Busted! (Again)

The Prince William County Schools current superintendent is certainly a gift that keeps on giving... the position is a topic of online news articles that still originate from New York:

The Eldredge, Fox & Porretti audit followed a scathing state Comptroller's Office audit of the school system that found numerous instances of waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer monies within the district. In August 2008, the Board of Education hired EFP to scrutinize the $119.5 million capital improvements project, and to probe expense reimbursements and financial transactions involving former Superintendent Steven L. Walts and his employee cabinet.

Regarding Walts, auditors determined that while he may have had high cell phone bills during the months he was preparing for a new job in Virginia, the Greece school district was obligated to pay those bills under his employment contract. Auditors did criticize him and other former district officials for "excessive" travel expenses, including out-of-town hotel stays with room costs of $350 per night and up and a California trip that cost the district $2,100 in airfare.

Auditors also found Walts made several trips to Virginia between March and July 2005 and did not record those days as vacation days, something auditors called "a consistent pattern of activity" that cost the district nearly $10,000. Auditors said Walts "essentially spent the last week of his (Greece Central School District) employment conducting personal business."

and subsequently get picked up by InsideNoVA:

During Walts' seven-year stint as superintendent of the Greece (N.Y.) Central School District, over-charging by contractors on projects related to a 2001 Capital Improvement Plan budget were in excess of $200,000. In examining the CIP, the third-party auditors confirmed insufficient documentation, change order issues and inconsistent labor rates charged by contractors.

"Quotes for work were often presented as a lump sum amount without any breakdown of labor, materials, or overhead and profit amounts," the document states. It also mentions that on many occa-sions, contractor invoices were found lacking in detail, in some cases just listing the amount due."

The audit for the Greece Central School District can be read here.

It's interesting reading like these gems that make me wonder why the superintendent's contract was renewed over the summer. When stories like these pop up, we can begin to point the fingers at those who had voted "yea" to renewal. Had I been on the school board two summers ago, I would have gladly voted for a severance package, and we would have been rid of this character, and perhaps have been able to find a far better, less shady, less soiled person to lead this school system. But no. The taxpayers ultimately pay the price.

I must wonder how well this will go down with the voters come 2011.

More Hot Water!

I apologize for the delay in postings. My laptop is not 100% (meaning the anti-virus is still corrupted and I do not have access to the Internet). I will try to make do posting stuff from the library's computer lab until I head home for the summer.

Anyways...

Seriously, this is becoming the norm. Greece, New York is starting to feel like home. Ahhh, there's nothing like the smell of yet another investigation into the Prince William County Public Schools superintendent. Two others are caught in the net, which is certainly a refreshing change in scene. I caught wind of this story back at the Math Forum:

The school board asked for the investigation into Walts after a forensic audit last year revealed excessive spending of district money during the 2001 Capital Improvement Project.

Citizens In Action, led by former school board member Joe Moscato, exposed documents disclosing district property that Walts and two other administrators allegedly took before leaving their jobs in Greece.

Walts and former administrators Keith Imon and Keith Johnson presently work for the Prince William County School District in Northern Virginia.

Moscato shared documents that Citizens In Action believes are reason enough to discontinue the former superintendent's health insurance.

The superintendent receives 100% health coverage from the Greece Central School District. A clause in the superintendent's contract with the GCSD reads "For the purposes of any retirement benefit ... the Superintendent shall be deemed to have retired from his employment if he has completed at least 5 years of service as Superintendent of the District and there shall have been no finding of guilt on charges brought against the district" (source). I said this nearly a year ago, and I'll say it again: That last chunk of the clause is curiously starting to fall away.

I wonder how this is going to turn out.

Don't forget to check out the video!

$2.5 mil+ was flushed down the crapper ... OOPS

They're playing this loss awful lightly. What happens a couple days later is a bit of a shock.

Audit Wars: Episode II?

One audit looks good on a past record, a second one would make it fashionable.

Democrat and Chronicle
May 7, 2008

GREECE — The Greece school board could soon initiate a detailed forensic audit of a building project the state Comptroller's Office said was rife with financial mismanagement and wasteful spending.

During a meeting Tuesday, the board formed a committee to investigate how much such an audit of the 2001 Capital Improvement Project would cost and what it would cover.

"We need to see what we will gain from a forensic audit," said Roger Boily, board president. "We don't want to pay for it if we get less information than we already have."

Forensic audits are often used to trace fraudulent accounting practices and pinpoint economic crimes.

A recently released Comptroller's Office audit of the Greece Central School District identified more than $2.5 million in excess spending on the building project and determined former district officials deliberately split orders for changes to the project into multiple parts in order to shield some spending from Board of Education review. The audit faulted former boards of education for lax financial oversight.

Also during the meeting, board member Joseph Moscato asked the board to rescind lifetime health care benefits given to former Superintendent Steven L. Walts, who left in 2005 to lead the Prince William County schools in Virginia.

With no concrete evidence of wrongdoing on Walts' part, doing so would be premature and defamatory, said board member Patrick Tydings.

"This calls for action before an investigation is done," he said, voting to defeat the proposal.

Moscato's motion to hire an outside agency to investigate whether the comptroller's findings warranted criminal charges also failed. In other audits, when significant criminal activity was found, the Comptroller's Office has referred the matters to local law enforcement. It made no such referral in Greece.

However, Superintendent Steven Achramovitch has asked the Monroe County District Attorney's Office to review the audit. That review is ongoing.

Pending cost estimates, the board held off authorizing school lawyers to investigate the findings.

The matter could come up again May 13.

The effects of Insomnia are starting to rear their ugly heads. Nap time!

Even Clorox can't clean a soiled reputation

More news from further up on the Eastern Seaboard:

MPNnow.com
Greece to discuss audit again
May 3, 2008

Greece, N.Y. -

The Greece Board of Education may look into whether it can end the controversial health-care benefits Greece Central is paying former Superintendent Steve Walts.

The board will have a discussion about the issue at its Tuesday board meeting at Apollo Middle School, 750 Maiden Lane. The board will hold a public hearing on the proposed $194,075,636 budget at 6:30 p.m. May 5.

After that, it will hold a study session on a recently released State Comptroller's audit, which found former Greece board members and administrators mismanaged money during Walts' tenure. There won't be any public comment but there will be board discussion, said board President Roger Boily.

The district held an audit forum about a week ago, which drew about 50 residents, administrators and staff.

Since then, "a number of board members suggested maybe we have a special meeting/study session to discuss the audit and come up with some ideas to look at where we go next," Boily said.

That includes looking at any recourse the district may have in changing or ending Walts' health benefits, which the district is continuing to pay, despite the fact that Walts now heads Prince William County Schools.

A 2004 deal by Walts and former Board of Education members included Greece Central funding his health care, even if he stopped working in the district. The agreement, brokered when Walts was 50, says Greece would pay 80 percent of a health insurance plan chosen by Walts from a selection Greece offered. If he retired or became disabled, Walts could continue the coverage, with the district footing the entire bill.

Walts' short-lived successor, Meg Keller-Cogan, had a similar clause. The district paid 90 percent of her coverage and agreed to pay 90 percent if she retired.

The sticking point, for some, though, is a clause in Walts' contract that says "... the Superintendent shall be deemed to have retired from his employment if he has completed at least 5 years of service as Superintendent of the District and there shall have been no finding of guilt on charges brought against the district."

The end of that clause could offer a chance end Walts' benefits. When he left Greece in 2005, he was considered retired, and the benefits kicked in. In 2006, then-board President Ken Walsh said Walts' coverage cost Greece little over $1,000 a month but the district would not confirm that, citing privacy reasons. Board member Joe Moscato estimated a few months ago that Greece could save close to $6 million over the next 30 years if it ends Walts' coverage.

Moscato made a motion to end the benefits in February, days after a preliminary audit was leaked, but other board members did not support it.

Boily said the best approach, for now, is to have the district's attorneys "take a look at the audit and its implications as far as what we can do as a board to look at the former superintendent's benefits and any other issues that may be oustanding: who got buyouts when they left the district and what we can, as a board, do about that," Boily said.

"But it will be left to the attorneys to do that," he added. "This is not something that the board says we have to cut off benefits or do anything of that nature. We need to have a legal opininion, based on the audit, where do we go from here?"

Some critics have suggested the district and board should pursure criminal charges against Walts and past administrators. But the board "has no indication whatsoever" that the Monroe County District Attorney's office will do so, Boily said.

More often, though, Boily said he fields questions about Walts' benefits.

"And my answer is, 'I never would have voted for something like that.'"

It is unfortunate to think that those who are perpetually blind to the truth are the very same people who call the shots. I hope someone in the Annex is paying attention to this.

"Comptroller" is such a cool word

There's been news that the final audit from Greece, New York is out.

Enjoy

New Trade Winds

Hey, Stevie Wonder! How's the weather in New York? It's a bit cold, isn't it. And it's not because you travelled a few degrees higher in latitude... it's the cold look your old system is giving you. And what's that smell? Oh, it's the Stink Eye. Your reign of tyranny is coming to an end. Pretty soon, no school board/board of education will be folly enough to accept you as its school's chief. So let's take a look at your oh-so-stupendously colourful background:

1. EEOC discrimination charges (Age is the trademark, Retaliation almost always accompanies it)
   
   
2. Mainstreaming schools out of their special education programs just to save a few bucks. Note: few students come with success stories
   
   
3. MATH INVESTIGATIONS. $2.4 million down the crapper thus far WITH MORE TO GO. It doesn't take two eyes and a pair of ears to see the number of concerned and pissed-off parents flooding school board meetings
   
   
4. Questionable prior fiscal activity. Wow, the draft audit from my lemonade stand looked better than the one coming from Greece

Holy smokes...

And if you haven't already heard, the school board sent its opinions to Richmond. I wonder why they thought House Joint Resolution 245 was "detestable." Just to give a quick rundown, the PotomacNews says:

The measure would amend the Virginia Constitution so that schools could be supervised by "a local governing body and locality’s chief administrative officer," if the General Assembly enacted legislation toward that effect, according to the bill. In other words, laws could be passed giving the county supervisors and executive, say, authority to run the schools in place of the School Board and superintendent.

OOPS, I guess this came at a bad time for the school board; with all the fire they've been under recently, it's almost implying that someone else could do the Board's job better... which might not be too far from the truth.

Right now, please make like the school board and take both hands and place them on each buttock cheek. There, you've just made a sorry attempt to cover your derriere. That's what happens when you try to support a bad employee. And when something comes out of this, you'll go right down the drain with him because you didn't disassociate yourself from his actions.

Anyways, it's the weekend, a time to recharge and recover from the workweek's blows and near-misses. We will return in not-quite full form for another 8 days of this blogger life.

Hear ye, Hear ye!

Ahhh, nothing like the smell of corruption first thing in the morning. Look no further than in Prince William County!!! And guess what they're checking out... FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS!!! Now, it's not the financial documents of PWC, although they may later be affected by the current situation, but those of Greece, New York. Wow. I think we have finally reached a turning point in PWC (and the boiling point of Her citizens). Be sure to check the updated links.

May Justice be served...