An Andover lawyer argued an ad hoc advisory committee that consulted with Andover Public Schools Superintendent Magda Party should have been subject to the Massachusetts Open Meeting law in one of two open meeting law complaints he filed last month.
While bodies formed solely to advise a public official on a decision are generally exempt from the law, John McDonnell cited the school committee’s policy manual, which says advisory committees appointed by the school committee are subject to the law. Andover News obtained copies of both complaints through a public records request to APS.
The school committee is currently working on its response to the complaints.
While a description of the Redistricting Advisory Council said it was established to “provide non-binding consultation to the superintendent and her administrative team,” McDonnell said members of the committee offered input during school committee meetings throughout the months-long redistricting process.
“In this case, it appears that APS was attempting to circumvent the application of the law to the meetings held and the work performed by the RAC,” McDonnell wrote. “Under the definition of the OML, the meetings that were held by this committee were subject to the requirements of the Open Meeting Law.”
Most of McDonnell’s complaints focus on the March 20 school committee, where the board reviewed and adopted a redistricting plan in a 4-1 vote. Parents have complained that, unlike previous proposals presented by redistricting consultant DillingerRAD, there was no advance notice. They have suggested the vote was rushed ahead of the March 25 election, in which two incumbents who voted for the redstricting proposal were ousted.
“We’ve gone through a lot of scenarios here between the elementary and the middle school, and each time a scenario has been presented, I’ve thought, ‘That’s it. That looks great’,” Lauren Diffenbach, who cast the lone dissenting vote, said at the March 20 meeting. “And then it gets put out to the community and the feedback comes in, and suddenly I see things that I didn’t see before, and then a new iteration.”
The process followed the opening of the new West Elementary School in August and was aimed at better utilizing the district’s buildings. Under the plan adopted, more South Elementary School students would move on to West Middle School