By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — School Committee member Kim Baker Donahue clashed with three of her colleagues over a resident’s comment posted on the panel’s Facebook page during a Nov. 4 meeting.
The School Committee’s Nov. 4 meeting agenda was posted on the Lynnfield School Committee Facebook page on Saturday, Nov. 1. After the agenda was posted, a resident posted an antisemitic dog whistle comment on the Facebook page. The School Committee has traditionally prohibited comments from being posted on the Facebook page, but some comments have been posted.
The resident repeatedly harassed Baker Donahue, who is Jewish, online while she was running for a seat on the School Committee this past spring. She addressed the antisemitic harassment she experienced from the resident and other individuals during the campaign in a candidate’s statement that was published in the Villager before the April Town Election.
Baker Donahue said she emailed her four colleagues about the antisemitic Facebook comment. She said that she asked that the comment be taken down, but School Committee Chair Kristen Grieco Elworthy told her no.
“I am not sure why we wouldn’t be able to take that comment down,” said Baker Donahue. “I am not asking anybody to be blocked from seeing the public Facebook page or public content.”
Elworthy said she answered Baker Donahue’s question “earlier in my email.”
“I am not sure that I would have interpreted those as targeting you,” said Elworthy. “To be honest with you, it never crossed my mind.”
Baker Donahue said she explained the situation to Elworthy and the rest of the School Committee in the email.
“There is freedom of speech,” said Elworthy. “I am between a rock and a hard place.”
Baker Donahue wasn’t buying Elworthy’s argument.
“You do limit comments on every other thing,” said Baker Donahue.
Elworthy said Baker Donahue was correct that she does limit comments on the School Committee Facebook page.
“There is an extra step you have to take on Facebook,” said Elworthy. “On occasion, it takes me 10 minutes to realize I haven’t done it. That person was able to pop in a comment in that 10 minutes. It has happened to other people in the past.”
Baker Donahue said Elworthy has the ability to limit Facebook comments “for all public posts.”
“I have tried that, but I don’t believe our type of Facebook page allows it,” said Elworthy. “If you have the instructions, trust me I would far prefer to do that than try to remember that every time. I am happy to take those instructions.”
School Committee Vice Chair Jim Dillon said Elworthy’s suggestion was “a great idea.”
“I think it would be unreasonable to ask someone manage our Facebook page and have to pay attention to it all day to see if someone put a (comment) on there or decide whether they are going to allow it or not,” said Dillon. “It’s too much to ask any one person to sit there and manage the webpage.”
Elworthy said comments are not allowed on the School Committee Facebook page in order to prevent the panel from “accidentally deliberating.”
“If we answer questions on the page, we are essentially deliberating in public,” said Elworthy. “The purpose is not to limit people commenting, but to limit us.”
Elworthy said she did not interpret the comment as being antisemitic.
“It was a random comment,” said Elworthy. “I apologize. It didn’t ring related to you.”
Baker Donahue said she was telling Elworthy the comment was directed at her.
“You are giving personal context,” said Elworthy in response. “I can’t restrict people’s speech. I don’t know what to say right now.”
Baker Donahue said in response: “You can say that we have a School Committee that supports all of its members and makes all of us feel welcome just like our schools are doing for all of our kids.”
Elworthy said all five School Committee members “are elected public officials.”
“There are other comments in the past before we limited comments that were directed at School Committee members,” said Elworthy.
Baker Donahue continued pushing back on Elworthy’s viewpoint.
“Antisemitic and homophobic are kinds of comments that are allowed?” Baker Donahue asked in response.
Elworthy said the previous comments posted on the Facebook page were not homophobic.
“Right,” said Baker Donahue in response. “If someone tells me I am ugly or I have terrible hair, that’s fine. This is very different.”
Elworthy said the resident did not reference Baker Donahue’s name in the comment.
“You are putting me in a position where I have to restrict people’s speech, and I am uncomfortable with it,” said Elworthy. “But if you would like to get a legal ruling on this one, I am happy to take that as the reason.”
Baker Donahue said Elworthy was “uncomfortable” with her request to remove the comment.
“I have never deleted a Facebook comment, and many of them have been aimed at me,” said Elworthy.
Baker Donahue said the same situation has happened to her.
“There have been plenty of Facebook comments aimed at me also,” said Baker Donahue. “This is a different type of comment. That is what I am saying. You choose to stay away from things that make you feel uncomfortable because you don’t want to invite any negative feedback.”
Elworthy disagreed.
“I have sat up here for over a year taking negative feedback, so I really disagree with you on that,” said Elworthy. “However, as I said, I am not in a position to delete comments that would fall under free speech.”
Dillon said the School Committee needs to identify a communication method “that is cleaner” than the Facebook page, but still “does get our information about what we are doing out there for the public.”
“If someone has a strong remark or an opinion about something, there is a microphone right over there at a public meeting and we can talk to you face-to-face,” said Dillon.
A frustrated Baker Donahue asked if “we are going to just continue to allow hate to be spewed on our page?”
Elworthy said she did not interpret the comment as being antisemitic.
“You now know what that means and you knew last year what that meant,” said Baker Donahue fired back in response.
Elworthy said in response: “I don’t know who this person is and I don’t know what that means.”
“From their perspective, that is a very generic unfortunate comment,” said Elworthy.
Baker Donahue reiterated that she and Elworthy had a similar conversation about it last year.
“Okay Kim,” said Elworthy in response. “I can’t litigate a personal issue with somebody on a Facebook page. I just can’t.”
School Committee member Jamie Hayman defended Baker Donahue, and asked, “what is the limit” on Facebook comments.
Elworthy suggested that the Facebook page be shut down “if this is going to be an issue.”
“I have shut comments off, but I will say it is a manual process,” said Elworthy. “In this specific case, I posted (the agenda) and one of my kids pulled me in another room. I came back, woke my computer up, realized I hadn’t shut off comments and there was already a comment on the page.”
Baker Donahue said the Facebook post was “shared with the comment.”
“I really think that you are attributing something to me,” said Elworthy.
Baker Donahue said she was “not attributing” the comment to Elworthy.
“I am asking you to do something about it, and you are saying no,” said Baker Donahue.
Dillon asked Baker Donahue if the resident used her name in the comment.
Baker Donahue said no.
“I think the two issues are the separation of church and state, which I think we all support, and the First Amendment,” said Dillon.
Baker Donahue said the comment violated the separation of church and state.
“This is exactly what it is not doing,” said Baker Donahue.
Dillon reiterated that “it is not reasonable to have anyone of us have to be the arbiter or manager” of the Facebook page.
“We should have something where if someone wants to make comments, they can come to a meeting at that microphone and make them and we can talk to them face-to-face,” said Dillon.
While Baker Donahue said residents have the opportunity to speak during public participation at School Committee meetings, she said many residents “are not doing that.”
Elworthy noted that all five School Committee members have their own respective Facebook pages, and have the ability to make posts on them.
“I am asking my fellow School Committee members to support something and I am being told no,” said Baker Donahue. “We don’t have to discuss it anymore. I hear you loud and clear.”
School Committee member Kate DePrizio said Baker Donahue’s characterization of the situation was “not a fair assessment.”
“I think there is empathy is all-around,” said DePrizio.
Baker Donahue was upset with DePrizio.
“No one responded or expressed any empathy whatsoever,” Baker Donahue fired back in response.
DePrizio said: “There is empathy amongst all of us for what your perception of this is.”
Baker Donahue accused DePrizio of “agreeing” with the Facebook comment.
“Whether I agree with it or not wouldn’t matter because I am a human and if you are hurting, then I am hurting,” said DePrizio. “I wouldn’t want you to feel that way. I am validating that your feelings are real. It doesn’t actually matter what I feel. I can still have empathy and I can still validate you. That is the thing we teach our children.”
DePrizio said the School Committee should discuss the Facebook page during an upcoming meeting where goals will be discussed.
“None of us condone hateful speech,” said DePrizio.
Hayman addressed the School Committee’s discussion about the Facebook comment in a post on his School Committee Facebook page on Sunday night.
“Following the discussion at the end of the recent School Committee meeting about a comment made on the School Committee Facebook page, I submitted multiple written requests asking that a disclaimer be added to the ‘Official’ School Committee Facebook page stating: ‘This page is updated and maintained by the chair of the School Committee. Any posts or reactions are made at their discretion and do not reflect the views of individual members. The following members have agreed to allow the chair to speak and post on their behalf,’” stated Hayman.
Hayman continued: “At the time of this post, this disclaimer had not been added. I made this request because the antisemitic comment that was allowed to remain on the page is not aligned with my personal values, which include inclusion and belonging. I also believe that failing to have a disclaimer implies all members of committee have agreed to the content on the page, which I do not. Every member of our school community deserves the fundamental human right to belong, regardless of their background. I want to reaffirm that I strongly condemn all forms of hate speech or bigotry in our schools and within the broader Lynnfield community and invite the community to engage in thoughtful dialog.”