by Brian Keaney

Last in a seven part series.

The School Committee and administration have repeatedly violated their own policies in recent months as they have attempted to stymie efforts by myDedhamNews to investigate the reassignment of two Middle School teachers to the home of a former School Committee member.  They have also engaged in a pattern of behavior that treats myDedhamNews differently than any other media outlet or citizen of the town.

School Committee policy dictates that “All representatives of the media will be given equal access to information about the schools.”  However, Superintendent June Doe and Chairman Dave Roberts have both given interviews to several other news organizations but refuse to speak to myDedhamNews.  At the same time, they have charged myDedhamNews hundreds of dollars for access to some of the same information.

The policy further states that “Every effort will be made to assist the press and other communications media to obtain complete and adequate coverage of the programs, problems, planning, and activities of the school system. … [E]very possible effort should be made to obtain coverage of school activities that will create and maintain a dignified and professionally responsible image for the school system.”

Doe has been informed on numerous occasions that if she would agree to an interview with a myDedhamNews reporter, as she did with the Boston Globe and the Daily News Transcript, that it would be much less costly in terms of time and money. 

Doe has repeatedly refused, saying she would respond only to requests for the public documents she is legally “obligated or required” to provide.  In February, before she spoke to either of the Globe or the Transcript, she wrote that “I feel you and your ‘blog’ have already inappropriately stepped over the line in terms of student confidentiality rights.” 

When a myDedhamNews reporter appeared before the School Committee to ask again for an interview, Roberts said that it was up to Doe.  He could not explain how he reconciled his decision with the policy giving “all representatives of the media… equal access to information.”  

A myDedhamNews reporter continued to appear at School Committee meetings seeking information.  Despite allowing at least seven individuals the opportunity to ask questions during the public comment portion of the meeting, Roberts told the reporter in October that “general public comment is just that, public comment.  It is not a question and answer period.”  This contradicts a statement he made in June when he told the same reporter that “sometimes people ask questions” during the public comment period.

When the reporter’s attempts to ask questions were met with Roberts’ instructions to sit down, the reporter sought to appear on the agenda of a meeting.  Roberts denied each of the requests, saying “the Committee, quite simply, is not going to give you a platform from which you can continue to seek attention.”  In the past two years Roberts has never written to anyone else denying a request to appear on the agenda. 

On several occasions Vice-Chairman Margaret Connolly interjected while the reporter was at the microphone.  In one instance she ignored Roberts, the chairman, who was sitting next to her and tried to move the meeting on to the next agenda item. 

On another occasion Roberts whispered “shut up” to Connolly as the reporter approached the microphone, and yet another time shushed her when she tried to engage the reporter.  Since he assumed the chairmanship in April, Roberts has never publicly directed any other Committee member not to speak to someone standing at the podium, nor required the speaker only to address the chair, except for the myDedhamNews reporter.  Roberts once interrupted the reporter demanding to know why he was smiling, and also instructed the reporter at one point not to interpret his comments.

Doe’s secretary, Mary Gormley, who is also the Committee’s recording secretary, also now refuses to share a table set up in the front of the room with a myDedhamNews reporter.  The Committee has instructed the Town Hall janitors to lock up the existing folding tables in a closet during their meetings, and Gormley brings her own folding table with her to meetings.

When a myDedhamNews reporter began bringing his own small table to meetings, Gormley refused to allow it within a few feet of her own.  This is even though both use the same outlet for their laptops, which is the only outlet on that wall.   

In May, after seeking out information from school secretaries, Doe wrote to a myDedhamNews reporter threatening him with legal action for the times she claims he did not follow the proper sign-in procedures.  He responded with an open letter saying a no trespass order “would be wildly disproportionate to any danger I pose.”

A week after the news that teachers had been reassigned from their classrooms appeared on the myDedham blog, the website was banned from all school computers.  Don Langenhorst, the schools’ technology director, said the site was associated with some pornographic sites and it was blocked along with all of them.  myDedham is hosted by Soapblox, a company that supports hundreds of other blogs.

At the time Tracy Driscoll, then chairman of the Committee, told the Boston Globe that she considered myDedham to be “Star Magazine without bylines.”  Driscoll and the entire Committee also wrote two letters to the editor of the Dedham Times concerning the incident, saying they originally “proactively opted for public silence.”

Sometime in the days after this series of articles first appeared on myDedhamNews, the link to the School Committee’s policies also disappeared from their website.  The policies can still be read online, but the address must be typed directly into the web browser or linked to from another site.

On several occasions the School Department has also sent out information to other media outlets, but not to myDedhamNews.  This is despite the policy that states “releases of interest to the entire community will be made available to all of the media simultaneously.”

Part 1: Two sped teachers left classrooms to tutor Committee member's child

Part 2: Federal civil rights investigators probe reassignment of teachers

Part 3: The substitute who made more than the superintendent

Part 4: Flatley loses, moves to Westwood

Part 5: State finds School Department out of compliance with Public Records Law

Part 6: Non-certified SpEd sub also assigned to the Oakdale School