Easthampton hearing heated on request to censure Councilor Zaret

OWEN ZARET

OWEN ZARET

By ALEXA LEWIS

Staff Writer

Published: 01-23-2025 3:36 PM

Modified: 01-24-2025 9:39 AM


EASTHAMPTON — The School Committee’s request to censure at-large Councilor Owen Zaret drew dozens of community members, online and in person, to voice their support and concerns at what turned into a tense City Council meeting Wednesday night.

Some called the request a discriminatory act against someone looking into antisemitism in the schools, while others said the censure is meant to address Zaret’s patterns of “bullying.”

The School Committee sent the request for censure to the council on Sunday, alleging that Zaret’s behavior in recent months has “escalated to incidents of clearly unprofessional and unacceptable conduct.”

Zaret counters that his requests for a dialogue with the committee regarding antisemitism in Easthampton schools have gone unanswered, and that the censure request deflects from that core issue. A censure, a formal way of disapproving of an official’s conduct, would not impact Zaret’s ability to participate in council proceedings, nor is it a call for him to resign.

Community member Jen Sandler said she does not believe that Zaret is acting out of ill will, but that “by his own admission, he met many times with the School Committee, with members of the school administration, to voice his concerns. He was heard, he expressed being heard, and then he lied about it … trying to get that power to unilaterally determine the appropriate response is bullying.”

However, those in support of Zaret believe he was taking appropriate action to address antisemitism in the schools.

“Councilor Zaret has done nothing but do his due diligence based on his obligation to advocate for the needs of all children,” said community member Amy Mager.

Following public speak time, the councilors were given time to speak, and Zaret defended his actions, citing rising antisemitism nationally and locally, and saying that “within this moment, I feel a very specific urgency on the issue.”

Article continues after...

Yesterday's Most Read Articles

Northampton’s Main Street redesign start pushed to 2026; costs climb to $29M as opponents press for changes
Efforts to save Goldendoodle who fell in Mill River in Northampton prove unsuccessful
Pinball revival: City brewery new local hub for vintage arcade game’s return to the spotlight
Zaret quits Easthampton council amid censure request he blames on antisemitism
Amherst town manager sounds alarm over looming 20% insurance hike
Cause of death deemed homicide in case of New Hampshire woman found in Warwick

The censure request was signed by all six elected School Committee members, but not by Mayor Nicole LaChapelle, who’s also on the committee.

LaChapelle was not at Wednesday night’s meeting, but shared a statement with the Gazette the following afternoon saying “the School Committee’s request seems to be more about the actions of a City Councilor reaching outside their official duties, rather than the curriculum. This is something for the School Committee and City Council to address, but it’s concerning to see an elected official’s pattern of behavior take attention away from important work that the school district is doing as targeted hate actions, specifically anti-semitism in this example, dramatically rise across our nation.”

Zaret, a Jewish community member and the parent of an Easthampton Public Schools student, previously expressed to the Gazette that he had been frustrated with efforts to “initiate a dialogue” with the School Committee amid rising antisemitism nationally and in the school system, feeling that his input was being ignored and that the committee was failing to take action.

The censure request includes a communication timeline dating back to October 2023 showing the School Committee’s responses seeking to schedule meetings with Zaret or thanking him for his correspondence. The timeline includes 24 emails, four of which went unanswered by the committee or other school officials. The request also outlines the policies in place in Easthampton Public Schools regarding discrimination and bias, which Scott had previously said were part of a peer-reviewed and research-based curriculum.

Supporting Zaret

Several community members spoke in support of Zaret, saying the censure request was discriminatory or a sign that inquiries into antisemitism in the community were being silenced.

Lois Levin said that, as someone whose children went through Easthampton Public Schools, she never felt Easthampton took antisemitism seriously, and that Zaret has been a “sole voice” who has understood what it is like to be Jewish in the community.

Mike Offner of Amherst said that he was “absolutely flabbergasted” by the letter, which he called “legally foolish” and “blatantly” discriminatory, stating that he believed the censure could land the district in hot water legally.

Commenter Andrew Sirulnik asked the council to consider censuring the School Committee instead. “Instead of dealing with the real concerns about antisemitism affecting our kids, the School Committee is attacking the person who raised the concerns, it’s making up rules that don’t exist, and it’s trying to silence legitimate advocacy about discrimination,” Sirulnik said.

Concerns with Zaret

Other speakers, particularly those who had worked with Zaret before, said that the censure is not about antisemitism, but about Zaret’s documented pattern of disturbing behavior.

This is not the first time that Zaret has been criticized by other elected officials for his conduct. In late 2022, three fellow city councilors — Dan Rist, Lindsey Rothschild and Peg Conniff — alleged harassment and bullying by Zaret, asserting that he was not respectful of communication boundaries.

Conniff and Rothschild were in attendance at Wednesday’s meeting, and shared their experiences with the council.

“What they are drawing attention to is the behavior of an elected official in corresponding with another group in the city,” said Conniff. “And I know this from personal knowledge. When I was on the council in 2020 and 2021, I was council president, and at any point if I questioned or asked for clarification on something from Councilor Zaret, I would be demeaned, insulted, harassed and bullied regularly.”

Rothschild said that some members of the public might be surprised by what they are hearing about Zaret because they have not been involved in Easthampton civic life.

“I’ve been subject to antisemitism,” she said. “I’ve also been subject to the harassment and bullying by Owen Zaret, and I’ve witnessed him doing it to other women on the council, other women in civic positions in the city. … He tried to silence me; he contacted the FBI to silence me.”

Zaret, committee weigh in

Following public comments, Scott read the censure request letter into the record, and other School Committee members shared their thoughts.

Committee member Sam Hunter said meetings with Zaret “have not gone anywhere,” and that although Zaret will leave meetings saying he is satisfied, he typically reaches out days later saying he is not satisfied.

“Advocacy is incredibly important … this is not about the content of the matter,” said committee member Megan Harvey, who clarified that, rather, the committee is “compelled to correct falsehoods” that have been spread about the committee’s response to concerns raised about antisemitism.

During the councilor communications period of the meeting, Zaret spoke in recognition of Holocaust Awareness Day on Jan. 27, speaking to its importance amid rising antisemitism nationally.

“I’ve sent a number of communications on the topic meant to underscore my sense of an extreme concern and urgency on this issue. I believe that we have shared concerns for our students in our community … so today I’m offering an open invitation to collaborate,” Zaret said regarding the School Committee and school administration. “Can we pledge to focus now on antisemitism in our community, in schools? Can we create an outline to work constructively towards a shared goal?”

Councilor Koni Denham responded that she was “incredibly heartbroken” by what she had heard, and shared some of her own experiences working with Zaret, saying that “this is not a one-off situation.”

Denham stated that in April, Zaret sent an email to the police accusing her of being “belligerent” and insinuating that she might cause him harm because she had asked him in an email documenting his “ongoing aggressive behavior” to stop it.

“I do believe that there are Jewish people in this community as there are other people of color, as there are women, as there are members of the LGBT+ community, who hurt. I know that, I see that, I experience that,” she said. “At the same time, that doesn’t excuse a person who’s a part of those communities to abuse other people and to bully them. You can do both.”

The censure request was sent to the council’s Rules and Governmental Relations Committee for further consideration.

Following the meeting, Zaret posted on Facebook Thursday morning that, listening to the censure request being read into the record, he heard “a distinctly different story and series of events than I experienced over the past year,” and maintained that incidents of antisemitism are going ignored.

Alexa Lewis can be reached at alewis@gazettenet.com.