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During the July 16 meeting of the Sudbury Select Board, the board was set to vote to hold a public hearing on July 30th. That hearing would cover whether or not the Town would call a Fall Town Meeting, in accordance with the Town’s General Bylaws. The board voted to hold that hearing later this month, but during the discussion a letter from Sudbury Public Schools School Committee Member, Mary Stephens, was referenced. In the ensuing discussion, board members voiced disagreements on the role of liaisons. (2:29:00)
The letter, which Stephens wrote as a private citizen, is now available on the Town website.
In the letter, Stephens voices concern that the full school committee has not discussed if they have any pressing warrant articles for a Fall Town Meeting. She claims that a full-committee discussion was originally slated for a July 8 school committee meeting, but was cancelled when the Chair, Nicole Burnard, told the committee that none of the potential warrant articles were time-sensitive enough to warrant a Fall Town Meeting:
“After the select board’s request on June 25th, the SC scheduled an extra meeting for 7/8 to discuss this topic. Yet, on July 2nd, the SC chair canceled the discussion because “SPS does not have any time-sensitive warrant articles that would necessitate a request for a Fall Town Meeting.” However, this was not based on a discussion or vote with the entire committee on the multiple suggestions of warrant articles sent to the Superintendent and SC chair for consideration.”
Mary Stephens
Stephens also took issue with the manner in which the decision was made. She alleges that Burnard consulted with Select Board Member Dan Carty, who is the board’s liaison to the school committee, to make her decision.
“When asked to reconsider adding the discussion to the agenda, the SC Chair wrote, “The decision to remove the discussion was made after consultation with the Select Board liaison to SPS.” As a community member, I am concerned about the apparent undue influence the select board liaison exerted over the newly appointed SC chair.”
Mary Stephens
Stephens asked the Select Board to “have a robust discussion about the role of liaisons and their influence on business outside of their purview.” She also requested that they contact the school committee chair to encourage the committee to have a full discussion in order to provide input to the Select Board by July 30.
Select Board Member Lisa Kouchakdjian voiced a desire to hear from the school committees as part of the process. She also voiced concern about Carty’s conversation with Burnard. (2:38:38)
Member Carty responded there was nothing inappropriate about his conversation with Burnard, and lamented that Stephens hadn’t contacted him directly.
“So yes, did I have a discussion with the chair of the Sudbury School Committee? Absolutely. That discussion revolved around the mechanics of how the Fall Town Meeting works. And I said look, we are going to have a public hearing on the 30th. Most likely we have to do it before the end of July. I basically reiterated what Charlie just said of, look we had a Fall Town Meeting last year with the hopes that we don’t have to do one this year, but if there’s something pressing that needs to be done, like if you got into the MSBA program for the roofs and something was time sensitive, then bring it forward. That was the conversation. So you know I’m a little offended that people are trying to say that I directed the school committee whether or not to have a Fall Town Meeting. Because that discussion clearly just did not happen.”
Dan Carty (2:39:34)
Having heard the explanation, Member Dretler responded that she thought Carty may have gone too far and later requested that the Select Board’s liaison policy be posted to the Town website. She added: “I just want to make sure the community knows what our role is.” Carty reasserted that he did not instruct anyone what to do. (2:41:00)
What’s the Protocol?
At the top of the discussion, Town Manager Andy Sheehan confirmed that SPS Superintendent, Brad Crozier, had already responded to tell the Town that SPS didn’t have a need for a Fall Town Meeting. (2:30:00) Sheehan also noted that the Town was hoping to avoid a Fall Town Meeting during a Presidential Election year. It appeared from the start of the conversation as though the Town depends on department heads, not committees, to make the decision.
However, the SPS School Committee appears to play a significant role with regard to SPS warrant articles, at least recently. Sudbury held a Fall Town Meeting in 2023 and the school committee, not the superintendent, was listed as the sponsor/submitter of the three SPS articles on the warrant.
Select Board Chair, Jennifer Roberts, noted that the Town sends out the request for input to department heads, but the Select Board doesn’t dictate the manner in which department heads should work with their committees. (2:34:00) She did add that there was still time for Sudbury’s two school committees to meet and discuss the matter.
Stephens’ letter raises questions about the role of the chair, the superintendent, and the full committee, particularly with regard to deciding on town meeting articles. A review of the SPS School Committee operating protocols and handbook doesn’t reveal a specific process for how the committee is supposed to engage with the superintendent on these matters. The handbook mentions town meeting articles as an annual agenda topic for the committee, and the “Budget Monitoring” section states:
“Additionally, Warrant Articles for Annual Town Meeting, or any Special Town Meeting are reviewed and approved by the Committee.”
SPS School Committee Handbook
Sudbury Weekly contacted SPS Chair, Nicole Burnard, for this story. Chair Burnard declined to add further comment.
The SPS School Committee is scheduled to meet on July 22. The agenda does not include Fall Town Meeting. The meeting is in-person at the SPS offices in the Fairbank Community Center. No remote attendance or viewing option is provided. It will be recorded and posted on Sudbury TV’s on-demand service at a later date.