Subcommittee Scuttles Meeting After WHAV News Complaint

The door of Mayor James J. Fiorentini’s office was locked and the lights off at the time of a planned Haverhill School Committee subcommittee meeting. The mayor said the 6 p.m., Thursday, meeting was cancelled by School Committee President Maura L. Ryan-Ciardiello.

Members of a Haverhill School Committee subcommittee cancelled a planned secret meeting Thursday night following a complaint from WHAV News.

WHAV alerted local officials and Attorney General Maura Healey’s office that it planned to file a complaint under the state’s Open Meeting Law since it appeared the meeting was to be held for purposes other than those for which the subcommittee was authorized. WHAV came to that conclusion when it learned from school Superintendent James F. Scully that he was not invited to the meeting even though the committee’s charge was to obtain information from the school chief about what he is seeking in a contract extension.

When a WHAV reporter arrived at the posted meeting at 6 p.m., at Mayor James J. Fiorentini’s office, the door was locked and the lights turned off. Responding to a telephone call, the mayor said the meeting was cancelled by School Committee President Maura L. Ryan-Ciardiello. Later, she told WHAV the meeting was cancelled because she was unable to attend.

During the regular School Committee meeting Thursday night, Committeewoman Gail M. Sullivan complained about WHAV’s use of the word “secret” to describe the meeting.

“I think the connotation of the word ‘secret’ is really misleading. There are laws that govern executive sessions so I think if they, the law wanted them, consider them to be secret, they’d be called laws governing secret sessions, and they’re not, so I think that’s a really inappropriate term.”

To the contrary, WHAV—like others among the news media—contends “executive session” is a deceptive and misleading term, designed by governments to conceal from the public that residents may not witness or hear certain government deliberations. Fiorentini acknowledged Thursday night WHAV is not alone in having such a policy.

“Some of the media refers to executive sessions as ‘secret meetings.’ That’s what they call executive sessions,” Fiorentini said. The mayor added, however, he agrees with Sullivan.

Meeting posting outside the Haverhill City Clerk’s office. Executive session means discussions within the posted meeting are secret and the public may not attend.

Sullivan also called WHAV earlier in the day, protesting the term “secret,” pointing out that although the public cannot attend, the meeting was properly advertised. WHAV could not find the meeting posted on the city’s website nor on any building with public access 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week. However, the posting did appear on the wall outside the city clerk’s office inside City Hall.

WHAV’s original story reported School Committeeman Scott W. Wood Jr. as saying the subcommittee’s job is not to bargain with Scully. “The role of the subcommittee has always been merely to listen to the superintendent’s requests and to report those back. The role of the subcommittee is not to make decisions or negotiate without a directive on parameters from the full school committee.”

In “10 tips to help reporters with stealthy government,” Society of Professional Journalists writer Joel Campbell referred to the word “secret” several times in describing “executive sessions.” He wrote, “Getting past the secrecy of government meetings is an age-old challenge for journalists.” The article concluded, “In the end, journalists are most often on the front lines when government goes into secret.”