A city councilor is questioning the reasoning behind the recent closing of the Bartlett School on Trapelo Road and wants answers from the Attorney General.
City Councilor at large Sarafina "Sally" Collura presented a resolution to the council Monday night requesting Attorney General Martha Coakley release findings regarding a recent request by parents to investigate circumstances surrounding the private school's closing.
The City Council unanimously passed the resolution.
Collura's resolution states "the Bartlett School of Waltham suddenly, and without notice, closed their doors" and "parents of Bartlett students were left with numerous questions about the closing and concerned about where their children would attend school next fall."
"A lot of parents have already gone out and placed children in other schools," Collura said yesterday. "Some of them are Waltham taxpayers. They are my constituents and they want some answers."
Jill Butterworth, a spokeswoman for Coakley, yesterday said the Attorney General's office has not yet received communication from the council, but said it is currently reviewing the parents' letter.
Earlier this month, a group of parents delivered a signed seven-page letter to Coakley's office, outlining a number of grievances. In the letter, parents argue efforts made on behalf of parents to save the school have been disregarded. They charge the school's board of trustees with having special interests in selling the Trapelo Road property.
In early March, the school's trustees voted to close 75-year-old school before the next fiscal year for financial reasons, citing low enrollment.
Since then, a group of parents have been meeting regularly to save the school, which serves students from pre-kindergarten to sixth grade.
"At first the (Bartlett School) board welcomed their help," Collura said. "The parents had done a fundraiser a few months back. Now it's come to the parents asking the Attorney General to look into this closing and also the board hasn't given them sufficient information to satisfy their questions."
In the letter to the Attorney General's office, parents say that since March, trustees have only offered three options for the school's future: Sale and lease back of the school property, a merger with another school or closing. The letter also outlines a potential conflict of interest, selling the property to Schools for Children Inc., a private, not-for-profit organization made up of schools in Arlington and Charlestown.
In the letter, parent's argue Bartlett's board of trustees' Treasurer Roger Smith had a son attending Dearborn Academy, one of the institutions affiliated with Schools for Children. In addition, the letter says Frank Wisneski, a founding partner of Wellington Management and board Chairman Michael Knight's employer, is a trustee for Schools for Children. Also, Bartlett board member Liz Adams has a daughter who attended one of the schools connected with Schools for Children.
In the letter to the Attorney General's office, parents also raised questions about enrollment.
According to Knight, the school required a minimum enrollment of 98 students for the next school year with a total tuition of about $1.8 million to break even. Only 56 students had enrolled when the board voted to close the school.
In a letter to parents dated April 21, Knight said the school had a projected cash deficit of $650,000 through the end of this current school year and that the total liabilities of the school, including the shortfall of about $650,000 for the remainder of the current school year, is in excess of $5.3 million.
Yet in the letter to the attorney general, parents argue that when the board decided to close, the school had 56 contracts and 32 confirmed applicants for incoming students for the 2009-10 school year.
"The parents have been kind of given sparse information and they've been given conflicting information," Collura said. "The parents tried to help the school survive, if you will, and networked with other parents to increase the school's attendance."
Paul Daley, who acts as attorney for the Bartlett School's Board of Trustees, declined comment earlier this month.
Jeff Gilbride can be reached at 781-398-8005 or jgilbrid@cnc.com.
