In Fitchburg, group questions McKay school budget 'anomalies'

In Fitchburg, group questions McKay school budget 'anomalies'

By Paula J. Owen TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

FITCHBURG — Three members of the school's governing board say they are concerned about $1 million allocated to McKay Arts Academy that the innovation school is allegedly not receiving, and also allege the former principal was getting paid twice.

However, Fitchburg Public Schools Superintendent Andre R. Ravenelle says it is only three people who are taking financial documents out of context and dispersing inaccurate information.

In a letter to Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Mitchell D. Chester and the attorney general's and inspector general's offices, the group requests an independent audit of McKay's accounts. The letter is signed by three members of the Members of McKay for Students group — Heather Miles, Helena Miles and Michelle Petie — who also serve on McKay's 15-member governing board. The women say they are not acting on behalf of the board.

"At the end of our 2013/2014 academic years, the principal was dismissed for reasons not divulged to the governing board," the letter says. "Last academic year, the principal and the board had been working together to address concerns that both he and the board had identified. These relate to serious anomalies concerning the last three years of Fitchburg approved budgets and (school) accounts."

Daniel J. Hanneken of Clinton became principal of the kindergarten-through-Grade 8 school on July 1, 2011, and left the post in summer 2014. Mr. Hanneken's annual salary was $101,000. The chairwoman of the advisory board denies he was being paid a double salary.

Mr. Ravenelle said McKay's principal is an employee of Fitchburg State University as part of the school district's annual operating agreement with the university and all issues related to his employment are handled by it. McKay, originally run as a pilot school, is situated on FSU's campus and is used by the teaching program.

Massachusetts established innovation schools in 2010. They are "in-district and charter-like schools that will operate with greater autonomy and flexibility with regard to curriculum, staffing, budget, schedule/calendar, professional development, and district policies," according to the Executive Office of Education.

Matthew J. Bruun, FSU spokesman, said he could not confirm if Mr. Hanneken resigned over the summer because it is a personnel matter. Lourdes Ramirez is the interim principal at McKay, he said.

The MOMS letter said the group discovered that the city's and McKay's budget did not match, to the "tune of over $1 million" over the last three years.

"In other words, the budgets approved by the city for McKay are in variance by over $1 million to what the school is actually receiving," it says.

The group alleges it has not received comprehensive and satisfactory answers to significant questions about accounting practices.

"As members of the governing board of an innovation school with budgetary independence, we are concerned that the tax dollars of both the commonwealth and city are not being utilized for the purposes of educating our children," the letter says. "The district entered into a financial agreement with our innovation school to provide per-pupil funding. We were informed by the superintendent that the district cannot afford to honor the contract despite the fact that the School Committee has approved the money."

The letter alleges that one of the "numerous anomalies" the group identified is that the former principal's salary was paid both by FSU under the university's agreement with the city and also by the city, and that the district "withheld/underfunded our school by over $200,000 over the last two years."

However, Mr. Ravenelle said the group's concerns are based on inaccurate information taken out of context.

"While we are aware they are not speaking for the board, we are aware of the concerns and have been working with members of the McKay administration and the chair of the Advisory Board to address them," he said. "The assertions set forth stem from partial or inaccurate information or information taken out of context from a variety of documents with different dates and different accounting systems. The complexity of these issues is exacerbated by the uniqueness of the innovation school model and the autonomies of a relatively new K-8 school formed from the merging of a pilot school and regular district school in the context of challenging budgetary conditions."

Finance officers from the Fitchburg Public Schools, the city and FSU are reviewing the issues, he said, and have also contacted DESE, which oversees innovation schools. The DESE is developing additional guidelines for school funding formulas and methods for innovation schools, the superintendent said.

The DESE has also offered outside consulting services to Fitchburg and other districts that are blending in new innovative school models, he said.

Lisa Moison, chairwoman of the governing board for the school, said the three women's concerns are not shared by the board.

"They are not acting on behalf of the board," Ms. Moison said. "We act as a group."

The board comprises five community members, five parents and five teachers, she said.

"I am not sure where they are getting all of their information from," she said. "The board does not share any of their concerns."

She said innovation schools are "very unique" because they fall within the public school system, yet have budgetary autonomies.

"The superintendent came last year and again this year to talk about the budget," she said. "A lot of the questions they (the members of MOMS) are asking, haven't been brought through the governing board and are highly specific questions. I feel the district has been forthcoming talking to us about the budget and answering questions."

She said Mr. Hanneken was not receiving two salaries, in reality or on paper.

"The school is on the FSU campus and is a lab school," she said. "He is an FSU employee and has been that way for many years. I cannot imagine that level of salary and a discrepancy that size going unnoticed."

Contact Paula Owen at powen@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @PaulaOwenTG