No Hike In School User Fees After Marathon Meeting

In a six-hour meeting, the Marblehead School Committee decided not to hike school user fees this year, after a recommendation by Superintendent Paul Dulac.

In his first School Committee meeting since returning from heart bypass surgery, Dulac said savings from personnel changes will fund high school junior varsity golf and a co-op gymnastics program and delay the need to increase user fees for students in after-school athletics, fine arts activities or clubs.

"We've had some staffing turnovers and we're bringing on new coaches at lower stipends," Dulac told a crowd of about 30 parents and students who came out to support the athletics programs.

Dulac also vowed to restore integrity to his office in the wake of a critical letter from the state Inspector General. The letter suggested Dulac may have used "questionnable strategems" when dealing with a contractor in the Village School renovation.

The controversy began when Diamond Relocation billed the district about $17,000 more than its bid of $24,969 to remove, store and then return classroom furniture during the project. The IG letter raises the question of  whether Dulac tried to use creative accounting to pay Diamond.

"It's an innuendo, a suggestion of wrongdoing...  It wasn't even a charge. You can bet that I will go at this as hard as I can to get to the end of it," Dulac said. "My intregrity is everything to me."

Dulac has asked lawyers for the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents to investigate, or vet,  the incident to prove that he acted lawfully and in good faith.

"I intend to make the outcome of the vetting process public as soon as possible," he added.

Dulac said he is also working with newly-hired Business Manager Brian Salzer to develop new procedures and safeguards for dealing with contractors.  Salzer will begin special training in procurement and licensing this fall.

Other hot topics discussed at the meeting:

• While the committee delayed an increase in student fees, it did ask Salzer to find more effective ways to collect current fees from delinquent families. "We'll get a little cleaner process in place," Salzer said. 
• The district will also look at creative ways to regionalize activities, possibly teaming up with Swampscott for some programs. The gymnastics team, for instance, is a co-op with Big Blue."We can't do it with the football teams, though," Dulac said with a laugh. "We're beating them!"
• The committee also considered studying the town's afternoon kindergarten program, which increased tuition to $2,600. Right now, only 141 students are enrolled, considerably less than the 220 expected. Committee member Jonathan Lederman suggested possibly lowering the tuition to boost participation.
• The committee discussed the State Board of Education's decision this week to adopt national math and English standards, which may lead to the tossing out the MCAS exams. The change will happen in 2012."This will impact our personnel scenario down the road," Dulac said. "We're not ready to make this happen right now."
• On a lighter note: committee member Jonathan Lederman and his wife, Jennifer, welcomed their seventh child, a daughter, last week.