Six members of the Concord School Board voted together on Feb. 16 to fire Lori Fosdick, a Broken Ground School teacher accused of improperly restraining a special-needs student.

The Monitor learned through its reporting that the six who agreed with the superintendent’s recommendation were Clint Cogswell, Maureen Redmond-Scura, Jim Richards, Jennifer Patterson, Tom Croteau and Nathan Fennessy.

Two board members, Barbara Higgins and Alana Kimball, voted against the motion to fire Fosdick, sharing the opinion of several parents at the school who said they trusted the teacher.

Concord school officials decided that vote is none of the public’s business.

All eight school board members in attendance sealed the minutes of their nonpublic session to protect Fosdick’s reputation, which included their votes.

The effect of that decision was to shroud a teacher’s controversial firing completely from the public record. Fosdick’s name is never mentioned in the public minutes, which also don’t explain the purpose of the board’s meetings on Jan. 31 and Feb. 16 except to say they involved a “personnel matter.”

At a meeting last week, parents of special education children said they were unsatisfied with the district’s approach to restraint. Mothers said their children have fled the school and then been left alone outside because staff members refused to forcibly bring the children inside.

Many parents have voiced support for Fosdick and said the school district should hire her back.

Concord residents can only act on these matters indirectly at elections, by choosing to support – or not – the candidates they agree with most.

But public records, which weren’t immediately available as required by law, don’t have that information.

Minutes of public meetings are required to be available for inspection five days after the meeting takes place. When the Monitor requested to view the Feb. 16 minutes on April 6, the request was denied.

The newspaper filed a right-to-know request that day to view the board’s public minutes from Jan. 31 and Feb. 13. The district had at most five days to produce those records or otherwise explain why it needed more time.

On April 14, the sixth day after the request, Superintendent Terri Forsten responded by email with copies of the minutes and an apology, saying she misread the request.

Nothing more than what’s legally required is divulged in the minutes. They said that the eight voting members of the board – Pam Wicks was recused – agreed to go into a nonpublic session and then seal the minutes.

Forsten said that Fosdick and her attorney were offered the opportunity to hold the hearing in a public session, but that isn’t mentioned. Neither is a motion to come out of the nonpublic session or adjourn either meeting.

Separately, Forsten declined requests to view letters sent to Fosdick in December and February informing her that the superintendent would recommend she be fired and that the board had accepted the recommendation. Those letters are exempt because they “pertain to an internal personnel practice” and disclosure “would constitute an invasion of privacy,” Forsten said.

Forsten said the Jan. 31 and Feb. 16 minutes, which were omitted from the board’s typical approval process, would be put on its May agenda for approval.

(Nick Reid can be reached at 369-3325, nreid@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at
@NickBReid.)