Administrator Used School Account To Write Check To Relative

BURLINGTON, MA -- With the Burlington School Committee set to resume its review of student activities accounts at its meeting next week, there are new questions about spending from an administrative account at the Marshall Simonds Middle School. A review of bank statements, canceled checks and receipts from the account shows that on May 2, 2017, Marshall Simonds Middle School Support Coordinator Neil Lusas wrote a check from the school's administrative account to Nathalia A.. Lusas for $644.83.

A memo on the check says it was for "staff appreciation." The rest of the memo is illegible in the electronic copy obtained by Burlington Patch. While other expenditures for the staff appreciation event were documented with itemized receipts from the supermarkets and stores where the purchases were made, the only documentation included in the records reviewed was a photo copy of a single page from Lusas's personal bank statement showing a purchase at Shaw's in Melrose on May 4, 2017 for the same amount.

It is not clear how Nathalia Lusas is related to Neil Lusas, nor is it clear why the purchase at Shaw's came two days after the date on the check. The records were shared with Burlington Patch after being released by Burlington Public Schools as part of a request for bank statements and receipts related to the account under the Massachusetts Public Records Law.

Lusas and Burlington Superintendent Eric Conti did not respond to a request for comment Friday. Last fall, Lusas, along with Principal Richard Connors and Team Leader Noreen Abati, announced they would be retiring at the end of the school year after 40 years in the district. The school department is currently conducting a search for their replacements.

The records also show that on March 4, 2017, Lusas signed a check payable to cash for $19,275. Two days later, a treasurer's check was issued for the same amount payable to the MIAA. A note on the check said it was for ticket revenue from an ice hockey tournament. It is unclear why Lusas, a middle school employee, would handle the funds from a high school sporting event.

On Tuesday, the Burlington School Committee is scheduled to meet with town accountant Paul F. Sagarino, Jr. and the outside auditors that conducted a review of the music and performing arts review revolving account last year. That appointment was originally scheduled for the February 13 school committee meeting but pushed back to next week's session.

In December, Conti backed off a previous statement that he suspected no theft or wrongdoing as the cause of the problems. At the school committee's last meeting of 2017, Conti would not definitively say there had been no theft or wrongdoing when asked by a school committee member. Earlier in the month, in a post on his blog, Conti said he had said he did not suspect any wrongdoing.

Among the findings in the review of the music program:

• Tickets that were sold for cash on the day of the show were listed as "comp," or free tickets. The price those tickets were sold for was not recorded. The audit was unclear on whether or not receipts from those ticket sales were deposited into the account. Conti has since outlined the changes that he said would prevent this problem in the future.
• The auditors could not ascertain whether some money from fees charged to students was deposited back into the fund.
• The four-show Burlington Community Concert Series lost between $35,000 and $40,000 in fiscal year 2017. On average, the shows generated $6,000 in ticket sales while paying $10,000 in talent fees, on top of hotel, meal and transportation expenses. "These losses are one of the main drivers of the Revolving Fund deficit," the report concluded.
• The district should not have paid for the deficit incurred for the concert series out of the fund, which is only to be used for extracurricular educational programs.

Among the findings in the report on the school district's student activity accounts:

• There was no policy in place to handle how teachers collect cash from students to accounts, which numbered as many as 10 per school.
• In 20 years, many of the accounts had never been reconciled and the checking accounts had never been balanced.

Last month school committee members said while they were concerned with the issues raised in the reports, they were confident in policies the district and Conti have adopted. That included a reorganization of the district's operations staff and the implementation policies based on the independent auditor's recommendations.

"At this point I have complete confidence in way we have our financial department set up," committee member Kristin A. Russo said.

More on this story:

• Burlington Middle School Spent Thousands Of Dollars On Junk Food (2/4/2018)
• Other Districts Have Tougher Standards For School Finance Chief(1/11/2018)
• Burlington School Committee Pressured On Finances (1/10/2018)
• Burlington School Finance Job Posting Favored Internal Candidate(1/2/2018)
• Burlington Can't Rule Out Wrongdoing In School Account Deficits(12/22/2017)
• Burlington Superintendent: No Doubts About Faculty Honesty(12/12/2017)
• Fresh Produce Fed Deficit In Burlington Schools Cafeteria Account(12/11/2017)
• Town Meeting Members Want Full Audit Of School Finances(12/8/2017)
• Superintendent Responds To Audits Critical Of School Spending(12/6/2017)
• Few Answers From Incomplete Audit Of Burlington Music Program(12/5/2017)
• Audit Of Burlington Schools Student Funds Uncovers Lax Oversight(12/4/2017)

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Patch file photo.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).