Our School Committee Disgrace Tom Duggan Last week, Mayor Sullivan denied
members of the public the right to speak during a School
Committee meeting. Members of the audience said that the
sign up sheet was passed out only to Laboy supporters and
then concealed to prevent them from signing up and
speaking critically of the Superintendent. Coincidentally, only supporters of the Superintendent were allowed to speak, giving credibility to the anti Laboy audience members' claim.
To add even more credence to the critics of Laboy who claimed the list was unavailable only to them, one only needs to view tapes of recent meetings. In the past few months, members of the public have been denied the right to speak when it was known that they were to criticize Laboy. One was repeatedly removed from School Committee meetings for trying to speak out against the Superintendent. What is Sullivan thinking? Or, does he think at all? While I was preparing a column in support of the Superintendent remaining in Lawrence for all of his educational accomplishments (increased test scores, lower drop out rates, etc.,) I finally got a chance to view this most recent meeting for myself. Seeing the disgraceful behavior of the Superintendent and the Mayor, obviously caring nothing about free speech and democracy, makes it hard to tout the accomplishments of either men. And that is the point.
Minutes later, the Superintendent was asked by Committee member Amy McGovern why Gail Rosenguard was listed on School Department literature as the Assistant Superintendent when her promotion hadn't yet been approved by the committee. (You will notice she is the only one who cares about finding out what is going on and is the only one who asks such questions.) "It seems we are making some assumptions and I would like to know why this happens," McGovern asked. "I'm not going to answer that question." Laboy said. When McGovern pressed for an answer from the Superintendent (her subordinate,) Mayor Sullivan, again the obstructionist, told her "that's his answer we're moving on."
A man with class (are you listening Mr. Mayor?) would have allowed the public to speak whether they were critics of Superintendent Laboy or not. A man who had an appreciation for decency and fairness would have stopped a woman at public participation from personally attacking Amy McGovern (not to mention that she was attributing things to Ms McGovern that were not accurate). But he doesn't care and his actions last week are proof of that. He has been an absentee Mayor and an absentee School Committee chairman . On those rare nights when Sullivan finally shows up to a meeting you can bet there will be no dialogue or discussions about anything important unless a Committee member wants to attack Amy McGovern for asking too many questions. The only time Sullivan himself has anything to say is when he feels the need to blindly support the Superintendent because after all, in his words: "I'm a hands off mayor." And that is the problem. He is a hands off mayor because, if he was a "hands on mayor" he would actually have to do do WORK. He would have to read the agenda packets, understand committee protocol and policies and once in a while disagree with Wilfredo Laboy. (Note to the Mayor: smiling, kissing babies, cutting ribbons and raising money for charities doesn't count as work). More accurately put, Sullivan is a BRAINS OFF mayor. He just doesn't think, and last week's meeting is proof that he has no interest in doing so. I do not blame Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy as I stated in a previous column. He is taking advantage of the power abdicated to him by a rubber stamp Committee and a brain dead mayor just as Superintendent Scully took advantage when he had a rubber stamp School Committee and a brain dead mayor. Mike Sullivan didn't even know the School Committee policy on adding an item to the agenda. When he found out the policy wouldn't allow him to do so, he recessed the meeting and dug up an irrelevant policy to justify giving the Superintendent a new contract.
There was not one hint of objection from Noah Shannon or Nancy Kennedy when a member of the public started attacking McGovern or when the Superintendent refused to answer McGovern's question, (which was always called insubordination when I was on the committee.) It is this tacit consent, given to the Superintendent by a do nothing committee which breeds the kind of abuses that get school systems taken over. Do not think for a minute that this cannot happen. But there is hope!
Here is some advice for the incoming members to put Sullivan and Laboy on notice as to why these are called School Committee meetings: #1 Remove the Superintendent from the committee table (see related column) #2 Work as a committee to develop camaraderie so that, when someone acts disrespectfully towards a committee member, all agree to speak up and defend that member from such attacks (even if they are wrong on the issue) #3 Make a policy that is VERY clear concerning the rights of the public to speak at public participation regardless of who they are or who they work for. #4 Put together an informal committee to go over the School Committee policies and come up with ways to close loopholes that let school board members shirk their duties and abdicate their responsibilities while becoming rubber stamps. #5 Put a time table on all goals of the committee and direct one member as a follow up ombudsman to reasearch and make sure things don't get fogotten. Mayor Sullivan may like being a hands off mayor, but the new committee coming on board is either going to force him to be more hands on or stop going to meetings completely. Either way, we all win out. |
Paying Attention Index |
When opposing citizens asked to speak and
informed the Mayor that the list was not available to
them prior to the meeting (as School Committee policy
dictates) Mayor Sullivan rudely told them "public
participation is over" and moved on with the agenda.
During
the meeting a member of the audience (who was allowed to
speak because she supports the Superintendent) began a
viscous verbal assault on Ms. McGovern. But, instead of
asking her to stop or having her removed from the meeting
as critics of the Superintendent are usually forced to
do, Mayor Sullivan gleefully chastised McGovern for
objecting to the speaker and then encouraged her to
continue. 
Doesn't "Honest" Mayor Mike care about
the answer to that question? Has it occurred to him that
maybe, just maybe, someone is overstepping his or her
authority in the Superintendent's office? Or is he so
disinterested in anything that involves accountability
that it just means nothing to him? 
But Sullivan alone shouldn't take the blame for
this School Committee disgrace. Jorge Gonzalez and his
colleagues on the committee sit by silently every week as
people are denied the right to speak and a fellow
committee member is treated disrespectfully for trying to
do her job. 
If Amy McGovern feels like she has been in
School Committee Hell for the last two years she will be
happy to know that help is on the way. When Sweeney,
Vittorioso and Ramos take over in January and the rubber
stamps of Piscitello, Arce and Shannon are gone a whole
new tone will be set. That is, if they do so from the
very first meeting.