To begin to understand why Denise Burns walked out of the School Committee meeting she chaired on Oct. 28, you have to go back at least to Aug. 7, the day Nate Levenson resigned as school superintendent. Burns says she was to meet with Levenson and some top town finance officials to discuss concerns she had about how some school funds had been spent, but fast-moving events prevailed, and the session did not occur.

From the time of that e-mail until the Oct. 28 School Committee meeting, the majority of committee members did not follow up and ask Burns for more information. But at the same time, Burns did not request feedback or update the majority of the committee from Aug. 22. That led to a communication disconnect, according to the comments from committee members who responded to YourArlington.

{mosimage}That disconnect led members Ron Spangler and Sue Sheffler to question the discussion of an audit, which had been added late to the agenda. That disconnect led Burns to ask for her removal as chair -- a request that was ignored -- and to walk out.

The disconnect also led, in part, to a three-hour School Committee retreat with Superintendent Kathy Bodie on Nov. 5 at the Whittemore-Robbins House that is likely dealing with communications issues.

The tentative agenda called for "committee relations with Rob Evans, facilitator." According to his Web site, Evans is the executive director of a Wellesley company called Human Relations Service. He "provides a range of consulting and training services including professional development programs, organizational consulting services, and parent education programs." His new book is Family Matters: How Schools Can Cope with The Crisis in Childrearing.

Oct. 28 School Committee meeting

During a discussion of a limited school audit Oct. 28 at a joint meeting with selectmen, two School Committee members, Ron Spangler and Sue Sheffler, immediately said they were surprised to learn about it just that night. A third member, Leba Heigham, expressed her concerns later.

Burns appeared to take personal offense. “This committee elected me chair,” she said. “If you have no confidence in me as your chair . . . . I would like you to – right now – make a motion to remove me from my seat.” She repeated that request, but no member responded to it.

Asked in a telephone interview Oct. 31 why she walked out, Burns said she "believed that her continued presence would lead to further distractions to discussions of important issues that were on the table," referring to serious economic issues under discussion.

After the committee returned from its break, committee member Joseph Curran was not among them. He was asked to comment Oct. 29, but has not responded.

The issue came to a head during the discussion about having Powers & Sullivan of Wakefield, the company that does the town's annual audit, take a look at a few, specific areas in the schools' finances. A full-scale audit of any matter was not discussed.

{mospagebreak title=Burns calls her presence a 'distraction'}

Burns calls her presence a 'distraction'

Despite this, in an e-mail posted to the Arlington list Oct. 31, in which she thanked "people for the emails, calls, and letters of support," Burns wrote that "the specific issue of the audit is not the reason I left the meeting."

She maintains that she left so as not to be a "distraction."

"However," she continued in the Arlington e-mail post, "I am happy to provide the facts about the audit here, as I understand it, as I think they are needed in order to discuss this.

"Bottom line is that this is not a School Committee or a School Committee chair decision, however the rest of the School Committee was given at least 8 weeks to ask for an opportunity to provide input or request a discussion and they did not." At the meeting, Burns said she had informed the committee about the possible audit six weeks earlier.

Asked in an interview for a specific date when she informed the committee, she pinned it down to a lengthy e-mail sent Aug. 22 to all committee members. She said that the general purpose of that e-mail was to quell rumors following Levenson's unexpected Aug. 7 resignation. She said information about the audit was "very well communicated."

YourArlington has obtained a copy of that e-mail. Point No. 6 (of 7) in the 2,100-word e-mail points toward an audit, but the word is not used:

"6. Town interest in school committee legal expenses etc. - There was a townwide financial summit held on June 26. Nate, Leba, Joe Curro and I were all in attendance. The discussion was focused on reassuring the public that money was being spent correctly in preparation for the next override vote. I asked the finance committee to help developing a plan to reassure the public about the schools. As you know, I was very concerned about whether the budget was being spent as intended. And given that 2 nights earlier during our public session of the school committee meeting, Sue M. mentioned that since more money than planned came in from athletic fees they were able to transfer to cover some of the legal costs. On further clarification, Nate stated that money came from the athletic budget not the fees.

{mosimage}"And then on Thursday the Advocate reported something entirely different and made no mention of athletic fees after an interview with Nate. This is why I asked them to work with Nate on a plan to review hot items like legal, fees, grants and fee-based budgets. There was a meeting between Brian Sullivan, Al Tosti, Charlie Foskett and Nate scheduled to begin exploring this and was to be held the night of Nate's resignation. Clearly it did not take place.  But this was NOT a post-Nate resignation effort. It was to look into some of the budget hot zones like grants, legal expenses and fee-contributing budgets like athletics. They were working with Nate on this. This did not require a vote of the school committee."

Burns was asked whether she tried to follow up to the School Committee with specific information about an audit.

In an e-mail Nov. 2, she wrote that the Aug. 7 meeting was "postponed until Oct. 20. Not one person on the committee asked to have additional input from that point until during the meeting on Oct. 28.

"The Oct. 28 meeting WAS the additional communication to inform the committee on where we were with it. I had originally scheduled the selectmen at an earlier meeting to talk about it (September)' but they had to postpone. It's the selectmen's audit, not SC [the School Committee's], so it should not be discussed at a joint meeting only. SC can't act on it, only the selectmen can. Oct. 28 was the opportunity to talk about it. But my colleagues decided to make it political rather than use the time constructively."

That is Burns's view of what occurred.

{mospagebreak title=Some on School Committee see it differently}

Some on School Committee see it differently

Some School Committee members see it differently, and the differences in perceptions indicate all committee members will have interpersonal work to do when they take part in the Nov. 5 retreat aimed, in part, at improving communication.

Committee Joseph Curro Jr. chose his words carefully in an e-mail Nov. 2: "Discussions of audits have come up in various contexts over the last few months.  Discussion of this particular audit was added to the agenda for the joint School Committee and Board of Selectmen meeting on Tuesday afternoon {Oct. 28]. By my recollection, this was the first formal discussion by our Committee of such an audit, and I look forward to more such opportunities."

The full answers from all committee members who responded are below >>

Foskett and Tosti declined to comment about the planned Aug. 7 meeting. Sullivan did not respond to a request for comment about that expected meeting.

In addition, the areas to be audited, as first reported from the Oct. 28, appeared hazy, but officials later clarified them.

In the interview with YourArlington, Burns said she asked for an audit of legal fees grants, Title I, a federal program aimed at the disadvantaged; and fee-based programs, which would include athletics. But, she said, the town officials had not agreed to all of the areas she requested.

Selectmen Chair Clarissa Rowe wrote in an e-mail Nov. 2: "The auditors will be looking at or 'testing' the Title I grants, and the three top fee-based programs, including all-day kindergarten fees, athletic fees, and if I am remembering correcting fees for instrumental music."

{mosimage}Sullivan, the manager, added his agreement Nov. 3: "Clarissa's understanding is correct. As part of our annual independent audit, which includes an audit of all the town's accounts, the comptroller asks the auditors to conduct a more in-depth review of a few different areas each year. This year they will do this more in-depth review of the following areas: Title I, as well as athletic user fees, kindergarten fees, music fees."

Burns said use of the town auditors for school issues was discussed at an Oct. 20 meeting that included Burns, Sullivan, Selectmen Chair Clarissa Rowe and Bilafer, who retired as treasurer two years ago after serving in that position since 1968.

In the Aug. 22 e-mail and in the interview, Burns traces the issue back to June and a discussion about whether Levenson was spending the school budget as intended. Bilafer has had the same concerns and made a public-records request.

Called at home Oct. 31, Bilafer provided details. He said he filed the request to learn what Levenson's employment contract says, how much has been spent on the Coughlin arbitration and how the school have been paying its legal bills.

Under such a request, the public documents requested must be produced in 10 days, unless reasonable circumstances prevent that time frame. Bilafer said he made his request on Aug. 18, and he received the requested documents Sept. 5. He made his request to Mazzarella, who turned it over to Stoneman Chandler & Miller, the School Committee's law firm, which responded to the plea.

As to arbitration-related legal bills, Bilafer said the response to his request lists $207,936 as having been spent in fiscal 2008. In the current fiscal year up to bills in paid by early September, $22,735 has been spent. The $230,671 total is far beyond the $75,000 budgeted for such bills, but the amount is not out of line for an arbitration, which is nearing its 11th month.

{mospagebreak title= Responses to question from 5 of 6 School Committee members}

6 School Committee members asked about communication trail; 5 answer

Six members of the School Committee were asked three questions aimed at assessing communication with Burns surrounding the audit issue. They were asked whether they:

1.) knew about the audit before Oct. 28;

2.) understood that the Aug. 22 e-mail was about an audit; and

3.) contacted Denise after the Aug. 22 e-mail to discuss her concerns.

Here are their answers in full:

Joseph Curro Jr.

{mosimage}"1. Discussions of audits have come up in various contexts over the last few months.  Discussion of this particular audit was added to the agenda for the joint School Committee and Board of Selectmen meeting on Tuesday afternoon.  By my recollection, this was the first formal discussion by our Committee of such an audit, and I look forward to more such opportunities.

"2. It was not clear to me that the August 22 email was referencing a formal audit, rather a meeting of the Town's financial minds to explore ways to exercise fiscal oversight and approach our budget challenges.  However, I was also present at the fiscal summit this past summer when an audit was proposed by the Chair to Finance Committee members and others in attendance, and her consistent interest in this has been clear.

"3. The Chair and I enjoy a cooperative and respectful professional relationship, and we regularly share concerns with one another regarding the full range of issues before the School Committee.  I did not specifically contact her regarding the financial oversight issues raised in her note of August 22, but we have discussed most of the subjects in that communique in varying levels of detail."

Jeffrey Thielman

{mosimage}"An audit of fee-based programs, grants and legal fees is a positive step because it will make the School Department's operations more transparent.  The School Committee, however, does not have a policy that delegates to one member the authority to inform town officials which areas of the budget should be part of an audit.

"I first heard of the desire for an audit during a phone call with former Town Treasurer John Bilafer in August in which he said he would like an audit of the School Department's books following the resignation of Superintendent Levenson.  I understood that Mr. Bilafer would be following up with the Chair, interim Superintendent, Town Manager and others on this request.  I do not recall discussion of Mr. Bilafer's request at School Committee meetings this year, the minutes do not show a conversation about which areas of the budget should be subject to an audit, and the August 22nd email from the Chair does not ask School Committee members to suggest areas that should be audited.

"I first learned that an audit of fee-based programs, grants, and legal fees was going to take place during a phone call with the Chair of the Board of Selectmen on Sunday, October 26th.

"For me this is a communication issue that can be resolved and is not about the value of doing an audit."

Sue Sheffler

{mosimage}"The School Committee is group of 7 hard-working public officials who serve for love of community (no $ or benefits, and the job can average 20 hrs/week).

"Each elected member brings their own perspective to the table, based on their experience and constant feedback from their constituents. The objective is to debate these many facets of an issue in public, as a group, and then to synthesize the group consensus in a motion that is voted on -- the motion either passes or fails. Regardless of the outcome, the School Committee has a decision, and can move forward to the next issue.

"The public benefits from hearing open discussion from varied perspectives on issues, and from seeing the School Committee reach consensus and move forward.

"We have been, as a group, not as effective as we could be at adhering to this vital component of our governing role. We now must commit to serve according to the governing process we are elected to perform. I believe we will make large steps forward in the next weeks."

"This will include, I believe, following parliamentary procedure in meetings (Robert's Rules of Order), including offering motions, debating them and voting on them in public when any significant action is to be taken by the Committee.

Later, she added:

"The School Committee receives a packet of all info and draft agenda the Friday before a Tuesday meeting. Additional info is often provided at the Tuesday meeting, but never substantive change. This is not just a courtesy to School Committee members; it is a matter of good governance the chair usually follows these procedures because it supports "buy-in" and encourages constructive discussion the role of the chair is to encourage constructive discussion, and use Roberts' Rules of Order to manage the meeting in the best interests of all."

"The 8/22 email doesn't mention an audit.

{mosimage}"The Manager, Mr. Tosti and Mr. Foskett were not working with Nate on looking into grants, legal expenses and fee-based programs. The meeting that never happened was bout closing the FY10 budget deficit within the constraints of the 5-
year plan, particularly in the area of special education. I know because as chair of the budget subcommittee I helped Nate prepare for the meeting, and I'd spoken to him about it just days before he resigned.

"I also spoke to one of the other invitees a couple of days after Nate resigned, and he mentioned that he'd been asked to attend a meeting about special-education costs on the day Nate resigned."

Joseph Curran

No response. (Curran has never responded to a request for comment from YourArlington. He said in August that he would continue to decline to comment to the Web site.

{mosimage}

{mospagebreak title=Full text of Burns' explanation to the Arlington list}

Full text of Burns's Oct. 31 post to the Arlington e-mail list

(quoted with permission):

{mosimage}"First I want to thank people for the emails, calls, and letters of support.

"Second, the specific issue of the audit is not the reason I left the meeting. However I am happy to provide the facts about the audit here, as
I understand it, as I think they are needed in order to discuss this.

"Bottom line is that this is not a school committee or a school committee chair decision, however the rest of the school committee was given at least 8 weeks to ask for an opportunity to provide input or request a discussion and they did not.

"There are several audits that happen every year.  The schools have an audit of school books.  The town does an audit of town and school books. Keep in mind - we share a treasurer and a finance committee.
There are government audits of government grants.  There are lots of audits.

"There are different types of audits.  The most costly and detailed audit is called a forensic audit. A standard annual audit is not forensic. But can allow for some test areas where it performs some level of deeper testing.
These areas can be randomly selected, or they can be selected by those paying for the audit to assure them about particular areas of community interest.

"In June, there was a Financial Summit at Town Hall. All school committee, finance committee, selectmen, and department heads were invited to begin planning for the next 5 year plan.  Only the superintendent and 2 other
Members of the school committee attended this meeting.

"During that public meeting, I stated that I would have a difficult time supporting an override until I was more confident about the way school funds were expended.  I have no reason to believe that they are being misspent.
However, our former superintendent often contradicted himself when providing information. Just two nights earlier, during a televised school committee a statement was made about athletic fees paying for legal expenses. It was corrected that night to say that it was not athletic fees but the rest of the athletic budget.  That Thursday in the Advocate, a story ran that had a quote from the superintendent contradicting what he had said at the meeting and instead listing a few other areas that legal costs came from.

"As someone who believes I have an obligation to the taxpayers of Arlington to provide fiduciary oversight, it had been difficult to do so with the former superintendent because I wasn't getting the same answer twice when I asked the same question.

"At the Summit I asked the finance committee to think about some way we can be assured about these accounts on the school side. I was ready to request a forensic audit of the school books at a school committee meeting.  I was looking for a potential alternative to that.

"At the request of the Chair of the Selectmen, the Town Manager followed up by setting up a meeting between the then Superintendent, Town Manager, Chair of the Selectmen, representatives of the finance committee and me to discuss how we might proceed with this.

"At this point the superintendent did not believe it needed to be on the agenda for discussion at the July meeting of the school committee. The superintendent resigned the same week the meeting was to be held.

"In an email from me to the entire committee on August 22,  in response to an email I received filled with accusations and personal attacks from another committee member, I provided information about what was going on around this, and specifically stated that I would be asking for a deeper dive into 3 specific areas. Not one member of the committee responded to the email, nor did anyone ask me if we could discuss what those areas should be.  They have had 8 weeks to do so.

"The meeting was rescheduled. This time, because the former Town Treasurer had also requested some deeper information about the school books via a public records request, the Town Manager also included him in the meeting. The auditors were present at the meeting. I was asked for the specific areas where I had concern on the school books and gave the specific areas that included fee-based programs, grants, and legal.

"The first school committee meeting following that meeting was this past meeting. The committee had received updates on every step of the process, and at Tuesday's meeting we were telling them what transpired at that meeting. They were being given an opportunity at that meeting and instead turned it into a political battle.

"I can tell you to pay attention to the school committee. There is an election this year, and I hope you will find yourself candidates that spend their time debating issues openly and honestly, and that spend their time in service to the children of Arlington and not trying to politically attack or outmaneuver each other. Find people of integrity, with no connection to anyone else on the board and no agenda.  Look at their financial reports and take a look at who is paying for their campaigns.

"Whatever you see or hear, remember there is more to the story.

"Dollars don't vote. YOU do."