School Committee member and mayoral candidate Antonette Pepe said she is disturbed that basic facts about the investigation remain secret.
Mark G. Mastroianni , speaks to the audience following his taking the oath of office for Hampden County District Attorney, earlier this year. SPRINGFIELD – District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni’s office has opened an investigation into financial mismanagement at Roger L. Putnam Vocational High School, city officials disclosed Wednesday.
The investigation, confirmed by City Solicitor Edward M. Pikula, is focusing on possible wrongdoing uncovered at the State Street high school after new principal Gilbert E. Traverso took over in July, 2010.
City officials also confirmed that a long-awaited audit into the school’s past management has been completed, and will made public within the next few weeks.
The 38-page report will be turned over to Superintendent Alan J. Ingram for review before being released to the public, according to Mark Ianello, the city’s director of internal audits.
The disclosures by Ianello and Pikula came during a meeting of the City Council’s Audit Committee that featured renewed expressions of frustration from elected officials that so little information has been released about the city’s year-long investigation at Putnam.
“People are feeling right now that you are (running) a cover-up here,” said Councilor Melvin A. Edwards, who said rumors about wrongdoing at Putnam have been circulating for months.
Asked if the FBI was also involved in the probe, Pikula said he could not comment any further.
School Committee member and mayoral candidate Antonette E. Pepe said she was disturbed that basic facts about the investigation remain secret., more than a year after the city audit began.
“We still don’t know how much money is missing, what else was taken, and how many people were terminated,” said Pepe, adding she continues to receive phone calls from taxpayers and parents at Putnam who want to know what is happening.
In April, city officials provided the first public confirmation that a long-running audit and investigation at the high school had led to a major shakeup, including terminations, suspensions and transfers of employees.
At that time, city officials also confirmed that the internal audit had been requested by Traverso shortly after he arrived at Putnam as a replacement for Kevin McCaskill, who resigned in June, 2010 to take a job as director of school design for Hartford public schools.
McCaskill, who ran Putnam for six years, has denied any knowledge of wrongdoing at the school.