HOWLAND – Burlington Selectman Dennis Kingman believes a SAD 31 administrator wants to stop school board members from speaking out about board member Bruce Hallett illegally receiving $14,242 for liaison work in renovating two district schools.

Kingman said an e-mail sent Nov. 15 to board members by Catherine Menard, SAD 31’s curriculum director, questioned whether present or past board members were allowed to speak to media about board business.

Menard wrote, “Weren’t there some parameters developed and approved/adopted by the Board a few years ago that stated that only the superintendent and the Board chairperson were permitted to speak to the media regarding District business?

“Secondly, as a former health care professional, I am certain that confidential and privileged information that I was privy to in the context of that role did not become open to public discussion and report once I left that position,” her letter says. “Does that also hold true for Board members, including former Board members?

“I am truly disturbed and concerned about both of these issues and would appreciate any assistance you can provide,” Menard wrote.

Kingman said he believed Menard was referring to Michael Pearson and Noreen Shorey. Their questioning of Hallett’s hiring indirectly led to state education Commissioner Susan A. Gendron telling Hallett to immediately return to the district the $14,242.50 he earned from June 29 to Oct. 11 working about 475 hours as a liaison to Bowman Bros. Inc., the general contractor overseeing the $3.9 million renovation of Penobscot Valley High School and the interconnected Hichborn Middle School.

Hallett received the money despite Maine statutes that stipulate a “member of a school board or spouse of a member of a school board may not be an employee in a public school within the jurisdiction of the school board to which the member is elected” and despite having the law explained to him by a school attorney in 2004.

Hallett’s work was mentioned by Superintendent Jerry White in a newsletter-type e-mail he sent to board members, but he didn’t describe any payment arrangements. Nor do board minutes indicate the hiring, although the board’s five-member finance committee, which Hallett chairs, signed off on his payments. Pearson said he discussed Hallett’s hiring with White after noticing it in committee warrants.

Hallett has refused to comment on the matter.

Kingman said it was uncalled for to have administrators questioning board members’ grasp of or obligation to policies. Board members outrank administrators and have a legally sanctioned right, and an obligation, to speak on issues of concern to the school or their constituents, he said.

“Menard is promoted as the most intelligent school employee, but I remain astounded how she cannot understand that medical information is confidential while any school issue is, in fact, public information paid for by the taxpayers,” Kingman, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said in an e-mail Wednesday.

“I have serious concerns about the MSAD 31 censorship of school board members,” he added. “Yes, executive session discussions are confidential but many meetings have been secretly recorded and shared with others!”

Menard could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

School board members are elected to represent their towns and the town’s governing bodies, who contribute substantial portions of their operating budgets to the school districts. Pearson represents Enfield, Shorey serves Burlington, and Hallett represents Howland.

As of Tuesday, Gendron’s office was awaiting Hallett’s response to the commissioner’s letter or word that he had returned the money, said Susan Corrente, the state Department of Education’s legal counsel concerning this matter.

“We are unaware of what specific actions have been taken by either Mr. Hallett or the board. If the commissioner feels it is necessary to follow up on this matter with the board, she will do so,” Corrente said.

SAD 31 board Chairman John M. Neel defended the board’s policy, saying all statements to media should be cleared through the chairman. Still, he doubted that the board could legally prevent members from speaking out.

“I would not say that they can’t,” Neel said, adding, however, that it was at least disconcerting to read in the newspapers board members’ statements of which he wasn’t aware.

“You’re not going to muzzle anybody,” he said. “They are going to say what they want to say, but there can be confusion as to whether they are speaking for themselves or the board.”

Pearson was out of the country and Shorey did not return a telephone message seeking comment Wednesday.

State education officials have said that Hallett’s hiring might be the first instance in at least the last 25 years in which a school board member was discovered taking money for work done for a school system.

The school board is expected to discuss the matter at a meeting Nov. 28 on the PVHS campus.