LYNNFIELD — A petition to recall School Committee member, and former chair, Kate DePrizio from the committee began last month.
Resident Mark Vitagliano said he took out the papers for the recall petition on Wednesday, Sept. 25, began collecting signatures the next day, and estimates the petition has more than 600 signatures as of the start of the month.
He said the petition needs 1,898 signatures. The Town Clerk’s office will then verify all of the signatures and there will be a special vote.
Kimberlee Kossover Hansen, a resident and mother of two students, said residents first talked about the idea for the petition after the School Committee meeting on Sept. 11, but papers were not pulled until Sept. 25. The community wanted to wait to begin the petition with the hopes that DePrizio would resign from the committee before the Sept. 24 meeting.
DePrizio stepped down as chair of the committee on Sept. 19, following backlash from the meeting on Sept. 11.
Kossover Hansen said she has been reaching out to friends and neighbors in the community to collect signatures for the petition and the response has been supportive.
She estimates that most residents are aware of the petition, and she has been encouraging anyone to watch the past school committee meetings and read up on the situation before signing the petition.
“We are concerned parents who believe that people, especially our elected officials, need to be held accountable for their actions and inactions, especially as it relates to our children’s education,” Kossover Hansen said.
She said the recall petition is “based on doing the right thing.”
Kossover Hansen said the actions that have sparked the recall petition include DePrizio’s lack of following protocol in regard to the complaints brought against School Committee member Jamie Hayman. She added another action that has sparked the recall petition is that DePrizio included Hayman’s daughter in the note she read aloud at the Sept. 11 meeting, and her actions have felt “targeted” toward Hayman.
Lastly, Kossover Hansen added the community has lost “trust and faith” in DePrizio’s ability as a School Committee member, especially after her claims at the Sept. 11 meeting that Hayman threatened her and her family.
“As a community, we are really hoping that Mrs. DePrizio will see this… and do the right thing and resign before we have to bring this to a town vote,” she said. “We are hoping she recognizes this vote of no confidence and resigns herself.”
When contacted, DePrizio issued a statement, which she posted on the School Committee Facebook page on Sept. 30.
DePrizio described a timeline of events of her conversations with Attorney Colby Brunt, Hayman, new School Committee chair Kristen Elworthy, and Superintendent Tom Geary.
In her statement, she said she had emailed the letter for Hayman to Geary and other School Committee members the morning of Sept. 11, prior to reading it aloud at the meeting.
“Contrary to the false narrative that some are spreading throughout the community, the police have not done an investigation, nor have they made any claims as to the validity of either party’s statement,” DePrizio said in her statement.
As previously reported, a report for the incident from Lynnfield Police Chief Nick Secatore on Sept. 16 stated the incident was not a criminal matter.
“Kate reports Jamie told her that he would ruin her and her family… Jamie swore at Kate and called her a (expletive deleted),” the narrative in the report stated. “Upon review of the statement and information provided by Kate, I do not believe this report rises to the level of a criminal threat.”
The supplemental narrative for the report stated, “I did not hear threats that are of a criminal nature, or Jamie mention her family. Jamie does not call her a (expletive deleted) or mention safety.”
The report was closed and deemed a civil issue.
In her statement on Sept. 29, DePrizio said Attorney Brunt’s legal advice “has caused these issues.”
She reiterated that Attorney Brunt had recommended reading the letter to Hayman aloud at the meeting on Sept. 11. She added Attorney Brunt was the one who wrote the initial draft of the letter to Hayman.
DePrizio said she talked to her after the meeting and was reassured as Attorney Brunt said, “‘Yes, it was OK to read. No harm, no foul.’”
She called for Attorney Brunt’s termination from the School Committee.
“I no longer have confidence in her abilities as Counsel for the School Committee,” DePrizio’s statement said. “I firmly believe that the School Committee has received questionable legal advice that has caused these issues.”
She said she plans to move forward from the incident to continue the goals of the School Committee and she will not “be bullied into silence by those continuing to distort the facts of what occurred.”
“I will not allow people, who came forward in good faith, to be silenced, afraid to speak out,” she added in her statement.
Elworthy said it is not her position to comment on the recall petition because she and the other committee members would be tasked with appointing a new committee member.
