Amid turmoil at the school district, the Brockton School Committee brought in an acting superintendent and approved an independent audit of its finances at an emergency meeting on Friday.
The meeting was held at Brockton High School a day after it was revealed that Brockton Public Schools is facing a major budget deficit ahead of the new academic year. Brockton Mayor Robert Sullivan, who chairs the school committee, announced Thursday evening, after a four-hour long executive session, that there is a $14 million deficit in the previous fiscal year's budget.
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Absent from Thursday's meeting was Superintendent Michael Thomas, who, it was announced afterward, took medical leave.
With school starting next week, the school committee on Friday almost unanimously approved James Cobbs, principal of Thomas Edison Academy and Brockton Public Schools' executive director of operations, as acting superintendent, then unanimously approved an independent and external third-party audit into the district's finances.
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"We are taking this extremely serious," Sullivan said, adding that Boston Public Schools will release regular updates on the investigation's findings.
The committee then went into a private session to discuss a personnel matter. Sullivan encouraged anyone in the packed audience to return for the committee's regularly scheduled meeting to share their thoughts and questions.
School is still on for next week, but questions remain about Thomas' future and how the district will deal with the deficit.
Parents and community members are frustrated, and wondering how the financial problems will impact students and staff — especially considering that the district announced in May it would lay off more than 100 positions as it faced an $18 million deficit.
"We say we're a city of champions, and I think that if we are going to keep that model and truly keep it, that we have to invest in our young people," Angelica Fontes said, who is an alumnus of Brockton High School.
Sullivan mentioned that the committee would be appointing new leadership, although it's not clear what that means for the superintendent yet.
“I’m extremely dismayed," Sullivan said. "Collectively we are all dismayed by the situation. And we are committed to ensuring that we will rectify the situation, appoint new leadership and move forward with our strategy and our concise strategy to deliver the best schools for our teachers, our staff, our students and of course are guardians.”
NBC10 Boston has reached out for more information from the mayor, the superintendent and the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office.
