Natick School Committee Broke Public Meeting Law 14 Times: AG

NATICK, MA — The Natick School Committee was accused of breaking the law — again. The committee was charged with 14 violations of the state's open meeting law, Attorney General Maura Healey said Tuesday. The announcement came a month after a judge ruled the committee violated free speech protections when they stopped two residents from making public comments at a meeting.

Healey said the violations were discovered after Wellesley resident Ron Alexander filed over 600 complaints about the committee this year between March and October 2018.

The violations include failing to record a roll call vote in meeting minutes, failing to identify specific nonunion personnel that would be discussed during executive session and deliberating by email on committee business outside of an open meeting. Healey's office noted in the decisions that the committee did not intentionally violate the open meeting laws.

School Committee Chairwoman Julie McDonough said in a statement that the School Committee is pleased that the complaints were resolved with no further action on the committee's part. The statement also said that all the violations were procedural in nature and highlighted a note the AG left on note complaint. "Of note, in one determination deemed de minimis in nature, the Attorney General asked the complainant to consider whether filing a complaint about such a violation is an appropriate use of the resources of the Committee and our office," the statement reads.

Mediation between the two sides failed, leading the AG's office to review the complaints, which were picked by Alexander. He told the Natick Wicked Local, "The Natick School Committee has issued multiple statements that it didn’t break the law. Now, this proves it is guilty of multiple violations of the Open Meeting Law."

McDonough highlighted in the School Committee statement that the AG's office "recognized that our committee has already implemented various changes to ensure compliance with the Open Meeting Law and that violations found do not reflect the current practices of the committee."

In March, the Natick School Committee settled a lawsuit filed by the two individuals who were stopped from speaking at a meeting.