The School Committee discussed its public comment policy and recent communication with the public at its meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 21.
After changing four policies during the summer, the School Committee voted to remove three COVID-19-related policies and discussed three more proposed changes.
School Committee member Jenny Sheehan, who sits on the policy subcommittee with School Committee member Jim Dillon, read the proposed new public comment policy.
School Committee Chair Kate DePrizio said she asked Dillon and Sheehan to review the policy and adjust it so it aligns with how the committee currently operates, which allows for longer public comment and discussion with the committee chair.
School Committee member Jamie Hayman asked the committee to clarify that the new policy has been reviewed by the district’s attorney, to which DePrizio said it had been reviewed and does not violate the Open Meeting Law.
School Committee Vice Chair Kristen Elworthy suggested adding a recommended time limit to help guide speakers during their comment. This would help limit the length of public participation and allow for all parties to speak, while also being mindful of the public’s other commitments, she said.
“I appreciate that we’re not cutting people off,” she said.
“I personally am fine with a person having whatever time they need to express their ideas,” Dillon said. “If a taxpayer or citizen wants to express themselves at this meeting about something about the school department that’s important to them, then they should have the right to do that.”
DePrizio said she also does not want to limit the time or amount of people who can speak during public participation.
“My right is to facilitate the conversation,” she said. “I want to make sure that we’re doing that in a way that allows the freedom of their speech and what they want to say.”
The committee did not vote on the new policy change at the meeting.
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Thomas Geary welcomed the new teachers and administrators to the district in anticipation of the upcoming school year. He introduced Dana Courtney as the new Lynnfield Middle School vice principal.
“I was really disappointed when I found out that an assistant principal — a leader in this district — can leave, we can do a whole search, and we can hire someone without anything going out to parents,” Hayman said.
Geary said he held off on announcing Courtney as the new vice principal based on finalizing the contract.
“It has nothing to do with announcing when someone signs,” Hayman said. “It is about when people are leaving and what we’re doing to replace them.”
DePrizio clarified that notifying the community about these matters is up to the superintendent and principals, and the school committee is not involved.
“If it warrants a bigger conversation about how we want to conduct ourselves and how we want our principals to all conduct those processes and alert the community, I think we could have a conversation,” she said.
