School Tax Dollars at Work: Settling Lawsuits

I imagine that $150,000 will buy a boatload of books, computers, pens & pencils for a school district.  Or it can be used to cover the cost of a lawsuit.

That’s what the Schenectady City School District will pay to settle a lawsuit.  It’s a direct result of the Steven Raucci fiasco.  (Check out a previous post for more background.)  The Times Union reports the following:

The district will pay $150,000 of the total settlement from a reserve claims while the insurance would cover the remaining $100,000 and related legal expenses, said [School Board President Catherine] Lewis.

Now, I’m not exactly sure what is meant by a “reserve claims.”  But regardless of the specific location within the district’s budget… I’m sure it’s ultimately taxpayers footing the bill.  Congrats to all of my property-tax-payin’ friends from Schenectady.  Aren’t you glad your money is being spent so well?

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’m not a lawsuit-happy guy, but I’m not casting aspersions at the originator of the lawsuit.  It certainly sounds like he had to endure a miserable work environment, literally at the hands of Raucci.

However, I am appalled that the previous superintendent and other administrators could allow such a nasty work environment to exist.

Call this the consequences of inaction.  Expect more consequences, (read lawsuits), to follow.

‘Course it could be worse.  Raucci could still be working there.

And that’s why we Ordinary Citizens must hold our school districts accountable, whether or not we have children in the district.

The other armpit… Troy Edumacation

Sheesh.  It’s just been over a month, and I already have the counterpoint example to my recent snide Schenectady, NY vs. Troy, NY comment:

…one armpit telling the other armpit, ‘you stink.’

The comment comes from a blog post titled “Schenectady Edumacation.” In that post I lambasted the Schenectady School District over recent disturbing news coming from the district.  You might even conclude that Troy is looking pretty good in comparison.  Nope.

Thanks to Al Roney’s talk radio show on Talk 1300, I heard about a minor *ahem* mistake made by the Troy School District.  Without Al’s discussion, I probably would have overlooked it.  To my knowledge, it hasn’t been widely reported, at least not yet.

Here’s the gist of the story:  the Troy school district hired Freddie Smith to be their interim director of pupil personnel services.  Turns out that Smith wasn’t quite all he claimed to be.  An August 3rd article by Noreen O’Donnell for The Journal News said that Smith had his doctorate revoked by the University of Virginia.  O’Donnell also provided details about an investigation of Smith’s dissertation that revealed significant plagiarism. Follow that with an August 9th article by Scott Waldman in the Times Union. It’s no surprise to me, as reported in the TU article, that the Troy School District fired Smith.

But that’s no biggie right?  The school district and superintendent Fadhilika Atiba-Weza just had the wool pulled over their eyes, right?  Happens all the time.  Many people claim to have qualifications that later turn out to be false.

Not so fast.  Here’s the part that makes me want to bang my head on my desk, or at least would if I was a Troy taxpayer.  Waldman wrote the following:

Superintendent Fadhilika Atiba-Weza said the district was aware that Smith had been accused of plagiarizing part of his dissertation when he was hired. He said Smith, who has an extensive background as a schools administrator, interviewed very well for the job and seemed to be a good fit.

When Troy school officials discovered the allegations against Smith, he claimed to have documentation from the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education that he had been cleared, Atiba-Weza said.

Ok, still not too bad.  If I’m in the superintendent’s shoes, the alarm bells would be ringing, but maybe not too loudly.  I would ask for documentation and at least do some follow-up with Smith’s alma mater.  Not quite what happened.  Here’s where you need to hold onto your head with both hands to keep it from spinning.  Waldman continued:

“He [Smith] said ‘I have a letter here’ and read it,” Atiba-Weza said. “I didn’t think anything of it.”

Atiba-Weza said Smith only read from the letter over the phone and that he never submitted it. He said Smith had earned his degree in 2003 and that district officials figured it would have been withdrawn if there was a problem.

Pardon me?  That’s the extent of interviewing that goes on in Troy?  Wow! I had a more thorough interview process and background check a few years back when I got a job as a substitute teacher in Elmira, NY.  Smith’s job paid just a wee bit more than substitute teaching, apparently $400 a day.  According to my calculations, that’s the equivalent of a $104,000 salary.  Based on what I’ve read, I am guessing that Smith was paid on a per-diem basis, not salaried.  Either way, I’d qualify it as a high-paying job.

And this is in a school district with major budget problems.  Like good ol’ Schenectady, Troy is facing a contingency budget.  According to a report by YNN, Troy didn’t even bother to hold a second vote on the budget, opting instead to go straight to a contingency budget.  I’m thinking there were possibilties for more budget cuts… maybe in some of them six-figure jobs in the district.

If I was a Troy taxpayer, I’d be furious.

Just a further reminder to keep a close eye on your school district folks! Even if you don’t have kids in the district, you sure do have dollars there.

Schenectady Edumacation…

…probably leaves much to be desired.  I’ll tell you why, but first a humorous (in my opinion) story:

I attended RPI in Troy, NY for my undergrad degree.  I became a big RPI hockey fan (Let’s Go Red!) while I was there.  Our biggest rival is Union College in Schenectady, just a few miles down Route 7.  Neither town is known for being ummm…  a phenomenal place to live.  So, a few years ago, I found my eyebrows ascending when I heard a Union fan yell “Troy sucks” during a RPI v. Union game.  I turned to him and said, “Dude. You’re from Schenectady.  That’s like one armpit telling the other armpit, ‘you stink.’”

Nowadays, I live just outside Schenectady.  Therefore, I keep an eye open on Schenectady news.  Much of the news is not positive.  Shootings. Decaying infrastructure.  Ugly politics.  Recently, much of the news revolves around the school district:

First, there’s the conviction of Schenectady School District’s facilities manager Steven Raucci.  Scary guy.  How he managed to stay employed by the school district, I cannot explain.

Next came this year’s school budget defeat.  After cutting a few more bucks from the original (more than $161 million) budget, a contingency budget ($160,708,288) is now in place.  But don’t worry Schenectady residents, your taxes will only increase by 2.96% instead of the original amount (nearly 6%).  You can get the details from the school district’s web site.

Most recently, it’s the debate surrounding the resignation of Superintendent Eric Ely.  Ely has faced considerable criticism over his handling of the Raucci situation.  A recent Times Union article said the following:

Ely was criticized for a close working relationship with former district facilities director Steven Raucci, who was convicted of arson and weapons possession charges.

It’s been no secret that Ely has been looking for a new job.  (And he just landed one according the aforementioned TU article.)  What’s the big deal then?  Most likely it’s the agreement between Ely and the school board over compensation and other issues that beg questions:

• Ely could be paid big bucks AND retain his health care coverage until he starts a new job.  Even after reading the agreement, I’m not sure exactly how much compensation he will receive.
• Ely is protected from litigation.  That could be huge if civil lawsuits arise from the Raucci situation.
• If I’m reading the agreement correctly, he could receive almost $800 in per diem if he has to come back to the district as a witness in another year.
• He’ll get favorable job recommendations from the district.  Really?

All of this because “certain irreconcilable differences have arisen between the Board and Mr. Ely”  as described in paragraph 4 of the Agreement. Seems a bit excessive to me, especially for a position where compensation is already well into six figures.

It’s all a bit of a distraction from, what’s it called?  Edumacation?  No, wait. EDUCATION.

During the very heated meeting where the school board accepted Ely’s resignation, WNYT reported:

Outgoing board member Jeff Janisweski tried to come to Ely’s rescue, but the shouting continued.

“Is the lunacy and immaturity done?” Janisweski at one point asked the irate audience. Then he shrugged and said, “Apparently not.”

Indeed.  I suspect we’ll see more embarrassing Schenectady School District news in the near future.

Why should I care about the craziness at a school district that my kids will never attend?  They are compelling stories, and while extreme, could be indicative of problems that exist in public school districts across this state and country:

We fund public schools with our taxes.  We need to educate ourselves about our school districts before the problems become Schenectady-sized.