| Valley Patriot |
Given the number of years Piscitello has been involved int eh Lawrence Schools one would wonder why such an inaccurate statement could be made. McGovern accurately pointed out that all measures requiring School Committee approval are within the authority of the committee to ask which procedures were followed. Piscitello, Vice Chairman of the
Committee, badgered "I am not going to support this because I don't see a proper paper trail," McGovern said, touching off a screaming fit by Piscitello (now airing on channel 10). Miss McGovern said she was concerned that out of state travel requests were submitted to the committee while Superintendent Laboy was out of state (again). Laboy's signature was stamped on the document requests with no additional signature or initial to indicate who had actually stamped and approved the travel documents. The two out of state trips being debated were; a trip to Mount Monadnock for grammar school students, (submitted only a week prior to the meeting) and a trip for administrators to New Hampshire for a meeting on the high school accreditation. Since only four members of the School Committee (out of seven) were present at the meeting (McGovern, Shannon, Gonzales and Piscitello) a unanimous vote was needed on the trips. A four vote majority (of the entire board) is needed, regardless of how many board members actually show up. Piscitello banged the gavel and insulted McGovern in a shouting fit demanding that McGovern support both out of state travel requests. When McGovern refused and voted against the trips, Piscitello demanded that the Superintendent "inform the headmaster that this board voted 3-1 to proceed with accreditation of the high school and continue the hard work they are doing on this issue." None of that language was in the actual vote (which failed, by the way). Because the out of state trips were not approved, the School Committee held an "emergency" meeting this week where Piscitello again shouted and huffed in her seat each time McGovern asked a question about policy or procedure regarding out of state travel requests.
With a full board present at the "emergency meeting," the committee approved the trips (6-1) with McGovern being the only one to oppose the measure. After the vote, Piscitello announced that she is going to introduce a measure at the next meeting to allow the Superintendent full control over out of state travel without School Committee approval. Piscitello, who is not running for reelection and is rumored to be taking a job in the school system when she leaves, has been a disruptive force on the committee. In the last four years she has refused to allow public participation at public meetings, had members of the public ejected for trying to speak, refused to allow debate at the School Committee table, given Laboy wide latitude to conceal public information, abused her power as an elected official and verbally abused other members as well as members of the public. But this time McGovern seemed to have had enough of Piscitello's antics. "I am tired of the accusation that any time someone disagrees or has a relevant question at this table, and elsewhere, people are accused of not 'caring about the children' or 'trying to hurt the children.' Well, I am sorry that this field trip was held up but, it is not the children who run the day to day operations of this school system, it is the adults. And it is my responsibility to make sure those adults follow the right procedures," she said.
Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy did apologize for making the remark saying that he had done so in the past and was sorry he had. Piscitello on the other hand continued to bully fellow board members throughout the meeting. She offered no apology for her behavior. (NOTE: Piscitello, Arce and Kennedy are not running for reelection. Shannon was soundly defeated in the September primary and will most likely be defeated in November given his continued blind support of Piscitello and Laboy. Amy McGovern will finally get some help in January when Mike Sweeney takes office as the District "F" School Committee member. The candidate who is expected to beat Shannon (Jim Vittorioso) will also be a huge help for McGovern as he is a seasoned veteran of the Lawrence Schools. Amy McGovern is the only member of the School Committee to hold administration officials accountable for following proper procedures and priority spending.) Stay Tuned! |
Paying Attention Index |
When
School Committee member Amy McGovern questioned the
procedure for approving out of state travel requests last
week she was viscously attacked by fellow board member
Suzanne Piscitello. Piscitello refused to allow her
questions to be answered (as to how the request came to
the committee level) telling McGovern and the public that
"these matters are under the purview of the
Superintendent and not the School Committee." 
McGovern
through the entire discussion accusing her of
"holding the children hostage" and
"holding accreditation hostage". Piscitello
slithered in her chair and made noises when McGovern
announced she was not going to vote for any out of state
travel despite the vice chairman's opinion.
School Committeeman Noah Shannon said he was
"embarrassed" that the out of state trips were
not approved and apologized for McGovern's behavior in
typical Shannon (Laboy puppet) fashion. 
"Not long ago the Superintendent went
before the City Council and leveled the same charge that
they didn't care about the children because they had a
disagreement. I question these things and other people
question things because our job is to care about the
children and make sure that the right things are being
done by the adults in charge."