A simple Grafton SEPAC election, an email, and a complaint to the attorney general

Sixty-one parents of Grafton children with special disabilities Zoomed into the SEPAC meeting Friday afternoon, unaware that they were entering a virtual room where questions were muted, voting rights were unclear, and…

The email.

Did Justin Wood’s email from back in March asking to be counted as a voting SEPAC member really exist if SEPAC Chair Melissa Lackey claimed she never saw it, despite the screenshot that Wood briefly made his Zoom background?

The object of the meeting was to elect a new slate of officers. Three hours later, the meeting ended without a new chairman, a potential complaint to the attorney general, and a slew of angry and bewildered parents wondering: just what the heck is going on with a group that’s meant to provide support and guidance through the world of special education?

SEPAC is Grafton’s Special Education Parent Advisory Council, required in every public school district by Massachusetts law to advise the School Committee on matters that pertain to the education and safety of students with disabilities. Membership is open to all parents of children with disabilities and it is a self-governing group that makes its own bylaws.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this was the first time the group had met since January, despite bylaws requiring an election of new officers back in April. With Grafton students returning to school next week, parents were curious to find out what SEPAC might do for them.

1:30 p.m. The little boxes on the Zoom call quickly filled up with three screens of parents. Lackey, explaining that she needed to establish who had the right to vote, asked each of 61 people on the call their names, residency, the last meeting they had attended, and how many children they had requiring special needs services.

For several parents, disclosing their children’s needs in a public, recorded meeting was an invasion of privacy (regular meetings simply have a sign-in sheet). Lackey called them out of order for questioning the process, threatening to mute them if they continued to speak.

2:27 p.m. Zoom chat participant: “Do you think we’re ever going to get beyond the roll call?”

2:33 p.m. A total of 17 of the 61 people on the call are determined to be members. The criteria: they attended a SEPAC meeting within the last year. Parents who had attended a “Know Your Rights” meeting back in the spring did not make the cut.

SEPAC Treasurer Sarah Goggin proposed postponing the vote, noting that while the meeting, posted Wednesday, complied with Open Meeting Law, no one had solicited candidates to run for office. Lackey noted that she posted the meeting on the group’s Facebook page, leading to some griping about blocked comments.

Zoom chat participant: “We are people who have special needs children so yes sometimes having more than 48 hours (notice) is very nice.”

Zoom chat participant: “We are now attending because we want to be involved. Are you now asking us to stop participating?”

Lackey also pointed out the SEPAC bylaws about membership, available on the school district’s special education pages:

Voting membership shall be any general member who is a parent or guardian of a child with special needs residing in Grafton, with or without an Individual Education Plan (IEP), 504 Plan or is a parent or guardian of a child with special needs who attends Grafton Public Schools and who has attended at least one previous meeting of the Grafton Special Education Parent Advisory Council during the past 12 months, or has requested voting status in writing to the Secretary at least one month prior to elections.

Wood said since SEPAC had not held a meeting in nine months, requiring parents to have attended a meeting in the last year to be considered members would be a mistake. He also mentioned he had emailed the SEPAC’s GMail account requesting voting status back in March but had never received an answer.

Lackey said she never saw the email and asked if he had emailed it to the group’s secretary. Wood said there was only one general email address listed.

3 p.m. The vote to delay the vote was denied, 9-7. 

Jacob Lackey — husband of the chair — was nominated, along with a co-chair nomination of Heather Nadeau and Liora Bram. The result was a tie, 8-8.

A person recognized as a voting member re-entered the meeting to cast a vote for Jacob Lackey, who immediately took over the meeting. At this point, Select Board Chair Peter Carlson, attending as a parent, warned him that not allowing Wood to vote “would constitute malice intent and I don’t think this board wants to be associated with such.”

Jacob Lackey agreed and Wood promptly voted for Nadeau and Bram, once again making a tie,

3:50 p.m. Jacob Lackey, acknowledging he is no longer chairman, handed control of the meeting back to his wife, immediately recommending that the vote be postponed until September 24.

Melissa Lackey disagreed, suggesting that another voting member previously in the meeting should be asked to rejoin to vote. She reiterated that since she did not have a copy of Wood’s email, she did not believe he had the right to vote. 

Wood turned his Zoom background into a copy of his email and said he will contact the attorney general’s office to complain about how the meeting was being handled.

“I just want to have some evidence that this email was sent,” Melissa Lackey said.

“You’re making stuff up as you’re going on,” Carlson said.

Zoom chat participant: “We’ve been on this call for two and half hours and we’re no closer to getting a chair.”

4:10 p.m. A motion is made to end the meeting, but Melissa Lackey continued to talk about Wood’s email. Wood, meanwhile, located the original email on a hard drive backup folder and resent it.

Zoom chat participant: “Why is there so much animosity for people who want to be involved?”

4:22 p.m. It’s established that those who attended the meeting may actually vote for new officials at the next meeting, Thursday, September 24 at 7 p.m.

4:30 p.m. With everyone asking that the meeting be over, Melissa Lackey declares it closed.

One last voice is heard: “A point of order, I think we need a roll call to adjourn the meeting…”

The Zoom call goes dark.