From the latest Public Records Release: Text messages between Krishnamurthy and Cook on Oct. 15, 2020. At the top of this post, the thread starts at 8:10 pm and matches up with statements from a fellow SC Member. What exactly does Krishnamurthy mean by “caved”? See link to video of the meeting below.
Note: The meeting began at 7pm, thus the a time stamp on text messages from 8:10 is approximately 1:10 on the video.
The statement below was read at the School Committee meeting on March 3, 2022.
By Marty Benson
This is to update the School Committee and the public of the School Administration’s continuing dilatory tactics in providing requested text messages of School Committee members and the Superintendent during the School Committee meetings of October 15 and December 17, 2020. Notwithstanding the letter from the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Public Records Division of January 13, 2022 that such text messages are public records under the law, only two of 200 specific timestamps of text messages among School Committee members and Superintendent Peter Light were produced earlier this week. That text message string was between members Ms. Krishnamurthy and Ms. Wilson Cook. The language in the string is crude and vile and caused serious concern amongst residents of Acton and Boxborough. I suspect this text is the tip of the iceberg and what the other 198 text messages must be like.
Our efforts to obtain the text messages will continue through the Secretary of the Commonwealth, the Attorney General’s Office and the Superior Court, if necessary, where there is a presumption of an award of counsel fees and costs to the requester of public records.
Further, despite the fact the District has spent in excess of five figures fighting the release of these text messages, members of this board continue to exchange text messages with one another during School Committee Meetings. The law is clear that these text messages must be made available upon public records request. If members don’t want their texts requested, then they should abstain from texting during meetings.
As this Committee is recommending a school budget, which in the eyes of some is unsustainable, and a Proposition 2 ½ override is being talked about, your actions will be front and center in the public domain. The text message request should not be viewed in isolation.
October 15, 2020 School Committee meeting VIDEO starting at the beginning of the text thread. Watch for body language indicating texting.
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Here’s a very balanced piece, thorough reporting on the process and the controversy – https://www.thespectrumabrhs.com/fall-colonial-mascot-revival-underscores-division-in-the-ab-community.html I haven’t personally seen any indication that mascot retirement proponents are hiding behind a lie. Instead, the administration, students and School Committee have been upfront with both the public and school community about the process that was followed.
A text message is a public record only if it is between officials, and regarding the topic under their discussion. Has anyone considered that almost all text messages that have not been released are between the School Committee member who was issued that phone and someone other than another School Committee member? Like maybe their spouses and kids?
I think it’s more probable that the “198 other text messages” have nothing to do with the mascot deliberation.
And speaking of the budget and a possible override, might it be high time we let the administration and School Committee get back to that work?
Note: Julie — author of the petition to kill the Colonial mascot — was NOT a student, as one might believe when reading those texts. She’s 2016 alum. Likewise, Anna Kizito is credited in emails as a (the?) founder of ABSEJ. She is a member of the AB class of 2017.
At the Sept 17, 2020 meeting where the petition was first presented, a group of leftist teachers who introduced their group ECARES noted among their “work completed and in process” the “establishment of AB Students for Equity and Justice (ABSEJ) club”, as well as “ongoing summer meetings with ABSEJ”.
Why do our local cancel culture proponents — including the school committee and administration — continue to insist that getting rid of the Colonial mascot was driven by students when it clearly was not? This entire $#$@show was initiated by adults who used kids as a front to push their own agenda.
“If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself.” — Joseph Goebbels