Mattituck Cutchogue School District

Mattituck BOE calls special meeting to pick board president

The Mattituck school board hopes to elect a president during a special meeting Thursday (Credit: Jennifer Gustavson file)
The Mattituck school board hopes to elect a president during a special meeting Thursday (Credit: Jennifer Gustavson file)

After the Mattituck board of education was unable to choose a president at its July 10 meeting because one member tried to participate via Skype, the board will be holding a special meeting next week to resolve the matter.

The board is scheduled to meet in person on Thursday, July 31 to pick a president. Until then, the board’s vice president Charlie Anderson is charged with running the meetings until a president is elected.

The meeting follows a heated argument between board members over accusations of breaking the state’s open meetings law at the July 10 reorganization meeting.

School board member Laura Jens-Smith objected to fellow board member Sarah Hassildine participating from Rochester via Skype, because the public notice for the meeting failed to include Ms. Hassildine’s location. Ms. Jens-Smith said she believes a district must notify the public 72 hours in advance if a member is going to participate from another location.

Ms. Hassildine later told The Suffolk Times that she supports current school board president Jerry Diffley and would have voted for him Thursday if she had been allowed to cast a vote.

She is expected to cast the deciding vote to re-elect him during Thursday’s special meeting at 6 p.m. in the Mattituck High School library.

The board is also scheduled to discuss staffing and hiring changes at the meeting. A full agenda is expected to be posted on Monday.