Burlington Public Schools Release Music Department Receipts

BURLINGTON, MA -- Scores of receipts released by Burlington Public Schools and reviewed by Patch shed new light on spending from a performing arts account which has been the target of scrutiny in recent months. The receipts were not submitted for an outside audit conducted last year and only came to light during a subsequent review of the fund by Burlington Town Auditor Jim Powers. The new batch of receipts show hundreds of dollars of spending at local restaurants, including a $386.67 bill at Chopps in the Burlington Marriott that included 20 alcoholic drinks.

The receipts cover about $6,000 in spending and were provided to Powers, who noted that about $8,000 of the cash spending in the account remained unaccounted for when he presented his findings to the school committee on February 27. His report showed that Music Director John Middleton-Cox maintained an unauthorized account where he kept at least $14,000 in mostly undocumented revenue that should have been deposited with the town treasurer. Instead, Cox kept the money in a separate safe that he and a secretary had access to, and no records were maintained to show where the cash came from or where it was spent. According to the report by Powers, Middleton-Cox said the money was used to reimburse himself and others for "various expenses."

At a school committee meeting last month, Middleton-Cox acknowledged that two of the expenditures would raise questions. The first was for the July 28, 2017 Chopps bill -- which came to $460 after tip -- in which Middleton-Cox claimed he was only reimbursed for food. The meal, Middleton-Cox said, was to celebrate the conclusion of the department's BEST summer musical program. The second was for a gift certificate for a massage that was given to as "a thank you gift for the hard work of a guest director."

The massage receipt shows that Middleton-Cox used the performing arts fund to buy a $75 gift certificate with a $10 gratuity from Kim Adami, a massage therapist in North Andover. The gift certificate, however, was made out to Middleton-Cox, of Andover, and not the guest director, who Middleton-Cox did not name at last month's meeting.

On Wednesday, Patch submitted written questions to Superintendent Eric Conti and will update this story when he responds.

Other receipts in the public records release include:

• A $218.53 bill from Papa Razzi on June 19, 2014 that included three appetizers and three nonalcoholic drinks. The rest of the bill was for nine alcoholic drinks. A partially-legible, handwritten note on the receipts indicate it was related to the music department's production of "Cinderella" on July 25, 2014.
• A $100 gift card purchased at Uno Pizza on March 28, 2015. A handwritten note on that receipt reads "TECH CREW PAY FOR SERVICE."
• A receipt for $75.35 that was otherwise illegible. A handwritten note on that receipt read "Kim Cook, Cast Party." Cook is a teacher at the Francis Wyman Elementary School. Parents of students in the department's shows said their children typically go to Chili's on their own after performances and they pay for their own meals.
• Two receipts for pizza and soda totaling $127.92 on May 10, 2017. There were no rehearsals scheduled for that day as the spring musical had concluded rehearsals and performances in early April.
• Receipts for several other restaurants, including Chipotle, Noodles, Macaroni Grill, Fitzwiliams at the Burlington Marriot, Pizza Days, Papa Ginos, Burlington House of Pizza , Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts and Pizza Works.

The ongoing controversy has had some parents calling for Conti and Middleton-Cox to be fired. In his only public comments on the matter to date, Middleton-Cox told the school committee at its March 21 meeting that he had been following new finance rules implemented by the school district last fall.

"Recently my integrity has been called into question online and on social media, and I want to express my gratitude to the school committee for supporting me throughout this and two audits this year, and the conversations that followed," Middleton-Cox said. "I want to be clear first and foremost that I have always had the best interests of the students and the program in mind. I'm a music teacher and my priorities have always been my students and their experiences as they develop in our program."

Last year the school committee spent $3,000 on a review by Roselli, Clark & Associates after the performing arts account went from a $40,000 surplus to a $50,000 deficit over the course of three fiscal years. Roselli said it was unable to do a complete audit because it was not given a complete set of records, but still produced a report that raised questions about how the account was maintained and questioned the district's policies.

As a follow-up, Powers was asked to take a "deeper dive" into the music revolving account. That report found that there was no accounting for cash collected from students for field trips, money collected from students for parties, tee shirts and other small items; and for some of the advertisements in programs that had been paid for in cash.

During the course of that review, Middleton-Cox came forward and told Powers that his department has been maintaining and unauthorized cash fund. "This fund was not just a $200 cash box but instead was used to keep cash received that should have been deposited with the Town Treasurer and to make unauthorized disbursements. We discussed this matter with him and he knew this was not an allowable practice," the report said.

The five-member, elected school committee has been largely quiet on the subject. After Middleton-Cox made his statement in March, the committee moved onto the next order of business without comment. When Powers presented his report in February, Middleton-Cox was not mentioned by name.

At the time, Chairman Thomas Murphy said the committee had not had enough time to review the report but said that the committee was ultimately responsible.

"Clearly the blame lies up here, and the responsibility for the cure lies up here as well," Murphy said in February. "I just want it to be out there that we have new policies and procedures in place.....it doesn't excuse what has happened in the past, but I think we're righting the ship."

Martha Simon is the only member of the school committee up for reelection in Saturday's municipal election. She is running unopposed.

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Patch file photo of John Middleton-Cox.

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