School committee adopts operating protocols and votes to meet in executive session on bargaining

The Beverly Public Schools School Committee voted Aug. 27 to adopt updated superintendent/committee operating protocols and to enter executive session to review executive session minutes and discuss collective bargaining strategy. The motion to accept the operating protocols as edited passed 6–0; the chair will circulate the protocol for signatures. Later in the meeting the chair moved to meet in executive session pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 30A, Section 21(a), citing purposes 7 (to review executive session minutes) and 3 (to discuss strategy in preparation for collective bargaining). The committee conducted a roll‑call vote at 8:09 p.m.; the motion passed 6–0 with one member absent. The chair stated the committee would not return to open session. The executive session agenda named bargaining with the Beverly Teachers Association units A, B and C, AFSCME Local 2894, the AFSA and individual contracts as the topics for collective bargaining strategy. The votes were procedural: adoption of the operating protocols places the new protocols in the official record for the remainder of the term, and the executive session vote was taken to permit closed‑door bargaining strategy discussions under state open‑meeting exemptions.