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!

Thanks, Joe!

While the Greece Central School District in New York may not have too much in common with Prince William County, our public school system employs the superintendent they used to have. June 2008 marked his third year in the system, but that hasn't prevented his name from cropping up in discussions up north:

Joe Moscato said...
Just a quick update on the Steve Walts agenda item. I don't know why Julia keeps putting this on the agenda as they are no closer to making a decision than they were last May... I learned that an investigative agency has launched an official investigation into Walts' and two others as a result of the forensic audit.
1/26/2009 6:52 PM

It's like they say in Hollywood: "Man, you don't want that kind of attention."

I wouldn't either. Let's see how this goes.

The answer we've been waiting for

It's funny how 2 states and an eight hour drive can be connected to one person. Here's a three-step formula to getting free healthcare from your place of employment:

1. Insert nifty clause in contract
   
2. Work five years
   
3. Retire

It's that simple! Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch?

How did Walts get his benefits?
Greece Post MPNNow.com
Wed May 07, 2008

Greece, N.Y. -

When Steve Walts walked out of Greece Central in 2005, he did so knowing that his former district would foot the bill when it came to his health-care benefits.

A 2004 deal by Walts and former Board of Education members included Greece Central paying for his health care, even if he stopped working in the district. The Board of Education now is looking into whether to end the deal.

Walts, superintendent from 1998 to July 2005, entered into the agreement with the Greece board, led by then President Paul Wawrzyniak, in June 2004. Part of the agreement included the district's coverage of 80 percent of a health insurance plan offered by the district and chosen by him.

But the contract was updated in December of that year and expanded how much Greece would be responsible for regarding his benefits. An addendum passed Dec. 14, 2004, when Walts was 50, said that, if he retired or became disabled, he would be eligible for coverage in any group health insurance program with the district covering 100 percent of its costs.

When Walts left Greece in 2005 for Prince William County School District in Virginia, the benefits kicked in because of this clause: “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.” Walts was considered retired from Greece.

Some board members have tried unsuccessfully before to overturn the agreement, but a recent State Comptroller’s audit could open the door, based on the wording at the end of that clause. Board member Joe 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.

In 2006, then board President Ken Walsh said Walts' coverage cost Greece a 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.

Some have criticized the way the addendum was approved. Video of the Dec. 14, 2004, meeting shows the vote took about 15 seconds. No board members asked questions and there was no discussion.

Former board members Bill Grason, George Hubbard and Ken Walsh voted against the addendum. Former board members Karen Hoffman, Bob Mueller, Larry Sweet, Eric Peterson, Bill Russell and then President Gerry Phelan approved it.

School districts paying the bulk of a superintendent's health care isn't unusual. The contract of Walts' short-lived successor, Meg Keller-Cogan, included 90 percent health insurance coverage. If she retired, she was eligible to continue coverage in a district plan, with the district paying 90 percent.

But Keller-Cogan’s contract didn't contain the clause regarding retirement after five years that Walts' did, so she wasn’t eligible to receive the benefits after she left Greece within a year of being appointed to the post.

That Dec. 14, 2004, meeting also left Walts with a longevity clause in his contract. It granted him “$1,000 for each completed year of his tenure: Next July (2005) — the start of his eighth year in office — he will receive a $7,000 bonus; in July 2006, the bonus will increase to $8,000, and so on.”

Grason, Hubbard and Walsh voted against it. Hoffman, Mueller, Sweet, Peterson, Russell and Phelan approved it.

Wow, $6 mil in savings. And that last chunk of the clause is curiously starting to fall away.

Why don't they give the teachers free healthcare?

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.