According to School Committee Chairman Keith Cheveralls, no one from the state Ethics Commission has contacted him in connection with a complaint filed against him by committee member Stu Sklar at the end of June. Cheveralls stated that he intends to provide frequent updates on the issue at committee meetings. Sklar confirmed that he has had no word about the disposition of his complaint, although he expects a response shortly.
The complaint concerned the disclosure of a grievance letter signed by the fourth-grade teachers, including Maryann Cheveralls, wife of the School Committee chairman. At issue is whether the contents of the letter should have been kept confidential. Keith Cheveralls has recused himself from discussions of the topics raised in the letter.
Cheveralls reported at the committee’s Sept. 8 meeting that he had spoken with Glenn Koocher, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC) during the summer. He says he asked Koocher, “Am I the only one here who has to deal with this kind of significant conflict of interest?” Cheveralls said that Koocher assured him it was not unusual for a school committee member to have a spouse or family member who is employed in the same school system.
According to Sklar, the issue is not Cheveralls’ conflict of interest. Sklar pointed out Koocher also told board members that all union issues are confidential. The violation of that policy, Sklar says, was the basis for his complaint.
Koocher later explained, “It is not uncommon, particularly in towns with limited populations” to have a committee member who must at some point recuse himself or herself because of a personal connection. As an example of the type of conflict that might arise, Koocher cited the possibility of a committee member’s child being disciplined in the school or a member’s mother being employed in the lunch room. Asked whether it was rare for a committee member to have a spouse who was a faculty member and an officer in the teacher’s union, Koocher asserted that it was not unusual.
Koocher estimated that perhaps 300 to 600 of the 2400 school committee members currently in MASC’s database might sometimes have such a conflict. He based this estimate, he said, on the frequency with which questions about such situations arise in MASC training sessions. “We train school committee members in what they should do,” Koocher noted.
