School Committee Chair Quits

Marblehead - Embattled School Committee Chair, Meredith Tedford, abruptly resigned yesterday, effective immediately, April 12th.

This move continues a spate of other resignations and retirements at the highest levels of the School Department ever since it was discovered that the school illegally tried to hold off paying fiscal year 2018 bills with 2019 funds.

Since this illegal attempt was uncovered by new Town Administrator, Jason Silva, a few months ago, the Superintendent has submitted an early retirement and has been acting a as figurehead while the School Committee searches for an interim, the School Finance manager abruptly quit, and two expected retirements by the Director of Special Education and the Director of Human Resources for the Schools occurred.

The School Committee has been at loggerheads recently over the proposed 2020 School Budget with Tedford and Schaffner lobbying for increased funding (at times requesting $1.4 million more than recommended by the Finance Committee (FINCOM) and Committee members Harris, Gold and Taylor supporting the town recommended budget.

Committee member Sarah Gold harshly criticized the School Administration at the last School Committee Meeting for constantly changing the numbers or responding to her questions with "blank stares" as they have been asked to submit lower budgets to bring the school expenses in line with the FINCOM recommendations.

(See her comments here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ywGZjmd-WY&feature=youtu.be)

Gold said she was "Dumbfounded ... that this is the third iteration of these line [items from the administration] and every time the numbers change." She added, "I have gone from trusting, to confused, to disgusted, with how things are being managed with this budget ... and I lie awake at night angry that the people who created this mess have been so righteously indignant as we have tried to clean it up."

Complicating matters for the Committee, the School Department will also be asking in a few weeks at Town Meeting to fund $600,000 to cover the deficit from the illegal transfer attempt. The Schools are asking for a $54 million override to build a controversial new school that eliminates two local schools from the Downtown, Naugus Head and West Shore areas of town, and involves demolition of the Bell School, which some say is in good shape and merely needs a remodeling.

Some on the School Committee and other town officials fear that requesting a general override to add a million dollars more in operational funding to the school budget forever will be too much for Town Meeting to swallow and could doom the new school.

Vice Chair, Jen Schaffner, will take on the role of Chair until elections next month. Tedford had previously announced that she would not seek reelection