School Committee accused of making appointments behind closed doors

SANDWICH — The School Committee violated the state's Open Meeting Law by appointing three members of the Superintendent Search Committee behind closed doors, a town official alleges.

Nancy Crossman, a former member of the School Committee and current member of the Finance Committee, filed the complaint Jan. 25.

According to the complaint, the School Committee should have conducted the process in a public meeting.

The complaint goes on to say that the voting process did not have a list of candidates, a deliberation on camera or a public record of how each School Committee member voted.

“The lack of transparency to the public is without question,” Crossman wrote in the complaint.

School Committee Chair Don DiGiacomo said the board has received the complaint and would respond appropriately. He declined further comment.

Named to the search committee following a Jan. 19 vote were DiGiacomo, Kristin Bader and Kevin Sareault.

Crossman has asked for an apology from the committee as well as a redo of the vote during an open meeting. She has also asked that each member of the School Committee have verified education on the Open Meeting Law.

At a school board meeting Jan. 19, the committee agreed the Superintendent Search Committee would be made up of 11 members, three of whom would be from the school committee. Other members include parents, a Select Board member and administrators.

At that meeting, DiGiacomo said he took the names of the members who were interested in serving on the search committee and placed them on a paper ballot prior to the meeting.

Members then checked off boxes to represent their votes, and the three members who garnered the most votes were DiGiacomo, Bader and Sareault. A motion was made to approve the appointments and it passed unanimously.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: School Committee accused of holding election behind closed doors