SAUGUS — At the School Committee meeting Thursday night, the members addressed some social media posts made over the past week.
Vice Chair Thomas Whittredge did the Report of the School Committee Chairman in Chair Vincent Serino’s absence. The first topic the committee addressed was an incident that occurred a week ago, leading to a shelter-in-place at the high school.
“So, just so everybody’s aware, shelter-in-place doesn’t mean there’s a fight, doesn’t mean there’s a stabbing or a shooting. Generally, it means there’s a medical incident that needs privacy,” Whittredge said.
He continued that it means students remain in their classrooms and stay out of the hallways. “That’s exactly what happened up there,” he said.
Whittredge then went on to mention the misinformation that was posted on social media due to the incident. Posts were speculating what the issue could have been, going as far as saying someone had been stabbed.
“It’s really, really irresponsible, I got to be honest with you. I know some parents said to me, ‘Well, you know what’s going on, and we don’t. That’s not fair.’ I get the same email everybody else gets, and what was in that email was exactly what happened,” he said.
He stressed that people can’t be named and detailed information can’t be released on these incidents, but that it was a medical incident with a shelter-in-place.
“That’s all we need to know. If there was ever an incident with any weapons or any kind of weapons or anything like that, believe me, Saugus Public Schools is not hiding that from anybody… Someone said someone got stabbed in the foot. Nobody got stabbed in the foot. There were no fights on each floor,” Whittredge said.
He then praised the response from the faculty and how they reacted to the incident.
“It’s really good to see because that means they know what’s going on… When you see a lot of teachers running towards what’s going on, trying to help out and make sure everything is OK, that says a lot. It says they really care about these kids, and they really care about the school,” he said.
Whittredge said some things he has seen on social media were close to being considered liable. “You’re accusing officials of ignoring somebody getting stabbed. And again, nobody is getting stabbed, believe me. It’s not like that up there,” he said.
Dr. Carla Scuzzarella received a shout-out for doing exactly what she was supposed to do during the situation. “For you people that don’t know Dr. Scuzzarella, she is really unbelievable… She knows exactly what to do in pretty much every situation,” he said.
Whittredge told people to talk to the building principal or contact the School Committee members if they have certain questions.
He also mentioned a post on social media about bullying.
“If anybody has any issues at all with feeling like your kid is getting bullied, please come to us,” he said.
Whittredge said to contact them personally, as talking about it at a public meeting would not be possible due to possible legal matters. He also said that Superintendent Michael Hashem confirmed that things were being handled.
“There’s so much good that gets shadowed,” he said.
Committee member John Hatch also commented on the issue, echoing what Whittredge had said.
“People need to look at the positive and the good. People need to realize how special our educators are. My kids have gone through the system. Kendall is graduating this year, and there is so much more good than negative. You want to post on social media post about your dog and celebrate your kids,” Hatch said.
He continued that people need to take a good look because they’re missing out on greatness.
Committee member Stephanie Mastrocola also jumped in, saying that parents need to step up a little, although she stressed that she wasn’t only blaming parents. She called out the fact that kids were misbehaving in school, causing serious problems for teachers. She firmly stated that if any staff members felt their safety was being compromised they needed to come to the committee saying it was unacceptable for them to have to feel that way.
Mastrocola also commented on the posting issue: “The social media posts are out of control, but you’re never going to stop people from doing that. That’s how people vent, but like Mr. Whittredge said, please, we are all very accessible.”
