Beverly School Committee Dissension Leads To Resignation

Beverly MA

24 September, 2020

10:25 AM

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BEVERLY, MA — Kelley Ferretti said she was more than willing to stay and debate the very tough issues facing Beverly Public Schools in the seventh month of the coronavirus pandemic. But Ferretti said the manner in which the Beverly School Committee recently debated those issues — and the decisions made that she said "serve a personal agenda" over the best interest and safety of students — led her to resign her seat during Wednesday night's meeting. "If you watch the meetings of the past few months, you see committee members exude disrespect and be dismissive of others' opinions," Ferretti told Patch Thursday morning. "The votes that have been recorded to date are not votes that I have supported," she said. "And in the process of coming to those votes I have seen certain committee members flip unexpectedly. Their motivation has not seemed to be for the whole of the people they are representing. That is disappointing." Ferretti was midway through her second, two-year term on the Beverly School Committee. The major issue in front of the Beverly School Committee in recent months has been the reopening of schools. Beverly opted for a hybrid start in September for the youngest students on Aug. 6, with junior high school and high school students beginning the year fully remote. When the committee met earlier this month, it revised the decision to send students in grades 7 through 12 back for in-classroom learning by Sept. 29 and gave the green light for Beverly students to take part in interscholastic fall sports against other Northeastern Conference schools. "It was concerning that it was rolled out without mention of the condition that we would pay close attention to the safety guidelines and any change in the coronavirus numbers," she said. "Those parts of the discussion were omitted when the plan was announced." Ferretti also said she was deeply troubled with the way the committee handled an open meeting law complaint filed by Charles Kostro, a Beverly resident and executive director of the Essex Regional Retirement System, who complained last month the members were discussing a plan set forth by committee member Lorinda Visnick prior to the Aug. 6 meeting. "Any open meeting violation is not against one person and is against the whole body," Ferretti said. "The body never had an opportunity to direct a response to that. I thought that was inappropriate. The folks who filed the complaint felt it was not handled well." Ferretti said she, as the committee secretary, was particularly frustrated with how the minutes were edited from that meeting. "It pulled at my good conscience and seemed wrong," she said. Ferretti said that while she is resigning her position, as a mother of four students in the district, she plans to remain heavily involved in Beverly Schools. "I had not anticipated that this would happen," she said. "But I felt, at this point, if my voice is going to be heard, this is the only way it can be heard. "I remain very concerned for the future of the schools in this pandemic." (Scott Souza is a Patch Field Editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.) More Patch Beverly Schools Coverage: Beverly Resident Accuses School Board Of Meeting Law Violation Split Beverly School Committee OKs Reopening Plan Beverly Parents Express Concern Over Hybrid-Learning Timetable Beverly Joins NEC Neighbors In Giving Fall Sports Green Light