School Musical Instrument Rental Program May Violate Ethics Code

BURLINGTON, MA -- Winchester Public Schools gives students taking music lessons a list of five different companies that rent instruments to students. Westford publishes side-by-side price comparisons of the two companies approved in its musical instrument rental program, as well as a list to several other local music stores that rent instruments. In Lexington and Melrose, the school systems hold a rental night, where students and their parents can meet with vendors approved by the school system and choose the one that offers them the best deal and options.

But in Burlington, the school system offers just one choice -- Bedford-based Leonards Music -- and rebuffed at least one music dealer that inquired about also offering instrument rentals to students in Burlington Public Schools. Unlike other school districts, Burlington does not have written criteria to approve vendors or any other policies stipulating how companies that rent instruments to students are chosen to partner with the school system.

Not only is the practice giving one company a monopoly on a market worth tens of thousands of dollars annually, but it may also be violating rulings by the state ethics commission. Patch requested documentation about the rental program under the state's open records law; the school system responded with a copy of a letter sent to parents telling them that they could rent instruments from Leonards.

"Please be advised that the School District’s duty to respond to records requests extends only to records that are in existence and in the custody of the School District, and the School District is under no obligation to create records in response to your request. Furthermore, the School District is not required to answer questions in response to a public records request," Darren Klein, an attorney for the school system, said in a letter to Patch explaining why other records were not available about the musical instrument rental program.

Burlington Superintendent Eric Conti did not respond to a request to comment, including a written list of questions about the music rental program that was sent to him on Wednesday.

This spring, Paul Leder of Spencer Brook Strings in Maynard spent "several weeks" trying to contact the business office at Burlington Public Schools and Burlington Music Director John Middleton-Cox. He said he was asking for the specific standards and process to qualify as a vendor to the parents with children in the music program. Middleton-Cox eventually replied with a succinct answer.

"We currently use Leonards Music as our rental vendor. We are very happy with them," Middleton-Cox said in an email to Leder.

That process of favoring vendors and excluding qualified vendors violate both a 2010 ruling by the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission and a 2016 directive from the Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General. In 2010 the state ethics commission issued to a letter regarding rental programs that recommended schools adopt policies with specific criteria, then treat all vendors who meet those criteria equally.

Burlington doesn't have such a policy -- at least for now. In an email to Leder sent after Patch filed its records request, Business Operations Director Robert Cunha said Burlington Public Schools may create one in the future.

"Our newly staffed business department is in the process of reviewing, revising, and creating new policies to allow Burlington to be more competitive and transparent. We welcome vendors to participate in providing Burlington with quotes, services, and most importantly, choices," Cunha said. "In my short time for research, Burlington does not have a current policy relating to instruments to families, is not under any contract, and does not receive benefits from any instruments to families’ vendor. Moving forward, we will look to create and adopt a policy for instruments to families and solicit multiple vendors to participate."

Students, of course, have other options. Parents can purchase the instruments or find a company that rents them on their own. But there is a clear advantage to having the school's endorsement: so much so that in 2016, the Inspector General issued guidelines to schools on how to avoid conflict of interest laws.

"School officials sometimes mistakenly assume that since public funds are not used to make these purchases...procurement rules do not apply. When a school requires a student to obtain an item (e.g., a musical instrument) and recommends that students and parents use certain vendors to obtain the item, the school is creating a market for a particular vendor or vendors. This market has an intrinsic value; there is a value attached to this opportunity," the office wrote. "The notion that students and parents are free to acquire musical instruments from any source...does not nullify the advantage that the school is giving to the participating vendors."

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