Berlin-Boylston committee approves motion on nonunion personnel contract in executive session, 5-1

The Berlin-Boylston Regional School Committee met in executive session on Sept. 10, 2024, and voted 5-1 on a motion related to a nonunion personnel contract, according to the minutes. The record states that Mr. Daniel Deedy will work on Mr. Aaron Osborne’s contract and salary and that the committee proposed granting Chair Meagan Grill permission to sign the contract on the committee’s behalf; the actual motion text is not specified in the minutes.

The minutes open by citing Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 30A, Section 21(a), Purpose (2) and Purpose (3) as the legal basis for meeting in executive session to prepare negotiation strategy for nonunion personnel and to discuss collective bargaining or litigation strategy when an open meeting could harm the public body’s position. The agenda items listed in the minutes include: contract updates (including the Osborne item), a consultant agreement, a paraprofessional contract update, and litigation.

For the personnel-related motion recorded as item III, Mrs. Lisa Mair moved and Mrs. Lori-Anne Hart seconded. The roll-call votes recorded in the minutes were Meagan Grill: Aye; Lisa Mair: Aye; Lori-Anne Hart: Aye; Jessica Deglialberti: Aye; Julie Lee: Aye; Michael Totman: Nay. The minutes record the result as 'Vote 5-1, Motion Passes.' The minutes do not reproduce the full text of the motion.

Later in the session Mrs. Hart moved to adjourn the executive session and to reopen in open session; Mr. Totman seconded. The roll-call vote on that motion was unanimous: Vote 6-0, Motion Passes. The minutes list the vote tallies and attendees but give no further public detail about the paraprofessional contract update, the consultant agreement, or specifics of the litigation discussion.

The minutes list attendees and titles as recorded in the document, including Chair Meagan Grill and Vice Chair Julie Lee, as well as district staff and counsel. The minutes themselves contain a formatting ambiguity about which attendee is identified as interim superintendent; the document lists administrators by name and title but does not clearly attach a single 'Interim Superintendent' label to a specific person in a way that is unambiguous in the public minutes. The record does specify Mr. Daniel Deedy as Interim Director of Finance & Operations and records Mr. Albert Ganem in the attendance line.

Next steps were not described in the public minutes beyond the instruction that Mr. Deedy would work on the referenced contract and the formal action recorded by the roll-call vote. The committee reconvened in open session following the unanimous adjournment vote.