School committee member reads public statement denying allegations and calling for records review

A member of the Freetown-Lakeville Regional School District school committee read a public statement during the Feb. 5 meeting denying a series of allegations that had been made publicly on Jan. 8. The speaker’s name is not specified in the transcript during the statement; the speaker identified themselves as an elected committee member and invoked free-speech rights.

The speaker said they had "very little interaction" with a person they identified as Mr. Straub and denied mistreating or abusing him. The speaker also said statements read by another committee member on Jan. 8 — identified in the speaker’s remarks as Jennifer Blonde — were untrue. The speaker urged community members to FOIA email exchanges between the school committee and the committee chair from Nov. 27 to Jan. 8 and referenced an open meeting law complaint from October 2024.

The speaker criticized committee scheduling, saying executive-session meetings had been set on days when the speaker was unavailable and that some decisions were being made without their participation. They also referenced a contract signed in 2023 by William Sienkiewicz that the speaker said barred certain volunteers from DESE schools for concerns about professional boundaries; the speaker framed that contract as a matter of student safety.

Committee members did not take a formal vote related to the statement during the meeting. The speaker said they would let evidence and public records speak for themselves.

The remarks concluded the meeting; the committee then moved to adjourn.