Letter: What Happened At School Committee’s Executive Session?
Photo: istock
The following letter was sent to the Regional School Committee on October 14, 2023.
In light of the Regional School Committee’s (RSC) executive session on Thursday, October 12, I am writing to request a public statement informing the public, to the extent possible by law, of what occurred and was decided at the meeting.
I also ask that the RSC release the non-Title IX investigation reports to the public, along with the results of the Title IX report itself. Even with redactions, transparency with all these reports is something the public has been asking for, and awaiting, for months now. The information therein has implications for the safety and well-being of our children, our teachers, and indeed our entire community.
Jena Schwartz
Jena Schwartz is a writing coach, parent, and resident of Amherst.
Thank you for your continued advocacy, Jena. I emailed the Regional School Committee about this too. New member Katie Lazdowski replied that she has asked Interim Superintendent Doug Slaughter to provide an update to the public in the next RSC meeting (which is tonight, 10/17/23). Katie wrote that she has also asked RSC Chair, Sarahbess Kenney, to speak to this issue during the chair’s update part of the meeting.
I meant to add that “Convene Into Executive Session” is the first item on the agenda for this evening’s Regional School Committee meeting. Then they are to return to Open Session at 7:00pm. Hopefully the Executive Session is so they can approve releasing the minutes from last week’s (10/12) closed session and to approve a public statement that they will release about what transpired. Keeping us in the dark since last Thursday is not the movement toward transparency that I had hoped for.