Lynn schools closure final after board OK’s budget

LYNN – The Lynn School Committee unanimously approved the School Department’s $108,479,304 fiscal year 2009 budget Thursday, but failed to pass a last-minute amendment that would have saved the jobs of at least three teachers.By way of the 6-0 vote it is now official that the Fallon and Washington elementary schools will remain closed next year, and over 130 employees, including 92 licensed teachers, will lose their jobs.Committee Vice Chair Patricia Capano was absent from Thursday’s vote due to a prior family obligation, but had voted in favor of the proposed budget in past meetings.None of the approximately 20 people in attendance stood up to speak either in favor or against the plan during the scheduled public hearing time, where taxpayers are allowed to express concerns or propose amendments to the budgetThe evening’s lone amendment came from Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr., who made a formal motion to cut two delivery service positions in favor of re-hiring teachers, an idea he first introduced at Wednesday night’s School Committee meeting.The amendment would have cut funding for the district’s only two “store keeper” positions, who make supply deliveries to schools among other duties. As a result, $134,432 would have been transferred to the “Teacher TBA” account, making room for at least three additional teachers next year.According to numbers provided by Clancy, Principal Senior Store Keeper Joseph Martin and Senior Store Keeper Robert Murray cost the city a combined $184,414.11 last year, when factoring the cost of their salary, benefits and company vehicle upkeep.The Mayor proposed having principals place orders and have supplies delivered directly to the schools in lieu of the storekeepers.Clancy’s motion drew opposition Wednesday from Committee member Donna Coppola, who accused the Mayor of having a personal vendetta against Martin – a former AFSCME union leader – and called his tactics a “disgrace.”Ultimately, the Committee was split on the issue, with members John Ford, Jeffery Newhall and Clancy casting votes in favor of the motion, while Coppola, Maria Carrasco and Vincent Spirito cast “no” votes.Since the vote resulted in a tie, the motion failed by rule. Clancy declined to file for reconsideration, which he could have done because of Capano’s absence.While he did not take offense to the motion in the same way Coppola did a day earlier, Spirito, a former elementary school principal, strongly disagreed with Clancy’s idea and drew applause from the audience when he suggested cutting some administrators from the budget instead.”I would certainly like to see three more teachers reinstated, but being the only person on this board with experience in dealing with the store keepers, I want to share my personal experience with them,” he said, detailing a history of hard work and timely deliveries. “I was under the impression that we were here tonight to vote on the budget. But if this is all about saving teachers jobs lets take a look back and see if we can cut some administrator’s positions.”Spirito suggested that principals handling supplies in their own schools would be “chaotic.”Clancy did take an opportunity to rebut Coppola’s accusations from Wednesday night, giving a lengthy, fiery defense of the Inspectional Services Department.As the audience gasped, the Mayor addressed Coppola’s “falsehoods, inaccuracies and lies” and said the schools had been in bad shape well before the ISD took over control of the custodians.In addressing the claims of a “personal vendetta” against Martin, Clancy indicated that if that were the case, Martin would have lost his job long ago.”I have no evil purpose. If there was this would have been done much earlier in the process,” he said. “I feel this is an exorbitant sum to spend on a service department and could be much better spend if transferred to the teacher’s line item.”The committee will break until Aug. 11, when they will meet to discuss facility improvements and an upcoming food serv