NORTHAMPTON — The attorney general’s office recently found that the School Committee violated the state’s Open Meeting Law by failing to fulfill a request for meeting minutes dating back to January 2020.

The finding stems from a complaint filed by Jonathan Gerhardson, who said he emailed Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra requesting all School Committee and ad hoc School Committee meetings from January 2020 to what was then the present day on Oct. 9, 2022. Having failed to receive any minutes, Gerhardson concluded that the minutes did not exist and filed the complaint.

In a response to the complaint, the committee acknowledged that some meeting minutes dating back to 2021 had not yet been approved. The committee cited a decrease in staff along with an increase in committee hearings as reason for the delay in filing the minutes.

“Although we understand and appreciate the demands on a public body with limited staff, it is the Committee’s obligation to timely create and approve minutes,” the ruling from the AG’s office stated. “In general, staffing shortages of the type that all governmental bodies with limited resources experience, or periodic staff vacancies, do not constitute good cause for failing to approve minutes in a timely manner.”

The office also noted that many of the minutes provided to it showed a lack of sufficient summaries of discussions held during School Committee meetings during the time period, and do not include lists of documents used during the meetings. The AG’s office declined to formally review the sufficiency of the minutes, as they were not part of the original complaint.

As a result of the investigation, the Northampton School Committee was ordered to provide all minutes that have not yet been provided to Gerhardson within 60 days, and was cautioned that further violations could be considered evidence of intent to intentionally break the law.

Gwen Agna, the committee’s vice chair, said that the committee was cooperating with the AG’s orders.

“The School Committee has been working to approve past meeting minutes, has provided minutes to the Complainant, and has taken steps to audit its past meeting minutes and establish a process to ensure the timely creation and approval of minutes going forward,” Agna said in a statement made to the Gazette.

“We will be meeting next month to review the decision and determine what additional steps are needed to correct any insufficient minutes and other past compliance issues. Our goal is to identify and correct any issues and to ensure improved transparency moving forward.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.

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