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WESTBOROUGH, Mass. – The Westborough School Committee voted to support the adoption of remote participation in meetings. Using remote participation would allow for members of the committee to participate in voting when they were unable to physically be there.
In order for Westborough to adopt remote participation, the chief officer of the municipality would have to allow it. The School Committee along with other boards and committees in Westborough would need to decide whether or not remote participation would be a good idea before the Board of Selectmen decided what they wanted to do.
“I definitely support town boards adopting remote participation,” School Committee Chair Karen Henderson said. “I just think that it’s a legitimate way to get business done and advance town discussions when situations come up out of someone’s control.”
Adopting remote participation comes with regulations that determine whether or not a town official can use remote participation. In order to make sure officials don’t use remote participation in place of going to a meeting, they must have a legitimate reason like personal illness or traveling for work. According to Henderson, it’s up to the town to decide what situations are legitimate.
Superintendent Marianne O’Connor said she was not worried about officials abusing the privilege.
“The people who serve on these boards are not people who are going to sit at home in their PJ’s,” O’Connor said.
The School Committee voted to write a letter in support of remote participation to the Board of Selectmen.
