Tensions had been on the rise between Barrington’s Town Council and School Committee, ever since the Council increased the School Committee’s budget contribution for landscaping and field maintenance several months ago.

The town’s Department of Public Works handles the landscaping at all the public schools in Barrington, and the local school department pays the town for those services.

Barrington School Committee members were frustrated when the Council raised its service fee by about $80,000 late in the annual budgeting process last year, without involving school leadership in the process.

There have been signs of friction ever since, including a closed-door School Committee meeting held under the auspices of "possible litigation" against the town. 

“I mean, if you think you cannot meet with us … to have a discussion and you think better use is expending tax dollars on private counsel … because you feel angry that I made a suggestion that you pay more money for the fields and include the payment of an additional DPW worker is really problematic,” Barrington Town Council member Kate Berard said during a meeting in late July. 

The rift between the town’s top two boards went public during a recent meeting. At a joint meeting of the Barrington Town Council and School Committee on Aug. 1, officials discussed how an unexpected budget change months ago fueled some frustrations. 

While discussing the Barrington Middle School synthetic field turf proposal, School Committee Chairman Patrick McCrann referenced the unexpected budget change. McCrann said that when Council members increased the school department’s contribution to the DPW without prior notice, it resulted in an $80,000 reduction to the school budget, which, in turn, eliminated the funding for a new social worker position.

Council member Berard was quick to respond. 

Berard said there had been a lot of implied intent attached to that budget move. She said there was no intent to limit the school department budget when Councilors called for the schools to pay more to the DPW for maintenance of school grounds. Officials said the school department was still getting a good deal, and that the increase was not meant to be a surprise to school officials. 

Berard said she believes that situation initiated the communication issues between the Council and School Committee. (The friction borne from the budget change led to some terse exchanges among officials and the occasional decision to make Committee or Council members wait two or three hours before being allowed to speak at their counterparts’ meetings.)

McCrann said the bigger issue is that the School Committee had no voice in deciding the change. He said the budgeting mechanism is problematic and it leaves school officials at a disadvantage. 

School Committee member TJ Peck said the increase to the DPW immediately preceded what would have been the Committee’s opportunity to add a new social worker position to the budget. 

Berard said the Council never intended to throw a wrench in the school department’s budget. 

School Committee member Megan Douglas said the schools were later able to find funding for the social worker’s position. Barrington Schools Finance Director Doug Fiore said the increase to the DPW was a 35 percent bump from the schools. 

Earlier in the meeting, Councilors told Committee members that despite the increased allocation of money from the school department to the DPW, the schools were still receiving a discounted price for the work. In a prior Council meeting, Rob Humm said the school department’s field maintenance contribution increased to approximately $370,000, but officials estimated that the actual maintenance costs are closer to $400,000 … “so they’re already getting a discount…”

Executive session?

The friction between the School Committee and Town Council was apparent last month when Council members responded to a legal-heavy letter sent by the School Committee to Council members regarding the Barrington Middle School synthetic turf field proposal. 

School officials discussed the details of that letter during an executive session or private meeting on July 18. 

During the July 22 Council meeting, Berard questioned the School Committee’s decision to go into an executive session meeting to discuss the BMS turf counterproposal. 

Berard said the fact that the School Committee had used “potential litigation” as its reason for meeting in executive session told her everything she needed to know. Berard said she was hesitant to continue negotiations over the BMS synthetic turf field proposal after School Committee members met in executive session because of “potential litigation.”

“Is it blowing smoke so they get the things they want?” Berard asked. “I don’t think that belongs in town government. We serve the same people.”

Humm said he was glad the Town Council was having a public discussion about the middle school turf proposal and was surprised the School Committee had met in executive session. He said the discussion was messy, but that was how it should be. 

Later in that discussion, Berard also referenced the experiences Council members have had while attending School Committee meetings. 

“I have been to those meetings. You have been to those meetings,” Berard said to Councilor Rob Humm. “I have had no ability to correspond with anyone without it being aggressive. I cannot understand why.”

Victory Field

Council members have also voiced frustrations with the timing of the School Committee’s vote to renovate the Victory Field athletic complex. 

Members of the Council said they were hoping to use the November general election as an opportunity to gauge the public’s opinion on whether there should be synthetic turf fields in town. 

But in July, members of the School Committee voted unanimously to renovate the high school’s athletic complex — installing a multi-sport synthetic turf field and a new track. Dozens of Barrington High School students, coaches and parents showed up at the meeting to support the improvements, but some Council members said the move all but eliminated the opportunity to gauge the public’s opinion on the matter.  

Berard said she, personally, did not want synthetic turf in town, and was hoping that the entire community would have had an opportunity to weigh in on the issue. 

Rental fee

School Committee members have shared their frustrations on a series of other issues. During the Aug. 1 meeting, School Committee members said the town has not told school officials which leagues or organizations are using school fields on a regular basis. School officials have also questioned why the school department has to pay rent to the municipal government for use of the school administration offices inside the Barrington Town Hall. Officials have said there is no written agreement regarding the rental fee for the school administration offices.

Improvements

Not every issue was resolved during the Aug. 1 joint meeting, but officials appeared to reach common ground on a number of items. 

They also spoke about having more joint meetings in the future to discuss other issues, including whether the per player field use fees collected by the town from the youth recreation sports programs could be shared between the municipal government and the school department. 

Council member Humm endorsed the idea of the two groups meeting again, working together and collaborating on more items.