right to know package 2010

8/6/2019 Right to Know Package 2010

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Volume lIX No. 39

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Chief clash

By Justin GraeBer, Clipper editor Justin@duxBuryClipper .Com

The Duxbury School Com-mittee met on Wednesday tohash out some of the issuesand philosophical differencesthat have been dividing thecommittee recently. But themeeting almost didn’t takeplace, as the committee con-sidered canceling the meetingafter a Clipper reporter refusedto leave.

Printed signs directed visi-tors to a conference room in thehigh school, and chairs were setup for an audience. However,at the beginning of the meet-

ing, School Committee GeorgeCipolletti asked a woman tap-ing the meeting for local cableaccess to shut off the camera,saying that the committee “hada choice” whether or not to al-low the taping of the meeting.Residents in attendance weretold that although the meetingwas posted according to theopen meeting law, having peo-ple view the meeting might bedetrimental to the discussion,because School Committeemembers might not be able tospeak freely. After some back

By Justin GraeBer, Clipper editor [email protected]

Grab your designer sun-glasses, recruit your entou-rage, and get your agent on thephone –– the movie business iscoming to the South Shore.

The buzz around the newPlymouth Rock movie studiois already having an effect.Thanks to tax incentives aimedat Hollywood-types, the state

Lights, camera, action!Plymouth RockStudios reachesout to towns


It’s been a year since devel-oper John Keith rst presenteda plan to expand the existingIsland Creek Village. Aftermany revisions and back-and-forth discussions between thedevelopment team and theZoning Board of Appeals, thetwo sides seemed much closer

to an agreement after meetingon Thursday night.

“I think we’re ending ona very happy note,” said ZBAChairman Dennis Murphy as

the meeting adjourned.However, the meetin

not begin with such an mistic tone. The two sidedifferences over a numbissues, including the heigthe rental apartment buildand the economic feaity of the project as a wThe development team, leconsultant Ed Marchant

maintained that some ochanges demanded by the had made the project know

Island Creek close to a deaProject will be all rental, boost housing index

continued on page 6

continued on page 19 continued on page 12

John Jordan of Duxbury and Kate Ayson sit in the offices of the REducational Cooperative, the non-profit wing of the new PlymoRock movie studio being built in Plymouth.

School boardtalks it outCommittee tries to shut the dooras they work on communication

Architect Andrew Zaleski showsthe board new plans for the 40Bdevelopment of Island Creek.

By susanna sheehan, Clipper staff [email protected]

A large crowd packed thetown hall Monday night to

show their support for PoliceChief Mark DeLuca, somecalling on selectmen to re-move Town Manager RichardMacDonald from ofce andthreatening to revoke the TownManager Act.

A few residents did defendthe town manager, however,and the husband of a formerpolice ofcer charged DeLu-ca and the petition organizerswith intimidation.

DeLuca’ssupporters pre-sented select-men with a pe-

tition signed byover 500 Dux-bury residentswho want thepolice chief tokeep his job. In

June, MacDonald announcedhe would not renew DeLuca’scontract, which expires Nov.20. Under the Town ManagerAct of 1987, the town managerhas the ability to appoint or re-

continued on page 16

Mark DeLuca

Police chief supporters demandanswers on contract status

POSTAL PATRON

DUXBURY, MA



Wednesday, September 30, 2009 Duxbury Clipper Subscribe at www.duxburyclipper.com or call 781-934-2811

and forth discussion, reporterswere allowed to stay.

The committee, along withSuperintendent of SchoolsSusan Skeiber and Assistant

Superintendent Edwin Walsh,met with consultant RobertEvans. Evans, a psycholo-gist, works for a non-protin Wellsely and works withschool committees around thecountry.

“It’s not true that a goodcommittee is one where every-body sees eye to eye,” Evanssaid. “It’s how it gets man-aged, and seeing that peopledisagree in ways that are ulti-mately constructive.”

Committee member AnneWard said that there has beena divide on the board recently

among members who wish tosupport the superintendent andthose who want to be a voicefor the citizens.

“These two things don’thave to be mutually exclu-sive,” she said. “How do weget rid of the split and mergethese two things.”

John Heindstadt said thathe felt there is a perception inthe public the committee needsto deal with. “Citizens don’tfeel that anybody’s listening tothem,” he said. “Most peoplewill accept something, even if

they disagree, if you discussthings openly and honestlyand respect them.”

Member Maureen Connol-ly said she felt very stronglythat the voices of concernedparents should be heard.

“We were elected by thepublic, for the public,” shesaid. “Parents are the ones whowill advocate most for theirchildren. Nobody else will dothat like a parent does.”

However, other memberssaid they have to take the po-sition of what’s best for thedistrict as a whole.

“On any issue, there’s go-ing to be some parents whoagree or disagree,” said KarenWong. “We were elected tohave that bird’s eye view.”

Other members said thatconstant second guessing of the superintendent is tanta-mount to micromanagementand impedes her ability to doher job.

“We have a difcult time,sometimes as a board andsometimes as individual mem-bers, delineating between di-rection and directions,” said

Cipolletti.Ward said that the groupneeded to learn to disagree

d k i i h

and we have to talk about that.I’m not trying to scuttle thewhole program,” he said, re-ferring to the recent decisionto change school start times.

Even the facilitator admit-ted that these issues are notsmall differences.

“Some of the issues that

have divided you carry a realwallop,” Evans said.Although no one present

had any delusions about solv-ing all the problems in onenight, the board did talk aboutsome possible solutions.

Skeiber said that someconcerns from parents gostraight to the School Com-mittee rather than followingthe proper chain of command,starting with teachers andbuilding principals then ad-ministration. She said that if School Committee memberscould funnel concerns through

the board’s chairman, theycould either be sent to the ap-propriate staff member or beput on the School Committeeagenda, if warranted.

“That would clear up somethings that I get involved inthat I don’t necessarily think Ishould,” said Skeiber.

The idea of giving newprograms a waiting periodwas also discussed. Evans saidsome committee can fall intoa trap where, after a certainprogram or policy is voted on,things keeps getting rehashed

over and over again, prevent-ing the committee from mov-ing on to other business.

“S i i ’ h d f

All School Committeemembers agreed, however,that the back and forth over ahandful of issues –– such as thedecision to change the schoolstart times –– is detractingfrom larger educational issuessuch as class size, budget oroverride prospects, 21st cen-

tury education, MCAS testsand the quality of teachers.The committee also agreed

that despite the differences inphilosophy, all members wantDuxbury schools to be suc-cessful.

“We all want the best forthe kids,” said Cipolletti. “Thequestion is, how can we sup-port the success and how canwe measure the success?”

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DA: School councilsdidn’t post meetings


The meeting on Wednesday was not the Duxbury SchoolDistrict’s rst brush with an open meeting law violation thisyear.

According to a letter sent on Aug. 19 from PlymouthCountry Assistant District Attorney Mary Lee to Town Coun-sel Robert Troy, the Alden Elementary School and DuxburyMiddle School councils were not posting their meetings atTown Hall in accordance with the law.

“Both principals acknowledge the majority of the 2008-2009 meetings of their School Councils were not posted withthe Town Clerk, as required by the Open Meeting Law,” Leewrote in the letter.

She went on to say that there were “mitigating factors,” asthe errors were unintentional, the meetings times and minuteshad been posted on the Internet, and as soon as the error was

discovered both school councils immediately began postingthe meetings with the Town Clerk.

“Both councils have demonstrated an intent to complywith the law in the 2009-2010 academic year,” Lee wrote.

Both school councils were required by the District Attor-ney to read the letter out loud at a public meeting.

School board talks it outcontinued rom page one

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SOLITUDE: Bill Tenhoor walks on a windswept Duxbury Beach Friday afternoon.


The Duxbury SchoolCommittee violated the state’sOpen Meeting Law on severallevels by asking reporters toleave a workshop meeting andrefusing to allow the event tobe taped, the District Attor-ney’s ofce has ruled.

In addition to the viola-tions, Plymouth County As-sistant District Attorney MaryLee said in a Feb. 12 letter that

the School Committee failedto answer two letters from theDA’s ofce, dated Oct. 5 andNov. 4.

“This ofce only receiveda substantive response after

sending a third letter stathat the matter would becided without the committinput,” Lee wrote.

As a result of the vitions, the committee must spublicly that they violatedOpen Meeting Law duringmeeting on Sept. 23, 2They must specically athat they violated the lawtelling the public to leavopen session and denyingpublic the right to record

meeting, and that they fato provide the minutes ofmeeting to the district aney’s ofce in a timely fion. They must also prom

DA rules against

School Committee

continued on page 15

Photo by Karen W

By Justin GraeBer, Clipper editor Justin@duxBuryClipper .Com

A group of parents is lead-ing the charge to have morebike riders and skateboardersin Duxbury wearing helmets

–– although they are holdingoff on a plan to present a hel-met bylaw to Town Meeting.

Selden Tearse said shehas grown concerned over thenumber of kids in Duxbury rid-ing their bikes or skateboards

without a helmet.“Last summer there were

more and more kids withouthelmets,” Tearse said. “Once

Watch your headParents want more kids wearing bike andskateboard helmets on town streets

A group of parents in town are concerned with the lack of helmetusage among young bike riders and skateboarders.continued on page 6

By susanna sheehan, Clipper staff susanna@duxBuryClipper .Com

An increase in water rateswill mean higher water billsfor most Duxbury residents.

This week, selectmen vot-ed unanimously to support anew four-tier water rate struc-ture that replaces the currentthree-tier structure beginningMarch 1.

The purpose of the fourcategories is to foster waterconservation and meet the op-erating costs of the Water De-partment.

Under the new rates, theannual base charge will in-crease for both seniors andnon-seniors and the rst cate-gory of water usage is dividedinto two new tiers.

There are 5,400 house-holds on town water and themajority of them, over 50percent, fall into the secondtier of usage of 21,000-60,000gallons.

“Residents who fall withintier 1 are rewarded for their

Hike forwater rates

continued on page 4



Wednesday, February 24, 2010 Duxbury Clipper

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program concentrates on the “golden age of musicals” by Rodgers andHammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, and Stephen Sondheim - but all of

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to refrain from having any pri-vate meetings in the future.

The meeting of Sept. 23was deemed by committeemembers a “workshop” meet-ing and was held in a room at

the high school, rather than thegroup’s normal meeting placeat the Alden School. At the be-ginning of the meeting, SchoolCommittee Chairman GeorgeCipolletti asked two reportersto leave and told a camera-woman from community cablethat the committee had theright not to record the meet-ing. Although board membersthreatened to cancel the meet-ing at an additional cost to thetaxpayers, a Clipper reporterwas allowed to stay after herefused to leave.

The purpose of the meet-

ing was to work through someof the differences and conictsbetween board members thathad been arising at public meet-ings. Some members arguedthat the constant criticism of the superintendent amountedto “micro management,” whileothers said they were electedto speak for the parents.

Lee based her decision oninformation provided by theschool’s attorney, media re-

ports and an eyewitness state-ment.

She said that even in theletter from the attorney, thedistrict was admitting a vio-lation of the law because itstated Cipolletti had asked re-porters and the camerawoman

to leave.“The law could not be

clearer” she wrote. “It is im-permissible for the Committeeeven to ask any person to leavean open session because it in-terferes with and essentiallyrevokes the individual’s rightto be present.”

Lee also dispelled the no-tion that the meeting was a“workshop” not covered byOpen Meeting Law, althoughshe noted the committeehad essentially conceded thepoint.

“Anytime the School

Committee discusses any pub-lic business or public policymatter over which it has su-pervision, control, jurisdictionor advisory power, the discus-sion constitutes a meeting,”Lee wrote.

Lee also expressed con-cern over a notion voiced atthe workshop, namely that thecommittee should share con-cerns with the superintendentand the chairman prior to the

meeting so there will be nosurprises.

“It is explicitly prohibitedfor a quorum to engage in a pri-vate discussion so that any dis-sent can be hashed out in pri-vate to permit a united stancein public,” Lee wrote. She also

warned that conducting busi-ness via e-mail, as suggestedat the meeting, is a violationof Open Meeting Law and thatelectronic correspondence issubject to public records law.

When contacted for com-ment, Cipolletti said the schoolboard would comply with theletter’s conditions, but de-clined further comment.

Overall, Lee stressed inher letter that the purpose of the meeting –– for board mem-bers to privately hash out theirdifferences –– was at its core aviolation of state law.

“The Open Meeting Lawsimply does not permit mem-bers of a governmental body‘privacy to settle their differ-ences’ as the Chairman wrotein his letter to the DuxburyClipper,” Lee wrote in hersummary. “It is precisely thatexchange of differing viewsregarding matters under theirpurview that the public is en-titled to hear under the OpenMeeting Law.”

Puppy LoveCome celebrate the whole

DA rules against School Committeecontinued from page one

In July, a group of teenag-ers from Holy Family Parishwill give up a week of theirsummer vacation to travelhundreds of miles in crampedvans, sleep on the oor of anold school or hospital, to helpchange the lives of peoplewhom they have never met,but who are in great need. Foreach of the past seven years,teenagers have participatedin the Appalachian ServiceProject, a Christian service or-ganization that repairs homesfor the poorest of the poor inthe Appalachian mountain re-

gions of West Virginia, Ten-nessee and Kentucky. Hun-

dreds of families, living farbelow the poverty level, applyto the ASP organization for as-sistance with essential homerepairs – leaking roofs, brokenpipes, crumbling foundations,etc. With nancial assistancefrom the community, theseteens donate their time and la-bor to help make these homeswarmer, safer and drier – andperhaps restore some dignityto these families’ otherwisedifcult lives.

As any teen who has par-ticipated in these missions canattest, they go to help serve

others, but they return foreverchanged themselves. It serves

as an invaluable life lesson forthem and a wonderful oppor-tunity for us to help them, helpothers.

This year’s group asks youfor any monetary support youcan provide as even small do-nations have a powerful im-pact. Make checks payableto “Holy Family ASP,” 601Tremont St. Duxbury, MA02332.

Appalachia Service Project needs your support



22 Wednesday, September 30, 2Duxbury ClipperHome delivery special: 55 cents a week!

J ohn & BoBBie C utler , F ounders

DaviD S. Cutler, PreSiDent

JoSh S. Cutler, PubliSher

JuStin M. Graeber, eDitor

Phone: 781-934-2811

E-mail: [email protected]

SenD itemS p p

d@dxbycpp

the DeaDline s & c

s mdy

What’S YourS? Share Your vieWS in our SounDi ng off SeCtion

A meeting that’sopen but not?T

he School Committee came dangerously close to

violating the state’s Open Meeting Law Wednesday

as they asked reporters to leave a workshop meeting

at the high school.

Saying “the meeting is open, but we’d rather you not be

here” is the same as saying the meeting is closed. It made the

signs in the high school leading to the meeting room, and all

the talk at the previous School Committee meeting about this

gathering being open to the public, seem disingenuous. The

idea that the committee would even consider canceling the

meeting rather than complying with the Open Meeting Law is

ludicrous and seemed spiteful.

The agenda of the meeting was to discuss how the

Committee could better facilitate their meetings despite some

philosophical differences between board members on the role

of a school committee member.

It’s an interesting dynamic, and it’s always going to be

changing depending on the composition of the committee.

The relationship between the School Committee is like the

selectmen and the town manager. The selectmen shouldn’t be

micromanaging Richard MacDonald on every personnel or

budget decision. But asking tough questions shouldn’t be met

with lectures about “not being a team player,” either.

There were some valid points made at the meeting. If a

School Committee member has a concern, it’s best to put it on

the agenda, rather that introducing it on the meeting oor, so

the other members and the administration don’t feel ambushed.

But that’s all the more reason the public had a right to see

the discussion, so they could understand the many complex

issues the committee struggles with and how hard members are

working to overcome them.

Toward the beginning of the meeting Anne Ward said

that the desire to support the superintendent and the desire to

speak for the people shouldn’t be mutually exclusive. That’s

true. But questioning the superintendent, pushing her for more

information or asking her to reconsider something isn’t the

same as not supporting her. One of the most interesting things

about Wednesday’s meeting was when the discussion veered

towards some of the more general educational goals that all

agreed don’t get discussed enough at the School Committee

meetings. It was obvious from the thoughtful, insightful

comments from every corner of the table that the committee

is composed of ve people who truly want what is best for the

students, teachers and staff of the district –– even if they don’t

always see eye-to-eye. Instead of worrying about the fallacy of

“presenting a united front,” the differences of opinion should

be celebrated. The Duxbury Public Schools as a whole are

better for it.

–– J. Graeber

Chief Mark Delucademonstrated clear-ly at Monday night’s

Selectman’s meeting why hiscontract should not be renewedin November. In a room fullof supporters, one brave soulgot up and related how he feltintimidated this weekend atthe Transfer Station when herefused to sign a petition insupport of the chief. After giv-ing his reasons for not signingthe petition, he noticed that thepetition-seeker wrote down hislicense plate number. He then

went on to relate knowledge of instances of intimidation andfear by the chief against hiswife when she was employedat the police department sev-eral years ago. Immediatelythe chief got up and said that itwas all untrue and walked up tothe speaker and started arguing

with him in his face – on cam-era no less. This type of out-rageous intimidation cannot betolerated by our police chief.

Under our town managerform of government, the townmanager has the sole author-ity to renew the police chief’scontract. The Board of Select-man certainly can express theiropinion, but cannot and shouldnot interfere, with the townmanager’s decision. The townmanager must have the right toselect a management team thatwill work closely with him and

other department heads to ad-vance the interests of the town.If the town manager believesthat the chief is not on his team,then the town manager has theright to make a change in per-sonnel.

Accusations by the publicthat the town manager has not

established cause for dismare incorrect. The only that the town manager mgive cause is if he were tenating the contract before ipired. A non-renewal is nosame as a termination, no ter what people may arguethe town manager’s sole reis that he cannot work withchief any more, then that ithe reason he needs to give

The chief has done swonderful things in his in Duxbury that many peoincluding me, certainly re

nize. But apparently the has come that the town mager and chief cannot wora team anymore. If that iscase, then I support the tmanager’s right to changepolice chief.

Andre MarteccHeritage L

Chief showed why he needed to go—————

In the Clipper’s other-wise excellent report onthe “dig” at King Caesar

House, there is a partial error inthe paragraph that begins and

ends, “There are few originalitems in the King Caesar House... Most of the furniture and de-

d ti ”

came directly from members of those and other local familiesover many decades. And thenin 1998 a major bequest of over200 Duxbury-related items

from Rosamund Gifford madeit possible to furnish the KingCaesar House with period-per-f t bj t d t b

The house contains ansurpassed collection of origportraits of Duxbury histogures as well as a collectiooriginal paintings of Dux

ships. The walls on which hang have been repainted sEzra Weston’s time, and

i d d b d h i h

Some of King Caesar collection is original ——

right to know package 2010

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