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
