I read with interest the recent guest column by Northampton School Committee member Michael Stein, who used the word “we” on behalf of the School Committee while expressing his individual views and reasons for his vote on the Northampton school budget [“Serving educational needs shouldn’t be ‘aspirational,’” Gazette, May 7]. The Massachusetts Association of School Committees sets forth rules for how committee members conduct themselves, and a significant one is that “as a member of a school committee you may not take action, make statements, or make any commitment on behalf of the committee unless specifically directed to do so by a vote of the committee.” As a member of the Northampton School Committee, I am not aware of a vote taken by the committee that would authorize Member Stein to speak on our behalf. Had such a discussion or vote happened, I do know that I would not have agreed to a letter on behalf of a 9/10 female committee that relies on such an overt misogynistic trope, referring to our primarily female city leadership as “Chicken Littles” full of hysteria and scare tactics. While it’s reasonable that our community will have disagreements regarding how best to allocate our resources among the various city departments, following municipal budget best practices hardly makes one an hysterical “Chicken Little.”

Karen Foster Cannon, Ward 2 School Committee member

Northampton