Legal counsel for the ORR School Committee recommended the school district not take further action to recover money that was stolen in the 2011 cyber-hacking incident resulting in the theft of $134,000.

A letter dated June_2014 {sic} stated that, as requested by the Joint Tri-Town Selectmen, the school district send Unibank a demand letter regarding the $34,000 still unrecovered from the theft, asserting that Unibank “was negligent and breached its fiduciary duty” by failing to recover the remaining $34,000 stolen from the school district’s account. Unibank found in 2013 that it was not responsible for the unauthorized transfer, and its response to the recent letter was the same.

According to the letter from the school district’s attorney, the bank cited its user agreement with the school district that states, “the Customer shall be solely responsible for protecting against unauthorized access to the online cash management program through the use of physical security, passwords and other security procedures.”

Legal counsel concurred, based on the user agreement terms and lack of evidence showing the bank was responsible for the security breach, and recommended the district take no further action against Unibank.

“We exhausted that last avenue,” conceded ORR School Committee Chairman Jim O’ Brien during the June 11 meeting. “The whole situation was an unfortunate situation, and we are going to put our best foot forward.”

School Committee member James Muse commented that he was a businessman, and said, “If they’re (Unibank) not coming to bat … we don’t have to do business with them…”

Superintendent Doug White defended Unibank, saying, “When it did happen, they were here immediately and were our best support and provided us with immediate action. It was because of their actions we got back what we got back.”

            White continued, “We’ve had enough publicity on this and the selectmen have wanted information on what we have done.”

The School Committee is forwarding the attorney’s letter to each of the three Boards of Selectmen.

In other matters, ORR High School Principal Michael Devoll announced that the PSAT will be mandatory for all juniors and seniors who will take the exam on a Wednesday during school hours instead of on the traditional Saturday.

“We feel that it’s a critical piece to the school and to student preparation for college,” said Devoll. “I think it sends the right message to the students and the community.”

Devoll said the school would waive the $14 fee for students who receive free or reduced lunch, suggesting other students simply “consider it a $14 field trip.”

“We don’t go anywhere,” said Devoll, “but you don’t have to go to classes.”

Also during the meeting, the principals of the junior and high schools described some changes made to the student handbooks.

ORR Junior High School Principal Kevin Brogioli said there are some changes regarding bullying, specifically adding school staff members to the definition of a possible perpetrator. Cyber bullying rules were also added, as well as changes to the suspension and expulsion process.

Brogioli said there would now be more due process for parents with more communication and parental involvement in a hearing process.

Jeans with holes have been removed from the dress code since Brogioli did not consider them to be a distraction of sorts.

The school also lifted the ban on sensible body piercings, limiting it to ears, eyebrows, and tongues, among other places.

“We actually have faculty now with body piercings, so we took that one out,” said Brogioli.

Devoll listed the changes to the high school handbook, starting with a new rule that limits the age of school dance attendees to 20 years of age. Devoll said there have been no real issues with the dress code, so nothing was changed.

The committee approved the PARCC assessment for the next school year, replacing the MCAS with the “next generation” online assessment.

Students recently took a pilot PARCC assessment and students generally responded favorably to the test, according to Devoll and Brogioli.

Student Council Representative Jacob Spevack said he found the assessment had many different options and was innovative. The only thing, though, he said, “The actual content … was not exactly what we were taught in class.” He suggested assessing the curriculum because it was prevalent throughout the exam.

“There’s no harm in taking it and exposing our students to taking the test,” said White, because the results in 2015 will not be counted against the school should the students’ performance be less than favorable.

After the unanimous vote, White told the committee that there would be no need to reconvene the Joint School Committee meeting to discuss PARCC, now that all four districts have adopted the new assessment.

In other business, the committee approved Devoll’s school improvement plan and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Elise Frangos’ professional development plan.

Preceded with some ominous organ music from his laptop, Devoll also announced that the school’s fall production would be the school edition of “Sweeney Todd.”

The committee reorganized, keeping O’Brien as chairman, and Paul Goulet as vice-chairman, and also voted to televise its future meetings, pending arrangements.

School Committee member Cary Humphrey resigned from the committee because he is relocating to Fort Meyers, Florida.

By Jean Perry

Grant Writer Pamela Marean volunteered to change her employment conditions after the controversy surrounding her performance came up during budget season when the Finance Committee wanted to cut the position, citing less than favorable results from Marean.

“I’ve never had someone question my ability as a grant writer,” said Marean. She proposed changing her salaried 20-hour workweek position to an hourly as-needed position as grants come up that department heads want to pursue.

The possible downfall to her proposal, she stated, could be department heads not taking the initiative in reaching out to Marean to work together on researching and pursuing grants.

Board of Selectmen Chairman John Henry said the board responded favorably to Marean’s proposal, and voted to accept her offer. The board will now take current tentative grants for projects under advisement to see which ones Marean will continue to work on with the Town.

“I want to thank you for accepting me for another year anyway,” said Marean, who had the board’s support throughout the prior discussions with the FinCom. “I think this is going to be a win-win situation.”

Also during the meeting, the board voted to follow town counsel’s recommendation to pursue legal action regarding the 3 Cottage Lane matter, voting to seek legal action against the homeowner in hopes that it will compel the homeowners to comply with the Board of Health’s and the building commissioner’s orders to clean up the property and make the structure safe.

Town Administrator Paul Dawson said the 60 days given to take action to improve the property was up as of that evening on June 17, and Dawson said the Town had hoped for significantly more progress than what has occurred up until now. He added that if the structure is not improved, it could be torn down.

The board approved seeking a temporary restraining order and getting a Land Court-ordered time frame for compliance.

“This is not about punishment,” said Dawson. “This is not about singling them out … It’s about compliance.”

Both the Board of Health and Building Commissioner Scott Shippey recommended the action.

“As a town, we’ve been more than lenient and understanding and we have some expectations,” said Selectman Steve Cushing. “We have neighbors that have very legitimate concerns … and it’s a balancing act.”

In other news, Dawson briefed the board on the Sprague’s Cove situation, which now entails that selectmen receive proposals from the Conservation Commission and the Open Space Acquisition Commission as to how to best manage the parcel of wetlands. Selectmen will then have to make a recommendation to Town Meeting as to who will be granted jurisdiction over the future of the wetlands.

Town Meeting back in May denied ConCom’s request for funding to actively manage the wetlands, and a petition has been circulating around town regarding ConCom’s authority over the matter, asking that jurisdiction be given to the Open Space Acquisition Commission.

Dawson said both commissions have two different schools of thought on how best to manage the wetlands, with ConCom wanting an active approach and Open Space preferring a more laissez-faire approach.

The matter will be discussed at the next Board of Selectmen meeting.

Henry brought up a meeting he had on June 9 with Dawson and FinCom Chairman Alan Minard regarding Minard’s concerns over the budget formulation and the relationship between the committee and department heads during the process.

Henry said there is no budget formulation process, per se, and he supports the role of the Finance Committee and values its concerns.

Henry also brought up recent contention between the FinCom and the Fire Department that was stirred up by comments FinCom members made about the fire chief during a prior FinCom meeting. Henry said at that informal meeting with Dawson and Minard, he “fired a warning shot across the bow” of the Finance Committee regarding its criticism of the fire chief.

Having said that, Henry later added, “I had no intention of overthrowing the Finance Committee … I’d be a fool to do that…”

Henry said he did not feel the issue was fully resolved, but he shook hands with Minard and the meeting did not require “fist fighting or calling the cops.”

In other matters, the board approved Shippey’s new fees for solar array installations, following Town Meeting acceptance of the new solar facilities by-law.

Shippey said he researched fees adopted in other Towns and chose the middle road when he set Marion’s solar array building permit fees.

For residential, the fee is set at $60 for the first four panels and $2 per panel thereafter. The commercial fee is set at $100 for the first four panels and $3 per panel thereafter.

The board discussed at length their discomfort over a June 25 circus event planned for Washburn Park, of which some board members were unaware until that evening.

The three selectmen felt that, because the event is a significant event, some sort of permit should have to be issued, or at least the trustees should have to come before the board to announce the event.

In other news, the board approved the transfer of a surplus police vehicle to the Fire Department, and the board heard from Will Saltonstall, an architect representing Tabor Academy, which intends to build a new dormitory and also to tentatively purchase 114 Spring Street as long as the house can be tied into the sewer and water line.

Both Tabor matters will be discussed in detail at the next Board of Selectmen meeting on July 15.

By Jean Perry