By Scott Van Voorhis, Globe Correspondent

At least half a dozen potential Atrium Mall buyers have approached Newton officials over the past few months to discuss potential uses for the struggling retail complex on Route 9, city officials said Friday.

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The interest comes as the boutique shopping center in Chestnut Hill continues to shed tenants.

Bertucci’s is the latest to close shop at the Atrium, a spokeswoman for Simon Property Group confirmed Friday.

The suitors have sought general information about what kinds of commercial uses are allowed at the Atrium, noted Candace Havens, the city’s planning director, in an interview Friday.

Mayor Setti Warren said the inquiries, combined with other major retail developments nearby on Route 9, have made him optimistic about the Atrium’s future.

“It is always a positive sign when you get these inquiries about what the possibilities are,” he said.

So far, Simon, which put the mall up for sale early in the year, has shown no inclination that it plans to redevelop the property on its own, Havens said.

Simon has not filed any development plans with the city, said Havens, who said she had reached out to the national mall owner and developer more than once.

“Simon Property Group does not comment on the sales, acquisitions or dispositions of its properties,” Les Morris, the public relations manager for Simon Property Group, said in an e-mail to the Globe.

Havens said the questions from potential buyers were fairly standard and have focused on what can and can’t be done with the property under Newton zoning rules.

Between six and 10 potential buyers and/or their representatives have either met with city officials or had discussions with them, Havens estimated. Without any major zoning changes, a new owner could add small restaurants, a bank, and offices, including medical office space, she indicated.

A new owner could also add housing, lab space or a hotel, among other uses, but would need to first get a special permit from the city, Havens noted in an email.

She said she is not worried about the mall’s viability, pointing to major revamps of other nearby Route 9 shopping centers.

The Chestnut Hill Shopping Center is being renovated by WS Development, with plans for an upscale movie theater in the old Macy’s store. And Wegmans will be moving into the Chestnut Hill Square shopping center taking shape where the old Omni Foods once stood.

“The city feels optimistic about the developments that are occurring now in that corridor,” Warren said.

Still, Atrium is fast becoming a ghost town, with Borders Books & Music and several other long-time tenants having jumped ship over the past few months. The list of stores that have pulled includes Tiffany & Co. Williams-Sonoma, Abercrombie & Fitch, as well as the Gap and GapKids.

It is a situation that Warren said city officials are monitoring and a far cry from when the Atrium first opened in 1989, when it stood a cut above more traditional malls with boutique shops and a deluxe feel that catered to high-end shoppers.

“We will continue to monitor the progress in the coming weeks and months,” Warren said.

Scott B. Van Voorhis can be reached at sbvanvoorhis@hotmail.com.

By Deirdre Fernandes, Globe Staff

Bertucci’s is the latest business to leave the near-vacant Atrium Mall on Route 9 in Chestnut Hill.

A message left on Bertucci’s phone said the restaurant closed on May 14.

“Thank you for all the memories,” the message said. “We’ve truly enjoyed being part of the Chestnut Hill community for the past 10 years.”

The restaurant’s closing was first reported by the Boston Business Journal on Thursday.

That leaves two restaurants and 10 retailers in the Atrium Mall, according to the mall's website.

Once a shopping destination for the western suburbs, the Atrium Mall in recent years has lost Borders Books & Music, Willams-Sonoma, Abercrombie & Fitch, and luxury jewelry store Tiffany & Co. Just this year, clothing retailer Gap and jeweler Ross-Simons left.

The mall has struggled in recent years, with the opening of other high-end shopping centers, including Legacy Place in Dedham and the Natick Mall.

Simon Property Group, which owns the Atrium, has been trying to sell the mall.

Some of the former Atrium tenants, such as Ross-Simons and Tiffany & Co. moved across the street to the Mall at Chestnut Hill, another Simon-owned property.

Deirdre Fernandes can be reached at deirdre.fernandes@globe.com

By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent

Brookline’s Town Meeting voted Tuesday in favor of petitioning the state to allow the town to secede from Norfolk County. The town’s legislative body also voted to raise the minimum age in which people can buy tobacco products from 18 to 19 years old.

By a vote of 115 to 81, Town Meeting voted in favor of an article that authorizes the Board of Selectmen to file a petition with the state asking that the town be allowed to secede from Norfolk County on July 1, 2013, but remain within the Norfolk registry district and court system.

Fred Lebow, a member of the town’s Advisory Committee, proposed the move because he said the town pays more than $700,000 a year in taxes to the county based on property value assessments, but gets very little in return. He said other county governments have already dissolved, and the state now runs the Registry of Deeds, the sheriffs’ offices and the court system.

“What are we paying for?” Lebow said.

Norfolk County Commissioner Peter Collins said the county believes the stand-alone courthouse Brookline has is a significant benefit of being in the county. Norfolk County owns the building that is leased to the state for the use of Brookline District Court. Collins said the funding provided by Brookline is also used for legacy obligations, such as county employee pensions.

He said the county is pursuing state legislation that would eliminate or significantly reduce the county tax paid by Norfolk County’s 28 member communities.

Brookline Selectman Ken Goldstein said the county tax is based on property values and as a result Brookline pays more than any other community in Norfolk County, but receives virtually no benefit. He said most of the town’s payments are used for purposes such as pension payments. But he said other communities in counties that no longer have a government, such as Middlesex County, no longer pay pensions to county employees.

Town Meeting member Marty Rosenthal said that he’s worried that voting to leave Norfolk County could eventually lead to the closure of the Brookline Court, which the state Administrative Office of the Trial Court has repeatedly considered for closure in recent years because of budget constraints and a low case volume at the Brookline court.

Rosenthal said voting to leave Norfolk County could alienate other communities in the county and politics could then hurt the chances of the Brookline court staying open.

"It's a bull's eye on the Brookline court," he said.

Goldstein also said there is a “reasonable fear” that the town is not helping its courthouse by advancing the proposal to secede from the county.

But Goldstein said if Town Meeting authorized selectmen to petition the state Legislature to allow Brookline to secede from Norfolk County, he could use the vote to keep the need for a change to the county tax system “hot” in the minds of the county government.

While Town Meeting did authorize selectmen to petition the state about seceding from Norfolk county, the members, by a majority vote, were against a calling for the Norfolk County government to be abolished.

Town Meeting also voted Tuesday to change Brookline’s tobacco bylaws by voting 169 to 1 in favor of increasing the minimum age in which a person can buy tobacco products in the town from 18 to 19 years old. The change will likely take effect later this year once the measure has been approved by the state Attorney General’s office.

Students from Brookline High School, lead by senior Eric Dumas, had proposed the change so it would be more difficult for high school students to gain access to cigarettes.

Dumas told Town Meeting Tuesday that one of the first things people see when they drive up to the high school is students standing out front smoking. Since most students don’t turn 19 years old until after they’ve graduated, he said the local change would make it more difficult for any high school students to get tobacco products.

“This may not seem like a big difference but it is,” Dumas said.

Brookline joins Belmont and Needham as the first communities in the state to increase the minimum age to purchase tobacco. Needham raised the minimum age to 19 in 2003 and has since raised the minimum age to 21. Belmont’s Board of Health increased the minimum age to 19 in April after hearing about the proposal in Brookline.

--brock.globe@gmail.com

By Susan Meyers, Guest Columnist

I wasn't going to write about The Pickle Ride.

I've come close to deleting my notes on it twice. I've also tried and failed to write about it in any straight-up, conventional way: the mileage, the sights, the location of the bike shop along the route, in case you bust a part.

Only now, eight weeks on, do I understand that the worst part of the Pickle Ride was also the most interesting part, and the part worth telling.

It began as a weekend spin on a sunny day along the Minuteman Bike Trail. It was the day before the Boston Marathon this year, a steamy one. My biking friend and I began our ride in North Cambridge, ducked under Route 2, cycled past the backyards and ballfields of East Arlington, then Spy Pond and the Great Meadow, and on into Lexington.

We were sharing the road that day with every species of rider: Intense cyclists racing expensive, lightweight bikes as if they were late to the starting line, but also tots on My Little Pony three-wheelers. The Minuteman Bike Trail is a community ride, and at its most enjoyable if you think about it that way.

What I was thinking about during much of the ride, however, was food. My stomach was growling. My biking friend and I had agreed, before we set out, that we would stop for lunch in Lexington.

But my biking buddy, he's not like me. He doesn't stop for lunch when hunger strikes, and especially not when he's on his bike. No, he makes himself earn his food.

Which is why, even though it was well after noon, that we biked right by our designated lunch spot. My friend cycles many more miles than I do, so I didn't argue. And on we spun, past beautiful stretches of greenery on the way to Route 128, then across the bridge over the highway, and into Bedford. Just beyond the Bedford depot is a lesser-known treat: a wooded trail that runs through conservation land and a wildlife preserve. We paused at the trail head.

“Let's go for it,” my friend said. “We'll grab lunch on the way back.”

Because stopping when you are hungry is for wimps.

The added miles were beautiful, no question, but by the time we doubled back to Lexington, it was 3 p.m.

“Let's split a veggie roll-up,” my vegetarian biking friend said.

“Sounds good,” I said, though I could have eaten a whole roasted cow. Hunger, it seemed, had damaged my ability to think.

Fortunately, just as he began to order, my friend had second thoughts.

“Maybe we should each get our own,” he said, and asked for two.

As I watched the deli guy assemble our roll-ups, though, I grew alarmed. Sure, there was a slice of Swiss in there, and a scoop of hummus. But most of the sandwich I carried outside to eat consisted of every pickled pepper on the planet: banana peppers, marinated red peppers, pickle chips, some sort of chopped sweet green pickle, and those were just the ones I recognized.

We sat on a bench and unwrapped our sandwiches. As I ate, a steady stream of pickle juice dribbled out the bottom of my roll-up. Napkins weren't up to the job; I had to hike forward over my spread knees to keep the spatter off my clothes and legs. Trickling madly, and three bites into my sandwich, I discovered a separate something tucked in next to my sandwich. Shocked, I extracted it: a generous wedge of new dill pickle wrapped in its own drippy square of white butcher paper.

I held it out, showed my friend.

“I think I'm hallucinating, here,” I said.

Have I mentioned that I was very hungry? My friend was having no trouble eating his roll-up. So I ate my peck of pickled peppers sandwich, or most of it. When I finished, I was brined to the eyeballs.

And we still had to ride from Lexington back to Cambridge. Not far, but not nothing.

My riding buddy popped up off the bench, refreshed, in good spirits, suffering no ill effects. He eyed me, still bent over on the bench.

“Maybe all that salt will be good for your electrolytes,” he suggested.

“I don't know,” I replied, gazing at the puddle between my feet. “I'm pretty pickled out.”

It came to me, after a moment, that I needed an antidote. Some sort of quick anti-pickle. I am not proud of what came next, but to be fair, my options were limited. I couldn't face the deli again, and nothing in a nearby bakery looked palatable.

So I bought and ate a small bag of malt balls. Just thinking about it now makes me feel ill, but in the moment, somehow, I thought they might be a counterbalance.

And they were, briefly. We got back on our bikes and rode back to North Cambridge. I have to say, I had plenty of pep.

“All that salt and sugar seems to be working for you,” my friend called to me from behind.

He couldn't see the expression on my face. He didn't know that I was riding fast to finish off those sloshy, vinegary, sugar-crusted last miles as quickly as possible.

Is there a moral here? Most definitely. When you're biking, keep it simple. Tune in fully to the world around you, but don't forget to tune in to your own body. Stop and eat when you're hungry. And don't mix pickles and malt balls.

Don't do The Pickle Ride.

Susan Meyers is a Brookline writer. Her memoir about sight, blindness, and her relationship with her brother, titled Check This Box If You Are Blind, was published last June by Climbing Ivy Press.

The following is a press release from The Gardens at Gethsemane in West Roxbury:

The Gardens at Gethsemane, located at 670 Baker Street in West Roxbury, will sponsor the 44th Annual Memorial Day Service on Memorial Day, Monday, May 28, 2012, beginning at 9:30 a.m. The West Roxbury VFW Post 2902 will conduct the ceremony. Mike Rush, Massachusetts State Senator and Lieutenant in the US Navy, and who recently returned from active duty in Iraq, will serve as keynote speaker.

Special thanks to City of Boston Veterans Commissioner Francisco Urena and Paul Keough, Congressman Stephen Lynch, Senator Mike Rush, State Representative Ed Coppinger and Boston City Council President Stephen Murphy and Councillor Matt O’Malley for their assistance.

The service takes place at the Constitution Cannon and The Garden of Honor. This section of The Gardens at Gethsemane is reserved for veterans and their families and was dedicated in 2000 by the late Congressman Joe Moakley. This year’s Memorial Day music selections will include bagpiper Timothy Horan, the Mark Bacon Trumpeters and Demetrios Tsaniklides Jr.

Our guest speaker is Maureen Dunn, co-author with Associated Press reporter Melissa B. Robinson, of “The Search for Canasta 404: Love, Loss and the POW/MIA Movement”, a moving account of losing her husband, Lieutenant Joseph P. Dunn, US Navy over the South China Sea during the Vietnam War and the frustration and heartache of trying to find out what happened to him. Maureen’s decades long mission to help families find out what happened to their loved ones who were prisoners of war or missing in action was instrumental in paving the way for the POW/MIA movement in the United States.

Among the many who reviewed the book, Dr. Henry Kissinger said, “A powerful and moving account of Maureen Dunn’s courageous actions to mobilize support for our missing in action – beginning with the search for her husband, Lt. Joe Dunn, in 1968 – and our prisoners of war during Vietnam. Mrs. Dunn’s activism was inspirational and selfless in the founding of the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia, which was a landmark initiative in bringing the search for our POW-MIAs to center state.” Dan Rea, noted investigative reporter and host of “Nightside with Dan Rea” on WBZ Radio 1030 said, “I have known Maureen Dunn and her life’s work for more than 30 years. The Search for Canasta 404 is a memoir of lasting love and dignified dedication. The book captures the emotional roller coaster that Maureen Dunn rode without ever losing her “True North”: her love for her husband and her love of her nation’s ideals. Joe and Maureen Dunn are true American heroes….” Maureen was born a Hoey, was the youngest of 10, was raised in Jamaica Plain and is the mother of Joe D’ and grandmother of Joseph Patrick Dunn III, who was born 9/09.

Gail and Carl Sprague, sister and brother-in-law of Lance Corporal Paul Reid, U.S.M.C., who gave his life for our country in Vietnam, will carry out the Placing of the Memorial Wreath in the Garden of Honor. This year marks the 43rd year when family and friends of the first member of the military from West Roxbury died in Vietnam honor his sacrifice. Richard Gormley of Gormley Funeral Home who was a childhood friend of Lance Corporal Reid and fellow Marine started the tradition with Paul’s family.

Each year, rain or shine, hundreds of people participate in this time-honored tradition at The Gardens at Gethsemane. The event has become a premier Memorial Day service in the area and the public is cordially invited to attend. Dunkin Donuts Coffee, donuts and pastries will be served.

Founded in 1871, The Gardens at Gethsemane, on the site of historic Brook Farm and the Civil War’s Camp Andrew, is a community-serving cemetery, located off the VFW Parkway at 670 Baker Street in West Roxbury, Massachusetts. For further information, please call The Gardens at Gethsemane at (617) 325-0186.

--
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By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent

A retail store that plans to sell gourmet food and fine wine, spirits and craft beer expects to open in Oak Square by early September, according to the business owner.

The shop will take over a 1,500 square-foot space at 569 Washington St. Used music, movie and book store Diskovery expects to soon shutter after a 32-year run in Allston-Brighton.

Victor Barakat, 32, said he and his younger sister, Rita Barakat, plan to co-manage their new venture.

The property’s landlord is Barakat’s uncle, David C. Khoury, who along with other relatives has owned and run Foley’s Liquors in Brookline since he opened it in 1986.

That family business is where Barakat said he and his sister learned about retailing.

David Khoury and his brother Nadim C. Khoury co-founded and run the Taybeh Brewing Company located in the West Bank village of Taybeh, Palestine, where the Khoury family hails from. The brewery, founded in the mid-1990s, was the first microbrewery in Palestine, the Globe reported shortly after its opening.

“We know a lot about the relationship between drinks and food,” Victor Barakat said in a phone interview this week. “We’re trying to sell a lot of the items that you have to leave Brighton in order to get. Why not have it locally for the community here to go to.”

The Oak Square store will feature gourmet specialty foods and beverages. Many of the items will be local, from Massachusetts or New England, said Barakat, who moved to the US 22 years ago. Food items will include spreads, jams, butters, cheeses, pastas, cooking oils, sauces, marinades and salad dressings.

He said the business’ request for a liquor license to sell all alcohol beverage types – beer, wine and liquor – received approval from the Boston Licensing Board recently, and the license’s final thumbs up came from the state’s Alcohol Beverage Control Commission this week.

The store’s staff will help customers choose which foods and drinks go well together, including wine and cheese pairings, he said.

Eventually, the shop expects to also host guided tastings of the food and drink items it sells. The store may also add teach cooking lessons at some point. And, Barakat said that if his family's brewery in Palestine gets the approval it plans to seek to sell its brews in the US, his store could stock products from the Taybeh Brewing Company.

Barakat said he hopes the store will be open shortly before Labor Day.

He said the store went before neighborhood groups and residents before applying for city permits and licenses. Some expressed concern over the shop’s plan to sell alcohol.

“Our response was: No, we don’t need more liquor stores. There’s one on every corner in Boston,” Barakat said. “But, we do need more refined package stores that help blend the process of buying food and beverages. People have a lot of different tastes.”

He said his family also owns an adjacent property behind his store. Barakat said if his planned venture does well, he may consider expanding into the extra 2,000- to 3,000-square-foot space. He said he would approach neighbors and local groups about such an idea before acting on it.

E-mail Matt Rocheleau at mjrochele@gmail.com.
--
For the latest Allston-Brighton updates:
Follow @YourAllstonBri on Twitter, here.
And connect via Facebook by clicking the “Like” button on the top right hand corner of the Allston-Brighton homepage, here.

By Andreae Downs, Globe Correspondent

The Brookline Teen Center will soon have a full-time executive director as it moves toward breaking ground on its first facility at 40 Aspinwall Ave.

The board of directors this week announced that Matthew Cooney, Brookline High School Class of 1991, will start on June 18 at the $82,500/year job.

Cooney, who lives in town with his wife, Jean, and three children—ages 9, 6 and 3—said that he is “extremely excited” to take on the post, joking that not yet having teens of his own makes him “brave enough to do this.”

“I think he's really perfect for the job,” said Tom Mendelsohn, who is currently serving as the center's part-time, interim director. Mendelsohn did not serve on the search committee.

Cooney said he is particularly impressed by the tangible teen participation in the center's design, development of rules and regulations and even fund raising.

“Teens have been the motivators behind this,” he said. “It's not just lip service.”

Hundreds of teen interns have worked over the past six summers to decide on the activities and space for them that would be needed at a center, helped design the site renovations and more.

Cooney currently works as director of residential services at the Walker School's Needham campus. The Walker provides academic and therapeutic support for children with emotional and behavioral issues.

After receiving his Masters of Social Work at Boston College in 2002, Cooney worked as a clinician at Germaine Lawrence, a treatment center for adolescent girls with complex behavioral, psychological and learning challenges.

The teen center has secured a $4-million loan to start construction, plus all the permits and the lease needed to break ground “very soon,” according to Paul Epstein, the center's founder.

The board is working to raise $10 million in total—which would provide an operating endowment--$6 million of which they want to have raised before construction starts to ensure the sustainability of the center, said Saskia Epstein, who serves on the center's board.

By Jonathan Simmons, Guest Columnist

One of the great things about Hubway, Boston’s bicycle sharing program, is that it allows all sorts of people to go out for a ride.

Until last year, Love Nickerson never considered herself to be a cyclist. Sure, she knew how to ride a bike, but she didn’t own one. For Love, the challenges of maintaining, storing, and securing a bicycle were more than she cared to manage.

When Love first learned about Hubway she was thrilled. “But when I saw the pricing structure I was turned off,'' she said. "The all-day rental was expensive and not practical.”

Fortunately some colleagues at work explained to her that she probably wouldn’t be riding her bike for eight hours in a row. “They weren’t even cyclists and they don’t use Hubway, but they got me to see that Hubway was meant to give me access to bikes when I needed them and to encourage shorter rides.”

For Love, this was, “A different way of thinking about transportation and commuting. It was about sharing, and I liked that.” Once she understood that Hubway could be cheap, practical, and fun, she joined up.

Last year Love biked enough to become a Gold Club member, an award given to the six men and women who logged the most number of trips on Hubway. Love did this by commuting every day from her home in the North End to her job at Dana Farber.

When she began riding to work she was not able to complete her commute in under 30 minutes (the cut off point at which members incur additional charges). “I wasn’t confident about my route and I was just getting used to dealing with the traffic.” Love adapted by docking her bike halfway through her ride. This restarts the clock and allows you to keep riding without being charged extra.

After a while Love felt confident enough to ride her entire commute without stopping. “It turned out I did that trip in 25 minutes, though I would have been thrilled even if it had been 29 minutes.”

Love first began biking so she could get to work by Hubway instead of the subway. Still, she noticed that even though she rode at a moderate pace for a moderate distance it was more than enough to get her into shape.

After a few weeks Love could tackle the two small hills on her commute “without huffing or puffing or needing a drink of water. The bikes have three gears. When I first started biking I used gear number two. But now I can go in gear number three (a harder gear to push), though every once in a while I’ll be exhausted and have a gear one and two kind of day.”

Love knows that she’s become a cyclist because of the fact that “I’m now aware of how things affect bikers. Even if I’m not on my bike I notice when someone’s double parked in a bicycle lane or if there are potholes or debris in the bike lane. The things that make it tough on cyclists.”

So if Love is so enthusiastic about Hubway, why won’t she be biking this summer and seeing if she can become a two-time Gold Club member? She would if she could, but as of now, Hubway doesn’t have any stations in Mongolia. That’s where Love will be living as of next week when she travels to Asia to teach English through the Peace Corps. “It was something that I’d always wanted to do, to speak another language and experience another culture.”

For Love, “Hubway was one of the first things I thought about that I’d be leaving behind when I decided to join the Peace Corps. I’ll miss how easy it is, how it just became part of my life...I didn’t anticipate that I’d adopt it so completely, but I did.”

Love said, “If I’m stationed in a place with paved roads then I’ll definitely consider getting a bike. But wherever I live after the Peace Corps I see a bicycle in my future.”

In the meantime, Love plans to explore Boston before she flies to Mongolia. At the top of her list of local places to visit is The JFK Library. “I know it’s not entirely Hubway accessible, but I’d like to get over there. Especially as he was the president who signed off on the Peace Corps.”

Jonathan Simmons is a psychologist and an avid cyclist. His book, “Here For the Ride” will be published later this year.

Readers: if you’re interested in following Love Nickerson’s adventures in Mongolia check out her blog at To Mongolia with Love.

Looking for something to do this weekend? Check out Charles River Wheelmen’s “Introduction to Group Riding.” (Full disclosure: I am a member of CRW). This is a great way to learn about paceline riding but it’s not for beginners.

By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent

A dean at Brookline High School who claims he was passed over for the headmaster position because he is African American has filed a discrimination complaint against Superintendent of Schools Bill Lupini.

Adrian B. Mims Sr., who has worked at the school as a tutor, teacher or administrator since 1994, filed the complaint on April 6 with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination after Lupini appointed Newton North High School’s Deborah Holman as the next headmaster of Brookline High School.

In the complaint, obtained from the state by the Globe, Mims said that despite the purported commitment by Brookline public schools to diversity, the district under Lupini’s leadership “has a poor track record with respect to the employment of African Americans in higher-level positions.”

The complaint claims that a member of the team that interviewed the high school headmaster candidates told Mims that she did not believe that Brookline High School was “ready for an African American Headmaster” based on conversations that took place during the deliberations to select the finalists. The interview team member was not named in the complaint.

As a result of the alleged discrimination, Mims said he has suffered and continues to suffer emotional distress.

Lupini said Monday that he could not comment on Mims charge of discrimination, saying the school district’s response would be through the proper channels. An attorney representing the school district in the case did not respond to a phone call requesting comment.

Lupini did say Monday that Holman “was the best qualified candidate in our process.”
Mims, who lives in Randolph, could not be reached for comment about the complaint Monday. He told Brookline High School student newspaper “The Sagamore,” which first reported the complaint, that he would not comment on the case due to the advice of his attorney.

In February, Lupini hired Holman to become the Brookline High School headmaster beginning July 1. The appointment came after an interview team met with 11 candidates to permanently replace Robert Weintraub, who retired from the headmaster post last year. Holman and Wellesley Middle School Principal Jamie Chisum were picked as the two finalists for the job.

But Mims said he has seven years more experience than Holman and five more years more than Chisum as an education administrator.

In his complaint, Mims included a copy of the school district’s advertisement for headmaster position, which included a statement under the heading “requirements” that candidates with doctorate degrees were preferred. Mims said that in 2010 he received a doctoral degree in the educational administration program at the Lynch Graduate School of Education at Boston College, but Holman does not have a doctorate degree.

Lupini confirmed Holman does not have a doctorate degree. Holman has a bachelor of arts degree in history and studio art from Wellesley College and a master of arts in history from Boston College, according to Brookline public schools. She has been the vice principal at Newton North since 2008, served as interim principal last November, and had been a teacher at the school since 1996. Prior to that, she taught at the International School of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

Mims was a tutor at Brookline High School in 1994 before he was hired as a math teacher at the school in 1995. He was promoted to associate dean of the school in 2001, and was the director of summer school for Brookline High from 2001 to 2007. He was promoted to dean of students at the school in 2007.

In his complaint, Mims said that he interviewed for the headmaster position on January 11 and Lupini told him on January 24 that he had not been selected as a finalist.
In subsequent meetings with the superintendent, Mims said Lupini told him he would have many opportunities to become a principal, headmaster or superintendent in other school districts.

In his complaint, Mims said he understood Lupini’s comments to be “his way of telling me to leave” Brookline public schools. In a second meeting with Lupini, Mims said the superintendent told him that he didn’t believe Mims was a “good match” for the high school and that he wanted someone with expertise in special education.

Mims said Brookline schools under Lupini’s leadership have a poor track record of employing African Americans in higher-level positions, and in his complaint he cited a incident in 2008 when he claims he contacted Lupini over concerns that the superintendent was imposing impediments to the retention of another African American employee at the school. According to the complaint, Lupini ultimately retained the employee, but then complained to Weintraub about Mims actions.

--brock.globe@gmail.com

(Courtesy)

A diagram showing where T-Mobile currently offers, and expects to offer, below ground service along the MBTA subway in Boston.

By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent

By year’s end, all underground portions of the MBTA subway system are expected to be wired to allow mobile carriers to provide cell phone reception, the company installing the cellular infrastructure says.

That will make Boston’s subway among the first in the country where some riders can text, call, check e-mail, and browse the web no matter where they are in the below ground transit system, according to Joe Mullin, vice president of engineering and operations at InSite Wireless, LLC.

Individual cell phone carriers must each work out agreements with InSite Wireless, which charges them to connect and gives a cut of that revenue to the MBTA.

Both AT&T and T-Mobile are expected to broadcast voice and data reception throughout subterranean areas of the subway system shortly after InSite Wireless finishes its work, officials said.

But customers of other carriers might have to wait longer: no other major mobile carriers have immediate plans to introduce or expand their underground coverage.

The T expects the deal will net the agency about $5.3 million altogether over the course of a 15-year contract with InSite Wireless. That figure will rise as the areas where cell service is offered expand and as more carriers sign on, spokesman Joe Pesaturo said.

In March, T-Mobile added service along the entire Blue Line and on the Green Line, except at Prudential and Symphony stations, according to spokeswoman Patty Raz.

AT&T expects to add service to the Blue Line and that same portion of the Green Line “later this summer,” spokeswoman Kate MacKinnon said.

Both companies have offered service on the entire Orange Line and some of the Red Line since 2010.

Subway cell reception launched in 2007 at four downtown stations – Government Center, Park Street, Downtown Crossing and State Street – and the connecting tunnels between them. Verizon offers service there. It is the only below-ground section where a carrier other than AT&T and T-Mobile offers service.

Verizon spokesman Michael Murphy said the company “remain[s] in discussions” about the potential for expanding service within the subway system.

MetroPCS spokesman Drew Crowell said the company is “interested and looking into,” joining the below-ground mobile network.

Sprint spokesman Mark Elliott said the company is "evaluating our options" for providing underground cell service along the T. None of the spokesman commented further.

InSite Wireless began its efforts in 2005 when the company signed its contract with the MBTA. Mullin said the company expects two five-year renewals will be used, extending the partnership through at least 2030.

The company is completing the final part of a four-phase installation process.

By the end of the year, carriers will be able to broadcast their service from untapped areas of the Red Line, between Kendall and Alewife stations and between Shawmut and Ashmont stations, as well as inside Prudential and Symphony stations on the Green Line’s E branch, according to Mullin.