VOORHEESVILLE – The Voorheesville Central School District has now spent over $100,000 in its attempt to recoup $216,000 from two former school officials.
The district is continuing on with its two civil suits – one against its former superintendent, Alan McCartney, and one against its former assistant superintendent for business, Anthony Marturano. The two men were accused by the state comptroller in January of "inappropriately" paying themselves the money. The Albany County District Attorney found there was no basis to prosecute the retired administrators and said the school district’s "weak internal controls are what likely led to the problems."
Several citizens voiced their disapproval over the ongoing legal proceedings during last week’s school board meeting. A recent investigation by The Enterprise uncovered that the district has an insurance policy that protects it from "errors and omissions."

In a memorandum from current Superintendent Linda Langevin to the school board, dated Aug. 14, the costs to the district thus far were outlined, and totaled nearly $102,000.
William Parmelee, a former school board member, told the board that he does not believe that the two officials stole money from the district. He added, "I’d rather spend $5 million on the school, than ten dollars on legal fees."
Parmelee told The Enterprise later that he talks to people in the community regularly, and, he said "A very large part of the community wants to stop [the suits] now and go ahead with other stuff."
"The money should be spent on the school," he added.
David Gibson, the school board president, responded at last week’s meeting, "The school board is trying to handle this as expediently and appropriately as possible."

Michael Snyder also brought his concerns to the school board. He told the board that the city of Troy had a similar audit, in which school officials were accused of inappropriate spending, and that school board did not initiate any suits.
"I don’t know if lawsuits are the way to handle this issue," Snyder told The Enterprise.
"We are in a loss situation, or we are heading there quickly," he said.
Robert Burns also spoke out, telling the board, "You’ve hurt the district more than the people you are after."

Langevin told The Enterprise in July that when the board met in executive session to discuss the district attorney’s findings, all its members agreed to continue with the suits.
The district attorney had said that the contracts for McCartney and Marturano "likely violated New York State contract and education law and contained impermissible provisions, however, the contracts were negotiated in good faith and we believe they properly reflect the interests of the parties."

The Enterprise earlier obtained copies of the contracts and found many ambiguities, including which contracts were valid.

Langevin said this week that the stance of the school board has not changed.

Errors and omissions

Because the case is still in litigation, Langevin told The Enterprise this week that she could not really discuss the matter. She did, however, reveal that the district has filed a claim with its insurance carrier.
Under the school district’s legal liability insurance, the board of education is covered for "errors and omissions."
Roger Cohn, a representative from the Kenneth Fake Agency, in an email to Sarita Winchell, the assistant superintendent for business, said on Nov. 29, 2005, "Voorheesville Central has SDLL [School District Legal Liability] to protect all employees, volunteers and the members of the Board of Education. It is for Errors and Omissions," he continued. "The limits on your policy are $1,000,000 each loss and $2,000,000 aggregate per year."
The Enterprise tried to get Cohn to further explain the policy; and he said he would be happy to sit down and explain, but would charge the newspaper $200 per hour for "insurance instruction." He urged The Enterprise to bring a copy of the insurance policy, which was obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request, to his office in Cobleskill for explanation.

The Enterprise was later told by Langevin that Cohn informed her that he was only joking about charging $200 per hour, but that it would be much easier for him to discuss the insurance policy in person.

The insurance works on a reimbursement basis, Langevin said. When the litigation is over, the designated insurance official reviews the case, and decides how much, if any, reimbursement should be awarded to the district, she confirmed to The Enterprise.

Other business

In other business, at its August meeting, the school board:

– Approved the creation of an elementary school student council, and an elementary school drama club as new extracurricular clubs;

– Approved two out-of-town student field trips. One will be a senior class retreat to the Rensselaerville Institute on Monday, Sept. 11, and the other is an eighth grade trip to New York City on Friday, Oct. 13. The cost will be $35 per student and chaperone for the senior class retreat, and the eighth grade trip will cost $45 per student;

– Awarded the bid for roof replacement at the middle/high school to Waterblock Roofing and Sheetmetal with a contract of $126,929;

– Awarded the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning maintenance and service contract to Technical Building Services, Inc. in the amount of $20,610. Gibson will sign the contract;

– Approved use of school cell phones for Frank Faber, the career and technical-education coordinator and Langevin, making a total of nine school cell phones;

– Approved the 2006-07 BOCES classroom rental and ancillary services agreements. The board of Cooperative Educational Services will rent two classrooms, with the possibility of renting a third for $30,000 per classroom;

– Nominated a voting delegate and an alternate for the annual business meeting of the New York State School Boards Association in New York City on Oct. 28. The voting delegate is Thomas McKenna, and the alternate, Kevin Kroencke;

– Approved a contractual agreement between Albany County and the Voorheesville School District to provide bus washing at the Albany County Department of Public Works;

– Amended district policies for petty-cash accounts and tax-sheltered annuities;

– Approved contracts with Dodge Chamberlain Luzine & Weber Associates Architects LLP for services in reconstruction work at the elementary school, and the high school. The board also approved the contract for the company to do a roof replacement at the secondary school;

– Announced that there will be a public hearing at 7 p.m. before the next meeting on Monday, Sept. 11, in regards to the capital project; the regular meeting will follow at 7:30 p.m.