BEVERLY — A tape of last week's School Committee meeting caught Mayor Bill Scanlon saying that Superintendent James Hayes is "lying through his teeth" about the school budget.
During a break in the meeting at City Hall, Scanlon can be seen on the tape leaning toward School Committee member David Manzi. Apparently unaware that the microphones for the local cable television station were still on, Scanlon can be heard saying:
"He's slipped the budget by you and he's lying through his teeth on some of the costs. He should have to give a special education breakdown. He's got these huge increases without any explanation whatsoever of where the increase comes from.
"Frankly, I don't believe it. I think what he did is he drove it up in order to be able to get where he's trying to go."
Scanlon did not deny making the comments, but said yesterday he cannot remember specifically what he said.
"I do know I made a comment to the effect that because a great deal of time has been spent on reconfiguration (of the elementary schools), the actual budget has not been reviewed as thoroughly as in past years," he said.
Asked about the comment that Hayes is "lying through his teeth," Scanlon said, "I don't recall having said that."
"There may have been a little emotion there," Scanlon said.
Hayes did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Scanlon's comments were heard during the live broadcast of the School Committee meeting last Wednesday night on BevCam, the local community access television station. The Salem News viewed a recorded version of the live broadcast provided by a resident.
Scanlon's comments, however, are missing from the taped replays of the meeting that have been shown on BevCam. BevCam executive director Dennis Heslet said his staff happened to change tapes at the same time Scanlon made his remarks, so they were not recorded for the re-broadcasts.
Tapes last about three hours and the meeting had already gone 2 1/2 hours, Heslet said. It was during a break in the meeting, a natural time to changes tapes, he said.
"You have to change the tape at some point," Heslet said. "Unfortunately it was just at that time."
Scanlon said he did not know anything about his comments being missing from replays of the meeting on BevCam.
The remarks were made after the public hearing portion of the School Committee meeting, at a time when many members of the public were leaving City Council chambers and committee president Annmarie Cesa was waiting for the room to quiet down.
Scanlon's comments about Hayes are the latest example of the rift between the two leaders as they attempt to resolve a school budget crisis. Last week, without consulting Hayes, Scanlon announced his own last-minute plan. Hayes denounced the tactic, saying it should not have happened.
The School Committee is scheduled to vote tonight on the two plans. Hayes has proposed closing the Cove and McKeown elementary schools and converting them to an early education center and an alternative secondary school to close a $2.6 million spending gap. Scanlon has proposed closing only McKeown and using money from the city side of the budget to keep the Cove School open.
Scanlon's comments
Remarks by Mayor Bill Scanlon to School Committee member David Manzi during a break in last week's School Committee meeting:
"If the override doesn't pass, right, we have to do something, right. We have to have voted on something, whether it's his, mine or somebody else's. I mean, that's what a lot of them don't seem to get (background noise).
"You got to have some plan (background noise) ...
"Now this guy has slipped the budget by you guys for (background noise) ... He's slipped the budget by you and he's lying through his teeth on some of the costs. He should have to give a special education breakdown. He's got these huge increases without any explanation whatsoever of where the increase comes from.
"Frankly, I don't believe it. I think what he did is he drove it up in order to be able to get where he's trying to go."
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