Burlington wants money back or Gendron out

BURLINGTON – Gov. John Baldacci should seek the resignation of Education Commissioner Susan Gendron if she cannot compel SAD 31 board member Bruce Hallett to return $17,152.50 earned illegally as a school renovation liaison.

That was the opinion an impatient Board of Selectmen released this week in a letter to the editors of several newspapers, the latest and most brazen board attempt to pressure Gendron to act on promises made in early November.

Signed by Selectmen Dennis Kingman, Beth Turner and Clarence Bearce, the letter states in its closing paragraph that by failing to act, Gendron “will have compromised her credibility and authority and lost her ability to govern effectively.”

“Precedence will have been set and all districts and school superintendents in the state will receive the message loudly and clearly. They are free to violate state law with impunity,” the letter continues. “The next time a situation arises (and it will) when this Education Commissioner issues a ruling the response will be ‘ignore her and she will go away.’

“Should this happen the only reasonable way to restore the position of Education Commissioner in the State of Maine would be for Gov. Baldacci to request her resignation,” it concludes.

SAD 31 Superintendent Jerry White hired Hallett, who represents Howland on the school board, as a liaison on a $3.9 million renovation of Penobscot Valley High School and the interconnected Hichborn Middle School.

According to school records, Hallett earned the money he was paid by working about 475 hours from June 29 to Oct. 11, 2007, as a liaison to Bowman Bros. Inc., the general contractor overseeing the renovation.

Apparently it was an unprecedented violation of a state law designed to prevent corruption and guarantee board sovereignty.

In a letter written to Hallett and the school board in November, Gendron sought the money’s return from Hallett.

She quoted a section of state law banning school board members from volunteering or getting paid for work for school systems “when that volunteer has primary responsibility for a curricular, co-curricular or extracurricular program or activity and reports directly to the superintendent, principal, athletic director or other school administrator in a public school within the jurisdiction of the school board to which the member is elected …”

It remains unclear whether an additional 500 hours Hallett worked as a volunteer after being told to stop working for pay also violated the law.

Before the discovery of the hiring, which White and board Chairman John Neel have since admitted was a mistake, Hallett reported as liaison to White during the summer months when White was at home in North Haven.

At least one other Gendron letter or meeting with White and Neel since then failed to produce results, possibly because the SAD 31 board of directors voted 10-3 in April to ask Gendron to stop seeking restitution. The board argued that it would do little good and much harm to Hallett to seek the funds and promised to follow state laws from now on.

Maine Department of Education spokesman David Connerty-Marin said Friday that Gendron remains busy with statewide school reorganization, high school reform and other issues, but continues to hope that the situation will be resolved locally.

“She has had a few things on her plate that are more pressing over the past few months,” Connerty-Marin said.

He hinted that the state subsidy the school district receives would be threatened if the money is not returned, but declined to elaborate.

“The biggest issue here is that the department funding is the thing we have the most control over,” Connerty-Marin said, noting that in this case the district used that money to pay somebody who should not have been paid.

“We have more leverage over how our money is used than about any other,” he added.

SAD 31 serves Burlington, Edinburg, Enfield, Howland, Maxfield and Passadumkeag. Burlington’s is the only local or state governing body pressing for the money’s return.

nsambides@bangordailynews.net

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