PEABODY — Superintendent C. Milton Burnett received $1,400 in merit pay along with other contract concessions last year, but the details were never discussed publicly because the School Committee voted behind closed doors, according to executive session minutes released last week.
The minutes of 10 secret sessions were made available last week, after more than three months of repeated requests by The Salem News and, finally, an Open Meeting Law complaint filed with Attorney General Martha Coakley's office.
Last February, the committee voted publicly to start talks with Burnett about renewing his three-year contract. But since then, no public votes have been taken on his contract or his salary. The minutes show Burnett's contract was renewed behind closed doors on May 14.
The merit pay amounts to about 1 percent of his salary.
Burnett is the city's second-highest paid employee at $144,200 a year. He also receives a $4,200 annual annuity and $700 to cover health care expenses.
School Committee member David McGeney said Burnett's merit pay was a part of contract negotiations and therefore exempt from public meetings.
But why the information about his additional pay and contract changes was kept secret for months after the minutes were requested is unclear.
Assistant City Solicitor Daniel Cocuzzo refused to comment on the delay, calling it a "pending legal matter."
"I can't do that since a complaint has been filed," he said. "I can't disclose defenses at this juncture."
In a June 8 letter to The Salem News, Burnett said he was waiting for committee member Brandi Carpenter to type up the minutes. Carpenter said she couldn't seem to find the time.
"I'm no secretary," she said. "I don't take good minutes. I had to gather them all up and get them straight."
Then she refused to release the minutes until her colleagues approved them, though the Open Meeting Law doesn't require a vote for release.
Even then, the minutes reveal scant details — something Salem News attorney Robert Bertsche said could raise legal questions about the committee's effort to act in good faith under the Open Meeting Law.
"They told the paper for months that they had to transcribe (the minutes); they had to go through them; they had to approve them. It was a big, difficult ordeal to produce these," he said.
"Then we see what they produced is a couple of sentences for some of the meetings and nothing at all for some of the others."
In fact, the released minutes account for only 10 closed-door meetings since Feb. 24, 2009. Minutes of at least 21 other meetings were withheld.
"We released all the minutes we felt were ready to be released," McGeney said.
A letter from the committee said they were withholding the remaining minutes because of "legal concerns" and said the minutes would be given to the newspaper when the legal concerns are lifted.
By the minutes
Of the minutes that were released, five involve closed-door meetings from Feb. 24 to May 14 to discuss the superintendent's contract.
At the May 12, 2009, meeting, Burnett told committee members he was the only employee not to receive a raise.
"He would like it noted that he waited for a raise until all other employees got theirs," the minutes said.
Committee members agreed May 14 to give Burnett retroactive merit pay and set his salary for the next year at $144,200, a $1,400 increase over the previous year.
The committee required Burnett to start tracking his mileage, instead of receiving a flat rate of $200 a month. They let him carry over 15 vacation days for one year of his contract, and he received $700 in additional pay to cover health care costs.
At a meeting last July, the minutes say members discussed Burnett's evaluation, though no details were mentioned, and the following April — the next time minutes are available — they learned from Burnett that the budget line for raises for administrators was $44,000 in the red.
Little else of widespread interest is revealed in the minutes.
The School Committee's secrecy, particularly in regard to Burnett's contract and pay, mirrors their hesitancy to publicly discuss anything to do with his leadership of the school system.
During Burnett's 31/2-year tenure, the system has been rocked by turnover at the top. Eight of the city's 10 school principals have left, along with another six top-level administrators — a business manager, an assistant superintendent, two human resources directors and two special education directors.
Yet, for the past two years, the School Committee has not discussed Burnett's evaluations in public.
Committee members McGeney, Carpenter and Jarrod Hochman, contacted this week, all refused to discuss Burnett's job performance.
Carpenter noted that many districts experience turnover, especially in difficult times.
"Everyone, including myself, has the opportunity to do better, and the superintendent is no exception to that rule," she said.
McGeney said he believes Peabody schools are "doing very well given the financial challenges." He said most people were leaving because they could make more money elsewhere.
Hochman, who started on the committee in January, said he understood the reasons given for the departures, but admitted to some anxiety about losing the special education director.
"We do have a large special needs department," he said.
Burnett, who said he hopes to get a raise this year, said he thinks the district is doing "pretty good" overall.
As to turnover, he said the most recent administrators left for a variety of reasons.
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