The Randolph School Committee has placed its finance director on leave while it investigates allegations of improper financial practices, a usually private process that the Town Council blew up in public this week.
At a Randolph Town Council meeting Monday, Councilor James Burgess offered a resolution that caught some of his colleagues by surprise: the resolution “restrict the school director of finance of operations from all financial software.” Approval of that resolution would lock the finance director out of the towns’ financial systems.
When another council member asked why that action was necessary, Burgess said, “Because she opened a bank account in her own name and somebody else’s name with town funds with no authorization to do so.”
After some discussion, the council went into a private session to discuss the matter further and reword the resolution.
When they returned to public session, the councilors acknowledged that the School Committee was already looking into the matter, but that outcome wasn’t certain.
“The school committee may or may not do something,” Councilor Kevin O’Connell said. “And if we have the safety net in place, then at least we’re protecting our town with a second net to fall on.”
The resolution passed.
The school committee was not impressed.
“The actions by the Town Council were completely unnecessary,” School Committee chair Lisa Millwood said in a statement to GBH News Wednesday.
The schools’ finance director has been placed on administrative leave, Millwood said, “pending the outcome of a review into various financial practices.” The committee, she said, is handling the review “in a way that respects our employees’ rights … It is troubling the Randolph Town Council during its meeting on March 10th saw fit to publicly shame this school department employee without affording her basic due process.”
Millwood offered no details on what financial practices are being investigated.
Town Council President Christos Alexopoulos defended the council’s resolution in a statement to GBH News: “There are two separate and distinct ongoing investigations into this matter, one being conducted by the School Department and one being conducted by the Town. The Town Council wants to ensure that, until both investigations are complete, no unauthorized access to the Town’s financial software and bank accounts will take place.”
He added that elected officials “are entrusted by the public to safeguard public funds, and it is our duty to do so in matters such as this.”
Annya Washburn, the suspended finance director, would not comment on the case, other than to tell GBH News, “What Jimmy Burgess said was absolutely not accurate. I did not open a bank account in my personal name with town funds. That is not true.”
