School vote not reported as required

John Howell
Posted 5/21/15

While the candidates for superintendent, other than two, have been a closely guarded secret, the School Committee voted April 14 to narrow the field to an undisclosed number.

William McCaffrey, …

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School vote not reported as required

Posted

While the candidates for superintendent, other than two, have been a closely guarded secret, the School Committee voted April 14 to narrow the field to an undisclosed number.

William McCaffrey, director of the Warwick Area Career and Technical Center, said last week he received a letter from committee chair Jennifer Ahearn thanking him for his interest in the post.

But while McCaffrey was informed he is no longer in the running, leaving Superintendent Richard D’Agostino the only local candidate under consideration, it is questionable whether the School Committee abided by the Opening Meetings Act.

Ahearn said this week the committee discussed the position of superintendent in executive session because it was a personnel matter. She said a vote was taken, but it was not reported out when the meeting went into public session.

According to the Open Meetings Act, personnel matters may be discussed in closed sessions, however, the act also requires that any vote taken must be reported when the meeting reopens.

“We don’t report out,” said Ahearn.

Asked what was the vote, Ahearn said it was 5-0.

When informed that under the Open Meetings Act, the committee is required to report votes taken in executive session, Ahearn said it was reported that the committee voted to send a letter, although there is no record of that in the minutes posted on the department website. The agenda for the meeting does list the superintendent as a matter of discussion. As a practice, after reopening the meeting the committee votes to seal the minutes of the executive meeting. Under the law, the committee chair or secretary is to state whether a vote was taken or not.

“Sometimes we forget because there are so many things to report out,” said Ahearn.

The law reads: “All votes taken in closed sessions shall be disclosed once the session is reopened; provided, however, a vote taken in a closed session need not be disclosed for the period of time during which its disclosure would jeopardize any strategy, negotiation or investigation undertaken pursuant to discussions conducted under § 42-46-5(a).”

The department’s legal counsel and human resources director, Rosemary Healey, said yesterday she would not have known whether a vote was taken, as she and other administrators were not in attendance.

“Normally, I remind them if they took a vote [to report the vote],” she said

Asked how many candidates are now under consideration for superintendent, Ahearn said, “you have to wait and see.”

A timetable for the selection of a superintendent hasn’t been announced, although the committee would presumably make a decision before D’Agostino’s contract expires in mid July. A review of candidates for superintendent is listed on tonight’s closed session at Toll Gate High School.

Ahearn said there could be a selection by the end of this month.

D’Agostino, who was director of Special Education, was named interim superintendent when former superintendent Peter Horoschak, who was in the second year of a three-year contract, was told not to report for work and placed on a leave of absence in September 2012. The committee gave no explanation for the action and later made good on the final year of Horoschak’s contract. He submitted a letter of resignation.

D’Agostino was named superintendent in February 2013 without the job being posted or the committee making an overt effort to consider other candidates. Last October the committee posted the job, receiving applications from 14 candidates. The Beacon was told that number was reduced to seven candidates who were interviewed. The interviews further narrowed the field, but a number was not released. That selection was made in executive session, and, as best the Beacon can determine, there was no corresponding report of action taken.

However, in talking with the two known candidates, D’Agostino and McCaffrey, it was learned both were still in the running.

Asked if the committee’s practice of failing to report action taken in executive session is a violation of the law, Amy Kempe, spokeswoman for Attorney General Peter Kilmartin said, “We don’t comment unless there’s a complaint.” She explained even a theoretical assessment won’t be appropriate because “we don’t know what the voting was and what are the facts.”

“Filing a complaint. That’s the way to get it resolved,” she said. Kempe also said no complaints have been filed against the School Committee.

That’s not the case with the city’s Retirement Board. Earlier this year, former Ward 1 councilman and School Committee chairman Robert Cushman questioned why the board failed to post notice of its March 4 meeting 48 hours in advance as required by law. The board also met in executive session March 16 with the city’s actuary, Joseph Newton, before Newton met the City Council that night. In response to the complaint, the city said due to a clerical oversight, the notice was not posted on time. The city also said no action was taken in executive session.

Nonetheless, the Attorney General has taken action against the city, bringing suit in Superior Court.

In a statement released on May 13, interim chief of staff William DePasquale objected strongly with the Attorney General, saying the case “involves a simple clerical error made in the notice by the clerk who did not knowingly or willfully attempt to violate the Open Meetings Law.”

Comments

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  • georgecarver

    What the hell is going on with this committee? This is surreal.

    Can we PLEASE get some Accountable Leadership in place to trim the enormous waste ...I believe 37% over capacity (and growing) was the number and get rid of the nonsensical CYA culture and poor decision making..... I don't know what planet these people think they are on but they take us for stupid and it is getting too costly in too many ways to continue.

    I hope the law can figure out what our 'leaders" can't..

    Thursday, May 21, 2015 Report this

  • smh

    the only way to have "Accountable Leadership" in the School Committee is for the people of Warwick to do what the people of Fall River did....Band together and get petitions of NO CONFIDENCE signed regarding ALL WSC members and then VOTE/ELECT new, intelligent, respectable members who truly have the good of the children of this city at heart in their place . It is time for the decades long cronyism and nepotism to end....APATHY & COMPLACENCY get you exactly what we have today...

    Friday, May 22, 2015 Report this