SCHOOL COMMITTEE CHAIR Kristen Grieco Elworthy (second from left) said on Sept. 24 that the school board’s attorney ‘did not recommend or require” School Committee member Kate DePrizio (fourth from left) to read a letter that made a series of allegations against School Committee member Jamie Hayman (at far right) during a previous meeting on Sept. 11.
By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — A letter that School Committee member Kate DePrizio read publicly that made a series of allegations against Committeeman Jamie Hayman should not have occurred, Chair Kristen Grieco Elworthy said during a Sept. 24 meeting.
DePrizio, who was the School Committee’s chair at the time, read a letter during a Sept. 11 meeting that accused Hayman of allegedly trying to get “preferential treatment” for his children, and provided no evidence to support the claims. She also accused him of “threatening” her and her family, which Police Chief Nick Secatore confirmed did not occur after listening to an audio recording of Hayman’s side of the conversation.
Elworthy addressed what transpired at the School Committee’s Sept. 11 meeting and “what’s happened since.”
“I’d like to start by offering an apology to Jamie’s family for being unfairly brought into a public discussion,” said Elworthy. “No students should ever have been discussed or brought into what was essentially a notification to a School Committee member. Personally, I’d also like to apologize to Jamie for being put in the position he was in at our last meeting. It was unprofessional and I don’t expect it will happen again. Since that meeting, I have met with Jamie and our attorney to further discuss the matter at hand and share additional information. At this time, there will be no further School Committee action on this matter. We have important work to continue, and our goal is to continue to move that forward.”
Elworthy also provided “a few facts in reference to this matter.”
“First, I’ve spoken with our attorney and she has shared that her recommendation may have been misinterpreted around handling this matter,” said Elworthy. “However, she did not recommend or require the step of reading the letter aloud in a public meeting. Secondly, she confirmed that Superintendent (Tom) Geary was correct in bringing forth any concerns with a committee member to the chair’s attention.”
Elworthy said the issue was “an unfortunate moment for a committee that is truly trying to cut the noise and focus on bettering our schools and supporting our students.”
“As a group, we are committed to moving forward with the important work of continuing to contribute to academic excellence and the education of all students in our district,” said Elworthy.
DePrizio doubled down on the accusations she made against Hayman.
“After hearing Ms. Elworthy’s statement, I contest the facts as stated,” said DePrizio. “I have my records and alongside counsel, I will be preparing a statement on my behalf.”
School Committee Vice Chair Jenny Sheehan apologized to Hayman.
“I agree with what Kristen said in her statement,” said Sheehan. “Jamie and I have talked privately, and I just want to echo that publicly that I am very sorry about your kids being brought in. That was inappropriate. They never should have been brought in, and I just want to reiterate that.”
School Committee member Jim Dillon said it was “unfortunate” that the letter “wound up being public.”
“As a member of the committee, I will apologize to Jamie’s children for that,” said Dillon. “Our new attorney said her recommendation may have been misinterpreted around handling this matter and she did not recommend or require the step of reading the letter aloud in a public meeting. I would hope that moving forward on a matter like this where we are relying so much on our attorney that saying don’t do this in public would be a stronger message. We rely strongly on the advice of our counsel on matters like this. On this type of personnel thing, we are not doing this on our own. Hopefully those lines of communication will be more clear and more exact moving forward. I really think that has to happen with something like this. I definitely want to apologize to what happened to Jamie’s kids.”
Hayman said he appreciated the “apologies to my family, the acknowledgment of the conversation with the attorney and the confirmation that reading the message in an open meeting two weeks ago was not in fact done at the advice of counsel.”
“Let’s remember how we got here,” Hayman continued. “Kate took it upon herself to say a number of things about me and my family that were not true. She read the email out aloud on the advice of counsel. This was not true. She made a statement that I made threats to her and her family, and took them to the police. This was not true. She made the initial allegation about how I related with school staff and administration. This was similarly not true.”
Hayman became emotional when he said, “The impact on me and my family has been really difficult.”
“And while we will work through it, I think it is important to understand the broader impact this type of behavior has, the most important being that this has damaged the credibility of the entire committee at a time when the stakes are the highest,” said Hayman. “I want to acknowledge Kristen and Jenny for reaching out this week to discuss this further, however, it doesn’t change the fact that it happened. Do any of you have any idea how much you hurt my family by questioning their integrity, accomplishments and hard work? And when my kids were brought into the conversation, any one of you could have said stop, this isn’t right, but none of you did.”
Hayman said, “What is true is that we have some really important work that needs to get done.”
“MCAS scores recently came out, we have collective bargaining to begin and we are facing one of the toughest budget situations in a generation,” said Hayman. “That is what we need to be spending our time on.”
Hayman said the “silver lining” in the entire situation has been “the community’s support.”
“The vast majority of this community has come to my and my family’s defense,” said Hayman. “They recognize that for 10 years, I have done nothing but try to push this district forward based on the information I had at the time I made my decisions. I have tried to treat people with respect, even in times of disagreement. To that point, there have been many people who have come forward with support who have vehemently disagreed with me in the past to offer their support. To everyone who has reached out, I say thank you. My wife, Christina, often refers to School Committee as ‘the worst volunteer job ever,’ which at times like this is absolutely true. But I still believe and maybe naively so that there is so much good that can come out of this role. We have 2,200 kids and their families and a few hundred teachers counting on us to stop this infighting and accusations and get this district moving forward.”
The meeting’s attendees gave Hayman a round of applause.
Geary said the situation should have “absolutely” been handled better.
“Jamie, I apologize to you,” said Geary. “Any one could have stepped in at the time, and it didn’t happen. I don’t think any one could argue with that. With that said, I am never going to turn a deaf ear when a student, parent, staff or community member voices their concerns to me. Ever. I haven’t since I started in this role and I never will. The importance of the trust and credibility from the community is too strong and important to me. You can ask many of the staff members and families right in this room. I have had countless open and honest conversations with them in the last nine months as I have tried to be as connected and available to the schools and the community as possible. You might not always agree with my answers, but everyone here is continuing to show up day in and day out for this town because they want our schools to be great. That is something the community was looking for since our prior superintendent left, and it’s something I have emphasized and demanded as part of a shift in our culture.”
Geary agreed with Hayman that, “It is maddening that we continue to spend precious time on these areas.”
“Maintaining focus on teaching and learning while creating an improved culture in our schools has been my top priority and my team’s top priority since we got here,” said Geary. “My team and I have committed to these goals: Returning to public presentations on curriculum, instruction, English language arts, mathematics, MCAS and Advanced Placement scores. And Jamie is right that we have a budget situation coming up and a teachers’ contract coming up. All of those need our immediate and sole focus. A mentor of mine used to say to me, ‘it’s not about being right. It’s about doing what’s right.’ Now is the time to fully focus on doing what is right, put our agendas aside and work towards our stated goals and the overall success of our students.”
After the School Committee and Geary concluded theirs remarks on the matter, a number of residents raked virtually all of them over the coals.
While responding to residents concerns, Elworthy said, “The decisions made at the last meeting were wrong.” She also said the situation was “mishandled,” a “terrible mistake” and an “isolated incident.”
“It will not happen again,” said Elworthy.
