Wayland School Committee Faces New Open Meeting Complaint Over Superintendent Contract

WAYLAND, MA — The Wayland School Committee violated the state Open Meeting Law (OML) by failing to publicly vote on a new contract for acting Superintendent David Fleishman, according to a complaint filed by a Wayland resident — one of nearly a dozen similar complaints filed over the last two years against the committee, state records show.

Wayland resident George Harris filed the Open Meeting Law complaint last month, alleging that the committee violated a section of the OML that requires public bodies to vote on contracts during open meetings. On Oct. 24, the committee hammered out a new contract with Fleishman during a closed-door meeting, agreeing to pay him $255,000 — $45,000 higher than former superintendent Omar Easy — to work through the 2024-25 school year.

When the committee exited the closed session portion of the meeting on Oct. 24, the members voted — with member Ellen Grieco absent — to authorize Chair Erin Gibbons to enter into a new contract with Fleishman. Harris says in his complaint that the committee did not reveal that the contract had actually been signed on Nov. 6 by Gibbons — but the committee still had not held a public vote on the contract as of this week.

"The committee was perfectly free to delegate execution of the contract to [Gibbons]; however, in doing so it was not allowed to eradicate the committee’s Open Meeting Law obligation to promptly vote to approve the contract at a meeting open to the public," Harris' complaint says.

The contract was signed by Gibbons and Fleishman on Nov. 6, a day when there was no school committee meeting.

Harris filed a separate OML complaint over the Oct. 24 meeting, alleging that the agenda was insufficiently specific. A state Attorney General investigation found Harris' allegation was correct and chided the committee not to break the OML law again.

"[F]uture similar violations may be considered evidence of intent to violate the law," Assistant Attorney General Matthew Lindberg wrote.

In an email exchange that began on April 30, School Committee Chair Erin Gibbons did not respond to questions about recent OML violations. A fourth request for comment on Wednesday Gibbons went unanswered.

Since 2022, the state has sustained nine separate OML complaints against the school committee, including four in 2024 alone, according to a state database. Those include:

• In March 2023, former school committee member Kim Reichelt alleged an OML violation over a 2022 closed-door meeting where members discussed complaints about Easy. A state investigator found the committee violated the law, "by including an insufficiently specific topic on the notice for its Nov. 10 meeting where it did not identify Dr. Easy as the subject of the complaints that would be discussed."
• Complaints filed by Harris over the agendas for the Oct. 4 and Nov. 15 school committee meetings containing items that were "insufficiently specific" — the same type of violation the state sustained over the Oct. 24 meeting.
• In a February decision, the state found the school committee did not respond within the statutory 14 days to an OML complaint filed by Harris in 2023, but also ruled the committee had responded to Harris' request for minutes in a timely fashion — Harris had alleged they did not.

State law requires all new school committee members to undergo training on topics like the Open Meeting Law. According to documents provided by the Wayland Town Clerk, only School Committee member Christina Rodrigo has filed proof of completing that training, which the Massachusetts Association of School Committees provides to its members. Gibbons said in a May 1 email that all members have taken the training, but did not provide documentation when asked.

Under OML, the state Attorney General has multiple options for resolving violations. The most lenient is a stern warning to the public body, which has been the resolution taken by the state in the most recent sustained complaints. The state can also require members to attend training, nullify actions taken at meetings that violated the law, or file a civil lawsuit.

The school committee hired Fleishman, the former Newton superintendent, in April 2023. The school committee said at the Oct. 24 meeting that him signing a one-year contract would give the district time to conduct a search for a permanent new superintendent. Fleishman is Wayland's second superintendent since Easy was placed on leave in February 2023. Parry Graham, now the superintendent in Lincoln, held the job before the district hired Fleishman.

Here's Harris' full OML complaint over the Oct. 24 meeting:

Correction: An earlier version of this story did not clearly state that the school committee still has not held a vote on approving the superintendent's. The story also said Harris filed his complaint with the state, but the first step in an OML complaint is to file with the local body that the complaint is against. This article has also been updated to reflect the district where Graham is now superintendent.