Residents Want Answers On Principal's Suspension: Patch PM

BARNSTABLE, MA — Today is Friday, Oct. 16. Here's what Patch has been covering on Cape Cod and south of Boston today.

Residents have created dueling petitions about suspended Barnstable High School Principal Patrick Clark — one gathering signatures demanding the school committee reinstate Clark immediately, and the other calling for him to shed light on why he was placed on administrative leave in the first place.

Sally Vetorino organized the petition urging the Barnstable School Committee to "convene an extraordinary meeting as soon as possible to reinstate Mr. Patrick Clark to his position of principal." As of Friday afternoon, 966 people have signed the petition. Titled "Vote of No Confidence for Meg Mayo-Brown Superintendent of Barnstable Public Schools," Vetorino wrote that Mayo-Brown violated the competence and efficiency required by her contract by distracting student focus and failing to communicate with students and parents in a timely manner.

Mayo-Brown never gave a reason for the suspension, and at an Oct. 7 school committee meeting, she said she legally cannot say without Clark's permission, and that has led a second group of petitioners to urge Clark to allow transparency. Peter Bertling, of Centerville, organized a petition requesting that Clark sign a waiver allowing Mayo-Brown to publicly discuss the reasons for his suspension. As of Friday afternoon, the petition had 52 of its requested 100 signatures.

Read the full story here.

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