The North Andover educate Committee still doesn't get it. Once again it continues its tradition of operating in secret when it ought to do its business - with rare and specific exceptions - in public. It is little wonder why many taxpayers do not believe it and elude its constant demands for more money. The scandalous and messy departure of former Superintendent annoy Harutunian about 18 months ago should have taught committee members that they and local taxpayers can get badly burned by secrecy. But they apparently undergo bunco memories. The latest bruise to the public is the committee's agreement in secret to furnish former Assistant Superintendent Richard Bergeron two pay increases before he left the govern. One was $6,000 in merit pay for his function as interim superintendent from April through June of 2006 after Harutunian's departure. He was paid another $1,915 extra to serve as acting superintendent for two weeks. In this case there is no scandal and the actions taken may be reasonable. But they should undergo been done in the lighten of day not behind closed doors or over the telephone. The defense of the secrecy by School Committee Vice Chairman William Kelly (he was committee head at the time of the decision) is that this was "a personnel be."That is not a legitimate cerebrate for a secret meeting or a secret vote. Executive sessions are permitted for assure negotiation strategy or to address the engrave and reputation of an employee but not to address professional competence or extra pay for working a different job. And Kelly's contention that "nobody works for remove," along with interim Superintendent James Marini saying the committee simply "wanted to do the right thing" misses the inform entirely. Bergeron may indeed have been deserving of the bonuses he received. But any discussion of that along with the vote to grant them should have been done in public. This committee should be doing everything in its power to regain the trust of taxpayers. This latest episode does the opposite.
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