and apparently violated state law in doing so, an attorney representing McMahon said.
Attorney Michael Long, the longtime general counsel to the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, said the committee’s vote in an executive session without notifying McMahon or allowing her to attend is a violation of state law.
And indeed, Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 30A Section 21 states that should a public body meet in executive session to “discuss the discipline or dismissal of, or complaints or charges brought against, a public officer, employee, staff member or individual,” they must notify the individual being discussed in writing at least 48 hours prior to the executive session.
The individual also has the right to be present at the executive session with counsel, which was apparently not given to McMahon.
As a result, Long said he filed an initial open-meeting-law complaint with the town clerk’s office and School Committee Chairman Vincent Serino via School Committee counsel.
“We will pursue the matter with the attorney general if the committee does not reverse its vote preventing the superintendent from working,” Long wrote.
Serino said his committee had no comment on the allegation.
The vote by the committee came after McMahon indicated she planned to return to work on Monday after more than five months on leave, a scenario the committee likely wanted to avoid given that McMahon placed herself on leave only after an indication from the committee they would vote to do so.
Serino also declined to comment on the vote. He has not publicly commented on the situation since Jan. 19, when McMahon’s leave was announced.
That night, he said “actions taken today should not be considered disciplinary.”
McMahon is the first woman to serve as superintendent of schools in Saugus, and was hired to a five-year contract, which will pay her close to $1 million, ahead of the 2021-22 school year.
The School Committee’s agenda for Tuesday did not indicate they would be taking any sort of action with regard to the superintendent. Instead, it read simply that they were convening in executive session to “discuss potential litigation and arbitration strategy” with regard to an arbitration case filed by McMahon. Long said McMahon believes the committee violated her contract by failing to provide her with written notice of any concerns regarding her work.
A public-records request filed by The Daily Item seeking a copy of McMahon’s contract has not been answered.
Long, in a May 24 letter sent to Attorney Howard Greenspan, who is representing the committee, indicated that the body had not taken any action on an investigation into McMahon, instead referring the matter to Town Manager Scott Crabtree. Crabtree has no oversight of the superintendent or the school department. Crabtree contracted the law firm Arrowood LLP to conduct the investigation, and Long said the town paid the law firm nearly $17,000 across February and March. Considering the investigation is apparently still ongoing and McMahon met with an attorney from the firm in April, that bill is likely higher than that.
In the weeks since that April 6 meeting, Long wrote that he and his client “have no news about the conclusion to the investigation, so-called, or [the attorney’s] recommendations, if any.”
McMahon’s leave was announced on Jan. 19, and came just a week after she proposed a $32.8 million fiscal year 2024 budget for the School Department. In the weeks following, the committee slashed McMahon’s proposed budget to $31.6 million — after at least one meeting with Crabtree — and appointed former Saugus High School Principal Michael Hashem as acting superintendent of schools.
