More evidence emerged recently about just how poorly managed North Andover schools were during the period immediately following the departure of former Superintendent Harry Harutunian. That poor management may well continue to cost North Andover taxpayers money.

The School Committee is suing former Assistant Superintendent Richard Bergeron, alleging he tricked a clerk in the payroll department into overpaying him by $4,484. The amount is equivalent to two weeks pay for Bergeron's position as assistant superintendent. The dispute is over compensation Bergeron received after he agreed to serve as acting superintendent for two weeks following the departure of Superintendent Daniel O'Connor in June 2007, while retaining his post as assistant superintendent.

Bergeron, who is now superintendent of the Contoocook Valley School District in New Hampshire, is countersuing and claiming he doesn't owe North Andover schools anything. In fact, Bergeron claims in his court filing, the schools owe him $19,000.

As is the case with nearly every controversy involving the North Andover school system, it all comes down to a secret deal.

Bergeron's claims date back to 2006 and the resignation of former Superintendent Harry Harutunian following a scandal centered on Harutunian's romantic relationship with a secretary to whom he had granted a 29 percent raise.

According to court documents, Bergeron claims that former School Committee Chairman Alfred Perry agreed to pay him $15,000 for serving as acting superintendent and assistant superintendent for the remainder of the school year, after Harutunian resigned in March 2006. The agreement was an oral contract and apparently done without the consent of the full School Committee. Bergeron says he was never paid the $15,000.

According to Bergeron's court filing, it wasn't until a year later, in March 2007, that Perry asked Bergeron to "memorialize" the agreement in writing. Bergeron says in the court papers that Perry signed the agreement and presented it to the full committee, which voted it down in an executive session.

If Bergeron's version is accurate, within days of the end of the Harutunian debacle, the School Committee chairman was off on his own making a secret, unwritten deal with Harutunian's temporary replacement. It's little wonder the committee voted down this buffoonery in secret session. It's embarrassing.

Bergeron further claims that he asked interim Superintendent O'Connor for $10,000 in "merit pay." Despite the fact that it is the sole discretion of the superintendent to grant merit pay, the School Committee reduced the amount to $6,000, Bergeron says.

Bergeron is suing for the $15,000 he never received plus the $4,000 difference between the $10,000 merit pay he requested and the $6,000 he received.

This legal battle reflects poorly on everyone involved. It is further evidence of the gross ineptitude of the School Committee during the Harutunian era and the period following it. And it reveals Bergeron, who left town well respected, as just another school system hack for whom "helping out" meant nothing more than a chance to score another paycheck from taxpayers.