Superintendents Misuse Contract Perks

EZ Pass the Latest Violation

The Glascoe/Rush administration has once again come under scrutiny by the State Department of Education, this time for abusing EZ Pass accounts provided as one of the perks provided in their contract with the Paterson Public Schools.

The State investigation was undertaken by the Department of Education's Office of Fiscal Accountability and Compliance, and was apparently completed in September. Both State District Superintendent Michael Glascoe and Deputy Superintendent Michael Rush have contracts that allow them to use their district vehicles for personal reasons, not to exceed 100 miles per week, according to the OFAC report.

The OFAC report concluded that the district had paid for EZ Pass charges from the petty cash account and made payments over the petty cash account limit. The report called the abuses "negligible" but still in need of correction nonetheless. Questions as to whether or not the excessive payments were reported as part of the administrators' income taxes, or even if they had to be reported, were not addressed in the report.

The Board was ordered to develop and implement a corrective action plan for any undisputed findings, and to appeal others. There was no indication that any appeals would be filed. The report directed that the District was to "… publicly review and discuss the findings…" of the report at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board. That meting was held the same day that the excesses had been reported in the press.

District Business Administrator Frances Finklestein addressed the issue, as did Superintendent Glascoe. Both dismissed the issue as insignificant bookkeeping errors that had been resolved through a "corrective action plan" instituted in response to the report.

However, Board member Dr. Joseph Atallo questioned how the corrective action plan could be initiated before the Board meeting when the Board had not seen it before the meeting and did not vote to approve it. His comments were basically ignored according to witnesses at the meeting.

"We are in a catastrophic situation where requests for paper, pencils and other needs of students are cut or eliminated, textbook requisitions are cancelled, there are cut backs in just about every area of instruction, professional conference requests are rejected, and student field trips are denied, it is hard to understand why administrative fiscal excesses and abuses of any size are dismissed," stated P.E.A. President Pete Tirri. "The mantra seems to be 'Do as I say, not as I do."

In addition, the state also found that the Board of Education has not been recording minutes of executive sessions since April 2005, in violation of state statute and the state Open Public Meetings Act in the final days of Dennis Clancy's administration. Glascoe became Superintendent of Schools in July, 2005.

Andre Sayegh, who has been a member of the Board during all of this time, and currently serves as president of the board, confirmed in a Herald News account that the board was cited for the missing minutes under a new school district accountability law, apparently confirming the reasons why the State failed to grant local control to the local Board.

The requirement to release information from Executive sessions is not new, and has been part of the law since the early 1980's. Restrictions on release of information in the past were based upon the nature of the discussions and, in the case of discussions about employees, for example, whether or not the employee was still connected to the system. There was no excuse provided as to why the District had complied with the laws prior to 2005 but had stopped after the date of the citation.

"The findings in the report seem to have little significance when viewed apart from any other issue," commented P.E.A. President Pete Tirri. "However, when viewed in the context of the overall history of ignoring state laws, mandates contractual obligations, and regulations by the administration, it adds to the mounting evidence against the administration. As they say, 'It's just another brick in the load."