Prouty activity funds expenditures may be illegal

By Kim Ring
Telegram & Gazette Staff 
Posted Sep 15, 2015 at 9:34 PM
Updated at 11:24 PM

SPENCER - An investigative report into the use of student activity funds at David Prouty High School revealed that more than $70,000 was spent in ways that allegedly violate state law, a Worcester lawyer who compiled the document told Spencer-East Brookfield School Committee members on Tuesday.

After hearing an overview of the report from Worcester attorney and former city solicitor Robert J. Hennigan Jr., committee members went behind closed doors to discuss the possibility of criminal charges. They emerged to adjourn and made no comments about what they had discussed privately.

In compiling the more than 300-page report, Mr. Hennigan said he looked closely at 93 expenditures which he broke into seven categories that included membership dues for organizations; entry fees for tournaments; equipment and clothing; banquets, awards and dinners; fundraising, gate money and startup costs; training and software and miscellaneous items.

Mr. Hennigan said he found several instances in which money was funneled through the student activity accounts for expenditures that didn't directly benefit students, including BJs cards for teachers, an Edible Arrangement for the ill mother of an athlete, tickets for six coaches to attend a banquet and payments for "volunteers."

In some cases, money was collected from participants - as it was for student bowling fees - and then placed into the student activity account and expended on those programs. But that method of accounting does not fall in line with what state law dictates, Mr. Hennigan said.

While in some cases an argument could be made that there is " some tangential connection" between the expenditures and benefits to students, he said, it seems the School Department did not follow the letter of the law nor an established district policy that has been in place since October 2013.

Mr. Hennigan questioned why some items weren't funded in the school budget. Water for the nurse office, a new shot put and measuring tape for the track team and the costs of band camp and a marching band drill design program shouldn't have come from the student activity fees, he said.

At the start of his presentation, Mr. Hennigan said the committee can decide if reviews of the funds in other district schools should be done.