MEMBER SIGN IN
Not a member? Become one today!
         iBerkshires     Williamstown Chamber     Williams College     Your Government     Land & Housing Debate
Search
AG Rules Barton, Lanesborough School Violated Open Meeting Law
By Andy McKeever, iBerkshires Staff
01:37AM / Wednesday, January 07, 2015
Print | Email  

The Lanesborough Elementary School Committee has been found guilty of violating open meeting law.

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The attorney general's office has found School Committee member Robert Barton guilty of violating Open Meeting law after sending out an email expressing his opinion.
 
On Oct. 30, Barton sent an email out with an attached letter that he dubbed "Lanesborough 2020."
 
In it, he advocated that the town "must move away from its two-town districts with Williamstown" and outlined his reasoning.
 
iBerkshires ran the letter as a guest column and, according to the state, Barton also sent it to all of the other School Committee members with a note asking them not to respond for fear of violating the law.
 
However, Attorney General Martha Coakley's office says that even though the other two committee members didn't respond until they were in an open session, the email did violate the law.
 
Barton expressed his opinion on issues the School Committee was taking up and, therefore, that constituted as a deliberation.
 
"Mr. Barton's email to a quorum of the committee distributed a document that expressed his opinions on matters of public business within the jurisdiction of the committee. Mr. Barton's request that no one reply to his email suggests that he intended the attached document to be discussed at an upcoming meeting," reads the ruling issued by Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Sclarsic, which was issued on Dec. 29, 2014. 
 
"However, Mr. Barton's use of a document to convey his opinions outside of a meeting did not convert this into a permissible communication. This was an unlawful deliberation."
 
Sclarsic issued a warning to the committee, saying "we order the committee's immediate and future compliance with Open Meeting law, and caution that a future similar violation may be considered evidence of an intentional violation."
 
The state ordered that the letter be publicly disclosed, if it hadn't been already.
 
The complaint was made by Richard Cohen, a frequent critic of Barton who has filed a number of Open Meeting violation complaints, most focused on Barton.
 
In July, an email written by Barton received a warning from the state even though a complaint from Cohen dating back until May 2013 was dismissed. Cohen accused Barton of violating Open Meeting law when during Barton's term as a selectman he shared an email regarding his opinions on school matters with both the School Committee and his fellow selectmen.
 
Of particular issue in Barton's email then, according to Cohen's complaint, was information surrounding the kindergarten and pre-kindergarten programs. Barton accused then Superintendent Rose Ellis of policies that were "purposely designed to shrink our school," which led to the eventual closing of the pre-K program. That email was sent just days before he resigned from the Board of Selectmen and ran for School Committee.
 
Cohen filed the complaint after finding the email in June 2014. In July, the state refused to make a ruling on the case because too much time had elapsed. But, Barton received a warning then. 
 
"Although we do not review the merits of the complaint, we remind the Board that 'deliberation' is defined in the Open Meeting law as an oral or written communication through any medium, including electronic mail, between or among a quorum of a public body on any public business within its jurisdiction," Sclarsic's letter to the Board of Selectmen reads.
 
"Expression of an opinion on matters within a body's jurisdiction to a quorum of a public body is a deliberation, even if no other public body member responds."
 
Also back in July, Cohen filed a complaint against Supervisory Union 71, claiming Barton violated the law when he discussed the work of Tri­-District office assistant Ginni Ranzoni in open session without providing her notice. The state ruled in favor of SU-71 and Barton said a notification is only required when a formal complaint is being handled in executive session, which it wasn't.
 
In a more recent complaint, the state also ruled on the side of the School Committee but warned its members about emails. That ruling was in regard to agenda postings during the budget process in May, but wasn't made until Nov. 6, 2014 — a week after Barton sent out the Lanesborough 2020 email.
 
"Although not raised by the complainant, we note our concern about certain emails that we reviewed during the course of our investigation. We remind the committee that communications over email regarding Committee business between and among members of the Committee must be limited to the distribution of a meeting agenda, scheduling information or the distribution of reports or documents to be discussed at a meeting. Any further discussion must be reserved for a properly noticed open meeting," Sclarsic's opinion on that case read.
 
Cohen had also filed a complaint with the state regarding public records. Cohen and Barton had a spat in which Cohen requested all documents relating to the School Committee. Cohen suspects Barton has been communicating with school and town officials for some time regarding the future of school affiliations. 
 
Barton says the request was large and attempted to charge Cohen for the documents. The secretary of state weighed in on that complaint expressing serious concerns with Barton withholding documents. It led to school officials discussing protocol for storing documents and emails.
 
Barton has since announced his resignation from the Lanesborough School Committee but said he is staying on until the end of the budget season. Cohen has since been elected to the Mount Greylock Regional School Committee. 
 
Both had been appointed to a research committee by the Board of Selectmen but both have since resigned.
Comments
More Featured Stories
Williamstown.com is owned and operated by: Boxcar Media 102 Main Sreet, North Adams, MA 01247 -- T. 413-663-3384
© 2011 Boxcar Media LLC - All rights reserved