EASTHAMPTON — Following a review of a complaint accusing the School Committee of violating Open Meeting Law when it rescinded its offer to hire Vito Perrone as superintendent in March, the Attorney General’s office ruled last week that although the executive session was proper, the committee failed to first convene in an open session prior to going behind closed doors.

“We had advertised an executive session for that day, and what we should have done is just roll called into public session,” said former Chairperson Cynthia Kwiecinski, whose term ended this week. “You don’t actually conduct a public session; you roll call in, and you make the announcement that you’re now roll calling into executive session.”

“So that’s a tiny mistake, just really a technical error,” Kwiecinski added.

The complaint was filed in April by former School Committee member Debora Lusnia, who alleged that the committee convened on March 30 in executive session for reasons not stated in advance of the meeting.

In a determination issued on Dec. 28, Assistant Attorney General KerryAnne Kilcoyne wrote that the committee did meet for a proper purpose — conducting a strategy session in negotiation of a contract with nonunion personnel — which was stated in advance of the meeting.

However, the committee violated the Open Meeting Law by starting an executive session without first convening in open session.

Kilcoyne wrote that the public had a right to observe the committee’s procedural steps and hear at the meeting the purpose for the executive session.

“Even though the public wouldn’t have been able to participate in that executive session, they would have had the opportunity to join that meeting for the first few minutes to understand that they were going into executive session,” said School Committee Chair Laura Scott, who was sworn into the role this Tuesday.

“It is a technicality, but I think it’s important to dot I’s and cross T’s to continue to preserve that public trust and these really important publicly watched processes,” Scott said. “It’s something we’ll certainly bear in mind.”

The attorney general’s office ordered the committee to comply with Open Meeting Law in the future, saying that violations hereafter could be considered as evidence of intent to violate the law. Because the committee already released minutes of the March 30 meeting to the public, the office ordered no further action.

“Everybody in the School Committee knows now that even if it’s only an executive session, they’ll just still quickly roll call and then roll call it executive,” Kwiecinski said. “That’s a really easy fix.”

“I am very excited for the new School Committee,” she added. “I think that it is going to be a positive, measured, cooperative team.”

Maddie Fabian can be reached at mfabian@gazettenet.com.