Board of Education responds to comptroller’s audit report

The Voorheesville Central School District Board of Education has issued the following response to the Office of the State Comptroller’s Report released November 16, 2006 as it relates to the current Assistant Superintendent for Business:

The Board has reviewed all payments provided to the Assistant Superintendent and has made the following determinations:

Tuition

The Board has reviewed all District records from that time period including memos to the Board, letters to the Board and also has confirmed through discussions with prior Board members and members of the public, that it was the Board’s intention to direct the Treasurer to obtain the necessary graduate level courses to become a School Business Official and to pay for those courses on the same basis it paid other school administrators who took graduate level coursework. The Board did not properly document these intentions through formal Board resolutions, but it clearly considered and determined to take that course of action. The Board will not seek reimbursement for such payments from the Assistant Superintendent.

Unused Vacation Leave

• In 1998, the Treasurer, with 24 years of District service, requested Board approval from the former Superintendent for payment of up to 10 vacation days each year. The former Superintendent advised the Treasurer that the Board approved such leave. There is no formal Board action or approval in minutes or resolutions, but the former Superintendent annually approved, in writing, requests to cash-out between 3.5 to 5 vacation days each year, from 1998-2001. The Treasurer relied on the former Superintendent’s authority and the then Board President’s informal approval. There is no doubt that the Treasurer properly earned the time and had it available to use, but the Treasurer was unable to take the time because of the responsibilities of the position. The Board will not seek reimbursement for such time.

• The Treasurer position is classified as managerial/confidential. The School Business Official position is an administrative position. Managerial/confidential employees earn and accumulate vacation time at the end of the school year to be used in the following school year. Administrators are credited with all leave credits at the beginning of the school year, to use throughout the school year. When the Treasurer was promoted to the position of a School Business Official on July 1, 2002, the Board agreed to cash-out the time earned as a managerial/confidential employee at the lower hourly rate of Treasurer and to credit the School Board Official with the leave as an administrator on July 1. This was not documented in 2002 because the Board was negotiating an employment contract with the School Business Official. This agreement was not executed until January 14, 2004.At that time, the agreement was effective retroactively and contained the following language in Section 12(a)(ii) to ensure that there would be no question about this payment: “The crediting of vacation time at the beginning of the Business Official’s appointment in no way may diminish rights to compensation or use of any unused vacation time accrued as a previous employee of the District.” This action saved the District money by cashing-out vacation days at the previous lower salary. The Board will not seek to recoup the payments made for this time.

• During the period when the School Business Official did not have an employment agreement she continued to cash-out up to ten (10) vacation days annually. When the Board retroactively agreed to an employment agreement, only a five (5) day cash-out was allowed in the year the Treasurer did not have a contract. To ensure the proper retroactive contract implementation, the employee voluntarily has now relinquished the equivalent current value of five (5) days earned from accruals.

Superintendent Linda Langevin affirms her support for the Assistant Superintendent.

“I have full confidence in the integrity and abilities of the current Assistant Superintendent for Business,” Langevin said. “She has consistently performed her duties in an exemplary fashion and is a valuable member of the Voorheesville Central School District central office team.”