Call for resignations is missing teeth

As expected, the Winchester Board of Selectmen reacted strongly to an audit of the school system’s 2009-10 budget last week, which placed the system’s overspend at more than $340,000.

On Monday, the board officially asked for the resignations of Superintendent of Schools Blaise Salerno and Board of Education Chairman Kathleen O’Brien, citing lack of confidence in their leadership.

While calling for resignations is a strong move, the decision lacks teeth, as the responsibility for such actions lies with the Board of Education. Salerno and O’Brien have both said they will not resign, and there is no move afoot among board members to take action.

Reasonable people know it would not be prudent for Salerno to resign at this stage. The superintendent has one year left on his contract, and it would cost too much for the school system to force him to step down. He should complete the term with the knowledge that he is being watched.

O’Brien should get the message that the school board has serious communication problems and that she needs to provide better oversight. If we can make it through the next year without a budget disaster, she may be able to chalk it up as a lesson learned.

The call for resignations should also be seen as a wake-up call for rest of the Board of Education, which has presided over a year of mismanagement and confusion regarding the budget. The school board seemed to watch helplessly as poor accounting resulted in the resignation of the school system’s finance director, with support staff left picking up the pieces.

One must also wonder what ever happened to the school board’s finance committee. Prior to O’Brien’s leadership, the subcommittee met monthly to review the current spend of the school system. Now, a subcommittee led by Republican Ray Neal appears to be, at best, a rudderless vessel.

The Board of Selectmen also considered a motion Monday night to hold people “personally responsible� for the school budget’s deficit, but the motion was appropriately shot down. As has been said before, the Board of Selectmen has ultimate fiscal responsibility in town, so this foolish concept could have members ultimately suing themselves.

On that note, don’t forget that it was members of both parties who cross-endorsed O’Brien, a Democrat, in last year’s municipal election, so if they suddenly have a problem with her leadership they might want to examine their own decision-making abilities.