Former Andover School Committee members Tracey Spruce and Joel Blumstein compiled two pages of bullet point notes for a former Andover Public Schools assistant superintendent so she could strengthen a memo explaining the committee’s denial of a private school’s first of two applications to operate in Andover, according to emails released Wednesday by the district under the state open records law.
“I know it’s a lot, but we really think it’s worth the time to make your memo as strong as possible to best support your recommendation” to deny Fusion Academy’s application, Blumstein wrote to former Assistant Superintendent Sandra Trach on April 3, 2019. “It will help persuade any doubting members of the [school committee] of the soundness of your recommendation and will show the community the thoroughness of your analysis. It also will put us in the best possible position if our decision is subject to judicial review.”
Last month, the Attorney General’s office ruled the school committee unintentionally violated the state Open Meeting Law when three members discussed by email the board’s response to a private school’s application to operate in Andover.
In his ruling, Assistant Attorney General Matthew Lindberg said Blumstein, who now chairs the West Elementary School Building Committee, and Spruce, who did not run for reelection in March and no longer lives in Andover, did not violate the law when they discussed the memo by email. But the law was broken when Blumstein forwarded the documents to former Chair Shannon Scully, creating a quorum of the five-member school committee.
The email outlines parts of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s criteria for private schools where APS could argue Fusion’s application fell short. Blumstein and Spruce told Trach to “focus on lack of nursing coverage,” curriculum and learning time that did not compare to the curriculum and learning standards at Andover High School, and staffing.
The memo also included suggestions for wording for Trach’s memo and charts that could be created and used at the school committee meeting where Fusion’s application was discussed.
Fusion in seeking $4 million in lost revenue, interest and attorney fees in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Boston after having applications to open a private school in Andover twice denied by the school committee. The company, which runs schools for students in grades 6-12 who struggle in normal school settings, is seeking $2.6 million for the 10-year lease it signed at 3 Dundee Park Drive in September 2018 and $1.4 million for its build out of the site.
By policy, the Town and APS do not comment on active litigation.
Fusion argued the AG’s decision negates the school committee’s argument in the federal lawsuit that it did not violate the open meeting law when Fusion’s first application was denied in April 2019.