Pittsfield School Committee to Again Vote on PHS Report Release
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The School Committee will again discuss releasing a redacted version of the PHS report after confusion over a March vote.
On Wednesday, member Ciara Batory, who has been vocal about releasing last year’s investigation into allegations of staff misconduct at Pittsfield High School, demanded a date for its release to the public. It was indicated that the item can be put on the next meeting's agenda.
"I am done playing the game. The public wants a date of when the redacted PHS report will be released, and I will not stop until I get a date," she said before a five-minute recess was called on the meeting.
Last school year, five past and present PHS staff members were investigated for alleged misconduct, and allegations were found to be "unsupported," according to executive summaries released by the last term's committee.
The School Committee agenda for its March 25 meeting included a "request by Ciara Batory to release the May 2025 Pittsfield High report with required redactions." It was reported that there were threats of legal action if the redacted report were released.
Batory on Wednesday said she did not request that agenda item, and that the motion had already passed. Mayor Peter Marchetti, also chair, said they voted in January to review the redacted version, not to release it.
Batory played the motion that passed in January from her phone:
"I move the committee vote to release a PHS investigation report in a redacted form by February 18, 2026, and I'd like to add to that the School Committee reviews it before its release to the public, to make sure that there is enough to present to the public."
She repeatedly asked when the report would be released, at one point, queried colleagues about who read all of what they were provided, and who knew people named in the report.
Sarah Muil, Heather McNeice, and Katherine Yon indicated that they read the summary, and McNeice and Yon indicated that they know one or more individuals in the report. Yon was a longtime teacher at PHS.
Muil said she felt "very confused" because she thought they were voting to go into executive session to review the reports before deciding to release them. Batory said they did not go into executive session to review any report, but did so on their own, and Muil added they met with counsel and "reviewed a lot of things."
"And then we went into executive session again the night that we were going to take another vote, and then we didn't take the second vote," Muil said.
Marchetti explained that it was placed back on the March agenda because the vote was not finished, and then no action was taken on it; Batory said it was an abuse of power.
"The report was terrible. PHS was a free-for-all. None of the kids were listened to. It was disgusting to read, and I think that the public needs to read it so that it never happens again," she said.
"The sweeping it under the rug culture is over. We voted yes. We did it respectfully with redactions. It's time to release it."
School Committee member Carolyn Barry hopes they can do this cohesively.
"Personally, I would like to see the report released. I read the full thing. To me, there wasn't anything in there. There were no children's names. That's just my humble opinion," she said.
"I would like to see all of us work together as a team. I know we have different points of view, but I think we can all learn from everybody else's points of view."
McNeice took the chair at one point in hopes of bringing down the temperature of the room, she said, and told Batory that "most people" will agree that that motion was confusing. After speaking to legal counsel, Marchetti said the report will be released when the School Committee takes an affirmative vote to release a redacted version.
Resident Paul Gregory said the school officials were sworn in in January, and there has been "this floating thing of a report from Pittsfield High School."
"Who cares what's in the report? It's now about process. It's about a promise that was made to the public, paid for by the public, that things would be revealed," he said.
"I understand redactions for the protection of people, for the protection of some situations, but we have a right to know that is unfinished business."
When Batory yielded the floor, she said this is a "disappointment of disgusting information being hidden from the public."
Tags: investigation, PHS,
