Easthampton City Councilor Owen Zaret (right) speaks about his reasoning for bringing concerns of antisemitism in the district.
Photo credit: Easthampton Media
EASTHAMPTON — A request from the School Committee to censure City Councilor Owen Zaret was moved by the City Council to its Rules & Government Relations Committee following intense discussion and public comments during the council’s Jan. 22 meeting.
The request for censure by the School Committee was read into record by committee Chair Laura Scott and states that Zaret was frustrated and not satisfied with the School Committee’s handling of his requests to address antisemitism within Easthampton Public Schools, eventually escalating to, “incidents of clearly unprofessional and unacceptable conduct,” according to the letter.
The censure does not mean the committee is requesting his resignation, rather marking the incident for city record. During the City Council meeting, Scott read the detailed letter and request of censure into the record.
“The events and circumstances outlined in this letter are troubling and unfortunate and we are bound as an elected body in service of Easthampton Public Schools and to the code of ethics developed by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees,” Scott said. “Therefore we are compelled to address false statements about the district and conduct that negatively impacts the work of our administration and staff, our students learning and the morale and reputation of Easthampton Public Schools.”
Zaret told Reminder Publishing the day before the meeting he felt the request of censure is excessive as there were opportunities for conversations with other parties involved to either state their frustration and or after doing so, try to find some common ground on the topic.
Zaret said he brought his concerns of the rise of antisemitism in the schools over the last year-plus and claimed he was aware of at least five incidents within the schools over the past year, which would put the School Department at an alarmingly high rate on the state level. He added he felt the committee did not take his concerns seriously.
“My concern is what is happening in our schools, as well as the current climate around the Jewish community. A comment to an email is not a conversation. Saying ‘thank you’ or ‘noted’ when I share resources and concerns around this topic isn’t dialogue,” Zaret told Reminder Publishing. “Clearly I feel that something has been missing here, and that the opportunities to work together to solve a significant problem — one that we have a state commission for — have been missed.”
Photo credit: Easthampton Media
Zaret added he felt there was an absence for “some cultural compassion.”
“My Jewish identity and advocacy is a significant part of my compass. Clearly, I feel very strongly about this issue. I feel concerned both about events that have actually occurred as well as the threat of what can occur. I would hope that my municipal colleagues can understand that this comes from a place of deep worry. Instead, I feel like we are deflecting from the real issue and I’m being blamed for a problem that I did not create,” he said.
During the meeting, Zaret spoke about the increase in antisemitic incidents over the last year and as a city councilor it is his job to reject hate of all kinds and work toward the safety of everyone who’s impacted. He added there was urgency to addressing this and said he was offering an open invitation to collaborate with the city.
According to City Council President Salem Derby, Zaret had the opportunity to speak further on the specifics of the censure request during an upcoming Council Rules and Government Relations Committee meeting.
The School Committee shared its letter to the council as well as a communication timeline related to Zaret’s concerns and a collection of the School Department’s relevant policies dealing with anti-bias and anti-discrimination. It claims the committee has taken Zaret’s concerns seriously, and the department has focus and policy already focused on anti-bias and anti-discrimination.
The committee detailed a series of meetings and communications with Zaret over the past year-plus where the councilor brought forth concerns of antisemitism in the schools and what the district could do about it. According to the letter, Zaret eventually suggested implementing a specific curriculum in schools and eventually became dissatisfied with the efforts.
“It also became evident that Councilor Zaret was making a number of escalating complaints in multiple public forums about antisemitic incidents in Easthampton Public Schools, alleged inaction on the part of the committee and administration to prevent and address such incidents, and his efforts to communicate with the School Committee and administration were ignored,” Scott read. “These statements are not true, and we have outlined above how the committee and the administrative staff regularly communicated and met with Councilor Zaret.”
The letter details efforts from the committee showing regular communication with the councilor, multiple meetings occurred with School Committee members, administrative staff, curriculum specialists and the districts equity steering committee and the Collaborative for Educational Services.
“Despite these efforts, the pattern of communication of Councilor Zaret expressing frustration and dissatisfaction with the School Committee and school administration continued,” Scott said. “Following a meeting with a School Committee member and curriculum specialist, Councilor Zaret attempted to schedule an unauthorized meeting with himself, the curriculum specialist and an outside organization. He did so without prior notification to, or approval from the committee or school administration. Inappropriate interference was discovered when various parties involved reached out to the interim superintendent to express their concerns and confusion.”
The letter requesting the censure of Zaret also states that shortly after the unauthorized meeting there was an incident at one of the schools that “was identified and dealt with promptly, in accordance with district and school policies.” School administrators notified the department, School Committee and school families that this incident had taken place and encouraged those seeking more specific information on it to schedule a meeting with the building administrators.
Zaret immediately requested and was granted that meeting and was informed of the specifics of the incident, according to the School Committee letter. After that meeting, Zaret then texted a member of the School Committee sharing the meeting had occurred before then sending an email to the School Committee and the interim superintendent to request the disclosure of the specifics of the incident, something the School Committee said was in violation of the process “that had been clearly communicated to the School Committee.”
“To be clear, at the time of Councilor Zaret’s request, he was already aware of the specifics. When questioned by the school administrator that he had met with as to why Councilor Zaret had made such an odd request, he responded that he had not told the group about this meeting and further included the following via email: ‘As for my request to them with knowledge of the content, it is essentially a test of good faith behavior between municipal partners.’”
The email from Zaret continued, “I am interested to see if my inquiry will garner any response at all and whether they will share any information, especially given my preemption over a year with warnings about antisemitism. Whether I am a city councilor or parent or Jewish person, I set a certain bar of cooperation from municipal officials and that starts with openness to dialogue and transparency. My colleagues on the School Committee continue to refuse to offer that. Again, this is not a gotcha moment for them, it is a litmus test of trust.”
The letter also details that a local reporter reached out to Scott via email the next day stating they were contacted about Zaret who was raising concerns about rising incidents of antisemitism in the district, a lack of administrative action and accused the School Committee and direct administrators of ignoring his requests for communication and transparency on the topic.
“In these statements to a school administrator and a local reporter, Councilor Zaret acted in ways that we clearly perceive as untruthful, manipulative and counterproductive to honest and effective governments,” Scott said. “Those two events on that day triggered the need for an urgent response on the part of myself and the full School Committee.”
Prior to the letter being read into the record, public comment swayed between support for Zaret and former City Council colleagues speaking out against him and claiming he often bullied to get his way.
“Maybe we need to consider getting a mediator and sitting down with the group,” said one resident in defense of Zaret.
Another resident mentioned as a Jewish women and mother she has experienced and seen antisemitism within the community and while her children and that Zaret’s concerns should be taken seriously.
Former City Council President Peg Conniff said during public comment that this was not an issue of concerns of discrimination not being taken seriously.
“I think we need to be clear in the room. My perception of what the School Committee is doing is not about the topic of antisemitism. What they are drawing attention to is the behavior of an elected official in corresponding with another group in the city,” Conniff said. “When I was on the council at any point if I questioned or asked for clarification for something on Councilor Zaret, I would be demeaned, insulted, harassed and bullied regularly. I have the receipts.”
Former City Councilor Lindsay Rothschild added she too had experiences of being “bullied” by Zaret during her time on the council and said he was once a friend but takes it too far with too many in his role.
“I’ve been subjected to antisemitism. I’ve also been subjected to harassment and bullying by Owen Zaret, and I’ve witnessed him doing it to other women on the council and other women in civic positions in the city. There are files here in City Hall,” Rothschild said. “This is not about antisemitism. This is about his behavior towards the School Committee.”
Other members of the School Committee shared sentiments from the letter that Zaret had acted out of line as an elected official with his handling of his concerns and shared similar sentiments of having felt bullied by him in the past.
“We’re not asking the councilor to resign. We are not asking for him to be recalled. We are not asking him to stop speaking. We are only asking that the councilor use the resources that the council that it already has to pout a note in this file because of this particular instance in which he misrepresented himself to outside agencies, misrepresented our community, and lied to the press,” said School Committee member Sam Hunter.
School Committee member Meghan Harvey said the work to combat the rise of antisemitism was still ongoing and the district needed to improve, but that this request of censure regarding Zaret was in response to his actions in handling his concerns.
“I just want to again state that this is not about the content of this matter,” added Harvey.
Prior to the meeting, Mayor Nicole LaChapelle provided a statement to Reminder Publishing saying Zaret’s pattern of behavior takes away from the work already ongoing to combat hate.
“The School Committee’s request seems to be more about the actions of a City Councilor reaching outside their official duties, rather than the curriculum,” said LaChapelle. “This is something for the School Committee and City Council to address, but it’s concerning to see an elected official’s pattern of behavior take attention away from important work that the school district is already doing as targeted hate actions, specifically antisemitism in this example, dramatically rise across our nation.”
The City Council Rules and Government Relations Committee hosted a meeting on Jan. 29 that did not include discussion of the letter. It will be discussed at a future meeting.
