School Committee Training Schedule For Aug. 29

The Foxborough school committee will undergo training in the state's Open Meeting Law Aug. 29 under a directive from Attorney General Martha Coakley's Office, the Sun Chronicle is reporting.

The Attorney General Martha Coakley's office ruled in late July that the Foxborough School Committee violated the Open Meeting Law by failing to follow proper procedure in entering executive session at its June 21, 2010 meeting.

The office ruled that the school committee violated the Open Meeting Law twice when the board allowed former Superintendent Christopher Martes to take both his retirement pension and regular town salary. 

The committee has been put on notice by the AG's office and members are ordered to attend training on the Open Meeting Law, scheduled for August 29.

The actions in which the committee violated the law included agreeing to a "contract addendum during the executive session, failing to subsequently ratify that agreement in open session, and failing to release the contract addendum to the public." 

Foxboro residents, Andres and Deborah Navedo, whose three children all graduated from Foxboro High School, filed the complaint last year regarding the committee's handling of Martes' closed-door retirement agreement.

At the time, School Committee Chairman Bruce Gardner, then vice chairman, told the Sun Chronicle and Foxboro Reporter that their June meeting was not about a "secret" retirement strategy, but rather was about retaining a proven leader. In a letter addressed to the Chronicle and Reporter last October, Gardner noted that the school committee considered the retirement pension matter a routine renewal of Martes' contract.

Gardner recently submitted another letter to the media, in which he addresses the findings of the attorney general's investigation and expresses to the community how he is handling "this matter with the utmost seriousness going forward." He describes the AG's findings as "a few instances of procedural violations."  

To view Gardner's letter, click here.