LAWRENCE — A special meeting is scheduled Wednesday evening for city leaders to discuss changing the structure of the School Committee, allowing members to be appointed by the mayor.
The committee is now made up of elected members with Mayor Brian DePena serving as its chairman.
DePena proposed a home rule petition earlier this year to restructure the committee once Lawrence Public Schools leaves state receivership.
Due to underperformance, Lawrence schools have been under state receivership since 2012 with the Lawrence Alliance for Education as its oversight board.
Drafts of the home rule petition call for a 13-member hybrid/elected committee of six elected members, six appointed members, a nonvoting student member and the mayor, who would serve as chair.
“The mayor shall appoint Committee members who represent the ethnic, racial and socioeconomic diversity of the city of Lawrence and its public school students,” according to a draft.
The draft also said it is “highly recommended that the appointed membership will include professionals from the following fields; finance/accounting, law, engineering, education, law enforcement, athletics, and/or arts – this assuring the academic advancement of students and overall education system.”
An eight-member ad hoc committee was organized to review the home rule petition and its specifications. The ad hoc committee is made up of three people from the mayor’s office, three School Committee members and two city councilors.
School Committee member Myra Ortiz serves on the ad hoc committee. She said before any changes to the School Committee are made, the city needs to prepare its “transition plan” to formally exit state receivership.
“How do we move forward?” she asked.
Ortiz also said the intent of the mayor’s plan was that Lawrence Alliance for Education board members could be incorporated into the School Committee post-receivership.
City Councilor Stephany Infante, who serves on the ad hoc committee, called it a “very frustrating process.”
Infante and others commented on the ad hoc committee and proposed home rule petition at a City Council meeting Tuesday night,
She said there was “back and forth” at the ad hoc committee meetings and their time was “very unproductive.”
Luis Robles, an Abbott Street resident, described the ad hoc committee as “a disaster.”
“Nothing of substance was debated,” said Robles, adding that the meetings lacked constructive dialogue.
Kimberly Barry, president of the 1,500-member Lawrence Teachers Union, said the union believes in full democracy and puts its trust in an elected School Committee.
School Committee member Lenin Roa urged councilors to approve the home rule petition. He said “barely anyone wants to run for School Committee positions.”
City councilors previously received a petition signed by 120 people urging them to “Support an Elected School Committee.”
“Converting the existing fully-elected School Committee to a majority-elected school board, as proposed by the mayor, would continue the unjust pattern of state receivership. It would strip parents, caregivers, and our entire community of a voice in how our schools are run,” according to the petition.
The meeting Wednesday starts at 7 p.m. in council chambers at City Hall. The meeting can also be viewed on YouTube and the City Council’s Facebook page.
Follow staff reporter Jill Harmacinski on Twitter/X @EagleTribJill.