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Date: 6/14/2022
NORTHAMPTON – In a move that caught some on the Northampton School Committee by surprise, a motion was made and approved to move talks on hiring a new superintendent to an executive session.
Northampton Superintendent John Provost recently announced that he would be leaving the district to pursue an opportunity at the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District. At its virtual June 9 meeting, the committee included on the agenda the superintendent search and interim position.
Provost said the district had options – it could seek out candidates internally and, should that not yield anyone qualified, expand it to outside the district. He suggested the committee could engage the services of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees or the New England School Development Council, which both have experience in superintendent searches. Provost said he was seeking direction from the committee on which option was more appealing.
“I think it really is a determination of which agency you feel more comfortable with,” he said.
But before the conversation could begin in earnest, member Meg Robbins made the motion to move this to executive session, citing a lack of conversation on the matter prior to this meeting. Included in the motion was another item, an update on the investigation into former Northampton High School Principal Nancy Athas, who was relieved of her duties in March for calling students a vulgar term. Robbins said she had spoken to the Attorney General’s Office, and that it supported the motion.
Robbins cited Mass General Law Chapter 30A, Section 21, Purpose 2 – which allows for a public body to meet in executive session to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with nonunion personnel – as the justification for this motion.
“I do realize this is possibly not an ordinary move, but there is a strong feeling of a lack of inclusion,” said Robbins, adding that the hiring of a new superintendent was a big change for the district.
Member Gwen Agna suggested that a special meeting be scheduled to discuss the matter, given its importance and the time it would likely take. Robbins said she didn’t object to the idea, but felt tonight wasn’t the time.
“I feel that we haven’t had this discussion,” said Robbins. “This would be a good opportunity to clear the air to see what the next steps are. What’s our consensus about the new leader?”
Member Dina Levi said it made sense to have the conversations in executive session, given the impact this decision would have. Provost said that if the discussion doesn’t qualify as an exception to the Open Meeting Law, it needed to be done at the meeting.
Layla Taylor, an employment and labor attorney with Sullivan, Hayes & Quinn in Springfield, acted as counsel to the School Committee. She said that when someone submits a resignation, it’s common for a public discussion on the next steps. Taylor added that 48 hours notice needs to be given before an item can be taken up in executive session, but in the end, she didn’t argue against the AG’s decision.
“They make the Open Meeting Law decisions,” she said.
Provost asked the committee how it felt about authorizing a posting for the job, as it still kept other options open, but the suggestion was not taken up in a motion. Levi said she wanted to make time for the conversation, either in executive session or in a separate meeting. Robbins said that it wasn’t just about the next steps needed. She said there was no end date for the process, and any challenges the committee might encounter hadn’t been laid out.
“I think most of us would be comfortable to discuss this elsewhere,” said Robbins.
In the end, the committee voted 7-3 to move both the discussion on the superintendent search and the investigation update to executive session.
The committee followed that meeting with a special session on June 14, after press time. Reminder Publishing will have more on this story in its June 23 edition.