Burlington Middle School Spent Thousands Of Dollars On Junk Food

BURLINGTON, MA -- A review of nearly 100 receipts documenting spending in a bank account for the Marshall Simonds Middle School in Burlington shows school staff spent thousands of dollars on junk food, including candy, cookies, cakes, pastries, ice cream and pizza. In all, the receipts cover more than $12,300 worth of spending at grocery stores, BJ's wholesale shopping club and local restaurants. The receipts 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.

The receipts and bank statements do not make clear whether the items were used for staff, students or both. The receipts and statements reviewed were for Marshall Simonds Middle School Principal Richard Connors' Student Activities Account. Connors could not be reached for comment.

The receipts cover various points during the 2016-17 school year, as well as portions of the current school year. While the receipts are not a complete set documenting all spending in the account, they do offer a glimpse of how school money is spent at local businesses. Among the significant items and spending patterns:

• Almost weekly, the school purchases at least $100 worth of bakery items at local Market Basket stores. In most weeks, the purchases were made on Thursdays. Some of the food appears to go towards brunches run by the school as a fundraiser. Students pay $2 to participate.
• Last spring, the school had a staff appreciation event. As part of the event, the school used the account to purchase 32.5 pounds of haddock at Shaw's for $277.45.
• On June 16 of last year, a receipt for $1,329.32 was submitted for a meal at Great Mandarin, a Chinese food restaurant in Woburn. That food was used for an eight grade spring dance.
• Hundreds of dollars are spent on a regular basis at BJ's Wholesale Club in Stoneham. Items purchased include cups for Keurig coffee machines, Cheerio's, fresh fruit, batteries, bagels and postage stamps.

Last fall, Connors, along with Team Leader Noreen Abati, and Support Coordinator Neil Lusas, announced they would be retiring at the end of the school year after 40 years in the district. The school department is currently conducting the first round of interviews to find their replacements.

The spending raises new questions for a district which has been under fire in recent months for how it has handled school finances. A pair of outside reviews of school spending in revolving accounts raised questions about school system financial oversight.

In December, Superintendent Eric 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:

• 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)

Subscribe to Burlington Patch for more local news and real-time alerts.

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).