School Committee changes policy

Date: 12/27/2011

Dec. 28, 2011

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

CHICOPEE — The Chicopee School Committee voted 10-1 to change the policy concerning the appointment of and removal of members to sub-committees at its meeting on Dec. 21.

School Committee member Adam Lamontagne, who had been removed from the policy subcommittee earlier this year by Mayor Michael Bissonnette, chair of the School Committee, explained to Reminder Publications the committee now must approve any appointment made by the mayor.

Removing a member from a subcommittee now requires a majority vote by the School Committee, he added.

The action limits the mayor’s authority as chair and added a rule about removals that was not present in the original policy.

Bissonnette had removed Lamontagne from the policy subcommittee earlier in the year for unspecified reasons. He said that Bissonnette had not spoken to him about the matter and that he learned he had been returned to the subcommittee by letter.

Bissonnette was absent for the Dec. 21 meeting.

Lamontagne said Policy Subcommittee Chair Michael Pise took action on the revisions to the rules after a recommendation from School Committee member Donald Lamothe.

“It’s unfortunate, it got down to this point,” Lamontagne said.

The committee should be concentrating on helping Chicopee students “instead of played political games,” he added.