Beverly Resident Accuses School Board Of Meeting Law Violation

BEVERLY, MA — An open meeting law complaint accuses the Beverly School Committee of privately deliberating a school reopening proposal presented by committee member Lorinda Visnick at the board's Aug. 6 meeting.

The complaint filed by Charles Kostro, a Beverly resident and executive director of the Essex Regional Retirement System, says some members of the committee may have privately discussed the proposal before it was presented at the meeting.

"If a quorum of the Committee, whether collectively or in individual, serial communications, deliberated on Ms. Visnick's proposal, or on a strategy for its presentation, and did so outside of the posted public meeting, this would constitute a violation of the Open Meeting Law," Kostro wrote in his complaint.

According to the Salem News, which first reported this story, Kostro's complaint asks the school committee to have its counsel review the incident and provide a full account of what happened. The school committee, which is scheduled to discuss the complaint when it meets Wednesday, has 14 days to respond to the complaint.

The committee eventually approved the proposal from Superintendent Suzanne Charochak over Visnick's proposal, which called for a phased reopening of schools.