DePrizio alleges SC cover-up as resignation calls continue

SCHOOL COMMITTEE member Kate DePrizio (center) accused her colleagues of participating in a cover-up while Vice Chair Jenny Sheehan and Committeeman Jim Dillon listen during an Oct. 16 meeting.

By DAN TOMASELLO

LYNNFIELD — The saga continues.

A large number of residents continued calling for School Committee member Kate DePrizio’s resignation during an Oct. 16 meeting. DePrizio ignited a firestorm in town after she made a series of allegations against School Committee member Jamie Hayman during a Sept. 11 meeting. The former school board chair accused Hayman of violating the board’s “ethical standards” by trying to seek “preferential treatment” for his children. She did not present any evidence when making the accusations.

Additionally, DePrizio claimed that Hayman “threatened” her and her children, and called her an expletive during a phone conversation before the Sept. 11 meeting. Police Chief Nick Secatore recently stated in a police report that he “did not hear threats that are of a criminal nature or Jamie mention her family” while listening to an audio recording of Hayman’s side of the conversation.

Apple Hill Lane resident Steven Grasso asked School Committee Chair Kristen Grieco Elworthy, School Committee Vice Chair Jenny Sheehan, Committeeman Jim Dillon and Superintendent Tom Geary to “state their positions on Kate DePrizio’s actions and words, including the accusations proven false in a public police report.”

“All that we can take away as a community from your actions is that you are okay with what Kate has done,” said Grasso. “She has destroyed the credibility of the Lynnfield School Committee. Your actions amount to a cover-up. Your silence is a cover-up.”

DePrizio said she did not lie to Police Chief Nick Secatore. She asked the meeting’s attendees to call him to discuss the report.

Elworthy said the police report is “not a committee matter.”

Grasso said DePrizio “didn’t have to read that character assassination” against Hayman on Sept. 11.

“You wanted to. Plain and simple,” said Grasso.

DePrizio asked to respond to Grasso.

“I have the entire committee supporting reading it and a superintendent,” said DePrizio. “So if you want to find out about this more instead of just character assassination, you should FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request everything.”

In response to a question from a member of the audience, DePrizio maintained that the allegations she made against Hayman were “true.”

“They all came to me with concerns about undermining,” said DePrizio while pointing at her colleagues. “So if we want to talk about it, I invite you to FOIA request the records. I understand that we are deciding to cover it up, but it is one thing for me to continue to sit here and be a team player when there is correspondence that proves otherwise. I invite you to FOIA request the records for it. Find out what happened.”

Several audience members demanded to know if DePrizio’s latest accusation was true, but Elworthy refused to answer the question.

“We talked about it at the last meeting,” said Elworthy. “We gave a statement that explained what happened. We are not talking about it again.”

In regards to what transpired at the Sept. 11 meeting, Elworthy stated at the Sept. 24 meeting: “This committee did not make those decisions as a committee.”

Grasso reiterated that DePrizio should resign. He said Elworthy, Sheehan, Dillon and Geary were taking “the ‘Naked Gun’ strategy.”

“There is nothing to see here. Please disperse while there is a 15-alarm fire going on behind you and you have nothing to say,” said Grasso.

Former School Committee member Phil McQueen read a lengthy statement that was repeatedly interrupted by Elworthy and a Lynnfield Media Studios technical problem. In the statement, McQueen accused DePrizio of violating the School Committee’s operating protocols on two separate occasions, including last November’s Facebook post when she raised concerns about the educator morale crisis.

“Sept. 11 is not a one-off mistake that can be put in the rearview mirror,” said McQueen. “It is the culmination of increasingly dangerous behaviors. I am going to ask you all to take pause and reflect on your actions and complicity, and your deafening silence when you needed to speak up. It’s time to step up, do the right thing and make the hard choice of stating your position on what Kate has done. And if you think she has done the wrong thing, you should ask her to resign. You are all role models and leaders in this community, so please lead. And Kate, enough is enough. Can you please resign?”

While DePrizio said she “respects” that she and McQueen have “a difference in opinion,” she maintained that she did not violate the School Committee’s protocols last November and in April 2022.

“It’s one thing to say you don’t like the way I went about it or lied, but I’ve adhered to all of the protocols on it,” said DePrizio.

Elworthy said the School Committee wants to “move on” from what transpired at the Sept. 11 meeting. She recalled that the School Committee addressed what transpired at the Sept. 11 during a Sept. 24 meeting.

Hampton Court resident Heather Rose called on DePrizio to resign once again.

“The former chair of the Lynnfield School Committee, an elected official, created an appearance of impropriety by willfully deceiving her constituents and local law enforcement with false claims and allegations, and most egregiously impacted the mental health of minors who are also students in the district,” said Rose. “We are all aware of this. This is in violation of the oath of office that Mrs. DePrizio took on April 9, 2024 when she was sworn in as an elected public official and School Committee member.”

Rose also criticized Elworthy, Sheehan and Dillon for refusing to take a position on whether DePrizio should resign. She emailed Elworthy and Sheehan that encouraged both women to request DePrizio’s resignation. Rose said Elworthy told her in an email that, “She did not feel comfortable setting a precedent where a School Committee chair or member could ask for another member’s resignation.”

“I strongly disagree,” said Rose. “In the School Committee/Superintendent Operating Protocols that were revised and adopted on Sept. 11, the final protocol reads: ‘Undergo a process when things go wrong.’  And under the subheading, the last point reads: ‘Should any of us fail to live up to these commitments, we will be held accountable by our fellow School Committee members.’ This is not happening. You are not holding Mrs. DePrizio accountable for her actions, but I do agree that you are in fact setting a precedent. And sadly, that precedent is the chair of the Lynnfield School Committee, or any member for that matter, can deceive constituents and law enforcement, make false allegations to inflict harm on others and harm the mental health of students in the district without taking any responsibility for wrongdoings and being held accountable for their actions by their fellow committee members. If this is the precedent that the committee is comfortable setting, there can never be trust, credibility or accountability in this school system. I think we should all be sad and disappointed by that. And at the end of the day, this is about demonstrating leadership by choosing right over wrong. You all owe that to this community.”

Apple Hill Lane resident Mark Vitagliano, who has initiated a recall seeking to remove DePrizio from the School Committee, reiterated that she should resign.

“I am asking for you to resign immediately,” said Vitagliano. “You bring far too much nonsense and unnecessary drama and theatrics to the School Committee, and your presence on the School Committee will prevent real work from being done. This School Committee will operate far better without you. To the rest of the School Committee, I know you want to simply move forward and let this be a personal matter. I vehemently disagree. You all sat there and allowed the character assassination to unfold in a very public meeting, so this now is very much a public matter. Some of you after the fact said that it did not feel right to address this in a public session, but no one questioned it. No one stood up before and said this doesn’t feel right. That is not the type of leadership we deserve. Some of you issued what I feel were sincere apologies, Kristen, Jenny, while Kate and Tom did not even issue an apology to the Hayman children. That is a miss. A massive, massive, massive miss.”

Vitagliano asked the panel if DePrizio should “stay on the School Committee given her behavior.”

None of the School Committee members answered the question.

Vitagliano also asked the School Committee and Geary if they supported DePrizio’s belief that attorney Colby Brunt should be fired.

“I am happy with attorney Brunt’s work,” said Elworthy. “I work with her closely. I will just add that anybody on this committee can make a motion on something such as changing attorneys, and they need at least three votes to do so. They can overrule me or anyone else. There are processes for things like that. There are not processes for us to change who sits here.”

Hayman, Geary, Sheehan and Dillon nodded their heads in agreement that they want to keep Brunt.

“There are six people up here, and everyone wants to keep this attorney except one,” said Vitagliano in response. “Is that problematic for any of you? There is one person here who wants the attorney fired and the rest of you think she is doing a good job obviously because you want her to remain. This is exactly why you need to resign Kate. You do not even have the confidence of your fellow committee members or the superintendent, and that was just made abundantly clear.”

Speaking as a parent, Library Trustee Darlene Kumar asked the School Committee to respond to a question from her in an email.

“What steps will this committee take to rebuild trust and credibility with this community?” asked Kumar.

Winchester Drive resident Kim Baker Donahue said the community wants to “move on from this issue.”  She said the School Committee has to answer lingering questions from the community in order to “rebuild” the committee’s “lost credibility.”