HUNTINGTON – At Wednesday’s regular Gateway Regional School Committee Meeting, longtime attorney Fred Dupere was invited to give his opinion on several matters being considered.
The first matter that was tabled at the last meeting for the attorney was a request for a waiver to enter kindergarten for a student who missed the cut off by eight days. The Plant family of Westfield has a son born on Sept. 8 who they would like to enroll in Gateway this fall. The father graduated from Gateway, and they have a daughter in the school.
At the last meeting, Megan Coburn, principal of the Littleville and Chester Elementary Schools was asked to assess the child, who has completed two years of pre-school, for kindergarten-readiness. Coburn said he scored well in all areas except articulation, particularly his pronouns. When asked if she would recommend the waiver, Coburn said, “It’s a parent decision.”
A motion was made to grant a waiver for this particular child. During the discussion, several school committee members expressed concern.
“If we make an exception this time, we’ll be asked again,” Sue Levreault of Worthington said. “Now the new line in the sand is going to be Sept. 8. This will be the first time since I’ve been on the school committee that we’ve made an exception.”
“Developmental stages are general,” Terri Garfield of Blandford said. “I think we can allow this.”
“If you don’t maintain your date, then you have to hear this on a case-by-case basis,” Dupere said. “If you’ve never granted an exception in the past, then you are setting a new standard futuristically.”
Dupere said he didn’t know if they had granted an exception or not. He said for entrance age, there are two lines. One says you never make exceptions, the other says you must consider every case.
“Is it us that makes the decision?” Shirley Winer of Chester asked.
“The only people that can waive the policy is this committee,” answered Dr. David Hopson, school superintendent.
The motion to grant the waiver passed 9-3.
Dupere recommended studying the issue in other districts as well as advisories from DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education), and have Hopson present the options for a policy on granting waivers. He said typically it is the administration that makes the recommendation.
The School Committee also voted in favor with one abstention to participate in the solar net metering project which was presented at the previous meeting, and will save on the school’s electricity costs. The committee also voted to send the 20-year contract to its attorney for review, rather than share the attorney costs with the other participating groups. The committee also unanimously passed the sale of the $4.9 million school refunding bond to SunTrust Robinson Humphrey at the price of $5.4 million, which was presented by business manager Stephanie Fisk. Hopson said that the school district has an A+ rating from Standard and Poor.
School Committee Vice Chair Martha Otterbeck from Chester read a letter she wrote concerning discord in the School Committee. She noted that she had been elected to serve as vice chair without being at the meeting, but was willing to serve.
“There is tension, discord and conflict in the committee,” she said. “There is an elephant in the room, and it’s not going to walk out on its own.”
She said the committee needs to look at what the conflict is, and what is driving it.
“We need to work collaboratively to do some conflict resolution,” she said.
School Committee Chair Michele Crane of Blandford asked if the question of mediation should go on the next agenda.
“I appreciate the thoughts in the letter,” said Ruth Kennedy of Russell. “But what I speak comes from my heart. I have grandchildren that go to this school. I don’t know where this discord is coming from. I don’t have anything against anybody on this committee.”
“You don’t see there being discord on the committee that’s disruptive?” Winer asked
“I’m sorry that is seems disruptive, but I care all the more,” Noreen Suriner of Middlefield said. “It wasn’t to be hurtful. It was to speak the truth.”
“It’s all right to have different opinions,” Otterbeck said. “It’s the undertone that becomes very disruptive.”
“They’re not productive meetings, nothing gets done,” Gateway senior Brennan Foley, student council representative said, to applause in the room.
“I think Michele’s (Crane) idea is a great idea, to bring someone in to help us in being heard,” Suriner said.
Also raised from the previous meeting was the question of having the School Committee meetings videotaped. Attorney Dupere weighed in on both issues. He said videotaping can’t be used as minutes.
“Once you begin videotaping meetings, you have to archive the videotapes. There are costs associated with it. I wouldn’t recommend that you do it, but it’s not my decision,” he said.
He said that cities and towns that do have videotaped meetings generally are on a cable television station that videotapes and airs the meetings, and do not have to archive the videotapes and make them available by request to the public.
“It certainly isn’t routine,” he said.
Dupere also said that only four towns are needed to pass the Gateway budget this year.
“Worthington is not going to be a part of the vote in the towns,” he sid. “DESE agrees. That is my opinion. You can amend the regional agreement.”
The regional agreement states the need for five towns.
He added that agreements can have members come and members go, but that doesn’t negate the regional agreement.
Dupere went on to say, “Our firm has been associated with Gateway for (30) years. The dysfunction you’re seeing now was present 15 or 20 years ago.”
Dupere said during that time he attended the meetings for five years, to help move them along. He said he has only done that in three districts out of the many he has served. Dupere said a school committee meeting should not take more than 1 ½ to 2 hours. (Typically, School Committee meetings go 2 ½ hours at Gateway).
“After seeing you tonight, you do have an issue,” he said.
He said mediation generally doesn’t work. The only thing he has seen work is having an attorney present at the meetings.
“Do you think we need to be babysat?” Crane asked.
“In my opinion, yes,” he said. “I do know Robert’s Rules of Order very well – I’ve testified on them in Supreme Court. If you’re constantly looking at Robert’s Rules, then you have a problem. It should not be that formalistic.”
