The Fall River School Committee convened a special meeting on February 17, 2023, primarily to address and vote on several union contracts. The meeting was marked by significant controversy regarding its legitimacy and the process by which it was called. School Committee members Mr. Aguiar and Miss Roderick strongly objected, arguing that the meeting was rushed, lacked professional courtesy, and was called without the Superintendent's consultation or a clear emergency, setting a problematic precedent. They also raised concerns about transparency and the excessive use of executive sessions. The main business of the meeting involved approving collective bargaining agreements for cafeteria, maintenance, safety/security, and custodial employees. Prior to voting, the committee entered an executive session to discuss strategy related to these negotiations. Upon returning to open session, motions were made to approve each contract. Mr. Aguiar and Miss Roderick consistently voted against the contracts, citing issues with departmental organization, lack of COVID bonuses for workers, and dissatisfaction with the negotiation process. Despite their objections, all four contracts were approved with a 5-2 vote. Mayor Coogan, who chaired the meeting, defended the urgency of the meeting, stating it was important for the workers.
AI-generated summary. May contain errors. Watch the video to verify.
Council
City Officials
Education
Public / Other
the voters to keep them informed and really up to date with any action we do or this body does as a public body I see on the agenda today uh continuing to say Union negotiations just a few things to say because I know um public can't see what's being discussed yet we need to make sure we take care of the everyday workers in the school we take care of the administrator as a bunch
0:35but we need to change the culture in the school department the NASCAR is by giving our faculty the tools they need to educate students in our district and last week I really think we need to reevaluate how we call closed-door meetings we call these meetings like it's night and day like milk apple juice like it's like like this comment I think the school committee for years has used executive sessions even when
1:05it's not even necessary I'm not seeing it today but in general the reason I'm saying that we failed to provide any update or communication to the community on the status and the union negotiations or many things we do in executive session I believe this community deserves open and honest communication and transparency from our public bodies and we need to make work together to lower the need for these
1:32executive excessive executive sessions on the school committee year after year thank you for your time Palmer Street followers someone just alerted me that they don't think they can hear the sound at home can you check this sound that make sure it's getting into the houses thank you good afternoon members of the school committee it is extremely weird to see on the agenda today items that were
2:05discussed that Monday next meeting what's the purpose of this closed-door meeting we should be fully transparent with the public also the mayor's brother is the head of the Union will the mayor in accordance with Massachusetts General General Law chapter 2688 recuse himself as another brother of his has involvement with the school department I have so many questions and closed-door
2:30meetings don't answer my questions what is this the arpa committee I call for more transparency and accountability on the school committee and call for an end to the executive excessive executive session meetings thank you thank you Committee of the whole topics for discussion I think Miss Rogers might have something to say I'm sorry I'm sorry Miss Rogers I Know It's Tricky when I'm on Zoom
3:03um so I do want to let folks know that I am participating virtually because I have a meeting that I need to attend at 5 30 that's been planned for months I'll log back in as soon as that's over but I do want to understand how we could sit here on Monday and offer concessions to another member regarding two regular meetings one of which not one of us can guarantee that we're going to be elected
3:22to attend if there was such urgency to hold the meeting to discuss agenda items that we already discussed four days ago by this committee I presume that it would be important to have all members fully present for this meeting instead it feels like this meeting was rushed no alternative times were considered and no rationale was provided as the purpose of holding this meeting and with that ideal
3:50thank you anybody Mr idea yeah I would have to 100 agree with Mrs roderick's we sit here at these meetings some days when we talk about professional courtesy giving each other professional courtesy we had a meeting on Monday where we addressed all the issues that are on the agenda today on Wednesday I believe it was I got a call from the secretary asking me that the mayor was wanted to poll members for
4:15a special meeting no information on what it was what the urgency was and what the emergency was so I asked what is it for and she said it's for the contracts that were on Monday we're going to redo those again on Friday I explained to her at that time I cannot make the meeting thank you very much she was very polite and she took my information professional courtesy and common courtesy and decency
4:41amongst leadership on committees would be that we wouldn't be having a meeting when people can't make it or we would say to those individuals if I were if the people running the meeting actually cared about professional courtesy they would say well why can't you make it can we work on a time or whatever it would be you would have some sort of professional courtesy we receive none I receive no call no
5:09call back from the secretary no call from the mayor no call from the vice chair none and I don't think Miss roderick's got one either I didn't so the so the problem is this is just not it's not professional it's unprofessional is what it is so then I said well I wonder what this meeting's for every meeting that I've ever attended on the school committee for almost 15 years the superintendent of schools is part of
5:37the process on whether she needs to have an agenda item or a special meeting when I call a superintendent of schools she didn't tell me there was an urgency for this meeting she told me Point Blank that the mayor called the secretary and said well the poll the members for a special meeting and that's a damn shame because the superintendent of schools is who helps run this District who helps
5:58create the agenda items for each and every meeting for her not to be part of the process to say whether what was the emergency in this particular issue is a problem and for anybody to sit here on Monday night when you when people receive professional courtesy to make no response is a problem and then you wonder well maybe they just didn't know maybe they didn't know this was the case so we got an agenda emailed
6:26to us special meeting Wednesday at four o'clock I write back to all hello is this a mistake when I was pulled I indicated I could not make the meeting I thought that we were operating with professional courtesy on the school committee was what my question was no response whatsoever still to this day no response Miss roderick's writes in I'm also unable to make it no response none at all
6:58these are the problems that we have when we wonder why some of the meetings are the way they are because we're not getting the courtesy from end leadership from the people sitting in leadership positions we had a meeting on Monday we took votes on Monday and there's absolutely no reason why we need to have an emergency meeting and when I asked the superintendent that question she would not tell me that
7:21there was an urgent need for this so what did we do the Friday before vacation week we now have to have a special meeting and Mrs ponds who works her butt off having to deal with all the things that we're dealing with in this school district had to all week try to figure out and answer questions that she could have had a whole month to answer to try to figure out what was best for this
7:43District related to these contracts and to try to settle these things instead she had to take and try and get information that's been asked for for a long time and have a lot of stress over what because we wanted to rush something through with no professional courtesy so I feel I feel offended the way that this went but I also feel bad for the superintendent because she didn't need
8:04to have any questions posed to her about these contracts I still have issues and questions with these contracts and I've talked to the superintendent about that including the Tuesday after the meeting after the meeting on Monday night I call a superintendent myself as the CEO of this organization and I expressed my concern and my my support to try to work with her over the next month to make sure that these
8:28contracts passed but there's things that we need to do in order to get this done it's not as simple as just a contract we've been sitting for over five months or six months on a re-org of all of these departments why why would we be sitting for five or six months on a ryog if everything was going great why would we be trying to reorganize organize these departments we've been sitting on it for five months
8:52two subsequent votes of the subcommittee came forth with the recommendation the superintendent to her credit has put a hold to that because it didn't make sense the way that it went and she stated to me and I 100 agree with her and support her on this we're not going to bring it forward until it's done right all of these contracts are involved in the reorganization there's legitimate reasons why we need
9:17to do other things than just pass a contract just because we want to just make people happy they want to support all the workers and give them the raises and the money that they do but there's no urgency here today for this contract to be up here before us is totally unprofessional and I feel disrespected by the leadership on this committee to not even be asked and called or anything to try to say whether
9:40Miss Rogers or I couldn't make the meeting it's unacceptable and it's unprofessional I yield I I appreciate you I appreciate you both taking time to get to the meeting tonight I think this is a very important meeting for our workers I don't see any reason uh why any of this can't be adjusted within the first 30 days of the contract as is in the contract I believe that if we can have a open discussion
10:06that's the best way to handle everything and again I thank both of you for your efforts to be here tonight I do think this is important do we have a request for executive session Mr Mayor Mr Mayor I have a motion a second yep and I have a question on the request for executives no I I said when you after you were done talking I had a question based on what
10:27you said sir they had already made a moment no they didn't there you go ahead so the the problem that we have so we sat here on Monday and people on this board said we're worried about setting a precedent for giving somebody a raise that in the middle of a crisis we had a discussion about it and we came to a resolution on that issue particular issue now having a a special
10:52meeting like this thrown together last minute without the superintendent saying that there was a need for it without the superintendent being consulted by the administration and the leadership to say do we really need this or not this is a precedence that's being set that's really really bad because now when are we going to have a special meeting every time something that we would deem important we have
11:13monthly meetings for a reason and when we have a special meeting it should be for an emergency or something that's time sensitive that can't wait for another month and the superintendent needs to be involved in it so what we're doing here today is setting a precedent that when anybody feels that we're going to just have special meetings because we we want to rush something through it
11:31doesn't make sense Mr Mayor it just doesn't make sense I yield I do believe it's important for our workers to know we support them so I respectfully disagree with you let's take a stop holding like wait wait wait wait wait just State your points away excuse me I'm still talking I will wait until you don't thank you sir okay that would be great because there's no reason for anybody to be upset I disagree
11:59respectfully because I think this is important to a large number of people that work extremely hard for the far of public schools and with that I respectfully disagree I see no reason why we can't move this along and I would respectfully ask for is there a request to go into executive system here I gave you the opportunity I said I would wait till you gave me the opportunity thank you Kevin go ahead I
12:21just had one more thing to say that okay so related to that all I'm saying is that we have to be careful when we set a precedent for the meetings so going forward this is an important issue we could take a poll right now and everybody would raise their hand to say we support the workers I get that all I'm just saying is that we have to be careful that we have we're going to set
12:38a precedent here because I guarantee you in two weeks in three weeks there's going to be something else that's very important that we should take up right away and if that's the case and this is the threshold we're going to do that when something is very worthy and something that's important we have special meetings we're going to be having a lot of special meetings is my point that's
12:54what I'm asking you to be careful of Mr aguer as the chairman I call the special meetings I happen to think the people who work for the four of public schools are important and I don't see any reason to drag this out again I hope that as you just suggested you're 100 with us tonight so this should be a very quick meeting and I appreciate your support Mr Rogers asked for something Miss Rogers please
13:14I I need to jump off but I do need to address the fact that it seems like we're implying that the rest of us who didn't think that it was appropriate to hold a special meeting like this don't support the workers these are the families that I come from these are the families I was raised in and that's exactly why I I have an opinion the way that I have that opinion so I don't
13:36appreciate the implication that just because we don't think that this is necessary to have a special meeting four days after we had one that implies that we don't support the workers because you know what these are the folks that keep our buildings running and they deserve to have things done in a way that's appropriate this is not the way again I I believe a Friday night um motion to go into executive session
14:04unless you need a motion a second any further discussion Deb please call the world going executive I could give the reason oh I'm sorry Mr uh Mr Assad National laws chapter 38 section 2183 to discuss strategy with these relative to all cafeteria employees in the former school system represented by the American Federation of state county and Municipal Employees Council 93 Local 11 18 as you chose to tune an open
14:28session may have a detrimental impact on above the acquisition of the committee National laws chapter 38 section 21a3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining relative to all maintenance employees the affordable school system represented by the American Federation of state county and Municipal Employees Council 93 local 1118 as the chair is determine that open session may have a detrimental impact on
14:50the bargaining position of the committee National laws chapter 38 section 2183 to discuss strategy with respect to Collective mind relative to all custodial employees the former school system represented by the American Federation of state county and Municipal Employees Council 93 local 1118 is a chair is the term that open session may have a detrimental impact on the bargaining position of the committee
15:13National laws chapter 38 section 2183 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining relative to all safety security employees with affordable school system represented by the American Federation of state county and Municipal Employees Council 93 Local 11 18 is secures determined that no possession may have a detrimental impact on a bug deposition of the committee we would reconvene that may or may not be
15:35statements at that time Mr chairman just a point of clarification did we go over a new business I think we had open session I don't know if we went to number four right two new business at a special meeting Mr assadson if with respect to uh special meetings the the item for new business is is really not uh not uh something that would be a part of it uh on a special uh meeting
16:04such as this the only things that can be discussed are what is in the on the agenda which is the executive session uh contracts for the cafeteria maintenance custodial and safety employees so that's what it's it's uh we relegated to so we would not be able to discuss any other uh issue or any other conduct any other transaction in a special meeting that would have to wait for a regular session meeting yeah just uh
16:35that just begs one question if you indulge me so when we have the what's the policy on creating an agenda for the for meetings in the Fall River school committee yeah yeah I I don't have it in front of me but it's you it's generally speaking there's a meeting that takes place with the uh the mayor the vice chair superintendent and other individuals the draft is then put together and sent out
17:03to the committee for a uh for discussion for discussion in terms of whether or not there will be any changes those are on the regular scheduled meetings I'm not aware of any such protocol for special meetings due to the fact that they are called rather rather quickly during the uh the break between the regular sessions and so you didn't review this I assume you didn't review this because
17:29it makes it makes it just look like as if nobody had any discussion because on the agenda that's out to the public today it says four new business so if the if the process of creating an agenda is that the chair and the vice chair talk to the superintendent to yourself I don't understand why we wouldn't do that today it just makes us look bad that we create an agenda this
17:49happened already I think two or three months ago there was things on the agenda and they said oh we don't vote like that we don't so I think there's a problem with the way that the agendas even get looked somebody needs to just say whether you can't put it we shouldn't be there and we can move on thank you our yield Deb please call the roll
18:09yes Roderick mayor Coogan yes executive session
18:23we're back in session Deb please call the roll here Mr Bailey here Mr Hart here this is Roger yeah mayor Coogan here uh anything further to come before the committee Mr Hunt a motion to approve the cafeteria's contract as negotiated second I have a motion a second discussion Deb Mr Eiger yeah so uh I'm going to be voting no on this contract and I want to explain my rationale for a no vote on this contract so
19:01I've been saying for a long time that we have some needs in all of our departments so organizationally structurally accountability wise and along the way we've gotten different information such as nobody was evaluated for years in their department so we definitely have some issues in the in this department we have situations in the cafeteria where we have people that are hired by the school district that is
19:26supervised by somebody from nutrition that doesn't have anything to do with the school department in any way shape or form we have structurally some problems with the way the positions are in the union and when you look at it in the contract I can't support that along the way when we had covid one of the biggest issues that I kept making bringing up was that all employees that worked during covet which covering this
19:49particular contract they should have received a covet bonus none of these organizations receive the covet bonus and that's a problem I think the workers were entitled to a covet bonus and right now none of these people are going to be getting that and I think that when we look at it they were in the trenches they deserve to get the same percentage like everybody else but at the same time I think they deserve to
20:10get a covert bonus the this department is not in a good in good shape organizationally structurally or leadership wise and it definitely is a need for improvement and I think that I can't support this contract although I do support the workers I think they deserve more money than what they're getting but at the end of the day the way this uh negotiation went the way this process went I don't like it I
20:32don't think it was the right thing to do we've had situations for the last several months where the mayor was not participating and then all of a sudden today now he participates and I think that that becomes a problem when you look at it so I'm very concerned about it and I'm going to be voting no Mr agya you're out of order police it's got nothing to do with the contracts we're
20:50voting on tonight you vote your conscience vote your heart but we don't need your speeches please Dad please call the roll no Mr Bailey yes Mr Hart yes Miss Roderick no mayor Coogan yes anything further Mr Mayor yes motion to approve the maintenance contract as negotiated second I have a motion a second any discussion please stay on the contract out of respect for the committee and their work
21:22thank you so the same rationale for not supporting this contract this this department has been in need for a long time of uh and overhaul as far as organizationally structurally and accountability wise we're on the contract please that's not in the country yes that is about the contract I'm explaining why I want to vote no on a contract which I have every right to do but something in the contract that
21:47you don't like is why you should vote no and I so you're telling me that I shouldn't tell the public why I should be voting no on a country you're telling the public just know on so I should so basically no the public should know nothing about who is in negotiations what changed from last week what the emergency none of that we should we shouldn't be talking about this we shouldn't be talking about covert bonus
22:08and none of that is whatever I'm going to be voting no I'm going to be voting no on this contract as I stated earlier and we should be telling the public exactly what's happening with related to these contracts there's a lot of things that have gone on behind the scenes there's a lot of problems and we should be doing please pull yourself together please pull yourself together stand the
22:27contract out of respect for the committee please and I have to say that I would love to explain why I'm voting yes but I'm listening to the attorney on the side of me who's telling me there are certain things we can't discuss so I understand we want to make tonight a show but I really want to leave do my job and get out of here so if we could just vote that would be great go ahead
22:47Deb please call the roller Mr aggiel no Mr Bailey yes Mr Hart yes Miss Harvey yes Miss Pereira yes Miss Rodricks no mayor Coogan yes anything for Mr Hunt motion to approve the municipal the municipal contract as negotiated Municipal Employees um I'm sorry I'm sorry custodial uh safety safety wait a minute that's okay that's right you could do it you could do that whatever you want there's only four of
23:18them we've got two two more go ahead Mr hard to start over please you know yeah my apologies motion to approve safety security contract as negotiated do I have a second Mr chairman motion a second can we just get the what we voted on already because that was confusing so I'm just trying to get which ones have we already voted on we voted on um cafeteria maintenance now we're doing safety
23:44discussion Mr agya on the contract please on the contract I cannot support the tentative agreement because there's a lot of things going on in the department that need changing and I'm voting no I yield thank you Deb call the roll please Mr drag yeah no Mr Bailey yes Mr Hart yes Miss laravey yes Miss Pereira yes Miss Rodricks no mayor Coogan yes and Mr Mayor one more the motion to
24:12approve custodial contract as negotiated I have a motion a second any discussion on that one Mr aguiar I'm going to be voting no on this contract as well I just want to let the superintendent know that I will be asking for some information that I was not able to get today based on the attorney's advice but in the future I will be asking for a lot of information to get some clarity on
24:31some of the issues that are in the contract what we can't discuss them today I think I think Mr Mr um Aguilar brings up a perfect time to do this I think some information requested by the committee should be voted on by the committee because everything we hear about school committees as we work as a unit of seven I think it'll pull up excuse me Mr chairman what does that have to do
24:56with the contractor what does it have to do with the point of order you just said it does not have anything to do with it you make sure we have an efficient way to do that going forward I'm sorry if that offends you but I think that that's the way to do it and we'll be definitely bringing it up before the next meeting but I do appreciate your support roll
25:17call please Mr Egg yeah no Mr Bailey yes Mr Hart yes Miss Laramie yes
25:30Miss Pereira yes Miss Rodricks no mayor Kruger yes motion to adjourn congratulations everybody I got a motion a second Deb please call the roll again yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Hart yes Mr larvy yes Miss Pereira yes Miss Roderick yes yes