The research committee held its second meeting on Tuesday.

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The research committee formed to look at school affiliations made progress in sorting out research topics Tuesday.

But continued bad blood between two members could threaten the committee's existence.

Town Administrator Paul Sieloff forewarned the nine members that if they did not cooperate, the Selectmen would disband the panel.

 

The committee, appointed by the Selectmen, first met last week.

 

Tuesday's meeting kicked off with an argument between Robert Barton and Rich Cohen. Barton threatened to resign and request the Selectmen disband the committee if Cohen wouldn't "back off."

 

Barton particularly cited an email Cohen allegedly sent out pointedly tying his name to potential research options in a way that was "misrepresenting" him.

 

Barton continued by pointing to three Open Meeting Law complaints that were rejected by the attorney general's office — the latest being on Friday. All of those complaints stem from Barton's work on the School Committee and focused primarily on affiliation issues.

 

"Each of your accusations have been denied by the attorney general's office," Barton said. "You've wasted time and funds."

 

Barton said Cohen had made comments claiming Barton's previous work on reinstating the preschool program was unethical. Barton asked Cohen's assurance that the matters be resolved.

 

Cohen, however, said he wouldn't assure Barton that he wouldn't file complaints with the state regarding Barton's behavior. He said in two of those complaints the state said they had "serious concerns" with the operations.

 

He also defended his email, saying Barton had publicly supported the various options and that it is important to know the source and background of the information. He cited emails in which Barton had taken stances on the issues now being researched, so tying his name to them wasn't misleading, he said.

 

"I believe that all the actions I've taken are in the best interest of the children and the taxpayers," Cohen said.

 

The two also had a battle over public records requests in which Barton attempted to charge Cohen for emails and other documents from his time on the School Committee. The secretary of state also weighed in on that complaint with a stance mentioning concern over the records not being released.

 

That bad blood could lead to much more.

 

In Barton's role on the School Committee, he "compelled" a vote to withdraw from Superintendency Union 71 last month with the support of James Moriarity. The two created a majority of the School Committee and the threat of a vote was intended to force action on the research committee. Moriarity said he would vote in favor of withdrawing from the union.

 

This nine-member committee, formed by the Selectmen just two days prior to that vote, is serving as the study committee Barton had asked the School Committee to take on months earlier.

 

So Barton's threat of resignation or the Selectmen dissolving the committee could lead to another vote on the dissolution of the union.

 

The rest of the committee, however, said the disagreements did nothing for the main goal. They proposed to start from zero — ignoring the bitter debates among the two leading up to the committee's formation.

 

Jack Hickey said if Barton and Cohen couldn't "agree to disagree," the rest of the committee would go to the Board of Selectmen and ask for them to be removed.

 

"Can we just keep it in good faith?" said Christine Canning-Wilson. "It is not about me. It is not about you. It is not about anybody. It is about making the best effort for the kids."

 

Following that 20-or-so-minute debate, the committee then went to task, working collaboratively, at outlining the next two months of research. 

 

In an hour and a half brainstorming session, the group came up with seven focus areas to weigh pros and cons: to keep the status quo; to regionalize with Williamstown into a K-12 district; to pull the elementary school out of Union 71 and look at a new administration; to remove its middle school students from Mount Greylock and create a K-8 school; bring all of the Lanesborough students from pre-K to 12 into one in-town school; have all of the pre-K through 12 students regionalize with another district; and break away from the tri-district agreement and tuition the middle and high school students to other schools.

 

From there, the committee eliminated the improbable scenarios — such one school for all of the students. And it dug deeper into each of the potential options, laying out various aspects that affect each area.

 

The upcoming building project at Mount Greylock Regional School, costs, educational benefits, and relationship with Williamstown are all aspects to be considered in weighing the various options. The committee also said they'd like to loook full look at the cost of education, which includes capital projects, insurance, teachers contracts, benefits and borrowing interest to compare the option.

 

In just two meetings, the group made significant progress in citing the areas of concern, need for study, outlining the extent of the study and determining how they would progress. They determined they would not look at the town's agreement with McCann Techical Vocational School nor the tuitioning of students to Berkshire Arts and Technology.

 

The committee added detail to about half of the research options on Tuesday and will continue the discussion on Thursday. The group hopes to complete its research by the end of the year.