Norwood School Committee Seeks Town Counsel Ruling on Open Meeting Laws-September 12, 1963

The School Committee voted last night to formally request a legal ruling from Town Counsel regarding the application of the state Open Meeting Law to all town committees and boards when deliberating the upcoming 1964 municipal budget.

Motion for Broad Transparency Sparks Debate

The motion was introduced by committee member Francis X. Sheehan and seconded by Joseph F. Curran. It ultimately secured majority approval when Chairman Thomas A. White broke a tie vote, with committee member Joseph R. Olsham also supporting the measure.

However, three members—Mary Hemman, John J. Cavanaugh, and Henry W. Diggs—opposed the motion in its broader scope, arguing that any clarification should apply exclusively to the School Committee rather than policing other municipal bodies.

Explaining his rationale, Sheehan noted that he intentionally phrased the motion to encompass all town boards because, “I feel we shouldn’t be the only committee to discuss the budget in open session if other boards decide not to.” Sheehan reflected that many financial items previously handled in closed executive sessions ought to have been open to the public. “If we are going to give the public what they are entitled to under the law, all other boards should do the same,” Sheehan stated.

Lessons from Past Budget Battles

Chairman White and Curran concurred, pointing to the intense friction and public criticism encountered during the previous year’s budget cycle. In 1962, the School Committee conducted the vast majority of its budget deliberations behind closed doors. That secrecy triggered fierce opposition and hostile criticism from town meeting members across six grueling sessions, resulting in lengthy haggling before funds were finally approved.

“I think we made one big error last year in not making the townspeople aware of what we were trying to accomplish,” Chairman White stated. “I’m sure that any of the 27,000 people in Norwood would have acted as we did. But we presented a budget at the finance commission hearing without any obvious steps along the way.”

Curran, serving his inaugural year on the panel, added that his harrowing introduction to town meeting scrutiny convinced him of the necessity of transparency: “after being exposed to the town meeting last year,” he fully favored making budget items accessible to the public.

Conversely, Cavanaugh expressed concern that dragging other boards into the Town Counsel’s ruling would unfairly thrust the School Committee into the role of a political “whipping boy.” Undeterred, Olshan remarked that he was perfectly willing to “be a whipping boy in this instance.”

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger