Parents Want Answers From Burlington School Committee On Audits

BURLINGTON, MA -- Officials are keeping quiet on the latest revelations in an ongoing financial scandal in Burlington Public Schools, but parents and residents took to social media to voice concern and call for more accountability as concerns mounted. The latest news in the saga -- that the high school music director maintained an unauthorized account and withheld that information from auditors last year -- had at least one parent calling for the school committee to fire John Middleton Cox and Superintendent Eric Conti.

"I want to know who's going to get fired for this. It SHOULD be the School Superintendent, Eric Conti, as well as the Music Department chair" John Middleton Cox, Burlington resident Ann Steeves posted on the Burlington Patch Facebook page. "But the School Committee in this town is so corrupt and clueless that I'm sure they won't do anything more than gnash their teeth and beat their breasts."

Conti and Cox, the high school music director, have not responded to a request from Burlington Patch for comment. On Monday, Patch reported that a new auditor's report delivered to the school committee last week showed the Cox collected and spent at least $14,000 over the course of two years without depositing the money with the town treasurer. When asked, Cox was able to only provide documentation for $6,000 of the expenditures. He also told auditors that he routinely reimbursed himself and others for expenses from the cash receipts, which he kept in a safe that only he and a secretary had access to.

On Monday night, Town Meeting Member Adam Senesi posted the complete audit on the Burlington MA Residents' Network Facebook page, a closed forum for Burlington residents.

While the report was presented by Town Auditor Jim Powers to the school committee at its Feb. 27 meeting, Cox was never mentioned by name, nor was the unauthorized account discussed in the public forum. Chairman Thomas Murphy said the committee had not had enough time to review the report and made comments suggesting it was time to move past the audit, as new procedures were in place to safeguard school system funds in the future.

"Clearly the blame lies up here, and the responsibility for the cure lies up here as well," Murphy said. "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."

"I'd expect for the entire school committee to demand greater action in lieu of this report and will applaud whichever member stands up firs," Senesi said in a separate thread discussing the issue.

Other people discussing the issue were torn. Cox is a popular teacher and the music program he oversees is popular. The musicals and performances put on by his department are frequently cited as one of the benefits of the public school system in town.

"This is very upsetting. Why wasn't Mr. Middleton-Cox forthcoming during the first evaluation? If money was taken, actions should be taken," Burlington resident Phyllis Roussel posted on the closed Facebook group. "This is difficult because people know and respect him but something needs to be done."

The review by Powers was a "deeper dive" into the music revolving account that was reviewed by Roselli, Clark & Associates last year after going 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.

Like the outside auditing firm, Powers said he had trouble forming a complete picture because of less-than-rigid accounting practices. Still, Powers didn't recommend that the committee conduct a further review, noting that it wouldn't be cost effective. "There's only a limited amount of revenue that could possibly be missing," he said.

The original report by Roselli knew there as a cash box maintained by the music department, but that cash box was characterized as having about $200 and was primarily used to make change from ticket sales when the department put on performances.

"After we started this engagement, John Middleton Cox, Director of the Music and Performance Arts department, came forward and disclosed that his department has been maintaining and unauthorized cash fund," the report said. "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 Powers report also found that there was no accounting for cash collected from students for field trips, money collected from students for parties, tee shirts other small items; and for some of the advertisements in programs that had been paid for in cash.

At last week's meeting, the school committee approved to reclassify nearly $32,000 in expenses in the music revolving account to the building and grounds account to comply with the recommendation by Powers to accurately account for spending and close the deficit in the performing arts account. Under state law, revolving accounts cannot carry deficits.

"I've been watching the local reaction to this and to the thing that people should keep in mind is that the music director KNEW what he was doing was wrong. It's stated exactly that way in the report from Sullivan & Powers," Steeves said in a follow-up post to her original post on the Burlington patch Facebook page. "He broke the law, and knew it. THAT is the crux of the issue, not support of arts or support of kids or other things that people are trying to throw out there. He Broke. The. Law."

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Photo by Burlington Public Schools.

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