LYNN – American Flags were noticeably absent from the front of Lynn Public Schools on Veterans Day this year, leaving some workers furious at what they perceived as a lack of respect and communication within the Inspectional Services Department.But Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. and Inspectional Services Director Michael Donovan disagree, and say the custodians, and more specifically the maintenance department, have a much larger ax to grind.Tensions have been high since the school custodians were forced to move from the School Department to the city’s Inspectional Services office at City Hall earlier this year, and the situation worsened this week when a school custodian and union executive board member accused Inspectional Services of preventing employees from raising flags at schools on Veterans Day.In a letter to the Daily Item published Wednesday, Custodian Matthew Breen alleges that when asked, Inspectional Services informed custodians that they were not to go to the schools on Veterans Day and could not raise flags despite all other state and municipal buildings in the city doing so.Breen says that custodians were told they could not enter the schools, even on a voluntary basis, and feared going against those orders because of a bulletin sent out in September stating that custodians could not go to any school on days off without direct approval from Donovan.But Donovan says the custodians were not quite as accommodating as Breen had made them seem in his letter, and he did not see one name of a custodian who had volunteered to raise a flag. Essentially, the custodians wanted to raise the flags, but they wanted to get paid for it too.”It’s a matter of budget. The decision was made months ago that we do not do building checks on weekends. It would have cost the city an excess of $3,000 in overtime to do building checks on Veterans Day,” he said. “Had somebody volunteered to come in and put up a flag I would have been standing right there next to them. But I did not see one name on a list of volunteers.”Breen did not return phone calls seeking comment and clarification regarding his letter this week.For a custodian to enter the school on a day off it is considered a building check, and that employee would be paid overtime for that work as dictated by the custodian’s contract. The building checks, once a Sunday morning staple for custodians, were eliminated to save money when the move was made, and Clancy says the custodians union is using the flag situation to fan the flames of an already scorching conflict.”There is no lack of communication, the issue is very clear,” Clancy said in response to Breen’s comments. “The maintenance division of the custodians union, and some custodians also, disagree with the new supervisor structure. If anyone wanted to go in to the schools and raise the flags out of respect, of course they can. That is common sense; they have keys to the building. We just don’t have the money to pay for the spending that has been the way of life at the Lynn Public Schools over the last 20 years.”The custodian’s union and the city are immersed in a legal battle over the decision to move to Inspectional Services, and the controversy was a hot topic during the recent School Committee and City Council elections.Clancy says the move was necessary because the city was losing money under the old way of doing things, and he is hoping that something will give soon so controversies like this will not continue to hurt productivity at Inspectional Services.”This was not about Veterans Day – if they wanted to go into the schools and raise the flags they absolutely could have. This is about looking for a minimum of four hours of double time,” he said. “There is not a scintilla of doubt about that. I feel terrible; I know so many of those fellas (in the custodians union). They are poorly led and they are heading down a road that most members do not agree with. Most members want to come in, do their jobs and go home to their fa