School Committee Overlooks Rules, Wraps Up Interviews for SBC Slots

At 5 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 1, Medfield School Committee will wrap up interviews with candidates who applied to serve on the new School Building Committee (SBC) and vote on two individuals to fill four available slots.

One interview was conducted on Tuesday, Nov. 29; the remaining three will take place on Dec. 1.

In the process of creating its candidate list at a Nov. 15 workshop, School Committee removed at least one person from consideration primarily because the person did not submit all of the required materials, based on member statements.

School Committee Chair Anna Mae O'Shea Brooke summarized her conversation with the applicant for the committee noting that the person had only submitted an e-mail to the Town Moderator (without a cover letter or resume).

(A short audio recording of Nov. 15 School Committee workshop can be found here.)

Brooke said she had talked to the applicant and explained that the committee was following a process and guidelines that were "absolutely" on the website. She added emphatically, "I feel that it would not be fair to put (the candidate) forward considering we had a process. I really want to follow our guidelines – we’re under a microscope here."

The candidates identified for further SBC consideration and interviews are:

Robert Worth (12/1 interview)
Meredith Chamberland (12/1 interview)
Patrick Duffy (12/29 interview)
Lauren Platco (12/1 interview)

School Committee Advances Candidate Despite No Resume/Cover Letter

Despite the stated need for required application materials, at its Nov. 17 meeting (two days after the committee workshop), Brooke stated that it had come to the committee's attention that a candidate selected for an interview had not submitted a cover letter and resume.

School Committee members Michelle Kirkby and Tim Knight both stated that a resume was not required as part of the application process. Kirby also said the committee "as a group" hadn't agreed on the resume as a requirement, and it was not part of the Google form. (See conflicting information below.)

Chair Brooke then said she agreed with her fellow Committee members that they should not eliminate a candidate because of failure to submit the required materials.

(A short audio recording of the School Committee meeting can be found here.)

Documentation of the School Building Committee application process:

• Based on a May 23 e-mail from former Chair Jessica Reilly, School Committee appointed member Anna Mae O'Shea Brooke to act "as School Committee liaison" with the various other appointing authorities to "establish dates and benchmarks, and nominating procedures, including a uniform interest and nomination form..."

• Brooke had said publicly she wanted to model Longmeadow Public Schools process, and enlisted Board of Selectmen and School Committee to proceed with a unified approach. The resulting Medfield process involved creation of a Google SBC application form, town website content, and press releases sent to the local media with help from town administration. All communications specifically stated that a resume and letter of interest were required in addition to the online application. Screenshots of the application form and website content can be found here.

• Board of Selectmen and School Committee agreed to have a uniform process; Town Moderator Scott McDermott opted to remain autonomous and move forward with his own process. Regardless, it was made clear in all public communication that anyone applying via the joint Selectmen/School Committee route needed to submit a resume and cover letter in addition to the Google form.

(In addition to two members selected from parents in the community, two School Committee members will be appointed to serve on the new SBC. Members Jessica Reilly and Michelle Kirkby publicly expressed interest in serving, but as of this writing, School Committee has not voted on their appointments.)

Board of Selectmen and Town Moderator Appoint Members

On Nov. 15, Board of Selectmen appointed the following residents to the new SBC to meet bylaw criteria:

Mike Weber (Permanent Planning & Building Committee representative)
Teresa James (Planning Board representative)
Anthony Papantonis (resident with construction experience)
Robert Donahoe (resident with engineering experience)

In a letter dated Nov. 3, Town Moderator Scott McDermott announced his SBC appointments to meet bylaw criteria:

Mather Eldred (Warrant Committee member)
Robert Meaney (resident age 65 or older)
Carolyn Casey (resident at large)
William C. Werner (resident at large)