After making national news for giving a sexually graphic Youth Risk Behavior Survey to minors against their parents’ wishes – an action resulting in two federal complaints being filed by MFI’s legal center – the Burlington Public Schools is under legal scrutiny again. Thanks to information shared with MFI by citizen advocates, we have learned that another legal complaint has been filed against the BPS. And while this complaint isn’t about giving 11-year-olds a survey that asks about sex toys, given what has been going on in Burlington, in some ways it is almost as shocking.
For months, Burlington parents and community members have been calling for action from their school committee and for accountability for Superintendent Dr. Eric Conti for the egregious failures surrounding the YRBS, a survey he has played a key role in for years. This is why they were shocked to learn that last month, in the midst of two open federal complaints and a blizzard of negative press for these legal violations, the school committee voted to give Dr. Conti not only a raise, but also a contract extension!
Financially rewarding an already highly-paid superintendent in the midst of a contentious legal battle is incomprehensible, but it isn’t illegal, unless another law is violated in the course of doing so. In this case, that’s what appears to have happened.
On September 15th, an Open Meeting Law complaint was filed by a Burlington resident. This eagle-eyed resident noticed that, according to school committee minutes, on August 19th the school committee had voted “to increase Dr. Conti’s salary by 3.5% and to add 1 year to his contract.” Per the minutes, the motion was made by Meghan Nawoichik and seconded by Christine Monaco and was carried 3:1:0 by a roll call vote, with Jeremy Brooks opposing. This vote had not been on the agenda.
Read the full complaint below.
As the complaint writer points out, according to MA Open Meeting Law, the meeting notice “shall contain the date, time and place of the meeting and a listing of topics that the chair reasonably anticipates will be discussed at the meeting.” We did some digging, and based on what we found, it appears that the Superintendent’s contract is reviewed and voted on annually by the Burlington school committee. In previous years, this vote was specifically noted on the agenda.
Both the discussion of the superintendent’s contract and the vote on the contract were listed in the agenda for the school committee’s meeting on June 26, 2023. And on the agenda for the July 23, 2024 meeting, both were listed as well. So in the previous two years, when the Burlington School Committee has reviewed Dr. Conti’s contract, it has been specifically noted on the agenda that a vote would be taking place. In 2025 it was not.
Based on past practice, arguing that the school committee could not have reasonably anticipated voting on Dr. Conti’s contract on August 19th strains credulity. In fact, the only things that has changed between 2025 and these previous years is that the district is now subject to federal complaints… and parents are watching.
In addition to an apparent violation of open meeting law, this omission is also a violation of the school committee’s own policy. Per the BPS policy on school committee meeting notification, “However, a minimum of 48 hours prior to each meeting the Committee shall cause to be posted a listing of each subject the Chair reasonably anticipates will be discussed at the meeting (the agenda).”
Did the Burlington School Committee and Dr. Conti leave this vote off the agenda because they didn’t want parents to know what was being voted on until it was too late? If so, that would be yet another egregious violation of parental rights by the Burlington Public Schools. We urge the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office to take this Open Meeting Law complaint very seriously. This is especially important since this is not the Burlington School Committee’s first Open Meeting Law complaint – another one was filed for a different reason back in May. And on August 25th, the federal Department of Education announced that they had officially opened an investigation into the federal complaints regarding the YRBS survey, and that complaint is ongoing.
One has to wonder – how many times does the BPS leadership have to violate the law before change comes to Burlington?
Burlington parents and students deserve better, and we will continue to stand with them as they push for accountability in their district.
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