Answers as to how the Cambridge School Committee awarded an extra $40,000 payment to a search firm will have to wait at least two weeks. The invoice for that money was set aside at Tuesday night’s meeting pending legal advice.
While School Committee members expressed outrage, suspicion and confusion, the committee’s chair, Cambridge mayor E. Denise Simmons, reminded them that over the past year of searching for a new district leader, “we had a full and active and fully engaged process of the entire School Committee.” Then she promised a meeting of a governance committee to get answers for her colleagues about specifics of the process.
But committee member Rachel Weinstein responded that the $40,000 contract came as as surprise when it was revealed in October. Most committee members believed the firm that was hired, The Equity Process, was doing work on a contract awarded at slightly under $10,000. “I’m not clear how the scope got expanded without it coming back to the full committee,” Weinstein said.
Weinstein was leading the meeting, as Simmons and her vice chair, Caroline Hunter, attended remotely.
During a public comment period, four speakers called for an audit. Two public commenters asked Hunter whether she had a personal connection to the head of The Equity Process, which lacked experience in executive search. Hunter was quick to paint herself as also among the confused, saying she welcomed a “governance meeting to try to figure out what happened,” since “many of us only saw these documents once they were produced.” The extra payment was uncovered by Lilly Havstad during her campaign to be elected to the School Committee.
Hunter did not, however, directly answer whether she knew the head of The Equity Process before it was given two no-bid contracts.
The first contract was not at issue, since it had been discussed publicly and contracts below $10,000 do not have go through a bidding process. But the second contract had no public or committee process. And there is an issue with whether it should be paid in full, since the final phase of work, onboarding a new superintendent, was not needed after the committee hired interim superintendent David Murphy.
‘Buyer’s remorse’
Committee members said they wanted to pay for work performed, and to end the district’s entire messy relationship with the firm. “Two major words: buyer’s remorse. I’m not interested in anything that The Equity Process has to offer us now,” Richard Harding said. “I would have never had The Equity Process do any coaching of anybody, period … I want to cease-and-desist anything that we don’t owe them legally and be done with this.”
Agreed committee member Elizabeth Hudson, “we want them to immediately cease work.” The Equity Process’s contract runs until year-end. Hudson also said the uncertainty for the firm is “a terrible position for us to put anybody in, no matter what you think of their work product.”
Because the final phase of the firm’s work was not necessary, Simmons said she’d intended to pull the item Tuesday or amend it by substitution. That would have lowered the total owed from $40,000 to $30,000.
Questions in lieu of payment
It is not clear how much The Equity Process has been paid so far. Simmons said she didn’t know. Weinstein said she had asked the School Committee’s counsel and the city’s Law Department but no one seemed to have that answer. “People were looking into whether anything has been paid,” Weinstein said.
According to the city’s purchasing office, it got a request Aug. 15 coming from Cambridge Public Schools and the Office of the School Committee seeking the second contract for The Equity Process. The request stated the firm had unique qualifications that made it the “sole source” available for the work. The second contract was signed off on by the school district’s chief financial officer, Ivy Washington; the city’s purchasing agent; the city manager; and the city solicitor – the same official that Weinstein said was now looking for answers to bring to the committee in December.
The contract says it is to be paid “subject to approval of the School Committee.”
Legal uncertainty
“The city solicitor has said she is looking into this,” Weinstein said, referring to what was owed The Equity Process. “We’re in murky legal waters.”
The documents also said there was a School Committee order attached, but it was not included as part of the public records request that brought the second contract to light. No one has acknowledged seeing any order.
A motion to table the issue Tuesday came from member José Luis Rojas Villarreal, who was voted off the committee along with Hunter in municipal elections this month. It was seconded by member David Weinstein (no relation to Rachel Weinstein).
During discussion of the tabling, Hudson raised the issue of the missing order and Simmons redirected: “What’s before us is, are we going to lay this on the table,” Simmons said. “We’re sort of weaving outside the parameters of that.”
The vote to table was 5-2, with Harding and Hudson opposed. After the vote, they brought forward a late order to tell The Equity Process it should “immediately stop all work on the Cambridge Public School superintendent” and communicate that the district “does not intend to pay for services not ultimately rendered.” It also called for Washington to produce the missing order.
“Bring us that,” Hudson said. “Bring us that School Committee order.”
The late motion by Hudson and Harding could be read but not discussed, said executive secretary to the committee Katherine Christo. But there is no such rule in the procedures the committee says it follows. Late orders are debated and voted frequently by the City Council.
The School Committee will meet again Dec. 2. A governance committee was set for Friday but canceled.
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Simmons and Hunter need to personally pay the unauthorized invoice. Then Simmons needs to resign in disgrace.
There is very much something inherently corrupt about this that really needs to be investigated further. This appears to be exactly the type of cronyism that current president of the united states employs, and elected officials that think it is ok have no business being in office. Thank you for the reporting that is bringing it to light.