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Post by plainedgeammo on May 7, 2007 12:28:19 GMT -5
Techie,
Thanks for sharing this article with all of us. Unfortunately, they do not mention the inequities of how are tax dollars are spent up in Albany. They fail to mention that our tax dollars subsidize the entire States Education system.
Maybe, just maybe, if the rest of the State Tax payers paid there fair share our tax burden would be somewhat less....Soime food for thought.
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Post by 1plainedge on May 13, 2007 7:34:19 GMT -5
He did it again in Newsday... TWO DAYS BEFORE THE ELECTION and in 14 font no less.
"In Plainedge where the tax levy would rise 9.3% if the budget is approved, there is controversy over restoring 16 middle school sports teams....But in a district where dunkin donuts is one of the biggest businesses some homeowners are weary of school expenses RICHMOND SAID.
Again the incremental spend on JUST MS SPORTS was 150,000 - 200,000 on a $68,000,000 budget which .002%.
SHAME ON US AND THE BOARD IF WE STUMBLE THIS YEAR. He should have been paid to go away and in the very least he should have been MUZZLED until 7/1 if he stayed.
Excuse my rant but a NO *&%$#%&@ COMMENT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER. Can you believe it has come to this?
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Post by Go Plainedge! on May 13, 2007 7:44:32 GMT -5
Don't interpret this any other way than his departing F-U back to community and to a community that has shown their dislike toward him for years.
Shame on him for his petty little games and shame on the past BOE members that kept renewing his contract year after year.
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Post by pedgeneeds on May 13, 2007 7:53:43 GMT -5
Shame on the current BOE members who have NOT contacted any media outlets to present the true facts.
GUTLESS!!!!!!
BTW, being on many fields yesterday and the rally, this budget will pass. maybe not by the margin of last year. If everyone who agrees this is the correct course for this district, the children and home values, votes, should be a win.
you have to VOTE !!!!
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Post by devilsrus on May 13, 2007 9:22:13 GMT -5
Yet another shot by the soon to be departed to the community that has paid his salary. This guy is some piece of work, when presented with the opportunity inform he tells part of the story. When given a chance to explain that the community was present at so many BOE meeting and partnered with the BOE to return all programs its still the same old spin "its all about the sports". It was never all about the sports but it was all about the kids and remains all about the kids. The combination of the "good" Dr. and Newsday could be seen as the new "AXIS OF EVIL" VOTE YES!
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Post by 78ptownpower on May 13, 2007 9:25:46 GMT -5
The worst part to his shot at the kids is that we're the ones paying for the agency that gives him his little ins with media. July can't come too soon. Please vote this tuesday for our kids!
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Post by 78ptownpower on May 15, 2007 6:19:14 GMT -5
Today's the day....get out there and vote!
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Post by techie on Feb 20, 2008 23:15:26 GMT -5
Six more districts named attorneys 'full time'
.
BY SANDRA PEDDIE AND EDEN LAIKIN | sandra.peddie@newsday.com eden.laikin@newsday.com February 21, 2008 . Six more Long Island school districts listed two private attorneys as employees, enabling them to earn state pensions, while also paying their law firms more than $1 million in fees, state and district records show.
The disclosure of two more lawyers receiving public benefits while working as private attorneys for school districts comes as state and federal probes into the practices of attorney Lawrence Reich broadened. On Tuesday, Reich's former law firm, Ingerman Smith, turned over its files on Reich to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the IRS, and New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has opened both a civil and criminal investigation.
Newsday reported last Friday that Reich was employed as a full-time employee of five school districts at the same time, while his firm, Ingerman Smith of Hauppauge, also was on retainer to the districts. Of the two additional attorneys, one only worked only part-time, while the second worked at one district at a time. • . Under IRS rules, an individual cannot be treated as both an employee and independent contractor for the same job. The story brought a nearly immediate reaction from the FBI, which that same day subpoenaed Ingerman Smith's records.
The new disclosures -- which bring the total number of school districts involved to 11, and adds two more law firms -- suggests the practice of putting private contractors on public payrolls may be more widespread.
Records reviewed by Newsday show that Carol Hoffman, currently a partner at the Garden City law firm of Jaspan, Schlesinger and Hoffman, was listed as an employee at different times at four school districts. The districts were Plainedge and Bethpage, where she was listed as full time, and East Rockaway and Lawrence, where she was listed as part time.
In addition, the records show that Jerome Ehrlich, now a partner of the Garden City law firm of Ehrlich, Frazer and Feldman, was employed part time by two districts, Hewlett-Woodmere and Great Neck simultaneously. That allowed him to retire in 2006 with an annual pension of $34,029, after being credited with working 38.5 years in the state system.
Hoffman, 56, is not yet drawing a pension, records show. Reached yesterday at her second home in Key Largo, Fla., she declined to comment beyond saying only that, "Hundreds and hundreds of people over thousands of years have been doing this."
In an interview, Ehrlich said his arrangement with the districts "started a long time ago," when he said it was a "prevalent practice."
Both Hoffman and Ehrlich were once former partners of Reich, the Centerport attorney who was falsely listed as a full-time employee by five school districts simultaneously, earning a $61,459 pension and health benefits for life. At the same time, the districts paid Ingerman Smith $2.5 million in fees, according to records. Records show that, in one year alone, Reich was credited with working 1,286 days.
In addition to the FBI and Cuomo's office, the New York State comptroller's office announced that it would audit four of the five districts where Reich worked.
Earlier this week, Jaspan, Schlesinger, Hoffman suspended Reich -- who went to the work at the firm last January after leaving Ingerman Smith -- and asked for his resignation.
According to the Jaspan Schlesinger Hoffman Web site, Hoffman worked in the state Education Department Office of Counsel from 1976 to 1979. She later served in the governor's Office of Employee Relations.
She went into private law practice around 1982, Schlesinger said.
State records show she was listed as a full-time employee of the Plainedge school district from 1984 to 1987 and then part time in 1988. From 1989 to 1991, she was listed as part time in East Rockaway, and from 1991 through 1997, she was a part-time employee of the Lawrence school district.
After that, she was listed as a full-time employee of the Bethpage school district until 2003.
Complete records of payments to Hoffman's firm were not available yesterday, but Bethpage school records show that from 2000 through 2004, Bethpage paid the firm $847,106. In addition, the district paid her a $40,000 salary in 2003.
Earlier this week, Steven Schlesinger said he asked Reich to leave the firm because "I don't need the bad publicity." Yesterday in an interview, he said Hoffman's arrangement was different -- and legal -- because she worked at only one school district at a time.
School district records show that Great Neck paid Ehrlich's firm $578,411 from 2000 through 2004. Ehrlich himself earned $8,814 from Hewlett-Woodmere and $51,249 from Great Neck in 2005.
In an interview yesterday, Ehrlich said he thought the practice was legal, but added, "I don't think it's a practice that's continuing."
State records also show that John Gross, a partner in Ingerman Smith, is credited with more than eight years in the state pension system after serving as a part-time attorney for the Village of Northport. At the same time, the village paid Ingerman Smith fees for additional legal work, Gross said.
"That was just the way they did it," he said in an interview. It was "nothing I requested." More articles Get breaking news alerts! Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.
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Post by 78ptownpower on Feb 21, 2008 7:37:51 GMT -5
Amazing how taxpayers keep getting scammed. How did this go on in our district? I hope the feds do a dance on all involved in this sham and that these so called lawyers have to make restitution somewhere down the road to the districts they stole from.
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Post by Go Plainedge! on Feb 23, 2008 9:52:03 GMT -5
When I first read this article, I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. I was somewhat relieved to see that it happened 20 years ago. However, I think it proves that there is a lot of "fat" in these budgets and with a very sharp pencil can be trimmed down.
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Post by techie on Jun 19, 2009 21:43:27 GMT -5
For what its worth,... nada.......
Roslyn superintendent to resign before contract expires
BY JOIE TYRRELL | joie.tyrrell@newsday.com 9:53 PM EDT, June 19, 2009
John A. Richman, the Roslyn School superintendent hired after a financial scandal rocked the district, is leaving at the end of this month with two years remaining on his contract.
Richman, superintendent at Plainedge before being hired by Roslyn, did not return calls for comment Friday. He was hired in 2007 as Roslyn's permanent superintendent at a $250,000 annual salary after an embezzlement scandal forced former superintendent Frank Tassone to resign in 2004.
In October, the board approved a 2 percent "merit" raise to Richman on top of an annual contractual increase of 3 percent, boosting his pay to $262,000 per year. Richman's retirement was announced at the Board of Education meeting Thursday.
School officials released a joint statement from the board and Richman that said: "Due to fundamental differences and disagreements, the Board and the Superintendent have decided to sever their contractual relationship prior to the expiration of the contract. The Board and the Superintendent have reached an agreement to resolve their differences and settle their disputes."
The district reported on its Web site Friday that Dan Brenner, the district's assistant superintendent for instruction since 2005, has been named superintendent. The district refused to disclose his salary or any terms of Richman's compensation.
Robert Freeman, with the state's Committee on Open Government, said that information and any financial agreement between Richman and the district, is public and should be released.
Tassone is serving a prison sentence after an $11-million embezzlement scandal that led to six people, including other school officials, pleading guilty to stealing funds.
Has anyone heard anything else about the 9 Laptops stolen the last day of school? Anyone know why they aren't locked down, or at least locked up. Especially the last week of school?
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Post by Go Plainedge! on Jun 20, 2009 22:02:58 GMT -5
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Post by Go Plainedge! on Jul 24, 2009 20:41:43 GMT -5
Same story still. He found another district to scam some money out of. No shock that he couldn't get along with the Roslyn BOE...
The Roslyn school district paid $100,000 to its outgoing superintendent when he left in June with two years remaining on his contract, according to documents obtained by Newsday Thursday.
John A. Richman, who was hired as Roslyn superintendent in 2007 after a financial scandal rocked the district, announced in June that he was leaving the school system. He said Thursday that he had asked to leave and that he had had philosophical differences with the Roslyn Board of Education.
A clause in Richman's original agreement with the board said his contract may be terminated before expiration if both the superintendent and the board agreed. A written agreement signed by the board and Richman on June 18 stipulated that Richman would be paid $100,000 on the date of his resignation.
"The board and superintendent relationship is like a marriage," Richman said. "If the partners are not happy or there is a philosophical change in the relationship, it's best to part."
In October, the board approved a 2 percent "merit" raise to Richman on top of an annual contractual increase of 3 percent, boosting his pay to $262,000 per year.
A former superintendent in Plainedge, Richman, 62, was hired in 2007 as Roslyn's permanent superintendent at a $250,000 annual salary after an embezzlement scandal forced former superintendent Frank Tassone to resign in 2004.
Tassone remains in prison for his part in an $11-million embezzlement scandal that led to six people, including other school officials, pleading guilty to stealing funds.
Last month, the district named Daniel Brenner as the new superintendent and documents show he is earning a base salary of $255,000.
Current board president Meryl Waxman Ben-Levy and former board president Dani Kline did not return calls for comment.
Richman said he plans to retire, adding that he and the board disagreed on how the district should be run.
"I believe the superintendent is the chief executive officer of the district and the board determines policy," he said.
The district didn't disclose the terms of Richman's resignation agreement in June, providing documents only after Newsday filed a request under the state Freedom of Information Law.
Robert Freeman, with the state's Committee on Open Government, had said that any financial agreement between Richman and the district was public and should have been released.
Brenner said Thursday, "The way this has played out is completely at the advice of counsel.
" . . . The agreement stands for itself and I can't make any comments regarding it."
Former board member Jeffrey Borowick said the district should have been more transparent when Richman first resigned. "They breached their fiduciary responsibility by again not being transparent to the community," he said.
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