A subcommittee has begun reviewing school legal services, now largely performed by Stoneman Chandler & Miller, the Boston law firm whose contract ends June 30. Joseph Curro Jr., chairman of the legal services review subcommittee, said the temporary body is looking at a number of options considered at a meeting in open session Friday, May 14.

The subcommittee "discussed the breadth of legal services utilized by the district," Curro wrote in an e-mail May 17. Those services include collective bargaining, special education, human resources, and general counsel.

Curro wrote that the subcommittee has requested that Superintendent Kathleen Bodie, working with CFO Diane Johnson and Mark Ryder, special-education director, "expand this list into a more granular inventory of the types of issues for which we utilize counsel, both outside counsel and Town Counsel."

He also wrote that the committee is looking at the possibility of cooperating with others in the LABBB collaborative around special-education counsel. The regional collaborative addresses special-education issues. Participants are Arlington, Lexington, Belmont, Burlington and Bedford.

Legal costs linked to special-education issues represent an expanding issue with significant budget impact.

"There was also a discussion of districts that employ inhouse counsel," he added.

Curro tied the subcommittee's work to a larger issue Town Meeting addressed this month.

"We are seeking to coordinate our efforts in this area with the work of the Town Government Reorganization Committee, which presented several related recommendations to Town Meeting," he wrote.

On May 12, Town Meeting unanimously endorsed the recommendations in Articles 33 and 34. This is the reorganization committee's report (PDF). 

We discussed the desirability of expanding current School Committee policies around the use of counsel. We also talked about the reality that any shift in outside counsel would require a transition plan.

The subcommittee met in public session and went into executive session only near the end to review matters related to current negotiations and legal proceedings.

The subcommittee, which plans to meet again soon, is reviewing the broader picture as the contract for Stoneman Chandler & Miller is ending. The firm has represented the School Committee for over three decades -- and, more recently, amid controversy.

In June 2007, Alan Miller, a partner in the firm, called for an investigation of then-Ottoson teacher Charles Coughlin and then-Principal Stavroula Bouris after Nate Levenson, the superintendent at the time, turned over e-mails between Coughlin and Bouris. The latter two were fired that August.

The case is now the subject of a lawsuit in US District Court. The most recently reported issue about the lawsuit came April 3, as defense attorneys asked the court not to delay. 

Issues stemming from this case continue. At the May 11 School Committee meeting, Ron Colosi Jr., president of the Arlington Education Association, the teachers' union declined an invitation to sit with the committee, according to a report in The Advocate.

In a written communication that The Advocate does not explain, Colosi purportedly wrote: "Until Jeff Thielman is no longer sitting on the Committee there will be no AEA representative at the School Committee meetings."

Colosi also reported objected to Thielman's appointment to the legal-service panel. Thielman and the other subcommittee member, Judson Pierce, have legal background and degrees. Pierce is a practicing attorney; Thielman heads a Catholic school.

Thielman has previously said he would continue to serve the public as he was elected to do, most recently in 2009. His current term expires in 2012.

Thielman and Pierce have been asked to comment. Colosi was asked to provide a copy of his communication for publication.

Pierce responded May 23: "All I'd like to state is that I am pleased and honored to serve on this subcommittee and I look forward to the work and decisions ahead."

Thielman wrote May 24: "The purpose of the first meeting was to start the process of understanding the district's legal needs. We're not at a point where we can make any decisions."

Once the subcommittee draws conclusions about what its members believe should occur, they will make a recommendation to the full School Committee.

The subcommittee is next scheduled to meet Wednesday, June 2, at  8 a.m. in the School Committee Room, sixth floor, Arlington High School. The meeting is expected to begin in open session and then be closed to the public at some point.

This story was first reported May 23 and updated twice after that.