Carthage School District Admits it Broke the Law

ALBANY, NY (03/12/2009)(readMedia)-- The Carthage School Administrators Association had charged the former Superintendent Carl Militello and the board of education for having made a secret deal with an individual member in violation of the law. The district originally denied that it had done so in papers submitted last summer. The district now admits the existence of a second secret agreement with one principal in litigation papers recently submitted.

As previously reported this second secret deal had stunningly come on the heels of a settlement the district had made with the association where it admitted to having done it just months before. In the prior settlement dated June 14, 2007 the district "acknowledges…a violation of the Taylor Law."

Now the district admits violating the Taylor Law but defends its action on a procedural technicality saying that the association should have known about the secret deal earlier than when it filed suit in June 2008. The question has become to when and what extent did the association know about the secret deal. The association had only heard rumors that the Superintendent Carl Militello had once again secretly offered early vesting for health insurance in retirement to a newly hired principal. In its shock that this could be happening again, the association sought to find out the truth and met resistance from Superintendent Carl Militello. The superintendent neither confirmed nor denied the contents of any secret deal and strongly discouraged the association's efforts to gather information on a secret deal. The superintendent believed the rumor had been leaked and indicated he would aggressively seek to find the source.

It was not until June 2008 that the association received confirmation of the secret deal that Militello refused to acknowledge. The association was stunned to find that the secret deal was broader than originally thought, including additions to the rumored early vesting for retirement health insurance. Those included free health insurance in retirement, early vesting for a retirement incentive, and granted 25.5 days of unearned sick and personal leave.

The association, with the assistance of the School Administrators Association of New York State and its General Counsel Art Scheuermann, immediately sued upon obtaining this information. The hearing will be held in Syracuse on March 19. Upon resolution of this matter the association members look forward to a positive future providing the educational services required for the children of the community.

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