Page 10 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – Friday, November 15, 2019 ASKS | FROM PAGE 1 dle School; and a five-year-old daughter, Finley, who is in preschool at the Veterans Memorial Elementary School. Whittredge is a 1989 graduate of Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational High School. He is a facilities HVAC technician. Highlights of this week’s interview follow. Q: Congratulations on your victory in last week’s town elections and being voted in by the newly elected School Committee to be the chair. A: Thank you. Q: Now, was your first action as the new School Committee to switch the meetings from Thursday night to Wednesday night? A: Yes. Wednesday night seems to work best for all of the other members. It worked out well for me, too. I’m still president of the Saugus Little League in town, and we meet on Thursday nights. So, it worked out well for all of us. Q: And the new members consider Wednesday nights more convenient than Thursday nights? A: Definitely. It is more convenient for them. Yes. Q: And no more a.m. meetings? A: Right. No more a.m. meetings. Q: Was there a concern about that? A: There was some concerns from people [voters] that they couldn’t make those meetings because of work. And some of them felt that maybe things could be pushed through during that time [morning meetings] with no push back, so now all of our meetings are going to be at 6:30 at night on Wednesdays. Q: And that’s twice a month, right? A: Twice a month. Q: So, what else did you accomplish at your first meeting after the election, besides the election of officers and the RARING TO GO: During an interview this week over coffee at the Hammersmith Family Restaurant, incoming School Committee Chair Thomas R. Whittredge said the Saugus Public Schools face some tough challenges over the next two years. But Whittredge declares that he’s “up for the task” and “very excited” to get started. (Saugus Advocate photo by Mark E. Vogler) new day? A: I was elected chair. We accomplished naming the vice chair, Ryan Fisher. We switched the meeting around. And that was pretty much it. Now we got to work on creating some subcommittees. There’s some fun work ahead. Q: Now, when you look at the town-wide vote, it looks like people were pretty upset about the school custodians losing their jobs. And it was an issue that transcended the School Committee; a lot of incumbents were defeated in the different races. So, do you consider this a new day for the School Committee? A: Yes, I would say the custodians played a big role in that [the town elections]. Wherever you stand on the issue, you can’t deny that they had a big impact on the election. The previous School Committee has done some good work – as far as reinstating some programs and trying to make it geared more to the kids – and I thank them for that. And we hope to build off that foundation and just improve on things in the future. Q: So, what are your top priorities going into the next two years? A: Well, obviously MCAS is a big concern, but at the same time, no matter what we do right now, you won’t see results on the MCAS for maybe two years – well, maybe three years or longer. All you can do right now is trust that the superintendent has a plan. He has a five-year plan, and, hopefully, we give him what he needs to implement and improve that plan. And hopefully, it works. The only place we can go is up from here. Q: Another issue that resonated through the campaign is one of transparency. A: Correct. Yes. Q: And regardless of what side you are on the issue with the custodians, the one thing that’s clear is that it was not a very transparent process. It was very muddy. A: It was extremely muddy, and it could have been on both sides, for all I know, because I am not privy to what went on in those meetings. And really, nobody is, besides those people who were there, so I’m not really going to pass judgement on what went down in those meetings. But, as far as transparency goes … moving forward, you can rest assured that everything will be very transparent. Q: I’ve seen some of the minutes of the discussions that took place … and some of the issues discussed should have taken place in public. A: Right. Q: The state Attorney General [Division of Open Government] has not come down yet with a determination of whether there were Open Meeting Law violations. Whether the Attorney General comes down with a ruling or not remains to be seen. A: Yeah. To me, it’s kind of a gray area. When you’re dealing with contract negotiations, most of the time it’s going to be in Executive Session. Q: But when you talk about the topic of privatization and you are not talking about specific employees – just the concept – that should be discussed publicly. A: Correct. It should be an open thing, without getting into the specifics [of contracts]. Q: Now, did you hear during the campaign from voters that “you got to be more open with the process … you got to be more public”? A: Yes. Well, for me and the rest of the guys – it’s a learning curve for us. I’ve been doing a lot of study on the policies and Open Meeting Law – Robert’s Rules. I’m going to make my fair share of mistakes, but it’s not going to be malicious. We’re going to try to do things in the best interests of everybody, you know? Q: I guess you and the committee will be doing some training on the Open Meeting Law, Ethics Commission, Public Records and School Committee procedures? A: Yep, there will be some training ahead and we’ll try to set things up with the Superintendent. Q: The Massachusetts Association of School Committees offers a special program. A: Yes. We have some training coming up on that. I’m not sure of the exact date, but we are working on that right now – hopefully sooner, rather than later. Q: You must have a wish list for things you want to accomplish. What do you see as your major items? A: One of my big items is having a smooth transition of the schools. It’s going to be a lot of work. We are going to be moving down to a threeschool system, and nobody knows how that’s going to go. There’s not many communities that have done what we are doing now. Normally, they build a new school and they transfer schools, but we’re transferring the schools and shutting down the others as we’re moving to a three-school system, so it’s going to be interesting. And it’s ASKS | SEE PAGE 19 Monogram D4 Double siding Cedar impression half rounds Harvey Vinyl 60 Replacement Windows Custom Aluminum Trim work Windows & Doors Top quality Vinyl Siding! •Vinyl Siding •Carpentry Work •Decks •Roofing •Free Estimates •Replacement Windows •Fully Licensed •Fully Insured
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