A few weeks ago the Peabody School Committee was taken to task in this space for its failure to provide the public with more information about a contract impasse with teachers. It seems the Tanner City's board isn't alone in its penchant for secrecy.
Up in Haverhill, members of that city's school committee were recently rebuked by one of their own for its handling of an overdue electric bill. School Committeeman Joseph Bevilacqua says he did not find out about the $300,000 delinquency until an executive session was held on the matter.
That put his colleagues on the defensive. School Committee President Kerry Fitzgerald contended that it was more about Bevilacqua having a personality conflict with her, and wanting meetings to be public so he can get more face time on local television. She added that all of the committee's executive sessions are legal, because they fall under the provisions of the state Open Meeting Law. The meeting about the electric bill, she said, was private because the committee was discussing ways to negotiate payment with the power company.
There are two problems with that. First and most important, there is nothing in the Open Meeting Law that allows an executive session to discuss negotiating the payment of a bill. Secret meetings are permitted — not required, mind you — to discuss collective bargaining strategy or litigation, neither of which applied in this case.
In Haverhill, Superintendent Raleigh Buchanan knew about the bill for more than a year before the public did. It would have been a simple matter for him to state publicly at some point that the high school had been notified it had a $300,000 overdue bill, and recommend the committee hold an executive session to discuss negotiations.
The public was going to have to pay the bill. It deserved to know about it.
In general, public officials should err on the side of openness rather than privacy. They claim to want the public trust. Conducting business behind closed doors is not the way to gain, or hold, that trust.
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