School Committee passes controversial policy

By J.J. Huggins
Staff writer

August 14, 2008 12:14 am

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METHUEN — If a School Committee member has a question of school administrators, they better put it in writing.

That's the gist of a new School Committee policy which requires any committee member who wants information from a school administrator to make a request in writing. That written request will then be voted on by the full school board at its next meeting before the question can be asked.

If the committee votes in favor of the question, the request would be submitted to administrators, and the committee would learn the answer at its next meeting.

That means it will take three meetings to get a question answered. The committee usually meets every other week, meaning a turnaround time of six weeks.

"It's a bad policy, bottom line," said committee member Robert Vogler.

Vogler and member Barbara Grondine voted against the policy at the committee's last meeting July 28.

"The Freedom of Information Act is in place, and this is contrary to that," Grondine said, referring to the law that requires officials to turn over public records within 10 days.

Voting in favor of the policy were Kenneth Henrick, Gary Marcoux and George Kazanjian.

Kazanjian, who pushed for passage of the policy, previously said it will only pertain to requests for in-depth reports, not routine inquiries. He said the School Committee has had a policy like this in the past but never followed it.

But Grondine said the policy doesn't specify that in writing.

"They (those in favor of it) may mean that, but what about future committees? It's open to interpretation and it could include anything," she said.

Mayor William Manzi, the committee's chairman, and member Evan Chaisson missed the vote.

Manzi said he doesn't see the need for a formal policy about asking for information. Committee members should use "common sense" about how soon to expect to get a report that requires employees to take the time to compile, he said.

Chaisson said he would have voted in favor of the policy.

"I just think it's a good policy to have in place (so) everything gets followed and we don't lose facts, we don't lose track of what we ask for," he said.