HAVERHILL — The School Committee wants District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett to review the secret results of a police investigation into a missing MCAS test booklet, as well as the department's handling of the case.
If Blodgett refuses, the committee will ask the state attorney general or inspector general to intervene, School Committee President Kerry Fitzgerald said.
"Our information is that there is a suspect," Fitzgerald said, "and we need an independent person with investigative skills to tell the community what the truth is and put this to rest once and for all."
If Blodgett reviews the Police Department's findings and agrees with police Chief Alan DeNaro that there is neither a credible suspect in the case nor anything more that can be done to probe who stole the book from Pentucket Lake School in 2006, Fitzgerald said the committee will drop the matter.
The test booklet turned up April 26, 2006, when The Eagle-Tribune received it anonymously by mail. The envelope containing the booklet also contained an anonymous letter suggesting the booklet was sent home from school with a student. Police said their investigation ruled out the booklet was stolen by a student, parent or teacher.
"We wanted Blodgett to do the investigation from the beginning, and if he would have, I don't believe this would have all come up again," Fitzgerald said. "If there's a suspect in the schools, it needs to be dealt with. And if there's not, we need to dispel the rumors. We believe Blodgett can do that."
Fitzgerald said she planned to personally make the request to Blodgett's office yesterday. The committee decided to ask for Blodgett's help after a secret committee meeting this week. Committee members said the meeting was held behind closed doors because it involved a police investigation and the potential for a discussion of school employees who may be involved in the case.
Fitzgerald said the committee wants DeNaro to provide the detailed police reports to School Superintendent Raleigh Buchanan so he can make "an informed decision about current school employees." Four of the five employees who had access to MCAS test booklets when one was taken from Pentucket Lake School still work for the School Department.
Fitzgerald said the committee will take up the matter of the stolen MCAS booklet at its next public meeting on Dec. 11.
Mayor James Fiorentini said neither he nor DeNaro has a problem with the School Committee asking the district attorney to "take a third look at this case."
"I do point out that when this investigation started it was referred to the district attorney's office, which declined to handle the investigation," Fiorentini said in a written statement. "Several months ago, the police again asked the district attorney's office to look at this case. The district attorney's office concluded there was insufficient evidence to prosecute any person for this offense."
The mayor said he does have a problem with "the constant innuendo that there is something wrong or deficient in this investigation and the innuendo naming a suspect."
"No suspect was named in the police report or in the School Department's own investigation," the mayor said in the statement.
DeNaro has not responded to requests for comment.
The School Department requested the full police MCAS investigative report last week after receiving new information that the report may point to a suspect. Earlier this week, DeNaro responded to that request by providing school officials with two short memos summarizing the case — one from Detective John Arahovites to DeNaro dated March 21, 2007, and one from DeNaro to Buchanan dated Nov. 13 of this year.
The Eagle-Tribune received the same response to its request for the report as school officials. The chief also included a copy of the School Department's old internal probe into the theft with the memos.
School officials said the memos fell well short of their request, which specifically asked for copies of witness statements, lie-detector results and other documents.
School officials and police focused their investigation on five school employees who had keys to the room where the test book was stored — then-Principal John Butler and his then-secretary Eileen Dekeon, Assistant Principal Michelle Couto, and custodians Luis Gonzalez and Scott DeCristofaro. Butler retired last year, but the others still work in city schools.
"We did interview multiple persons of interest; however none of these rose to the level of suspect at any time," DeNaro said in his Nov. 13 memo to Buchanan.
The new requests for information in the case were triggered by the recent revelation that Dekeon was given a role administering the MCAS test at the high school. Dekeon was recently assigned as a secretary to the high school guidance department director, who is in charge of MCAS testing, Buchanan said. The superintendent has since ordered that Dekeon have "no contact" with Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System books.
Early in 2006, school officials fought the Police Department's involvement in the investigation because DeNaro is a close personal friend of Dekeon and her boyfriend, Joseph Spero, a retired Haverhill police officer.
Dekeon has not returned calls seeking comment.
