The chairwoman of the Barrington School Committee has offered a response to Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Lanphear’s ruling that the committee violated the Open Meetings Act when it failed to provide sufficient notice for the meeting where the vaccine mandate was enacted. 

Gina Bae shared this written statement: “On May 25, 2022, the Court issued a decision in a case filed by three former Barrington teachers challenging the sufficiency of public notice provided under the Open Meetings Act, before an Amended Emergency Policy on COVID-19 Related Issues was adopted by the Barrington School Committee in early September 2021. The Court did not rule on the Committee’s authority to require its staff to become vaccinated as a protection against COVID-19 as part of that policy. As the Court’s ruling explicitly states, ‘This case is not about whether mandating vaccinations is appropriate.’

“BPS strongly disagrees with the Court’s ruling that notice was insufficient. The Court failed to address significant record evidence of the ‘totality of the circumstances’ surrounding the adoption of the policy, which we believe fairly apprised the public of the nature of the business to be discussed. We will evaluate next steps at the appropriate time.”