East Windsor School Board Files Lawsuit Against Financial Consultant

EAST WINDSOR, CT — Citing dishonest business practices, including mismanagement of school funds, overbilling for services and failure to administer grants as contractually required, the East Windsor Board of Education has filed a lawsuit against a Massachusetts-based financial consulting firm.

The suit, filed on behalf of the school board Tuesday at Hartford Superior Court by attorney Brennen Maki of Glastonbury, claims negligence on the part of TM Solutions Inc. (TMS).

The 7-page complaint obtained by Patch indicates around 2013, East Windsor Public Schools (EWPS) contracted with TMS "to perform its bookkeeping and financial management, including but not limited to the administration of grants provided to EWPS and the expenditure of monies associated with such grants."

Near the beginning of 2022, the school system "discharged TMS from its duties," claiming the firm "failed to provide the standard of care and skill that lawyers undertaking similar matters in Connecticut ordinarily possess and practice."

The charges against TMS include:

• Breach of contract
• Overbilling for hours not actually worked
• Billing East Windsor at a rate in excess of contractual rate
• Failure to account for grant funds
• Failure to identify unspent grant funds, causing the return of ffunds at the end of the grant period
• Failure to alert EWPS that grant funds remained unspent and at risk of being lost
• Failure to prioritize grant spending, allowing funds to expire and be returned to grantor
• Failure to transition EWPS into a new financial management system
• Failure to complete bank reconciliations
• Failure to complete end-of-year reports

"The defendant's actions were, and are, immoral, oppressive and unscrupulous, and likely to mislead consumers such as the plaintiff," Maki wrote in the complaint. "As a direct and proximate result of the aforementioned unfair practices, plaintiff has suffered ascertainable loss."

The lawsuit is seeking compensatory damages, statutory punitive damages and to recoup legal costs and other associated damages.

School board chair Kate Carey-Trull said, "The Board of Education will have no further comment pending the outcome of this litigation."