We reported earlier about how NY State has started a large investigation on how contract attorneys for School Districts were also getting pensions improperly.
Now, Newsday reports that NY state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has found another scandal. Apparently a lot of "interim" School District Superintendents were being hired and kept on the payrolls and double dipping by also receiving full pension payouts. Apparently, the interim jobs continued longer for retired administrators rather than actively filling the position with new recruits.
It seems that a way to change the constant problems in School Districts is to maybe mandate strong independent audit departments, but also make the elected School officials somehow liable for ignoring good business practices. I don't see the same wave of fiscal problems in City or County governments, but it seems School Districts constantly popup with new ways to skim or waste taxpayer funds.
Perhaps a big part is that School Districts seem to promote ex-teachers into management positions, rather than hire qualified and certified professionals in those administrative posts. They also focus mostly on student performance, and ignore balanced fiscal management by tracking performance in non-teaching functions. A few MBA's might help. Or, start outsourcing departments.
vj
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Newsday.com
Schools' practice of paycheck and pension suspended
This story was reported by ROBERT E. KESSLER, SANDRA PEDDIE and EDEN LAIKIN
It was written by KESSLER.
May 23, 2008
As a hearing convened by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to discuss pension abuse opened yesterday, state Education Commissioner Richard Mills announced that the practice of retired school officials getting both their state pensions and paychecks in interim appointments would be suspended for two months.
Mills' announcement - made through a spokesman in a prepared statement - came at the hearing called by Cuomo and a bipartisan group of state legislators that was held at Farmingdale State College. Cuomo, who has already announced multiple investigations of school districts on Long Island, called Mills' announcement "a positive step."
Officials said the hearing was a precursor to state legislation now under consideration in Albany.
In an interview after the hearing - his first since pension abuse stories broke in Newsday in February - Mills said interim positions in school districts were needed, but he conceded that the system should be fixed.
"At the end of the 60-day period, I expect to have a system in place and operating that people can trust," he said.
At one point during the hearing, Cuomo had slides projected on a giant screen in Roosevelt Hall, showing how, he said, some superintendents have taken advantage of the state's hiring system for interim officials.
The system is meant to provide school officials on an emergency basis for at most two years, but has turned into a "a bit of an old-boy network" of retired school officials who pass around jobs to themselves to "double-dip," Cuomo said.
In one slide, Michael Griffin, interim assistant superintendent for instruction in the Longwood School District, was shown to have previously served as an interim official in the Seaford, Glen Cove and Locust Valley school districts while collecting a pension as a retiree.
Reached at his office after the hearing, Griffin said he was unaware that his career had been brought up by Cuomo. He declined further comment.
A second series of slides, Cuomo said, showed how Thomas Caramore obtained his position as superintendent of the Baldwin school district. The application to the Education Department filed both by the district and Nassau BOCES said that Caramore had to be hired immediately as the acting superintendent because of "a multitude of pressing issues."
Cuomo pointed out that the letter to the state already listed Caramore as Baldwin's superintendent of schools on its letterhead. Caramore could not be reached for comment.
Tom Dunn, Mills' spokesman, said that Caramore was within his legal rights to move into the job, before a waiver was granted, as long as he earned no more than $30,000. Because he would inevitably exceed that amount before a permanent replacement could be found, the district then applied for a waiver, Dunn said.
Cuomo convened the hearing in response to Newsday stories on the interim issue and others that showed how school lawyers improperly received state pension credits by being listed as employees, even though they were independent contractors. One witness, Ellen Yaroshefsky, a law professor at Cardozo Law School, called the attorneys' behavior "certainly unethical" and "deceitful."
In his remarks, Cuomo said that "waste, fraud and abuse [in school districts] is intolerable," adding that it would be resolved with new state legislation. On the subject of the interims, state Sen. Kenneth LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) said previous efforts at reform had been "squashed."
Both Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota and Nassau Comptroller Howard Weitzman noted that their own past investigations had uncovered many school district problems, but that no action was taken to remedy them.
Thomas Rogers, executive director of the State Council of School Superintendents, defended school officials, but added, "If there is fraud, find it. If the law is unclear, fix it."
Cuomo left no doubt as to his own feelings. "If you violate the law, [we'll] prosecute the violators, then you'll see the culture change."
Retired, rehired, rewarded
Michael Griffin, former executive director at Eastern Suffolk BOCES, retired on Aug. 31, 2002. This is his post-retirement employment history:
POST RETIREMENT PERIOD OF ANNUAL MONTHLY STATE ED
POSITION EMPLOYMENT SALARY PENSION APPROVAL DATE
Seaford Interim Asst. July 1, 2003- $120,000 $4,830.41 10/3/2003
Supt. Inst'ction June 30, 2004
& Personnel
Glen Cove Interim Asst. July 1, 2004- $140,000 $6,305 9/21/2004
Supt. Curr'lum June 30, 2005
& Instruction
Locust Interim Asst. July 22, 2005- $160,000 $6,305 11/29/2005
Valley Supt. Curr'lum June 30, 2006
& Instruction
Longwood Interim Asst. Feb 26, 2007- $120,000 $6,359.86 3/23/2007
Supt. For Aug. 31, 2007
Instruction &
Learning Sept. 3, 2007- $160,000 $6,359.86 12/4/2007
June 30, 2008
Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.
