Click image above for Haverhill School Committee agenda.
Amid a rocky selection process, the Haverhill School Committee will again hear candidates for one of the city’s two seats on the Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School Board, as well as vote Thursday on a proposed change to the policy governing how it fills those positions.
It appears the body will choose between member Gail M. Sullivan and incumbent Richard P. Early Jr., though the agenda did not specify which candidates will be heard at the meeting.
If the committee adopts a change to the Whittier Tech appointment policy, it may be required to provide notice and a hearing before removing one of its members from the vocational school’s board for policy violations or an unspecified “other cause.”
“Basically, the city solicitor said that she believed that there needed to be cause and notice and hearings,” member Richard J. Rosa told WHAV. He said this was the only proposed change to the policy at a subcommittee meeting Monday
The amendment follows the body’s abortive attempt to remove former School Committee member Scott W. Wood Jr. from the Whittier Tech board. After initially announcing candidates could run for two seats, the Haverhill committee later declared only Early’s open, causing four people to drop out of the race.
Officials said a ruling by City Solicitor Lisa L. Mead led committee members to reconsider vacating Wood’s seat, as WHAV reported. She determined there may have been an Open Meeting Law violation when the committee previously approved an appointment policy that allowed the body to oust Wood.
The revised policy declared, “If a Haverhill School Committee member is appointed to the Whittier Tech School Committee and chooses not to run for reelection or is not reelected before the end of their three-year term the position shall be considered vacated, and the appointee must reapply to the Haverhill School Committee if they want to finish their term on the Whittier Tech School Committee.”
After the withdrawal of this revision, the number of open seats shrank from two to one. As WHAV reported, former City Councilor Mary Ellen Daly O’Brien said she abandoned her candidacy because she supported Early and did not want to compete for his spot. Early has served on the Whittier Tech board for 24 years. The finalist facing Early, Jeff Leblanc, said he chose to withdraw in part due to the committee abruptly lengthening the selection process.
Wood remains on the Whittier Tech committee. In fact, he was recently elected chairman.