Metrowest Daily News 12/31/09: State court rebukes Wayland school board over e-mails. In a case dating back to a meeting in 2004, the state Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday ruled that e-mail evaluations of the Wayland school superintendent by individual School Committee members were improper "deliberations" and are public records subject to the state Open Meeting Law.

The Supreme Judicial Court's ruling is available online here.  (Click on "Opinions" under Supreme Judicial Court, then click on the link for DISTRICT ATTORNEY FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT vs. SCHOOL COMMITTEE OF WAYLAND. SJC-10406 December 31, 2009)

Note:  that site states that the opinion linked above is subject to revision and will eventually be removed from the Web site.

Boston Globe 12/31/09: High court rules that Wayland board violated open meeting law. In the final chapter of a long legal saga, the state's highest court ruled today that an exchange of e-mails among Wayland School Committee members about the performance of the school superintendent violated the state's open meeting law.

The Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA), joined by the Town of Wayland, filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in support of the appeal by Twenty Wayland, LLC from the Superior Court decision allowing legal counsel to represent the Wayland Historic District Commission (HDC).