On Wednesday, November 28th, Judge Maynard Kirpalani ruled that part of the Natick School Committee’s “public speak” policy unconstitutional. The decision marks the end of Karin Sutter and Corey Spaulding’s long battle against the committee’s policy.

On January 8, 2018, Corey Spaulding entered the Natick Town Hall and was granted time during the School Committee’s preliminary public speak portion of the meeting. Spaulding opened her speech by stating “I am the mother of a child who was mercilessly bullied into suicide here in Natick”. Immediately after hearing Spaulding’s beginning statements, former Natick Superindent Sanchioni claimed that her statement was “unfettered lies”. Following the exchange, committee Chairwoman Lisa Tabenkin suspended the meeting and Spaulding’s comments were marked as “out of order and not within the responsibilities of the School Committee” in the Meeting Minutes. 

Nearly a month later, on the 5th of February, Karin Sutter was granted time during Public Speak. Again, the committee ordered Sutter to stop after she stated that her family “needed to move out due to the retaliation and retribution… [they] received at the hands of the Natick Public Schools”. Before suspending the meeting Tabenkin explained her reasoning for halting Sutter’s comments, “ you cannot speak defamatory [sic]… this is Open Meeting Laws… you are out of order”. 

A third incident occurred on March 12, when Sutter attempted to express her concern about the “hostile and unsupportive climate of fear that still exists in the Natick Public Schools”. Tabenkin then warned her not to use defamatory language as it’s prohibited in the committee’s policies on public comments.

Sutter and Spaulding’s lawsuit against the Natick School Committee was filed in April 2018 with the support of the ACLU. In June, Thomas Billings, an associate judge for the Massachusetts Superior Court, ordered the School Committee to stop enforcing paragraphs four and six of the School Committee’s “public speak” policy as part of a preliminary injunction.  Subsequently, it was ruled by the Middlesex Superior Court that the two paragraphs of the policy were used by Nolin and Tabenkin to unconstitutionally limit speech. Paragraphs four and six banned any discussion of “personnel complaints” and “defamatory remarks” during Public Speak and are now no longer in effect. 

In response to the ruling, the Natick School Committee announced in a community-wide letter that they “will continue to learn from the court's guidance and will make changes accordingly.” It is likely that school districts statewide with similar policies will also have to revise or alter their policy framework in accordance with the ruling on Spaulding v. Natick.