By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — Three parents gave Superintendent Tom Geary an earful about the way he informed the Police Department about a TikTok video that included a picture of a BB gun during the School Committee’s Oct. 16 meeting.
Geary called and texted School Resource Officer Alex Doto and Middle School Principal Stephen Ralston to inform them about the TikTok video on the night of Sept. 24. He did not call the Police Department to inform them about the video. Doto and Ralston did not get the messages until the next morning.
The three parents aired their concerns during the public participation portion of the meeting, which occurred before the School Committee and Geary discussed the TikTok video (see separate story).
Edgemere Road resident Kimberlee Kossover Hansen read an email that she sent Geary and the School Committee about the video. She said Geary had yet to respond to the email before the meeting.
“The actions or lack thereof that you took on the evening of Sept. 24 was frankly irresponsible,” said Kossover Hansen. “You made a judgment call that frankly sir you are not in a position to make. You are not a public safety officer, and you are not fully trained on emergency safety protocols. You have not even completed the courses that 95 percent of Massachusetts’ superintendents have completed. Optional is not a free pass.”
Kossover Hansen said Geary’s duty was to “immediately alert law enforcement so that they can make a call on whether or not there was a potential safety threat.”
“But instead of calling the chief of police or dispatch or any other member of the leadership team, including members of the School Committee, Select Board or our town administrators, you went to bed,” said Kossover Hansen. “You waited eight hours to make the next phone call.”
Kossover Hansen said Geary gave Ralston, who she noted is a member of the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council (NEMLEC) Stars Team, “inadequate time to come up with a plan.”
“Instead, many of his staff heard about this video from concerned parents,” said Kossover Hansen. “All potential threats, whether real or not, regardless of who the student is, must be taken seriously in today’s environment. Law enforcement must always, always be notified immediately, giving them full and complete information.”
Kossover Hansen also raised concerns about why two components of the NEMLEC Stars Toolkit’s training program for reporting threats are not included as school policies.
“Threats can occur in or out of school,” said Kossover Hansen while reading the Toolkit’s recommendations. “In today’s world, the school is now responsible for students 24 hours a day and seven days a week. If the threat is discovered outside of the school day, every attempt to contact school administration should be taken.”
Kossover Hansen concluded her remarks by giving Geary and the School Committee some advice.
“For the sake of our district and for the sake of your own reputations, please stop hiding behind excuses,” said Kossover Hansen. “Please stop being defensive. Please own your own mistakes and tell us how you will do better. Until every person in our town leadership starts taking more accountability and communicating honestly and transparently, you will never be able to rebuild the trust and confidence that has long since been lost. It is more than okay to not to be right, but we all expect you to do what is right.”
Speaking as a parent, Finance Committee member Brian Moreira said the TikTok video has “raised concerns” among families.
“It called for immediate action,” said Moreira. “However, the response was delayed.”
Moreira said he was concerned that Doto, Ralston and Police Chief Nick Secatore did not learn about the video until the morning of Sept. 25.
“While the superintendent may point to the police’s determination that there was no imminent threat, the fact remains that this is a failure of leadership,” said Moreira. “There has to be more protocol in a situation like this than simply calling the school resource officer. Too much is at stake for it to end there without a broader, immediate protocol to follow.”
Moreira said the situation has “revealed gaps in communication and response protocols,” and he wants the protocols to improve.
“I believe that we all want the same thing: A safer school environment,” said Moreira. “To achieve that, we need to address the procedures and trainings to ensure we are prepared to act swiftly when the next challenge arises. As you on the committee know, I have made a public records request for school safety and threat protocols and policies as well as the communication that occurred during the period and a list of trainings the superintendent and School Committee members have attended for greater transparency and accountability.”
Moreira also noted that Geary is not participating the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s New Superintendent Induction Program this year, which he said would provide “valuable support in developing strategies for school safety and crisis management.”
“Moving forward, it is crucial that we all ensure leadership is receiving the necessary training and resources to handle their roles effectively,” said Moreira. “While the immediate threat has past, the underlying issue remains. There needs to be a thorough and timely review of safety protocols. We can’t afford to wait until December for a formal review as planned by the School Committee. Swift action now will help us avoid future gaps in our safety response.”
Geary addressed Moreira’s statement that he should have enrolled in DESE’s New Superintendent Induction Program, which he noted is a three-year program, during the debriefing portion of the meeting. He did not sign up for the program earlier this year because he was still interim superintendent and said there were several Central Office vacancies that required him to fill those roles.
“As much as I would like to participate in the program and as much as I would be benefitting from it, it is not a program where you show up for an hour a month and leave,” said Geary. “It’s intensive and there is a significant amount of time away from the office, and a big commitment during the workday. In my opinion, at the time I had to make the decision, it would have been malpractice for me to agree being out of the district that much with our Central Office leadership nonexistent. I can only spread myself so thin, and my priority was getting the district back up on its feet in the short-term. The easy decision for me would have been signing up for the program, prepare myself and cross my fingers and hope that everything would work out well in the schools. I am not operating that way. With that said, I plan on participating next year and I look forward to it.”
Apple Hill Lane resident Mark Vitagliano said he “strongly disagreed” with how Geary handled the situation.
“Leaving a message for the school resource officer, who is absolutely fantastic and a model for SROs across the country, and going to bed is one of the most negligent and irresponsible things I have seen in this town in a very, very long time,” said Vitagliano. “To repeatedly state there was not a threat is not fair because none of you seated up there are qualified to deem something as a threat or not. And given the climate of the world today and that school violence is on the rise, not speaking with anyone at the LPD live about this and leaving it to be sorted out in the morning exemplifies terrible judgment.”
Vitagliano said Geary and the School Committee’s “ensuing silence” on the TikTok video “led to arguments over Facebook” that included one of Geary’s family members “getting involved.”
“Had you guys transparently outlined a timeline of events here, all of that nonsense and drama would have been avoided and speculation about this child would have been avoided,” said Vitagliano. “The handling of this situation was not fair to this town, our children or the child involved.”
The meeting’s attendees gave all three parents a round of applause.