Winchester School Committee names three representatives to State of the Town working group

The Winchester School Committee voted unanimously on May 9, 2025, to appoint three school committee representatives to the Select Board's State of the Town working group and discussed how the group will be noticed under the Open Meeting Law.

The committee appointed Dr. Matthews, Ms. Munyarji and the committee chair as the school's three standing representatives to the State of the Town committee. The Select Board's process, led by Paras Vayani, will include multiple working groups and public meetings; the kickoff meeting was projected for Friday the 16th.

School committee members said the workload and meeting frequency meant it was important to name a small, consistent set of representatives. Paras Vayani, who the Select Board named as the working group lead, told the committee that if multiple school committee members attend they will be noticed as joint meetings "to ensure compliance" with the Open Meeting Law and that the town is working with staff to post meetings and materials online. "If the desire of the school committee is to have multiple members, beyond a quorum, what we'll do is we'll notice them as joint meetings," Vayani said.

Committee members discussed practical details: the Select Board offered up to three seats for the school committee, and members agreed that three representatives would serve as a stable core while other committee members could "drop in" for meetings as the process allows. The committee discussed using a single web page or regular digests to summarize the working-group activity for the public and to help other members follow the process without attending every session. The committee did not take separate votes on posting rules for the Select Board's materials; those logistics will be handled by the town staff and Select Board leads.

The appointment vote was recorded by roll call as unanimous: Dr. Matthews, Mr. Hopcroft, Ms. Munyarji and the chair voted "aye."