##VIDEO ID:-nhRe5iJ5-I## for e e e e e e good we good good good evening can you hear me and welcome to the uh special public meeting for the laen city council today Monday October 28th of 2024 pursuant to chapter 20 of the act of 2022 this meeting will be H hbr allowing participation both in person at the city council chambers and remarkly The Zo link for anybody to request it was available at the city clerk office this all this meeting also could be viewed uh through the U um digital platform for the laen city council which are the L City Council Facebook page as well of the LA City Council YouTube page Ro Roo Madame cler councelor Levy present Council lant present Council Lon present Council Del Rosario present councilor Santiago pres councilor marmel presid Council Rees present Council vice president infon pres council president Rodriguez present uh please join me for a moment of silence now join me for the pledge of allegion I pledge of Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic to which it stands one nation under God indivisible with and justice for all all right we have you have the the thing the time yes we have public participation and those are the rulle for public participation we're going to have everybody that is on the list we're going to allow them to speak for two and a half minutes at the two minute mark You're going to hear a sounds indicating that you still have 30 minutes uh 30 seconds sorry um the the public participations you have to refer to the council as a whole not to any individual counselors um with that said we're going to start with h Mali name and address for the record please good evening honorable members in this important V for the freedom of laena we when our most important stakeholder our teachers union requesting for a free and Democratic can you can you can you can you start your mic okay it's start all over good evening honorable members in this important vote for freedom of the Laurentian when our most important stakeholder our teachers union requesting for a free and Democratic school committee we the citizen respectfully request from this honorable Council vote for Freedom please vote for democratic election so we can elect our school committee members members in remember in a dark era of the receivership our honorable school committee members never stop fighting for Independence of the lawence public school from dictatorial process of the receivership now we cannot accept unconstitutional on American Home Room petition that take away our rights as a Laurentian to a free Democratic school committee we the Laurentian best example of support of teachers union must stand up in unity and requesting tonight please vote for Freedom please vote for the right of Laurentian to have an elected school committee please stand up with our citizen stand up with our teachers stand up with our school committee members vote no to this undemocratic and am unamerican home room petition now thank you thank you the next person that we have is excuse me guys let's wait for the end because and then we're going to go more later and the one we're supposed to so the next person that we have for public participation is uh Rich Rosell name on adders for the record councelor Rosell good evening council is Richard Russell 34 cross street I hope that this agenda item is treated in accordance with rule 26 of the rules of the lawence city council that is using uh Robert Rules of Order newly revised and have rules 16 section 9 of the above mentioned rules applied to postponed and Def definitely agenda item 14824 if not I suppose that in my humble opinion violations of various city ordinances and laws are still better being forced to do so are better than being forced to do so at gunpoint as some third world political entities have been known to do to get what they want in Chicago there's a phrase about voting vote early vote often Lawrence is on the verge of creating a new phrase keep voting on it until you make the powers at be happy if this is the reason for this special council meeting then the Lawrence political scene has sunk to a level that I that I thought was never was impossible to reach remember one man one vote not one mayor six votes quoting Caesar in Latin as he crossed the Rubicon Alia yaka s thank you for allowing me to express my displeasure at this act of political shenanigans the next person that we have is Johnny Castillo name and address for the record please good evening my name is Johnny Castillo 52 faran street we have seen in the City of Lawrence the hiring of a superintendent below require qualifications at least two other people or two other applicants were very qualified we have seen the hiring of two police Chiefs underqualified a chief of staff underqualified the creation of position to assist the director of the Department of Public Work DPW for ex square m city and we don't even know if the director is fully qualified or if somebody from another city has to come to sign the city documentations for him in the City of Lawrence we have seen the intimidation of radio communicators we have an assistant to the mayor who's also a member of the a board and many other atrocities and now some people in this city want to take away the rights of the people of Lawrence to elect the members of the school committee as if teachers and education means nothing to these people and I for one had enough of these abuses I urge you I urge you to vote no in the home rule petition that wants to sever the rights of the people of Lawrence to elect the members of the school committee and you know something I suspect this is a distraction to keep us from finding out what's going on to keep us from finding out if there's any dirty business taking place in our local government vote no on the home rule and know that we the people have the right to recall the Mandate of any elected official the reason for the people the reason for the people to elect their members is because they are in their neighborhood they don't come from the desk or the order of a major of anybody else vote no I urge you thank you all right the next person that we have is Julissa Nunes name and address for the record please good evening my name is Julissa Nunes 46 faram Street the the budget for the Lawrence Public School in 2025 is going to be three three 3 24,4 54,8 58 which increased by 20,2 203 926 this year excuse me I have a long infection so I might get short of breath this amount represents 74. 64% of Lauren's total budget as we know the state of Massachusetts provides all this founding for education for the tax from the taxes of the state as you might conclude the school committee is the legislative body that controls this millions of dollars and this is the main reason why this Administration wants to control the school committee this is concerning as this Administration has shown by its action that they came not to serve the people but to serve themselves the future of our children's education is at risk therefore I want to remind the council members that we the people elected you to represent us with dignity and responsibility not to defend part partisan political interest I'm standing here not only as a mother as a community member and as a border but I have to say I'm very disappointed in what's going on with all of you in this community we voted for for you we put you in position to defend the community to work for the community I I I feel ashamed and embarrassed and regretful to have supported some of you that are sitting there today only to see that some of you have turned your backs on the very people that put you in office thank you the next person that we have is kimbery berry name man address for the record please sure hello counselors my my name is kimbery Barry and my office is at one Canal Street and I'm the president of the Lawrence teachers union I'm going to read the letter that I sent you on Friday night on behalf of the American Federation of teachers Massachusetts the Lawrence teachers union the Lawrence Federation of power professionals the City of Lawrence administrative support staff the Massachusetts AFL CIO and the marac valley central labor Council six organizations dedicated to supporting thousands of people living and working in Lawrence we implore you to vote against any efforts to change the governance of the city's schools that Lawrence Public Schools must have a governance structure that is transparent that is accountable and inclusive to make sure that all classrooms are places where the students of Lawrence can Thrive while we are glad to see that the latest proposal to change the governance of the Lawrence Public Schools Was Defeated we are concerned that there will be continued efforts to undermine the Democratic process and the voices of Lawrence Educators parents and community members any measures of this kind would strip away the people's of Lawrence's Democratic rights to have the elected representation from each district the Lawrence Community has repeatedly voiced their concerns over these proposed changes and what they would mean for the school and the students of Lawrence maintaining a democratic process where residents have the freedom to vote for the school Committee Member in each of their districts is vital to ensuring accurate and Equitable representation in the school governance in addition we want to clarify that no changes to the school committee composition are required in order for Lawrence Public Schools to come out of state receivership this has been confirmed by the Secretary of Education as well as the interim Commissioner of that Desi both who have shared that they will continue to work with a fully elected school committee to ensure a smooth transition once the time occurs as elected leaders we hope that you will support the rights of the Lawrence residents to vote for their school committee just as they voted for you any efforts to undermine a fully elected school committee is undemocratic and problematic as it will take away the voices of those most impacted by our schools we will continue to advocate for a democratic process in this important matter especially Comm considering the community's past Dan on similar issues thank you very much the next president the next person is Francisco B name my address for the record please yes good evening Mr President member of the council Francisco Brea 85 Colonial Road excuse me before I it's okay so before I I uh uh I begin I just want to acknowledge uh we all do respect to uh councelor um uh Mar PL that this going to be in Spanish is that okay Mr President to go right ahead okay so please give me another 30 seconds so Mass la Dem thank you Mr Francisco uh the next person is I'm done okay yes thank you so much all right so you know my position Mr President of council please vote not thank you uh the next person is Tom Myers name and address for the record please my name is Tom Meyers and I reside at 550 havil Street here in the city and I'm here like I believe everyone else in the room to support the precept that democracy should rule here in the City of Lawrence as far as the election of school committee members and I want to start and I mentioned this I think a few months ago when I spoke in this same issue that there was a seminal paper produced uh for the White House by the renowned psychologist Eric Ericson back in 1950 and he talks about the most important attribute in a healthy personality is in fact the development of trust and I mentioned this citation in the notion of trust being the foundation of all relationships because your position tonight regarding the school committee and whether it should be Democratic or appointed concerns whether or not you trust the citizens of our city to to elect competent people to govern our school district or not currently the Lawrence school committee represents the rich diversity of our community the members as are as well educated as any Committee in the Commonwealth I would argue we have people with Advanced academic degrees parents former Educators and military veterans as a former democratically elected president of the teachers union of Andover I sat for 21 years as president I saw a lot of people come and go on the school committee in Andover and I have to say none of the school committees there in the 21 years I was President are better in any way than the school committee that is elected here in our city and so it comes down to the fundamental TR uh precept not only do you do you trust the school committee but do you trust the citizens who elected you that's what it's about do you have faith in the people or do you not have faith in the people in our city thank you thank you and next person is Jonathan Guzman uh School Committee Member Guzman name and address for the record please uh good afternoon president Rodriguez and members of the council Jonathan Gusman Vice chair of the Lawrence school committee 39 Lind Street Lawrence matz it's unfortunate to be before you to point out this out of order meeting that brought a final dispose of item back as an unfinished business against your own Rule 21 any action taken on this matter will be in violations of several rules in the lawren city council same as the robber Rules of Order I'm so sorry that you have been placed in the eye of the public and whether your decision today would not be supported by the people who elected you and me in this position you got this stipulation of dismissal in the light of a settlement agreement between the US Department of Justice and the City of Lawrence both parties must adhere to such agreement in this process that shows me something in this particular process that showed me something that there's a lack of reading through a document you probably saw dismissal and said we are good to go however the city of lence agreed to conduct elections for the district seats of the Lawrence school committee and after 2010 and make the necessary changes in the election of members to this body and the matter consisted with a federal law including section two of the Voting Rights Act of of 1965 which involves challenges on these type of scheme your meeting is not consistent with your own rule is out of order the next person that we have is um Natan B name man for the record please what's up everybody my name is Nathan Bas I live on 182 Comm Street um and I'm here to just Echo what everybody else has been saying I'm extremely disappointed in in this elected body currently sitting in front of me uh we as community members have the right to vote for our school committee members I don't believe that the mayor or y'all and y'all either should have the the power to decide who governs our school y'all were all elected and I feel like our school committee deserves that same right especially based on the district that they're in each district is different some districts might need more support than others um also I'm disappointed in the fact that I've witnessed people come up here and talk to y'all and y'all are looking down y'all are getting up out of your seat yall not paying attention to the people who are voicing their concerns and to me that's that's a problem cuz we elect y'all we we hold y'all up to be the people who represent us in government and I'm here for the kids the kids need us more than ever and currently we're under receivership and to what what is written on the on the letter by the teachers union is we don't need to restructure this school committee to get out of receivership I feel like we got to come together as a community and allow us to figure out our own issues and work out our own problems to what Tom was saying it feels like you don't have faith in us as Citizens as community members where you think we can't like vote for somebody who we believe in and who is adequate enough to serve on the school committee I think any anything that y'all try to do to change the the law or the governing structure of the school committee is wrong and you shouldn't be doing it and if you vote for it you shouldn't be in the seat that you're in right now and yeah and the fact that I'm even here again after being here last week I I it seems like y'all are disorganized like y'all don't even know what's going on or how to govern and that's a concern for me two minutes so two minutes y'all got to figure something out all right thank I would like to take a point of personal privilege uh to say something a few things that is happening today we have uh uh technical issues uh in the background there is some issues when it comes to the sound there is issues when it comes to uh the zoom meeting and that's why sometime you seen members of the of this body getting up and figure things out in the back also there is counselors that are texting because people are texting us saying saying that they cannot hear the meeting so as part of democracy we also need to make sure that people in their houses are uh listening cloud and very clean of your concerns as well as uh this body discussion in the future so thank you that's a point of personal privilege and the next person uh that we have uh on the uh on the list is ma Al School commit me a school Committee Member orti good evening Myra Ortiz 45 Norris Street um I'm here again this evening like everybody else because uh it's on the agenda and I find it very difficult to stand here after yesterday's obvious um dehumanizing description of Puerto Ricans I don't know if you guys know this but there's literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now I think it's called Puerto Rico I don't know if you guys know this but they consider us continually consider us the city of the Damned I don't know if you guys know this but we're hurting ourselves and we're hurting each other I don't know if you guys know this but there's parliamentary procedures for all that is here today and you are out of order I don't know if you guys know this but being in politics is not just about putting it on your resume but it's about being bold it's about being in an individual it's about thinking through the matter reading through the matter and voting with your conviction not not somebody that called you or text you because guess what they didn't put you in this place you knocked those doors you got those signatures I don't know if you guys know this that anybody that thinks that we can't think for ourselves also thinks that you can't think for yourself I don't know if you guys know this but we are better than what we are exhibiting to our kids who we say there is hope in the Democratic process there is hope why don't people run because they pin us against each other why don't you people run because here we are sitting on the precipice of privatizing our schools so that they can all become Charters I don't know if you guys know this but you're still my neighbors I will see you at Market Basket we're we're only in this position for a moment vote your conscience which it's still not in parment procedure so I don't know what's going to happen thank you for your time the next person that we have is anel Mendes the next person we have is anel Mendes mes 16 L St a oh my goodness I know that this is my third time that I have to be Harry on my supper time yet to be in this place I don't know what we don't understand this proposal is coming from nowhere it's an ENT proposal that's why some people say 11 people 30 people 15 people no six only six people at large everybody has an opinion where is the paternity of this proposal who is the the that that El protagonista of this proposal oh covering is a ghost but I I can't identify where is this coming from we have people in the alliance that they were appointed we have a new superintendent that almost was appointed and now we need a new school committee that is going to be appointed to those three people running a large is going to they are going to be responding to those one that they going to be just appointed because I know how things move in this city it is a shame look outside we don't have programs communicating orienting this community and we trust young people that now they are corrupted by people around my age close to my age where they were supposed to be orienting our community now they are taking advantage are you going to be allowing that I'm here because a former student of mine a person that I had in my classroom 30 years ago jiss called me and told me Mr mes come and I need to be here it is a shame no for you you are young people but you are misguided and I know who are those people and they are controlling everything everything they are just outside watching and they are met just around this S3 I know how how they they perform and they are controlling everything remember this kids are supposed to be first don't allow those people to be corrupting you all right the next person the next person we have is uh sand Edwards School Committee Member Edward all right thank you um name and address for the record good evening council members my name is Julie Rosado and I reside at 26 Camila tool way I had no business attending this meeting tonight but after feeling after hearing my fellow civilians and members of Lawrence I feel like I am supposed to be speaking and my truth on it so I am Dominican born Lawrence raised I have been a member of this Society for all of my life I was an um a student and of all of the um Lawrence Public schol system under receivership and everything and I believe that we as a member should have a voice to vote for our own council members and I feel like that right is being taken away by you guys deciding for that for us um back when we are under receivership I feel as though I'm thank you thank thank you then uh the next person that we have is a bridge rowy he's online and he going to speak with us hi can you hear me okay yes hi good evening um Bridget ring Mal street thank you please Bridget ring 24 Mal Street um thank you for the opportunity to speak here tonight I want to share with the city council my strong opposition to this proposal since learning late last week that the topic is again up for consideration I've sought the opinions of a number of individuals both in city government and outside of it I have yet to hear a convincing argument that these changes are necessary or even desirable nobody in my opinion has articulated a specific problem this change is trying to address I'm more certain than before that this home rule petition is a solution in search of a problem no change is required for Lawrence Public Schools to exit receivership and I doubt the state would reject the current structure which is in line with every other municipality in the Commonwealth except for Boston moreover the current elected members are qualified dedicated and more than capable of fulfilling their duties I see no reason to believe that future iterations of an elected school committee would be any different I'm particularly concerned about the elimination of District representation we would be asking fewer individuals to serve far more constituents which would surely weaken the effectiveness of their representation and while some have suggested that the diversity of the current school committee is evidence that District representation is no longer necessary I would submit that District representation is the reason our City's elected bodies are an accurate reflection of our diversity so I sincerely ask all of the council members to reject any plan that will dis disenfranchise your constituents role back the hard one progress our city has made and impede all the necessary progress that still lies ahead I firmly believe that a school committee elected by the people with representation from every district is the right path forward thank you thank you uh all these name are going to be submitted all these name are going to be submitted for the record no no all right so at this point there is no public hearings for this meeting there is no communication from the mayor City uh City official of city of chy and there is an old business which is item 14824 with that said I'll pass the to Vice pres inant so I can invoke roof rule four uh and I can speak on this matter as a president of the city council pursuant to rule 11 I would like to make a motion to suspend rule 20 to allow the motion to uh reconsider for document 14824 as a member ofan side um I am um I I would like to move this for reconsideration Madame vice president Infante uh this is a motion uh to suspend uh to purs pursue to rule 11 and uh to suspend rule 20 motion has been made by the council president seconded by Council the Rosario discussion Council z uh thank you Madame vice president infant um and to you Madame uh president in Mad clear um I have a question and and just a a confirmation uh to you and to the m mad CLA according to uh rule 26 of robber Rules of Order are we governed by are we governed the city council is governed by uh Robert Rules of Order Madame CLA can you please confirm Madam CL sure if it's something that our rules are silent to so if it's something our rules don't address and we would go with Robert's Rules if there's a conflict we would go with our own rules first and the so we start with our own rules there's something specific we're looking for that our rules are silent as to then we would look at Robert's Rules okay so it's not at completely yes madame clear is it depends depends yeah thank you Madame CLE thank you um mad uh Madame vice president Infante and thank you for that thank you madam clerk can you call the RO we need six orders to suspend our rules and and allow this to go through to this is a motion to suspend rule 20 and to enact rule rule 11 and for that we need six votes Madam clerk can you call the rooll please we gu the attorney there attorney who can you hear us okay I can can you hear me yes council president is there something you wanted to ask the attorney uh there was an intent oftion for this motion uh can you clarify from this please the proed again I did not hear what the objection would be except for the fact that you can't do a charter objection on this this is a parliamentary rule uh you're just ruling right right now on whether you will allow to suspend the rules so you cannot do a charter objection on the city council rules is that correct on a parliamentary rule I want to do a chatter objection on this motion based to the rule 12 and violence 20 City attorney did you hear that I heard there can be no chart or objection on this first motion remember that there is multiple motions here the first motion is just to suspend the rules that's a parliamentary rule uh motion there's no Charter objection because there could be no Charter objection to it thank you City attorney can you can can we proceed with the with the roll call city clerk um thank um this is on the Parliamentary rule to suspend the rules um Council Aras uh to suspend the r yeah councelor marmel yes councilor Santiago yes councel Del Rosario yes coun Luzon no council plant yes Council Levy yes vice president Infante yes council president Rodriguez I vote Yes motion carries is eight in favor one against council president yes if if you allow me m uh Madame vice president Infante with that said um now that we can um I can motion um I would like to make a motion to reconsider I uh my vote on document 14828 discussion this is a motion to reconsider motion has been made by the council president seconded by Council l no no no oh I mean sorry councelor and I was looking at you councilor Rees I heard you I was looking at you no discussion CH objection to reconsideration Charter motion has been made can I get a motion to adjourn no Madam Vice Madam chair I'm I'm going to go right into the charter objection I'm not going to entertain a discussion can I have a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn has been made before we have we have all the business Madame chair Madame chair all right mad council president before joh it's important to say for the people mad know next is out of order I gave him the floor the meeting we just had an objection we just had an objection sh objection we should president this isn't pertaining to to the agenda this is pertaining to our next to our next meeting you should recognize you should recognize the shout out objection you should recognize the shout objection I recognized it now we're talking about the next meeting I already said I'm not entertaining a discussion council president is going to give us the date for the next meeting and then I'm going to entertain a motion to adjourn does that do you understand that Council Council lone you should not talking next meeting is going to be Thursday November point of order thankk you Thursday so it's going to be on Thursday because on the 5ifth is going to be the election day which is Tuesday for the public to know thank you motion toour sorry it's not out order motion to adjourn May probably second all those in favor say I for