Closed-Door Wayland Meeting That Led To Superintendent's Leave Subject Of OML Complaint

WAYLAND, MA — The closed-door Wayland School Committee meeting that led to Superintendent Omar Easy being placed on involuntary leave may have violated the state's Open Meeting Law, according to a new complaint.

Wayland resident George Harris — a former select board member and attorney — filed an Open Meeting Law complaint Tuesday with the state Attorney General over the committee's Feb. 8 executive session meeting.

The meeting was advertised as a discussion of "strategy with respect to litigation" and arbitration involving the school committee. But in a Friday filing with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD), Easy said the committee used the executive session meeting to hold a vote to put him on leave.

"This letter is to notify you that at its meeting on February 8, 2023, the Wayland School Committee voted to place you on paid administrative leave, effective immediately," committee Chair Chris Ryan wrote in an email to Easy, which was included as an exhibit in the MCAD filing.

That vote may have violated state law, Harris' complaint says, because the committee did not disclose it would vote on issues related to personnel. A spokesperson for the school committee did not immediately return a request for comment about the Open Meetings Law complaint.

The state Open Meetings Law allows public bodies to meet in executive session for 10 specific circumstances ranging from discussing the reputation, character and performance of employees to bargaining with labor unions. The law says any person subject to discipline in closed meetings has the right to attend with an attorney or other representative.

"Discipline of an employee (here, school superintendent) can be discussed in executive session only upon publicly citing [one of the 10 reasons] and notifying the individual in writing at least 48 hours prior to the executive session," the Harris complaint says. "The committee subjected Dr. Easy to discipline at its Feb. 8, 2023, executive session, without prior notice, when it voted to place him on immediate involuntary administrative leave, in violation of the Open Meeting Law."

The complaint also alleges executive session meetings held Jan. 18 and 25 violated the Open Meetings Law by covering more topics than advertised, like Easy's job performance.

Harris is known in Wayland for filing Open Meetings Law complaints — successfully in many cases. Since the start of 2020, the state has found various towns boards and commissions have violated the Open Meetings Law 19 times based on complaints made by Harris.

The school committee was found in violation of the OML most recently in February 2022 based on a complaint made by Harris over meeting minutes taken during the 2021 superintendent search that led to Easy's hiring. The complaint alleged the school committee failed to list the names of the superintendent finalists and did not include what candidates said during interviews in minutes published after the meetings.

The state opted to resolve the complaint by "informal action," requiring each member to undergo training, and warning that further violations could mean fines. The ruling also said the committee likely did not intentionally violate the law, even though a similar error was made five years before the ruling.

Harris said he's been filing Open Meeting Law complaints in Wayland since his time on the select board between 1987 and 1996. He said Wayland does not provide proper Open Meeting Law training for the town's all-volunteer corps of elected and appointed officials, leading to frequent OML violations.

The school committee notified parents about Easy being placed on leave in an email sent Feb. 9, but neither listed a reason nor said whether the leave was forced. Easy responded by filing an MCAD complaint on Friday, saying the school committee has fostered racial discrimination since he was hired as the town's first Black superintendent in 2021. Easy also said the school committee did not tell him why he was placed on leave.

Harris' filing triggers a process under state law that will require the school committee within 14 days to meet to discuss the allegations and respond. The committee must also send a response to the attorney general.