Questions Surround Berdell's Paid Leave of Absence

The Wellesley School Committee and Superintendent Bella T. Wong are continuing to stay mum on the circumstances surrounding the , who left her position Nov. 21 after 26 years on the job.

Wong would say only that the leave was a mutual decision by Berdell and the school department.

The silence may be related to a closed-door session the committee held after their public meeting in which they said they were discussing, “potential litigation.”

Berdell has been at the center of controversy in the school department since last March when more than was discovered. A subsequent review of the business office by a private accounting firm revealed .

She was also the point person in the town’s privatization of the school lunch department which has gone , and was recently found to be owed which she had been allowed to carry over from year to year under a Wong said was in existence when Berdell was first hired.

The School Committee formally put an end to that exception last night, voting unanimously to adopt the “use it or lose it” vacation policy in place for town employees. 

Before taking the voluntary paid leave, Berdell was issued the first of two checks in the amount of $43,000 for the unused vacation pay which was calculated at her current salary. She is scheduled to receive the second check next year.

Michael Kiernan, a father of two children in the Wellesley schools, asked the committee during the “citizens speak” portion of the meeting what the paid leave entails.

“If it’s voluntary, why is she being paid?” he asked.

“And if it’s not voluntary, then just tell us,” he said.

The School Committee does not usually comment or respond to citizens who speak during meetings, and kept to that policy last night.

But after the meeting Wong and committee members also refused to answer these question or elaborate on when or if Berdell would either return to work or permanently leave the position.