Valhalla Voice

Will Taxpayers Bail Out Illegal Westhelp Deal?

2011-12-17T21:24:00.001-05:00

Can school districts levy a tax on residents to pay for the illegal actions of private individuals? The courts have ruled that the Valhalla school district must return $1.9 million illegally appropriated “Westhelp Partnership” funds to the Town of Greenburgh.

While the purpose of this partnership was to compensate the well-to-do residents of Mayfair Knollwood for the “burden” of living near a homeless shelter, taxpayer dollars could not be gifted directly to a private homeowners’ association. Instead, a scheme was crafted which gave effective control of $6 million to Mayfair Knollwood Civic Association, which was headed by President Ned McCormack.

As chairman of Greenburgh’s Valhalla Schools Committee, Mr. McCormack had more authority than any school board member or district employee, effectively creating positions on Valhalla’s payroll, hiring employees, and purchasing goods and services.

Ned McCormack’s committee, and not the taxpayers of Valhalla, controlled this money. In 2003 the Valhalla school district newsletter stated “Dr. Kelly (superintendent of schools) said it is important to note that legally the funds are actually Greenburgh’s and will not be turned over to the district for use at its discretion.”

Accordingly, the revenue and expense of the “Westhelp Partnership” were never included in a school budget and never approved by residents of the district. This partnership was entirely a private undertaking which the school board illegally fostered for the benefit of private individuals. It’s time for those individuals and board members to be held accountable and not at the expense of school district taxpayers.

John F. Fitzgerald

Valhalla

The writer is a former member of the Valhalla Board of Education.

Are Taxpayers on the Hook for Illegal Actions of Elected Officials?

2011-12-16T14:49:00.000-05:00

Can a Board of Education levy a tax on residents to pay for their illegal actions and those of unelected private individuals when the illegal action is unrelated to the operation of a school district under New York State education law? Are taxpayers of the Valhalla School District responsible to bail out an illegal deal created by a local private homeowners association and a corrupt politician?

The courts have ruled that the Valhalla School District must return $1.9 million illegally appropriated “Westhelp Partnerhship” funds to the Town of Greenburgh.

While the purpose of this partnership was always to compensate the well to do residents of Mayfair Knollwood for the supposed “burden” of living near a homeless shelter, taxpayer dollars could not be gifted directly to a private homeowners association. Instead a scheme was crafted which gave effective control of $6 million to Ned McCormack, president of the Mayfair Knollwood Civic Association. As chairman of Greenburgh’s Valhalla Schools Committee, Mr. McCormack had more authority than any school board member or district employee, creating positions on Valhalla’s payroll, hiring employees, and purchasing goods and services. Ned McCormack’s committee, and not the taxpayers of Valhalla, controlled this money. In 2003 the Valhalla School District newsletter stated “Dr. Kelly [superintendent of schools] said it is important to note that legally the funds are actually Greenburgh’s and will not be turned over to the District for use at its discretion”.

Accordingly, the revenue and expense of the “Westhelp Partnership” were never included in a school budget and never approved by residents of the district. This partnership was entirely a private undertaking which the school board illegally fostered for the benefit of private individuals. It’s time for those individuals and board members to be held accountable and not at the expense of school district taxpayers.

Maybe They Should Just Enforce The Laws Already on The Books

2011-12-14T16:45:00.000-05:00

The brilliance of Andio: A politician, appointed by a politician to head a panel of politicians who will "scrutinize" politicians who act unethically, as politicians always do. Just how hard is it to find government officials acting beyond their constitutional limits? How about all the fill for fields deals illegally entered into by a half dozen local school districts in Westchester County for the benefit of disreputable carting companies dumping fill from who knows where, post 9-11. Just consider the sudden need for places to dump after September 11, 2001 and no record of origin, no certificates of insurance just an unending line of unrecorded trucks dumping night and day on children's playgrounds. The comptroller's department has said these deals were illegal and have cost taxpayers millions already, but no prosecutions.

Or how about the $6 million drop of manna from heaven known as the Westhelp Partnership. Let's see you had a bribe by a town supervisor, illegally laundering taxpayer funds through the bank accounts of a local school district to be spent at the direction of the president of a private homeowners association. Money earmarked for a homeless shelter ends up sending Westchester's well-to-do "Children of All Ages", to the opera, Caramoor, Oktoberfests, the Grand Canyon and even on a booze cruise. By the time the state comptroller put an end to it, $1.8 million spent off budget and reported no where on a tax form or audited report. Will that rise to the level of Andio's ersatz scrutiny?

With all the local unconstitutional, corrupt and unethical behaviors from the school boards to the state house, you would think that a local district attorney would already have her hands full PROSECUTING said politicians. Hmmm... but apparently not. Why?

Reprinted from the Yonker's Tribune:

Governor Cuomo Designates Westchester County D.A. DiFiore to Joint Commission on Public Ethics

ALBANY, NY and YONKERS, NY -- December 13, 2011 -- Governor Andrew Cuomo has designated Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore to chair the new Joint Commission on Public Ethics. The commission will be entrusted to scrutinize New York State’s lobbying industry and their interaction with elected officials. By accepting this new role, DiFiore is saddled with the formidable challenges and responsibility of the Office of Westchester Country District Attorney and the Joint Commission of Public Ethics.

DiFiore is a person competent and able to balance the responsibilities both efforts will demand and exact.

As chair of the newly formed Joint Commission on Public Ethics, DiFiore and 13 colleagues will have purview of New York State’s entire lobbying industry and elected officials, including the governor himself.

“You can’t do better in terms of credentials than a sitting district attorney who is sworn to enforce the law and has an impeccable track record in doing so,” advised Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto

Valhalla School Board's Lawsuit Backfires

2011-12-06T17:35:00.001-05:00

Despite being told by legal counsel that their action could result in a $1.9 million judgment against the district, ignoring the fact that Valhalla already indemnified the Town for legal cost and then guaranteed repayment of the $1.9 million if the Town was sued, Valhalla went ahead and sued the Town. Will the taxpayers of Valhalla actually be on the hook for the foolish and reckless actions of School Board members and private individuals who ran an illegal operation with taxpayer money through the bank accounts of a public school district? Can taxes be levied to pay for illegal activities that were never part of the budgets approved by voters? Are board members indeminfied for their illegal actions?

The article below explains just how foolish their actions were.

Reprinted from the Pleasantville Examiner

Judge Rules Valhalla Schools

Must Cough Up $1.9M

Smith ‘Reckless’ for His Role, Opposing Lawyer Says

By Sam Barron

In the same week that he claimed victory, County Legislator-elect Michael Smith (R-Greenburgh) saw a legal battle he helped initiate on behalf of the Valhalla School District dismissed. In a Nov. 18 ruling, state Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Colabella determined that the school district must repay the Town of Greenburgh close to $1.9 million as part of a countersuit filed by the town against the district. The funds represented the district’s share of money derived from a contract originally negotiated between Greenburgh and Westchester County to pay the town $1.2 million a year to continue hosting WestHelp, a county-operated homeless shelter.

District officials have 30 days to decide whether to appeal Colabella’s ruling. If it pursues and loses an appeal, legal fees and interest would be tacked on.

Smith, who served on the Valhalla Board of Education for six years through June 30—the last three years as president—led the district’s push to sue the Town of Greenburgh for breach of contract after the town board voted to discontinue the arrangement with the schools. The Mayfair-Knollwood Civic Association, whose jurisdiction the shelter was located in, and the town negotiated a deal that saw the Valhalla School District obtain up to $650,000 a year in educational grants from the county contract. However, the state comptroller’s office issued a 2007 audit determining that the town’s deal with the school district violated state law.

After the audit, the Greenburgh Town Board voted 4-1, with Supervisor Paul Feiner dissenting, to end the agreement with the schools.

Attorney Robert Bernstein, one of two Greenburgh residents who intervened in the lawsuit on the town’s behalf, said last week the ruling was the proper decision. We have been telling Feiner for years that what he did here was morally wrong and legally wrong,” Bernstein said. “He had no right to give away town revenue to a school district to pay off citizens who didn’t like having a homeless shelter. It was incredibly irresponsible.”

Bernstein, a frequent critic of Feiner, and another resident, Herbert Rosenberg, were allowed by the judge to intervene in the litigation on behalf of the town, since Feiner negotiated and supported the contract, even after the auditor’s report.

While the town erred, Bernstein said Smith’s “actions were reckless to the extreme” for putting taxpayers at risk by pursuing litigation to keep the contract intact. The district should have complied with the comptroller’s audit to end the arrangement between the town and the schools, he said.

“I was there when Michael Smith essentially bullied the town board and demanded they honor the agreement, even though the comptroller said it was illegal,” Bernstein said. “He should’ve known better. I don’t know whether he put his ego ahead of common sense or what.” Phone messages left for Smith during the week were not returned.

In his ruling, Colabella cited state law requiring a school district to levy a tax to raise money for educational purposes. He wrote that there was no basis to find Greenburgh in breach of contract for refusing to continue the payments because the town “intruded on a state function by making educational programs for students of the school district ... subject to the approval of the town.”

“The school district should’ve known that it had no right to obtain public funds from Greenburgh to support education of children in its district,” Bernstein said. “They did a disservice to the taxpayers of the Valhalla School District when they did so. They should’ve refused the money. The school district was not innocent in this.”

Feiner and former Mayfair-Knollwood Civic Association President Ned McCormack, who currently is director of communications for County Executive Rob Astorino, negotiated the agreement with the school district before Smith joined the board.

Feiner and McCormack have said that the contract was vetted by outside counsel who believed the contract to be fair and legal. Feiner said he stands by the contract that was signed, though he respects the judge’s ruling.

“The law should be changed,” Feiner said. “Neighborhoods that do something for the common good should be rewarded. It makes it easier in the long run to get things accomplished if you could turn something into a win-win situation. That’s really the whole concept.”

McCormack said it was an innovative agreement and that the neighborhood was trying to be cooperative. “We wanted to work with various elected officials to create a situation that benefits people and wouldn’t impact the taxpayers,” McCormack said.

Bernstein contended there were racial overtones. He charged that Feiner was compensating a predominantly white neighborhood, which feared that its property values would sink by having a homeless shelter.

“I find it offensive because it’s immoral and illegal,” Bernstein said. “The racial aspects of this cannot be ignored. I find it appalling.” McCormack denied Bernstein’s allegations. “The neighborhood overwhelmingly decided to keep the shelter,” McCormack said. “This is one of the few instances where a neighborhood said yes to a shelter. We said yes and worked out an equitable deal. Otherwise, it would’ve closed 10 years ago.”

WestHelp was originally slated to be shuttered in 2001 after operating for 10 years, but the county maintained the shelter until its closure on Sept. 30, 2011.

The judge’s ruling was made available on Nov. 21, less than two weeks after Election Day. Outgoing Legislator John Nonna (D-Pleasantville), who was narrowly defeated by Smith in a bid for a third term, said he found the timing to be curious.

“It was an important issue,” said Nonna. “I raised it in the election campaign. It shows his poor judgment. I don’t think he had the fiduciary duty to bring a lawsuit without merit.”

With absentee ballots counted last week, Smith outlasted Nonna 5,341-5,212.

Uh oh......

2011-11-26T11:41:00.000-05:00

I recommend the Valhalla Method of Remediation. Keep a mayonnaise jar from every truckload in the board office. Get a second company to retest at different levels and if it passes, ignore the first really bad tests and pretend the first test doesn't count. It's like taking the SAT over and over and picking the best scores. Everyone will live happily ever after. Oh and don't look under the artificial turf, that might be a problem.

Reprinted from the Journal News 11/26/2011

BRIARCLIFF MANOR — It could cost Briarcliff Manor schools as much as $18 million to completely clean up and restore two playing fields where contaminated soil was dumped nearly a decade ago.

The least costly remediation of the practice and softball fields on the middle school-high school campus on Pleasantville Road would be roughly a combined $1.2 million to cap both. The scenarios for how to deal with the tainted dirt dumped for free by now-defunct Whitney Contracting were laid out in a Nov. 17 public presentation.

"We assembled a talented group of environmental experts," Board of Education President Guy Rotondo said at the meeting. "We will review, discuss and move ahead. It's been long enough."

The district signed a consent order with the state Department of Environmental Conservation in June 2003 to remediate the site, but neither party followed through. The fields were shut down in January 2010 and it could be spring 2013 before they are back in playing condition.

Superintendent Neal Miller, who took his post in July, said the goal is to keep the community informed and to re-open the fields.

"There are a lot of moving parts here. I would love to see a conservative sequence of events and timeline," said parent Michael Valenti. "Our kids have been off the fields for a couple of years, and it seems they might be off the fields for a few more."

While the health risks are considered minimal, district consultants agreed there is no doubt that the soil contains low levels of toxins, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which at high levels are considered carcinogenic, and barium and sodium.

"The bottom line is that the factors are variable and somewhat uncertain," said Dr. Robert Laumbach, a physician and an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, N.J. "The risk to any particular person is very, very low ... but it could be a public health concern."

Said district-hired attorney Michael Bogin: "There are (chemical levels that exceed permissible amounts) here and you have to fix it."

One option calls for the district to first cap or bury the contaminated soil and then restore the fields with natural grass or two types of synthetic turf. Grass is the least expensive option at $851,000 for the practice field and $311,000 for the softball field. But that would take the longest to be ready while the new grass grows in and has the highest costs for ongoing maintenance. The next option would be to cover the fields with asphalt for another school use and would cost nearly $3 million.

The most expensive option would be to remove all the original fill and restore the fields with grass at a cost of $13.5 million for the practice field and $4.2 million for the softball field.

Stuart Mattey, assistant superintendent for business and technology, said the district would be eligible for state aid. And though it would be outside the 2 percent tax cap levy, it would need voter approval through a bond or budget referendum. The district won a $500,000 judgment against the contractor in 2008 but was never able to collect.

District taxpayers urged school officials to include them and decide wisely.

"Will the public have input as this goes along?" asked Walter Murray.

And Louis Linder recommended officials investigate the choices of natural grass and turf and which contractors it hires very carefully.

"If we make another mistake," he said, "we could be in the hole for more money."

Valhalla Board Members Lacked Imagination

2011-11-23T12:03:00.000-05:00

The following article from the Daily Greenburgh is so typically Valhalla. Our transparent school board is in lockdown and Mike Smith our newly elected County Legislator, (who was not board president for all those years but he was the only CPA on the board) claims that "Everyone imaginable in the process approved it".

I would point out that Paul Feiner's consigliere on the Westhelp fiasco, Chase Caro later went to prison so he won't be around for any more legal opinions, but who else? Valhalla has a history of legal opinion shopping when they are caught in illegal activity and in nearly every case those paid-for opinions prove to be unsound. What lawyer's opinion do they have? Surely those lawyers have insurance.

So who was not imaginable? From the moment I heard Ned McCormack's folksy tale of raking leaves and Supervisor Feiner biking up to say hi, have I got a deal for you, I knew that deal was illegal. But somehow thinking taxpayers could not possibly understand the wonders of graft and greed that Westchester's Well-to-Do had in store.

Heck, I couldn't even understand why Westchester County was paying off the Town of Greenburgh for a shelter that had been in operation for 10 years and had cost Greenburgh nothing. So when I said there was no way a town could gift money to a school district and no way a president of a homeowners association could control $6 million in School District accounts I guess I did not even register as imaginable. But it seems that even before the first check was cut others, including reputable lawyers living in the Town of Greenburgh were on the same page. Certainly they were imaginable.

Then there was the State Comptroller who in two audits said the same thing and still Valhalla desperately sought to get every penny and spend it just as Ned McCormack directed. Even going as far as guarantying repayment of the entire $1.9 million in order to get the last drop of illegal funds.

So now the question is, is it legal to tax residents in the Towns of Mt Pleasant and North Castle, who had no control of of illegally obtained funds, because their representatives were too stupid to understand a basic principal of constitutional law, even though those representative took an oath to uphold that constitution. Is there no personal responsibility for government officials once they commit a crime? Or is that unimaginable too?

Here is the article Reprinted from The Daily Greenburgh

Fingerpointing Follows Valhalla-Greenburgh Ruling

by Natalia Baage-Lord

GREENBURGH, N.Y. – Now that the State Supreme Court ruled that the Valhalla school district has to repay $1.86 million of illegally-funded money to the town of Greenburgh, some are wondering who is really at fault and others are worrying how the district will come up with the funds.

"It's unfortunate that the Valhalla schools got the end of the line on this one," said Michael Smith, former president of the Valhalla School Board of Education and incoming county legislator. "Nobody at the time said that this was illegal."

State Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Colabella ruled Friday that Greenburgh's 2004 agreement to give the Valhalla schools $650,000 a year for 10 years in exchange for hosting a homeless shelter within its borders, was illegal. In court, the district said that they were given nearly $1,865,000. The money came from rent paid by to the town by WestHelp, the homeless shelter in Greenburgh.

William Rosenberg, current president of the Valhalla School Board, denied comment, and firmly stated that none of the board members or the superintendent wants to speak about the case.

However, Smith, who was the board president from 2005 to 2011, said that the Greenburgh Town Board, county legislators and county executive gave their approval with no indication that there would be any future repercussions. Now, years later, the courts are saying the opposite.

"It will be extraordinarily difficult [for the district to pay the money back]," said Smith, adding that the tax cap and other state-mandated regulations might make it hard for the district to repay the town. "It doesn't appear that the school district really did anything wrong. Everyone imaginable in the process approved it."

While it is a victory for Greenburgh to be receiving nearly $2 million, some place the blame on Town Supervisor Paul Feiner, who reportedly ignored claims from local residents and civic associations in 2003. Feiner's opposition said at the time that the grant was illegal.

"This agreement should never have happened," said Bob Bernstein, a lawyer, Edgemont resident and intervenor on the case. "It was a cynical attempt to pay off a neighborhood. It was blatantly political, and it should have no place in public policy. It was wrong. And, for years, Feiner would not listen to those of us who were telling him that it was wrong, both morally and legally. It's gratifying to get a court to rule that the agreement was indeed illegal and unenforceable."

Nevertheless, Feiner still defends his decision. He said that he awarded the money to the Valhalla schools to compensate the community for keeping WestHelp in Greenburgh. Members of the Knollwood Civic Association argued that the nearby homeless shelter caused their property values to decrease. Bernstein, however, said that he found no proof of decreased property values at the hands of the shelter.

Hooray for us!

2011-11-22T12:33:00.000-05:00

Another Banner Day for the Valhalla School District, compliments of Ned McCormack and the Mayfair Knollwood Civic Association.

Journal News November 22, 2011

GREENBURGH — A state justice has ruled that an agreement by the town to fund educational programs in the Valhalla school district is illegal — a decision that could see at least $1.9 million returned to Greenburgh taxpayers.

In an eight-page ruling, state Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Colabella said the 2004 agreement, which called for Greenburgh to pay the school district $6.5 million over 10 years, was an improper gift that did not benefit the majority of town residents.

"This money should never have left the town," said Bob Bernstein, an Edgemont resident and attorney whom the court allowed to help the town defend the lawsuit. "The taxpayers of Greenburgh are entitled to get their money back."

Valhalla sued Greenburgh for breach of contract after a 2007 state audit determined the agreement was illegal and the town stopped making payments. David Shaw, whose law firm represents the district, said school officials would consider an appeal of the ruling, which requires it to repay $1.9 million to Greenburgh.

Town Supervisor Paul Feiner, who negotiated the original agreement with the district, said the goal was to compensate the community for the operation of a homeless shelter on the Westchester Community College campus in Valhalla. In 2001, the town assumed the lease for the property through a deal with Westchester County and agreed to sublease it to WestHELP, which operated a shelter for homeless single mothers and preschool-age children.

The grant to the school district was meant to shore up community support for the town's plans to keep the shelter open an additional 10 years. The county closed it in September.

"I think anytime the government imposes something on a neighborhood that could impact property values that the government should do something for the neighborhood," Feiner said. "Our intentions were good. The concept was good, but we can't do it, so we're not going to do it."

Bernstein and Herbert Rosenberg, a former village justice in Dobbs Ferry, were given permission to join the town as "intervenor defendants" because Feiner supported the agreement, creating a conflict of interest, Bernstein said.

Bernstein said residents in the Mayfair Knollwood section of Valhalla, a largely white area, protested the shelter because many of its residents were black. He said the grant was essentially a payoff.

"Giving money to a neighborhood to compensate them for having to live near a homeless shelter is offensive morally, and illegal," Bernstein said.

Ned McCormack, who lives in the Mayfair Knollwood area and is the former president of the civic association that helped develop the agreement, denied race played a role. He said the original deal for the shelter, which opened in 1991, was for it to operate for 10 years and then be moved.

When the town and county sought in 2001 to keep the shelter open, residents wanted a deal that benefited the school district, fire district and town, said McCormack, who now serves as communications director and senior adviser to County Executive Rob Astorino. The deal called for the town to divvy up the $1.2 million in rent it received from WestHELP, keeping $473,000 and giving just over half to the school district and $100,000 to the Fairview Fire District.

"Everybody was in agreement that this was a good, fair and equitable deal," McCormack said, noting outside counsel for the town signed off on the deal.

But Terry Williams, president of the Greenburgh Board of Education, said he was among many who questioned the agreement.

"This wasn't rocket science," he said. "The way that they came to this agreement was illegal and the fact that they gave money away was ridiculous."

Send in the Clowns

2011-11-21T22:28:00.001-05:00

Reprinted from the Daily Greenburgh

Greenburgh to Recoup $1.8 Million From Valhalla Schools

By Natalia Baage-Lord

GREENBUGH, N.Y. – The Valhalla School District must repay $1.8 million to the Town of Greenburgh after a State Supreme Court judge ruled it was illegal for the town to give a grant to the school district in exchange for allowing a homeless shelter within its borders.

In March 2004, Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner signed an agreement with the Valhalla schools that would give the school district payments of up to $650,000 annually over a 10-year period. The money was to come from the rent paid to the town from WestHelp, a homeless shelter in Greenburgh.

“The grant was improper, as a matter of law," State Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Colabella wrote in his decision. "The town is entitled, therefore, to recoupment of all funds that were improperly expended.”

The Valhalla School District records showed it received $1,864,151.80 from the Town of Greenburgh. The New York State Supreme Court ordered it all to be repaid to the town.

William Rosenberg, president of the Valhalla School District's Board of Education, did not return a phone message left at his home on Monday evening.

Feiner said the town’s intention was to keep WestHelp in the town. However, the Knollwood Civic Association, which is partly in the Valhalla area, did not want the homeless shelter in their community, and felt that the community should be compensated if it was. At the time, Feiner and the civic association came to the agreement that the Valhalla School District should receive money.

"Feiner explained that he was thinking outside of the box, but sometimes when you're thinking outside of the box, you get involved in illegal activity," said Bob Reninger, president of the Broadview Civic Association, located in Greenburgh.

At the time, several members of the Greenburgh community rallied against the grant agreement, saying they were unhappy with Feiner's evasive reasoning for giving the money to Valhalla schools. Those opposed brought their concerns to the New York State Comptroller and the Westchester County Board of Legislators in 2003, saying that it was illegal for a town to award money to a school district.

"I don't think it's unfortunate now because the Town of Greenburgh gets its money back," said Terry Williams, president of the Greenburgh Central 7's Board of Education. "But it's unfortunate for the Valhalla School District."

In court, the Town of Greenburgh was represented by Herb Rosenberg, a former Dobbs Ferry judge, and Bob Bernstein, a former president of the Edgemont Community Council.

Bernstein could not be reached Monday evening for comment.

Williams said the money would have benefited the school district to have looked into the grant agreement in 2004 to ensure that there would be no misconduct or transgressions.

He also said it was clear that the town board members at the time voted to grant the money. "The problem was a lack of leadership at the town board level and the town supervisor level because this shouldn't have happened,” he said. “I'm glad to see that we're getting our money back, but the bigger thing is that the proponents for this are still in power."

Feiner said he still thinks the grant made sense.

"Although our intention was good, the law says that we can't do it," Feiner said. "I believe that from a political standpoint, the government has to do something for the common good so that nobody loses."

Westhelp, the Gift that Keeps on Giving

2011-11-21T22:12:00.000-05:00

I remember when Ned McCormack told me the lawyers had all said the deal was legal. Where are those lawyers now? Well we know one later went to prison, but what about the others? Just how stupid does Valhalla look now having even indemnified the town for the entire $1.864 million and for legal fees too?

Scarsdale 10583

Valhalla Schools Ordered to Repay $1.864 Million in Illegal Grant Money to Town of Greenburgh

In the latest development in the case of the Valhalla School District against the Town of Greenburgh, Judge Nicholas Colabella of the New York State Supreme Court has ruled that the town is entitled to recover $1.864 million previously paid to the Valhalla School District. The school district had filed a claim against the Town of Greenburgh for an additional $4.5 million due to them under a grant agreement that dated back to 2004. Under that grant, the Town of Greenburgh was to pay the Valhalla School District $650,000 per year for ten years to compensate them for educating children housed at Westhelp, a facility for the homeless on the campus of Westchester Community College. At the time, the Town of Greenburgh was receiving $1.2 million a year from the County to lease the shelter for the homeless. Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner championed the grant of $650,000 per year as a means of funneling some of the County lease money to Valhalla to compensate them for housing and educating the homeless.

However, in January, 2007 a review by the State Comptroller’s office found that the grant to the Valhalla School was unlawful as the monies were not being spent for a town-wide purpose but only for the benefit of one portion of the municipality. The Comptroller deemed it “an impermissible gift of public funds to a private entity,” and reported that the almost $1.9 million that had been already paid over three years had not been used for the benefit of children from Westhelp. In fact, no children from Westhelp were in attendance at Valhalla Schools and the monies were being channeled to” adult education and cultural enrichment programs.” According to a footnote in the judgment, two thirds of the children in the Valhalla School District are not even residents of the Town of Greenburgh, making the benefit of the gift to Greenburgh residents “incidental at best.”

But rather than accept the Comptroller’s decision that the grant was invalid, the Valhalla Schools moved to try to recoup the remaining $4.5 million that would have been paid under the grant agreement. In the November 18, 2011 ruling, instead of ordering the Town of Greenburgh to pay the balance of the illegal grant, the court ordered Valhalla to pay back the $1.864 million already received to the Town of Greenburgh.

In a highly unusual move, two local residents, Robert Bernstein of Edgemont and Herbert Rosenberg of Dobbs Ferry acted as Intervener Defendants in the suit contending that Town Supervisor Paul Feiner's support for the illegal grant created a conflict of interest in the town attorney's office that prevented the town from fairly representing their taxpayers. Consequently both the town’s attorneys and the team of Bernstein and Rosenberg filed claims. The Town argued to recover the funds on the basis that they were constitutionally prohibited from making the grant and that the school district failed to file a timely notice of claim. The Interveners based their claim on the indemnification agreements executed by the school district in which they assumed the legal risk for the grant.

In his decision, the judge wrote, “in fact, there is no inconsistency between the positions of the town and the intervener defendants in this action. The indemnification provisions are merely an alternate basis for recovery.”

Greenburgh Deputy Town Attorney David Fried said, ““We’re extremely pleased that the court agreed with the town’s position that there was no breach of contract and that the district failed to timely file its notice of claim.” Bernstein and Rosenberg claimed that they had won the summary judgment and said, “The ruling is a stern rebuke to Feiner who has for years insisted that the grant was legal and should be enforced.” Either way, the Town stands to recoup the misspent funds.

Will Valhalla appeal? According to the lawyers, it’s possible -- especially because Valhalla could find it impossible to come up with the money to repay the Town of Greenburgh due to the 2% tax cap, which will undoubtedly squeeze the school district even further.

McCormack's Manna to be Returned to Heaven

2011-11-21T21:31:00.000-05:00

The Westhelp Partnership, was once described by Rob Astorino's Communications Director, Ned McCormack as "manna from heaven". But as I always said, the deal was illegal from the start and now because problem solver Mike Smith and the bumbling Valhalla School board decided to sue the Town of Greenburgh to continue the illegal program, Valhalla taxpayers are facing a $1.9 million increase in taxes. Let's not forget, the Valhalla school board also indemnified the town, so we should expect to pay Greenburgh's legal fees for this lawsuit and any appeals.

Journal News -

Court vacates Greenburgh-Valhalla financial deal over homeless shelter

Nov. 21, 2011

GREENBURGH — A state judge has ruled that an agreement by the town to fund educational programs in the Valhalla school district is illegal — a decision that could see at least $1.9 million returned to Greenburgh taxpayers.

In an eight-page ruling, state Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Colabella said the 2004 agreement, which called for Greenburgh to pay the school district $6.5 million over 10 years, was an improper gift that did not benefit the majority of town residents.

"This money should never have left the town," said Bob Bernstein, an Edgemont resident and attorney who the court allowed to help the town defend the suit. "The taxpayers of Greenburgh are entitled to get their money back."

Valhalla sued Greenburgh for breach of contract after a 2007 state audit determined the agreement was illegal and the town stopped making payments. David Shaw, whose law firm represents the district, said school officials will consider an appeal of the ruling, which requires it to repay $1.9 million to Greenburgh.

Town Supervisor Paul Feiner, who negotiated the original agreement with the district, said the goal was to compensate the community for the operation of a homeless shelter on the Westchester Community College campus in Valhalla. In 2001, the town assumed the lease for the property through a deal with Westchester County and agreed to sublease it to WestHELP, which operated a shelter for homeless single mothers and preschool-age children.

The grant to the school district was meant to shore up community support for the town's plans to keep the shelter open another 10 years. The county closed it in September.

"I think anytime the government imposes something on a neighborhood that could impact property values that the government should do something for the neighborhood," Feiner said. "Our intentions were good. The concept was good but we can't do it, so we're not going to do it."

Bernstein and Herbert Rosenberg, a former village justice in Dobbs Ferry, were given permission to join the town as "intervenor defendants" because Feiner supported the agreement, creating a conflict of interest, Bernstein said.

Journal News Endorses John Nonna

2011-11-07T12:36:00.002-05:00

In endorsing John Nonna, the Journal News gives deservedly little consideration to Mike Smith, who ran as anyone but the Mike Smith who served six years on the Valhalla School board, raising taxes 21% in his 1st three years, then perversley taking credit for not raising taxes as much when the national economy sank into recession. The Editor's assessment of a shrill voice is so appropriate as "shrill voices" were a mainstay of the Smith years with constant orchestrated parades of women lining up to hurl invectives and aspersions at anyone opposing Smith's board agenda's especially fellow board members Bill McGuinn and Bill Rosenberg.

Mt. Pleasant Republicans have again chosen an unvetted candidate, like they did with Jim Russell, and have gotten burned again. Someday perhaps the party will move out of hiding and actually interact with its members. But until it does expect more back room deals, whispering campaigns and nasty campaign flyers, mirroring what Valhalla School district residents have come to expect.

From the Journal News October 29, 2011

District 3

(Mount Pleasant, Pleasantville, North Castle)

In some election down the road, Democrat John Nonna, also on the Working Families and Independence lines, has all the tools, smarts and experience to become Westchester County executive. County Executive Rob Astorino and the Republicans must know this. Why else would they go to such lengths to portray Nonna as some kind of political stooge? The voters should know better.

Nonna, a former Pleasantville trustee and mayor, has been a voice of reason on the board, which he has served since 2007. He has called out his Democratic brethren when they have failed to play fair and done the same to check the Astorino administration when those officials have forgotten the concepts of shared governance and checks and balances. A lawyer by trade, Nonna helped bring clarity to the affordable housing settlement reached two years ago — and used today as a wedge by the county executive and so many Republican challengers. They exploit unjustified fears, rather than bring communities together.

Nonna is opposed by Michael Smith, Republican and Conservative, and supposedly one of the county executive's handpicked flame-throwers. Another shrill voice is the last thing this board needs. Re-elect Nonna.

Reality Timeline Check

2011-11-03T07:45:00.000-04:00

CPA Mike Smith elected to Valhalla Board of Education May 2005, which raised taxes 8% May 2006 then paid for a booze cruise with taxpayer money August 2006. Now he would like to be your county legislator because he is a fiscally responsible problem solver. No kidding...

Mike Smith's record speaks volumes

2011-11-02T15:51:00.006-04:00

As a taxpayer in the Valhalla school district I am still amused that Mr Smith is running as a tax cutter. He is anything but. In his first 3 years on the Valhalla BOE spending rose 21%. The increase one year before had been 8.8% so where were the cuts?

He is now opposed the $1 a year county lease for the children's museum, but never opposed Valhalla's $1 a year Easter Seals lease, the district lost $2.4 million on that deal.

When state auditors shut down the illegal Westhelp scam, Mike Smith voted to sue his own town to restart the illegal payments. He had no problem spending school district money on:

Matching Grants to the Valhalla Schools Foundation even though it is illegal to fund private foundations with government money.
Two full time salaries for Kensico School Principal
Pay his own expense at a private school
Donations to Easter Seals, another private foundation.
Summer trips to the Grand Canyon
Trips to the opera
Dinners at trendy NYC restaurants
Adult Ice Skating at Rockefeller Center
Ocktoberfest at Bear Mountain
A moonlight booze cruise on the Hudson

Despite Mr. Smith's denials to the contrary, the Booze Cruise was on his watch, in August of 2006

Here are quotes from the 2008 NY State audit of Mike's Smith's Valhalla school district finances:

“District officials did not maintain complete and accurate accounting records to facilitate the proper and timely monitoring of the WestHELP Grant. As a result, of the approximately $1.7 million expended for the Grant, approximately $456,000 was not expended in accordance with the Grant agreement, proposals or applicable laws”

“The [Valhalla] Board did not provide sufficient oversight over District financial operations”

“The District overpaid for the Business Administrator’s life insurance premiums by $38,500”

“Internal controls over payroll were not adequate”

“The District did not have adequate controls over the payroll process”

“District officials did not implement an effective system of internal controls to safeguard computerized data”

Mike Smith's record speaks volumes. All you need to do is listen..

Tax Hikes, Trophy Trashing and More

2011-10-31T15:24:00.004-04:00

By his own account, Michael Smith is running for county legislator as a conservative tax cutter and community-minded, competent problem-solver. However, his record on the Valhalla school board presents a somewhat different picture.

Notably, during his first three-year-term in office, Valhalla's spending rose 21 percent, an average of 7 percent a year. Then there was the trophy trashing. In 2007, a group of alumni toured the high school and were surprised that the school's trophy case was empty. Initially the Board of Education said the trophies were being cleaned, then that they were in storage. Rumors spread that 40 years of trophies had been thrown away. Denials from the Board of Education were quickly belied when former teachers came forward with championship trophies they had rescued from the school trash bin. Alumni who came to a public meeting were denied the opportunity to speak as they were no longer residents of Valhalla; at which point the board members quickly adjourned and literally ran away from their own meeting.

Trophies the BOE said were being cleaned up, turned up in the trash

Then in 2009 the Valhalla board authorized President Smith to sign a contract with a company called E-Rate, which would have saved taxpayers $38,000 in communications costs. Inexplicably, Smith chose not to sign the contract and missed the filing deadline. Many local districts benefitted from the program, but not Valhalla.

So, yes, Mike Smith is a competent, tax-cutting, fiscally responsible, community-minded problem solver, except for those times when he wasn't; those six years he sat on the Valhalla school board.

"District officials did not maintain complete and accurate accounting records"

2011-10-26T14:52:00.004-04:00

By his own account, Michael Smith is running for county legislator as a conservative tax cutter and fiscally astute, problem-solver. However his record on the Valhalla School board presents a somewhat different picture.

Notably, during his first three year term in office, Valhalla’s spending rose 21%, an average of 7% a year. Spending increases were masked by shorting the district’s fund balance. Valhalla's unappropriated fund balance for the 09-10 school year was only $263,000 or 0.63% of the that year's budget. The state average was 4.43%. By average state standards, Valhalla's fund balance was short that year by nearly $1.6 million

But perhaps the best assessment of the Smith years can be found in these quotes from the 2008 state comptroller’s audit:

“District officials did not maintain complete and accurate accounting records to facilitate the proper and timely monitoring of the WestHELP Grant. As a result, of the approximately $1.7 million expended for the Grant, approximately $456,000 was not expended in accordance with the Grant agreement, proposals or applicable laws”

“The [Valhalla] Board did not provide sufficient oversight over District financial operations”

“The District overpaid for the Business Administrator’s life insurance premiums by $38,500”

“Internal controls over payroll were not adequate”

“The District did not have adequate controls over the payroll process”

“District officials did not implement an effective system of internal controls to safeguard computerized data”

Clearly Michael Smith is not running on his record as a member of Valhalla School board, and for good reason. As Smith left the board, the Valhalla School District was suing the Town of Greenburgh to continue illegal payments made under the Westhelp Agreement shut down by the same state auditors who gave the glowing assessment (above) of the Smith board in 2008. Two residents of Greenburgh were suing Valhalla to get back funds illegally transferred to Valhalla under the Westhelp Partnership Agreement. A former employee was suing the School District, the former superintendent, individual board members and local law enforcement in Federal Court and a current board member was suing the school district for actions taken by Mr. Smith and other board members against him.

Depositions galore, board members secretly taping each other's conversations, juvenile name calling by Mike Smith on Facebook; oh yes, Valhalla residents know Mike Smith is one helluva problem solver.

Former Valhalla Trustee Accuses Smith of Improprieties During School Board Tenure

2011-10-15T20:46:00.000-04:00

(reprinted from The Examiner)

By Sam Barron

A former Valhalla school board member has accused county legislator hopeful Michael Smith of engaging in questionable practices while the candidate served on the district’s board of education. John Fitzgerald, a school board member from 1992 to 1994 and who maintains his own Valhalla blog, has charged that Smith was a part of a couple of glaring improprieties during his six years on the board. Smith, a Greenburgh Republican, is running against incumbent John Nonna (D-Pleasantville) in District 3. He served on the Valhalla Board of Education from July 1, 2005, until June 30, 2011, including time as president.

At the heart of Fitzgerald’s complaint was a partnership forged between the county and the Town of Greenburgh regarding WESTHELP, a county-run transitional facility for the homeless. It opened in 1991 and was supposed to operate for 10 years, but in 2001 Westchester officials decided to extend the lease, which expired last Friday, for another 10 years. As a result, the county paid the Town of Greenburgh $1.2 million
a year in rent.

Members of the Mayfair-Knollwoods Civic Association, in whose area the shelter had been located, were upset with the lease extension. They negotiated a deal that would see the Valhalla School District receive up to $650,000 of the $1.2 million annual payment to help offset the increased enrollment caused by children living at the shelter.

Fitzgerald, who has lived in Valhalla since 1977, alleges that much of the WESTHELP money paid to the school district was spent frivolously, including taking students on trips to the opera, ice skating at Rockefeller Center and the Grand Canyon.

“They spent $1.8 million and said they couldn’t spend anything on capital improvements,” charged Fitzgerald. In 2007, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released an audit revealing the deal between the Town of Greenburgh and the Valhalla School District was improper since the town could not give money to the district. Upon the comptroller’s audit, the Town of Greenburgh stopped the payments.

While Fitzgerald acknowledged that the WESTHELP money had been spent questionably by the district before Smith arrived, he maintained that the comptroller’s audit covered only July 1, 2005, through June 20, 2007, Smith’s first two years on the board. Smith responded last week that the WESTHELP contract was signed and negotiated before he arrived, although he did not deny how some of the money was spent. He said it was done in response to complaints from residents in that section of Greenburgh about a shelter being maintained in their neighborhood.

“This was done to placate the residents,” Smith said. “It was an innovative contract.” He said the civic association approved the deal by a 9-1 margin. The contract prohibited the school district from using the money to reduce the tax rate. Instead, the money was intended for program enhancements. “That’s the way it was laid out between the county, school district and Greenburgh,” Smith said. “John will rail on about that specific issue, but it was prohibited to be used as a (tax) reduction.”

In response, the district sued the town, wanting to continue the arrangement. The town is also suing the school district in hopes of retrieving the money. Both cases remain in litigation. “It’s a long, convoluted and tortured history,” Smith said. “I believe in the enforcement of the contract.”

While the comptroller’s office criticized the pact, it is not a judicial branch, he said. “It’s problematic. The county held up their end of the contract to Greenburgh,” Smith said. “It’s one of John’s passionate items; he’ll churn up a lot of stuff. It would’ve been great if we could’ve used it as a reduction of the tax base, but that is not permitted by state law.”

Fitzgerald also said school spending skyrocketed while Smith was on the board, a sharp contrast to his current campaign for county legislator where he positions himself as a fiscal conservative. During Smith’s sixyear tenure on the school board, Fitzgerald said spending increased 26 percent—an average of 4.3 percent annually—about twice the rate of inflation.

“The biggest shock to me is that Michael Smith is running as a Republican,” Fitzgerald said. “He was against any cuts. He was on board with a constant increase in spending.”

The audit and WESTHELP episode was not the only controversy that followed Smith while he was a trustee, Fitzgerald said. Smith also helped pass a resolution allowing free SAT prep courses from Princeton Review for district students living in Greenburgh, whether or not they attended private or public school. Smith, whose daughter attended the Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, was reimbursed for his daughter’s SAT prep course.

Smith shot down Fitzgerald’s claim, stating that he did not join the school board in order to get his daughter a free SAT prep course. He said his daughter took a class that was less expensive than the one being offered by the Valhalla School District. “The Princeton Review was provided for any child in the town,” Smith said. “No one could be excluded. All the paperwork was submitted to the administration for reimbursement.” Smith said while he was on the board every budget passed, which had not always been the case in Valhalla. He blamed spending hikes on an increase in state mandates and rising special education and pension costs.

“We were bearing these economic costs due to state law,” Smith said. “New York State continued to decrease state aid.”

The Homeless Hedge Fund

2011-10-07T15:12:00.000-04:00

How often do the Journal News editors criticize the actions of public schools in Westchester County? If you answered never, you would be almost right. Almost because back in 2006 the Journal News actually found the whole concept of bribing a neighborhood association with public money to be inappropriate, in fact illegal. Allowing certain individuals to act as fauxlanthopists in funding their private interests under the guise of public education was not in the interest of the public or education.

It says a lot about the judgement of Michael Smith, former Valhalla School Board president and candidate for the Westchester County Board of Legislators, that he not only approved of this illegal program and personally profited from it but used public school district funds to sue the Town of Greenburgh to have the program reinstated after the NY State Comptroller shut it down. Just think of what spending Mike Smith and Ned McCormack might find appropriate if united again in County Government with access to the county coffers.

The Journal News.

A cash shelter

(Original Publication: October 22, 2006)

Any time large sums of money are divided among organizations, there will be squabbles over who gets what and how it is spent. One for the ages is playing out in Greenburgh, stirring up old resentments and, quite apparently, unresolved legal and oversight questions. The story - as set forth by staff writer David McKay Wilson in an article last Sunday and hashed out by various parties and observers throughout the week - reads like a classic tale of no good deed going unpunished. How it will be resolved is one for state auditors and a community's conscience.

In Greenburgh, the town doles out $1.2 million it receives as annual rent for the WestHELP homeless shelter on its slice of the Westchester Community College campus. Of that, $650,000 goes to the Valhalla school district as directed by residents of the Mayfair-Knollwood neighborhood adjacent to the shelter. Why do they get a dime? The money was the price for the neighbors' withdrawing opposition in 2001 to the shelter remaining in the community another 10 years. As Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner explained, the town gave the neighborhood some control over the money as a "perk" to support the shelter. We think the funding scheme is distasteful, but given the rampant NIMBYism in all of the Lower Hudson, we supported the arrangement back in 2001; the homeless still needed a place to go, and other communities certainly weren't rolling out red carpets. That Valhalla gets this six-figure payoff and how the school district spends it continues to raise eyebrows among Greenburgh residents and others about accountability.

Red flags and cruises

Specifically, red flags have been raised - rightfully so - about using money earmarked for school enrichment programs to subsidize programs for adults such as sunset yacht trips around Manhattan and cooking classes at a local restaurant. President Edwin McCormack of the Mayfair-Knollwood Civic Association and a member of the Valhalla Schools Committee, which reviews the district's funding requests for the town, and Supervisor Feiner say they prefer to interpret broadly the definition of student to include lifelong learners, parents and grandparents of district students. Continuing education is admirable, but Manhattan cruises and restaurant jaunts sound like a stretch. Is this the best and proper use of taxpayer money? The agreement also sets aside $50,000 annually for a district-appointed administrator to oversee the program; currently Principal Sal Miele of Kensico Elementary School holds the post. How does a fulltime principal "devote a majority of his or her time" to administer the program, as required by the partnership agreement?

Greenburgh and Valhalla getting any money at all is the result of a 2001 agreement between the town, Westchester County and the shelter's operator WestHELP, which is part of HELP USA, a nonprofit that operates shelters in the New York metropolitan area and in four other states. In addition to the 108 apartment-style units for families transitioning to permanent housing, WestHELP also offers child care, medical and mental health services and job counseling in Greenburgh. Valhalla receives state aid for students enrolled from the shelter.

Not in their back yard

When the shelter was originally proposed in 1991 at the WCC campus, it met the usual NIMBY resistance from Mayfair-Knollwood residents. That opposition was dropped after the county agreed to turn the facility over to Greenburgh in 2001 for affordable senior housing. It's no surprise that 10 years later, the county still had homeless residents who needed assistance. It's also no surprise that having successfully negotiated terms in their favor in 1991, the Mayfair-Knollwood residents worked to get something extra in 2001. The final agreement stipulated that the county would turn over the property to Greenburgh, which would rent it back to WestHELP for $1.2 million. WestHELP gets its funding from donations, the state and the county. In return for withdrawing their opposition, the Mayfair-Knollwood residents designated the $650,000 go to the school district for enrichment programs beyond the basic budget.

A model compromise

Feiner hails the 2001 agreement as a model of community compromise. But since its inception, some residents have persistently opposed Greenburgh giving money to the school district because the funds benefit other communities' residents, namely North Castle and Mount Pleasant, from which Valhalla pulls students. All the negotiations and compromise, however, may well be moot, as state Comptroller Alan Hevesi's office has stepped into the fray and is investigating the legality of the agreement. Feiner has repeatedly stated that the contract was vetted by a virtual army of attorneys, but Hevesi may decide otherwise.

Even Greenburgh's attorney, Timothy Lewis, who was not part of Feiner's legal braintrust when the contract was signed in 2001, is advising the town that the partnership may violate New York's Constitution.

Until Hevesi's office makes a final determination - no timeline was forthcoming last week - the town is wise to heed its attorney's advice and hold off releasing any more funds to the school district. "We have a responsibility to make sure those questions are answered," said board member Steven Bass. Whenever Hevesi's office responds with the "in depth look" promised by Hevesi spokesman Dan Weiller, it's safe to assume it won't say anything about the pernicious Westchester NIMBYism that rewarded a neighborhood for doing a social good that should have been embraced through humanity, not handouts.

Smith vs Smith

2011-09-21T15:30:00.001-04:00

The question for voters in Westchester County District 3 is- Which Mike Smith is running for Westchester County Legislature?

Before he was the fiscally conservative candidate for Westchester County Legislator, Mike Smith was a tax and spend member of the Valhalla School Board raising taxes every year and increasing spending by 26% in six years .

In 2007 the New York State Comptroller's office audited the district and found multiple systemic problems with illegal spending, overpayment of employees, evasion of state pension law and lack of oversight and internal controls on District finances. The period covered Mike Smith's first two years on the Valhalla School Board. A period where the district was spending nearly $700,000 a year in off-budget Westhelp funds under the direction of Rob Astorino's Communications Director, Ned McCormack. The following summary, highlighted for emphasis, was copied directly from the state audit:

DIVISION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY

[Valhalla] Audit Results

The [Valhalla] Board did not provide sufficient oversight over District financial operations. We identified significant deficiencies in the internal controls over the accounting for and disbursement of Grant monies, payment of employee compensation and fringe benefits, the Treasurer’s office and computerized data.

[Valhalla] District officials did not maintain complete and accurate accounting records to facilitate the proper and timely monitoring of the WestHELP Grant. As a result, of the approximately $1.7 million expended for the Grant, approximately $456,000 was not expended in accordance with the Grant agreement, proposals or applicable laws. For example, District officials expended $205,000 to purchase laptop computers from a local vendor and contract for the construction of a physics lab in the high school without competitive bidding. Further, in three program years, the District proposed, and the Town and the Committee approved, programs totaling approximately $140,900 that were not specifically designed for students as required by the Grant agreement.

Internal controls over payroll were not adequate.

The Business Administrator’s contract provided certain fringe benefits including a provision to allow him to receive life insurance valued at twice his annual salary. However, rather than choosing to be reimbursed for a term policy, the Business Administrator elected to purchase a Flexible Premium Variable Universal Life (FPVUL) policy that combined death benefi t protection with the opportunity to direct the investment of net premium dollars into a broad portfolio of investment options. This selection provided him with benefits greater than provided for in his contract, resulting in unnecessary costs to [Valhalla] District taxpayers. We estimated that from July 2001 to July 2007, the District overpaid for the Business Administrator’s life insurance premiums by $38,500.

Further, the Board made these payments without obtaining proper documentation. We were unable to determine the cash surrender value or the death benefit as of June 2007, because the Business Administrator refused to disclose the information.

Beginning in the 2005-06 fiscal year, the Business Administrator chose to have the District pay the vendor directly for his premium payments. This payment method allowed the Business Administrator to avoid the deduction of payroll taxes, which could result in the District being held liable for unpaid taxes, interest, and penalties.

[Valhalla] District officials paid a retired transit police officer as a vendor, while also occasionally paying him as an employee through the normal payroll process. Because the District maintained behavioral and financial control over this individual, including setting his hours (including overtime), supplying him with equipment, and specifi cally designating all aspects of his duties, he should have been paid as an employee. However, during our audit period, the District paid this individual as independent contractor to prevent his income from exceeding the allowable income amounts under his retirement provisions. As a result, this employee may have received retirement benefits in excess of the amounts allowed by law. Further, the District may be held liable for taxes, penalties, and interest.

In addition, we found that the District did not have adequate controls over the payroll process. The payroll clerk performed all payroll functions, had the ability to sign checks electronically, could override the system without supervisory approval, and did not update leave time records. Although our tests of payroll transactions did not identify any material discrepancies, there is an increased risk that inappropriate payroll transactions could be initiated and go undetected and uncorrected. District officials assigned recordkeeping and asset custody functions to the Treasurer, which resulted in her handling all phases of transactions. The Treasurer maintained records, prepared wire transfers, made deposits and prepared bank reconciliations. Although the Treasurer submitted monthly reports to the Board that documented account balances, no one provided oversight or reviewed the bank reconciliations. As a result, there was an increased risk that errors or irregularities could occur and go undetected and uncorrected, even though our testing did not reveal any material discrepancies.

Finally, District officials did not implement an effective system of internal controls to safeguard computerized data.

The District has not adopted an information security policy, employees are not required to change passwords, activity reports are not reviewed, and there is no disaster recovery plan to ensure that computerized data used in daily business operations is protected from loss. These weaknesses could result in an unauthorized access to or the loss of computer equipment and personal and confidential data.

Mr. Smith Goes to White Plains

2011-09-17T11:14:00.001-04:00

Residents of the Valhalla school district, where Mike Smith served as school board president for many years, are surely amused by his new found fiscal conservatism. In a letter to the editor in the Journal News, Mike claims he would oppose the county’s $1 a year lease with the “Children’s Museum” at Rye Playland. On twitter, candidate Smith says it is time to Cut not Cap taxes. Really?

Mr. Smith never once questioned the $1 a year lease that the Valhalla School District has with Easter Seals, a Park Avenue based not-for-profit corporation. He never defined the benefit gained by subsidizing their profitable daycare center at the former Columbus Avenue School on the backs of Valhalla taxpayers. In the first six years of that sweetheart deal Valhalla taxpayers lost $2.4 million. Once a neighborhood playground, the school yard is a parking lot overgrown with weeds and often brimming with garbage.

Valhalla School spending in the Smith years rose by 26% while enrollment increased only 1%.

School spending increases averaged nearly twice the rate of inflation. Spending increased $8.9 million for increased enrollment of about 20 children. School board president Mr. Smith refused to create a citizens' Budget or Audit committee to review district spending or propose cuts. Some highlights of Mike's fiscal record are:

The state Comptroller found the district was over paying for the business managers' life insurance policy, a policy that was not provided in his contract. The district had no obligation to pay this expense. The Business Manager even refused to provide documentation to show what was being paid but Smith's rubber stamp board voted to continue to pay for it anyway 7-0.
During contract negotiation the school's attorneys told the Smith board that, by law, the district was not obligated to mentor recently hired veteran teachers, and should not include stipends to mentor veteran teachers in the teacher's contract. Smith's rubber stamps voted 7-0 to pay for it anyway.
When the district finally paid off the 1991 maintenance bonds and no longer had to make those payments, the windfall was rolled into the following year's budget. Instead of a tax reduction Smith's board kept taxes at a higher level.
When it was uncovered that the district was illegally paying a retired state employee alternately as an employee and as a vendor in order to evade the state pension rules, no one was held accountable.
When the state audit determined that several employees had been over paid, Smith's board voted not to have the employees refund the over payments. The taxpayers were never repaid.

Then there was misuse of Westchester County funds that were supposed to educate homeless children. This is the best example of Mike Smith's fiscal oversight. Along with Westchester County communications chief Ned McCormack, Smith’s Valhalla board allowed their own Mayfair Knollwood Civic Association to direct the spending of $1.8 million in Westchester County funds which were transferred to the Town of Greenburgh for the Westhelp Homeless Shelter and illegally gifted to the Valhalla School district. Skeptical Greenburgh residents outside of the Valhalla School District were told that the money was being used to educate homeless children.

Before the state Comptroller’s audit shut it down, the “WestHelp Partnership” run by Ned McCormack channeled $1.8 million of public funds from School District Accounts into private interests including trips to the opera, lunches at trendy Manhattan restaurants, afternoons at Caramoor, even a booze cruise on the Hudson. One Valhalla administrator was paid $50,000 a year on top of his $150,000 principal's salary to run the scam during school hours while another person was hired, off budget, to perform the duties of the principal.

Here are some programs Mike Smith spent taxpayer funds on:

Summer trips to the Grand Canyon
Illegal Donations to The Valhalla Schools Foundation, 501 c 3 foundation
Carmen at the Met followed by Dinner at Rosa Mexican a 4 star Manhattan Restaurant
NYC Tour with Dining and Skating at Rockefeller Center
Oktoberfest at Bear Mountain
Funding programs at Easter Seals, our $1 a year tenant
Stand up Comedy Classes
Lunch at McMinimen's Grill in New Rochelle

In all $1,864,151 in "Educational Grants" were spent with no controls, no accountability and no public purpose as defined by Educational law or State Constitution. All taxpayer money supposedly meant for educating homeless children.

Now Mike Smith is the level headed fiscally conservative protector of taxpayer interests with the full support of Rino Rob Astorino, Ned McCormack and what passes for "Republicans" in Westchester County.

Mike Smith is no fiscal conservative and no friend of the taxpayer. He was a board president of a D list, overfunded school district. A district with a history of legal problems and fiscal irresponsibility. Looks like Astorino and the Mt. Pleasant Republicans have another unvetted candidate. Jim Russell all over again.

Politics Petitions & Patsies

2011-09-16T14:20:00.000-04:00

The following article originally appeared in the June 16, 2011 edition of the Westchester Guardian

Politics Petitions and Patsies

By Nancy King

People often ask me if, as a political writer, I write about the “good guys”? The answer is the same every time; “there are no good guys, they’re all the same.” We can all count on one hand those who have entered the game of seeking office with the most altruistic of reasons. On that same hand I can count those who have actually been true to their vision quest of helping people. However, this election cycle, here in Westchester County sees candidates seeking office who have been thrust into the arena by those seeking to further their own platforms. This week these candidates are getting their final endorsements from the parties of choice,

and meeting with their District Leaders to get those petitions carried. Business as usual except in Legislative District 3 which will see Democrat John Nonna face off against Republican newbie Michael Smith of Valhalla.

John Nonna really hasn’t done half bad as a legislator, that is until he got tied up in the supermajority cabal and was then appointed to oversee the re-districting process. This re-districting process has turned out to be such a colossal mess that it has charted the course for this year’s election process and in turn has earned Mr. Nonna an opponent . Enter Michael Smith, a Valhalla School Board member to challenge Mr. Nonna. It’s how he got to the nominating process and the subsequent vetting process that really blows one’s mind.

Mr. Smith’s tenure while serving as a board member and board president in Valhalla has been clouded in a swirl of controversy. Starting with being a custodian of that Greenburgh Westhelp money; deemed to enrich the lives of homeless children in his district. However, those children never actually showed up in the district and you know how it goes with money like that…. Use it or lose it. And so it went. With the help of Ned McCormack, Rob Astorino’s senior advisor and communications director (and Smith’s friend and neighbor) the money began to be spent. For several years, board members sanctioned the spending of that WestHelp money on what appears to be their own private interests. I doubt that the children benefitted from nights at the opera, lunches at trendy restaurants and Hudson River Cruises. Money was also spent on administrators going away and retirement parties. If a board member’s child needed a pricey SAT review course, it came from this fund.

But sooner or later this misuse of money began to be noticed by some. John Fitzgerald, a former board member and publisher of the controversial blog valhallavoice.com began to follow this board’s antics and how they spent this money. Greenburgh residents Robert Bernstein and Herbert Rosenberg noticed and took it one step farther. They sued the Town of Greenburgh to halt the flow of money to the Valhalla School District. Finally the New York State Comptrollers office got wind of the WestHelp deal , the monies and how these funds were spent. Sure enough, it was deemed illegal and the monies stopped flowing to Valhalla. Of course the Mayfair-Knollwood Neighborhood Association (McCormack and Smith) blame Paul Feiner for setting up an illegal deal as do Mssrs. Bernstein and Rosenberg. This may be true and it is up to the courts to sort this one out but it doesn’t stop there either. As Valhalla was receiving this money their scores were circling the drain. Former board member William McGuinn questioned as to why 91% of students failed a Chemistry regents. Never one who liked to be questioned, board President Michael Smith took to his Facebook account to voice his displeasure at McGuinn’s questioning. “McIdiot gets a shout out from the coward of the keyboard. Sort of like a pig sleeping with a porcupine. Can the end of the world be near?”

Great words from an elected official in charge of a 44 million dollar school budget. But Smith did get a nod of encouragement on his Facebook wall from non other than Evelyn McCormack, wife of Rob Astorino’s senior advisor. She writes” Yikes I’m just not reading the paper anymore”. If this is the sort of behavior that Smith has entertained one has to wonder what he’s going to do if he ever gets to the eighth floor of the County Office Building.

Which leads us to the question of how he is actually getting to 148 Martine Avenue. Earlier this week Mr. Smith met with Conservative Party leaders on his home turf of Mt. Pleasant. For party unity they did indeed endorse him with the exception of one member who abstained from the vote. As we go to press, Mr. Smith has failed to meet with the Conservative leaders in the Town of

North Castle. Perhaps he doesn’t realize that Armonk is his district as well. Who does he think will carry his petitions for him? This ain’t the school board baby; this is big County Government and you need all the friends you can muster up to make it there.break the super majority ; instead they have a D listed school board member to be their patsy. In the meantime perhaps John Nonna can find his original altruistic heart and do what the electorate has charged him with… serving the people.

It is a shame that the current administration has so few viable candidates able to step up the plate in order to break the super majority ; instead they have a D listed school board member to be their patsy. In the meantime perhaps John Nonna can find his original altruistic heart and do what the electorate has charged him with… serving the people.

Nancy King resides in Greenburgh, New York. She is an investigative reporter.

Government Meddling Drives Business Away

2011-06-09T14:40:00.000-04:00

Three recent legislative actions prove the point that government is not the solution; government is the problem. First, Westchester County passes a meaningless sales tax exemption on the purchase of solar power systems that are unaffordable, complex and of questionable value. If you happen to have $20,000 to throw solar panels on your roof, you won't have to pay an additional $674 to the county for that privilege.

According to Zillow.com there are more than 10,000 homes for sale in the county and Trulia.com puts the number in foreclosure at 11 percent. So is solar power really an issue the county needs to address? Wouldn't the elimination of the county's sales tax on gasoline be of greater benefit to individuals and businesses?

Next, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Assemblyman Bob Castelli, R-Goldens Bridge, and others are throwing federal funds, borrowed from China, at local not-for-profit foundations to "educate" the unemployed. While students graduating from college can't find jobs, foundations that feed at the public trough will somehow endow the chronically unemployed with magical work skills.

Finally, State Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers, seeks to create another entitled class in order to reduce unemployment. Forcing companies to hire unemployed workers, her bill would regulate and criminalize the free movement of labor. Obviously Ms. Stewart-Cousins has no understanding of economics and missed the whole "pursuit of happiness" concept in the Declaration of Independence.

These examples of bipartisan meddling in the market will only create more bureaucracy and drive businesses away from New York state.

County Democrats Spending like it's 1999

2011-05-05T12:19:00.000-04:00

In Twitter messages on Wednesday May 4, every Democrat in the Westchester county legislature crowed about how they had "restored" funding to pay for Heritage Festivals at the Kensico Dam and International Terror Target Plaza in Valhalla.

Ignoring the reality of 20% un and under employment, a crashing real estate market and soaring gasoline, home heating and food prices, these Spendocrats found enough money left in your pocket to attract non paying picnicers and to the one place in the county that the same legislature has determined is directly in the crosshairs of Al Queda.

In the word of one numnutz "This festival invites us to explore our history through contemporary interpretations of music, theatre, spoken word, and local celebrations," said Majority Leader Peter Harckham (D-Katonah). “This heritage series gives county residents increased access to the variety and richness of Westchester’s cultural diversity through professional arts festivals, presentations of live professional performances, and other artistic experiences. Making sure funds were restored for this was a no-brainer.”

Hooray for us!

Board Members Behaving Badly, Again

2010-09-17T13:04:00.001-04:00

Valhalla residents might be interested to know just how their Board of Education spent their summer and this is something you won't find in the award winning Voyages.

In May the district had an attorney explain to the board about how they could remove one of their members. That member was Bill McGuinn. But before they could take action, one of the four votes for removal had her term expire.

Then in August, the once and again board member, LaVerne Clarke, refused to jump onto the “Kill Bill” bandwagon, leaving Mr. Smith, Mrs .Sicuranzo and Mrs. Petrillo holding the bag in the effort to oust Mr. McGuinn, one vote short of re-stacking the board.

Now that bag has just gotten very expensive as there is now a civil law suit, brought by a former Valhalla employee alleging among other things, an assault and an attempt to remove Mr. McGuinn as a bargaining chip for having that civil suit dropped. The suit is not against the district but against the Dr. Ramos Kelly and her husband as well as three current board members and one former board member, personally

Now we hear that the School District’s insurance company has correctly refused to pay for the defense of these individuals. The lawsuit involves many allegations and millions of dollars, defending will cost plenty but for now we, the taxpayers, won’t have to pay for this bad board behavior.

What is about to happen? No one knows.

Dividing the Spoils

2010-09-17T09:49:00.000-04:00

School is open and it is time once again for the Journal News cheerleading squad. On one day Noreen O’Donnell bemoans the plight of districts “making do” on budgets of $30,000 per student. The next day Dwight Worley is on the scene reporting that students are in fact, at school. Polish up the Pulitzers.

Nowhere do these articles speak to the 130% increase in school spending over he last 12 years. Nowhere do reporters address the fact that 80% of public school spending is for labor or that teachers work only 180 days a year and far less than that in the classroom. Nowhere do they speak of the smorgasbord of perks and favors that compensate teachers for every human function within and beyond the school day.

Take the case of Valhalla where, in July, the school board approved 79 paid coaching, club and advisory positions, each with a handsome stipend and none requiring experience, ability or accountability. There will be more clubs added for the Kensico and Virginia Road Schools and at least 40 more athletic coaching positions for the winter and spring seasons.

Are clubs for Board Games, Backgammon, Cooking, Gay/Straight Alliance, Destination Imagination, and Newsbowl really a part of the “bare bones budgets” portrayed in these puff pieces? Must we pay teachers extra to make the morning announcements or watch the parking lot?

Instead of cheering on the sidelines, perhaps these reporters could do some investigation into what they so enthusiastically support.

More Contingent Budget Fraud

2010-04-24T10:02:00.001-04:00

The business office costs the district about $500,000 a year, and produces very little in terms of financial information reported to the taxpayers. You would think they could at least get those few numbers right and give us an honest accounting.

A few years ago, we caught the board inflating the the contingency (fall back) budget by over $1 million in order to convince voters it was not worth the effort to defeat the budget. That year we defeated it anyway and revealed the Valhalla brand of budget padding to the state.

This year we find still another contingent budget padding hidden in their numbers.

According to district projections (which are always over stated anyway, Valhalla expects enrollment to decrease again in 2010-2011. But in the contingent budget they include a $175,000 spending increase due to increased enrollment.

So again in a year of economic decline in which Valhalla continues to increase programmatic spending and carryies a reserve that is short of the state's recommended level by $1.6 million Valhalla has again padded its contingent budget. So Mr. Rosenberg is this yet another document the no one on the Board of education reads? Or is it another instance of Valhalla padding the budget?

And let's not overlook this padding directly affects the 5.2% tax increase are facing in the Mt Pleasant area of the Valhalla School District

Ramos Kelly's resignation

2010-04-14T17:47:00.001-04:00

Mr. Michael Smith
President of the Valhalla Board of Education
316 Columbus Avenue
Valhalla, New York 10595

April 13, 2010

Dear Mike:

It is with mixed emotions that I am submitting this letter announcing my intention to retire from my position as Superintendent of Valhalla Schools, effective August 10, 2010. I so appreciated that the Board was interested in pursuing my contract extension, but for me the time to retire and enjoy family and explore other opportunities seems right.

I am greatly indebted to you and all you have done as president of the Board and to the core members of the Board of Education who have supported a progressive vision for education and commitment to our students. I have been blessed to work with and shape an outstanding administrative team. They have added such vitality and spirit to our schools. I so value my faculty and staff, who care deeply about our students. Their openness to new ideas, work ethic, and dedication to students are truly commendable. I will miss the children the most and have taken such satisfaction in spending time in the buildings and classrooms, watching them grow academically, socially, and emotionally. They reflect the loving care of their parents so well. I have no doubt but that the world will be a better place when they prepare to enter it as adults.

When I look at our original Strategic Planning Team notes from 2005, I brim over with pride when I see the goals we were able to accomplish: completing and opening Viking Stadium, restructuring middle and high school; increasing academic rigor and a K-12 perspective, building a leadership team that focuses on analyzing data, literacy practices and differentiated instruction; increased grant writing; increased art and drama offerings; and recognition for our fine programs after visits from the Commissioner of Education and Regents.

In addition, student scores are up throughout the District and college acceptances are outstanding, including recent Class of 2010 acceptances to great state schools as well as stellar educational institutions like Harvard University, Cornell University, and Middlebury College. What a joy it is to walk around the campus at the end of the day and see our students in great numbers on the field of play savoring our beautiful new Viking Stadium.

Clearly, the attributes of effective schools -- community and parental support, strong leadership, shared values, a focus on student learning and professional growth -- are very much a part of the fabric of this community. I am grateful to the Board of Education for affording me the opportunity to have served as superintendent of this outstanding district.

I am committed to helping you with a smooth transition and I wish you and the Valhalla School Community much success in the future.

Sincerely,

Diane Ramos-Kelly, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Valhalla Union Free School District

c: Honorable Members of the Valhalla Board of Education

Mt Pleasant school taxes going up 5.25%

2010-04-14T13:31:00.000-04:00

Out-of-control government spending is finally the centerpiece of national, state and local politics. Mount Pleasant residents are discovering that their county tax bill will increase by 15 percent this year. However, what has not been reported, is that for Mount Pleasant residents of the Valhalla school district, the county increase will be doubled by the Valhalla school district tax increase of more than 5 percent.

School officials, ignoring record unemployment and foreclosures, are increasing programmatic spending by more than 2 percent. The increase is masked by shifting matured bond payments and reduced transportation costs into salaries and benefits and by using district reserves, leaving the fund balance short of state standards by $1.6 million.

Valhalla, with its recent history of illegal chicanery and bad financial policy, will again be plugging the dike of fiscal irresponsibility with more unsound business practices while spending continues to increase. Even with no contract the teachers will get their raises and cherry pick from a buffet of paid stipends. The only people not getting a break are the taxpayers.

The spendthrift years have produced mediocre educational results and placed the district in the bottom quarter of the county. We enjoy no cost savings of the technology or capital expenditures that would be standard in the private sector. We even had better results in education and athletics when budgets were half what they are now.

Perhaps this year will be a wake-up call. A 5 percent tax increase is just not acceptable. Vote "no" on May 18.

John Fitzgerald

Valhalla

Post Script- both the Superintendent and Business Manager have resigned.

5 % school tax increase in (Valhalla) Mt Pleasant

2010-03-10T15:28:00.000-05:00

While many school districts prepare to trim their budgets and institute sound fiscal policies in a crumbling economy, the Valhalla school district will continue to mask spending increases with accounting tricks and fund-balance transfers.

According to New York state data, Valhalla's financial reserve is short by $1.6 million. The proposed budget fails to address this shortage. The Columbus Avenue School is still occupied by Easter Seals under a $1 a year lease and generates no net revenue. At the same time the district continues to spend time and resources pursuing the WestHelp partnership grant even after squandering $1.8 million in a deal the state comptroller has determined to be illegal.

The budget as presented appears to show no increase. This however is a charade. A 1991 maintenance bond and an illegal artificial turf lease have been paid in full resulting in a reduction of capital expenditures of $350,000. In addition, this budget projects a nearly $200,000 reduction in transportation costs. These savings and another $700,000 resulting from overtaxation this year will be applied to the 2010-2011 budget. This fiscally irresponsible behavior will only hurt taxpayers in the long run. While other districts are prudently cutting staff and spending, Valhalla's programmatic spending will again increase by $400,000.

While we are all coping with our economic realities,Valhalla continues a fiscally irresponsible shell game. To make matters worse after all these tricks and transfers, taxes for Valhalla's Mount Pleasant residents will increase an astronomical 5 %!

Residents React to Facebook Posting

2010-01-22T12:10:00.000-05:00

The following letters were sent to the editor of the Journal News, who refuses to publish them or several other from what I understand:

I’m a regular reader of the letters to the editor, and feel compelled to comment on the behavior of the Valhalla School District board members. I’ve watched the board meetings, and read the two related letters recently published. At one board meeting former board member Laverne Clark, and resident Joseph Starvagi expressed concern that the behavior of certain board members was uncivil. Since board members William Rosenberg and William McGuinn along with president Michael Smith do most of the talking, I can only assume the complaints of bad behavior was referring to them.

I thought the residents of Valhalla would be interested in a posting I found on president Michael Smith’s face book page. This posting came the exact same day that a letter from long time Valhalla critic John Fitzgerald appeared in this paper referencing board member McGuinn. Mr. Smith’s post read:

“McIdiot gets a shout-out from the Coward of the Keyboard. Sort of like a pig sleeping with a porcupine. Can the end-of-the world be near?”

It would appear that Valhalla school board president Michael Smith refers to current board member William McGuinn as “McIdiot” and former board member and critic John Fitzgerald as “the coward of the Keyboard”.

I can say after watching the meetings that all the board members conducted themselves properly in front of the camera. But after reading president Smith’s face book post, I couldn’t vouch for his behavior out of the public eye. Rather than leadership, board president Smith displays a childish and offensive attitude.

Mrs. McGill

And this:

With regard to the two recent letters addressing the Valhalla school district. Some residents of the district expressed concern over the alleged bad behavior of certain board members. I took it upon myself to watch the most recent meetings. While I did see healthy exchanges between two board members and the administration concerning fiscal matters, I saw no behavior that violated the decorum of these meetings. Perhaps these concerned residents spoke of board member’s behavior when not in front of the camera. Then a friend emailed me a posting by board president Michael Smith on his face book page that read, “McIdiot gets a shout-out from the Coward of the Keyboard. Sort of like a pig sleeping with a porcupine. Can the end-of-the world be near”?

Mr. Smith posted this remark the same day former board member John Fitzgerald spoke highly of current board member Bill McGuinn in a Journal News letter to the editor. Forty five minutes after Mr. Smith’s posting was a reply from Valhalla resident Evelyn McCormack that read, “Yikes. I’m just not reading the paper anymore”.

Mrs. McCormack’s reference to “the paper” confirms Mr. Smiths comments were prompted by Mr. Fitzgerald’s letter, and it appears that board president Smith refers to board member William McGuinn as “McIdiot” and John Fitzgerald is “the coward of the Keyboard”.

It’s disconcerting to see a board president in charge of a 40 million dollar budget, and the education of our children, displaying such immaturity on the internet.

Kenneth Kauffman

Mike Smith's "McIdiot" Facebook Posting

2010-01-20T15:16:00.029-05:00

Facebook is a social networking site that it is often problematic for schools because it is sometimes associated with intimidation and bullying and can give opportunity for inappropriate comments among children.

But who, outside of Valhalla, would expect such adolescent behavior from a school board member?

In a December 17th letter to the editor of the Journal News, I praised school board member William McGuinn for publicly questioning both the Valhalla School’s business administrator and the Superintendent on a number of issues.

It is no secret that I am a long time critic of the Valhalla School District including criticism of Mr. McGuinn. It is also no secret that trustee Bill McGuinn and board president Mike Smith disagree on many issues. The tension and dislike between these two is obvious to anyone watching Valhalla’s school board meetings.

So when, on the same day my letter was published, Mr. Smith posted this public Facebook comment:

December 17, 2009 at 9:46pm

“McIdiot gets a shout-out from the Coward of the Keyboard. Sort of like a pig sleeping with a porcupine. Can the end-of –the world be near?”

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B54gC4iSBJDuMTdkYjdlMzktMjNmNy00Zjk0LTgxOTQtYTZhMzYyMGY4ZTFl&hl=en_US

Many people took notice. Several forwarded it to me.

I can’t say why Bill McGuinn is “McIdiot” in the eyes of Mike Smith for simply questioning why 91% of Valhalla students had failed the Chemistry Regents Exam and why 4% of the school’s budget was being transferred 5 months after the end of the year. Only Mr. Smith can answer that. As for calling me "the coward of the keyboard", I can only offer that all of my letters and blog posts are signed. The newspaper and my website are open for rebuttals and clarifications. I have no five minute rule. I don’t run down the hall when confronted by Valhalla alumni and I don’t make up rules, as I go, to stop people from asking questions. Coward? Could someone get Mike Smith a mirror?

Valhalla Sues for Illegal Deal

2010-01-19T14:09:00.000-05:00

The following article appears today in the Journal News. As a Valhalla taxpayer, I want to know how a district with such a poor academic record (91% failure rate on Chemistry Regents, bottom quarter of the county on SAT's) and virtually no money left in their fund balance, has the time and resources to pursue an illegal deal on behalf of a home owners association.

January 19, 2010

Civic leaders plan to intervene in Valhalla schools suit against Greenburgh for shelter payment

Stacy A. Anderson

saanderso1@lohud.com

GREENBURGH — Three civic leaders plan to intervene on behalf of Greenburgh taxpayers in a lawsuit against the town over a controversial $6.5 million payment to the Valhalla schools.

The Valhalla school district is suing the town in an effort to continue receiving $650,000 a year from Greenburgh under the WestHELP Partnership Grant.

Although Greenburgh's counterclaim seeks to recoup the $1.8 million it had already given the school district, the three say that town attorneys cannot adequately represent taxpayers because town Supervisor Paul Feiner favors the agreement.

"Although I continue to believe the concept behind the agreement was good — (and) it's important for communities that invest and do something that no one else wants to do for the good of more people should get more benefits — I'm disappointed in what the state comptroller said," Feiner said. "But again, we are complying with the state law now."

A 2006 audit by the state Comptroller's Office concluded that Greenburgh could not support the school district's education programs because they were not programs with a town purpose. Additionally, payments to the Valhalla Schools Foundation violated a state law that prohibits gifts and loans of public funds to private organizations. The town ceased payments soon after the report.

Edgemont civic leader Bob Bernstein fears town attorneys will be unable to prove the contract is illegal given Feiner's position.

"You can't have a town vigorously fighting a lawsuit when the town's chief officer is still defending what he did," Bernstein said. "The town attorney cannot adequately defend the town and its taxpayers when Feiner is defending the charge for Valhalla."

Bernstein, along with Hastings Mayor Peter Swiderski and former Dobbs Ferry Village Justice Herb Rosenberg, are seeking the consent of Greenburgh and the school district to intervene in the suit, which was filed in July. If both parties object, the three would seek consent from the court.

"What's most disturbing is that the town kept this under wraps so we could not intervene sooner," said Bernstein, who became aware of the lawsuit before Christmas. "It puts the town and taxpayers at severe risk if they (Greenburgh) try to push into a settlement before we intervene."

Residents have also pointed to a conflict of interest for Town Clerk Judith Beville, who sits on the Valhalla school board. Hal Samis of Hartsdale notified the town's Board of Ethics last week and said Beville failed to disclose her interest as a school board member in its filing the suit against the town.

Beville said she does not feel conflicted.

"I have kept my campaign promise, which is to recuse myself from any decision or vote," she said. "I have not registered any vote or any opinion in either forum."

After a second audit by the state said the school district mishandled the grant money and lacked sufficient oversight of the funds, Valhalla officials met with the Town Board in the spring to propose plans for using the funds, including enrichment programs that would be available to other school districts in Greenburgh.

Valhalla filed its suit to claim the remaining funds after the state said the proposed revisions were still illegal. Greenburgh moved to dismiss the case, but state Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Colabella denied that motion in November.

Town Attorney Tim Lewis said Greenburgh and the school district are exchanging information and gathering testimony before returning to court, if necessary.

"I'm confident that the litigation will be resolved that does not adversely affect the town or school district," he said.

In 2001, Greenburgh, Westchester County, WestHELP and the school district renegotiated an agreement to allow a 108-unit shelter off Knollwood Road to operate for another 10 years.

It called for WestHELP to pay Greenburgh $1.2 million a year in rent, and the town was to transfer $650,000 to the Valhalla schools and $100,000 to the Fairview Fire District.

The town continues to receive rent from WestHELP, but also ceased payments to the fire district.

New Westhelp Lawsuit

2010-01-10T19:35:00.001-05:00

Last week a commenter on a Journal News Article posted the following:

"The Valhalla School District actually filed suit against the Town not last week, but on JULY 29, 2009, but Town officials kept the $4.5 million lawsuit a secret. In fact, the matter remained a secret for months until a resident recently obtained a copy of the legal papers through a FOIL request -- and the existence of the lawsuit and the town's lame response was not revealed publicly until the evening of JANUARY 4, 2010, when leaders of the Edgemont Community Council reported on the matter at its meeting that night. The Town's keeping this entire matter a state secret for months until exposed by the ECC is a hallmark of Feiner's appalling lack of transparency when it comes to open government."

Not only is Greenburgh keeping this secret, but so is Valhalla.  Remember the State Comptroller has found this deal to be illegal. Since then, the economy has tanked, people are loosing their homes and Valhalla School Board members are chasing homeless money to restart their trips to the Opera?  91% of Valhalla students failed last year's Chemistry Regents and Valhalla is looking to take more public money for private interests.     

Whatever happened to open government?  Whatever happened to focusing on education?

School Districts Fear Dipping into Reserve Funds

2009-12-27T13:11:00.001-05:00

As you read today's Journal News article about the latest public school bogeyman, the cut in state aid and the "fear" of using unappropriated fund balances to make up for state cuts, you might be wondering how much Valhalla has in their unappropriated fund balance and how does that compare to other districts across the state.

According to the NYS Education Department:

Valhalla's unappropriated fund balance for the 09-10 school year is only $263,000 or 0.63% of the current year's spending plan. The state average is 4.43%.

School Districts across the state that are so struck by fear have seven times as much in reserve as Valhalla has. By average state standards, Valhalla's fund balance is short by nearly $1.6 million

For years I have been saying that Valhalla has been artificially masking spending increases by using fund balances. For years I have telling you that the district has lost nearly $3.0 million leasing Columbus Avenue to Easter Seals for $1 a year. For years I have been documenting the $1.8 million in school district funds wasted by the fraudulent Westhelp Partnership.

Now in the worst economy in memory with foreclosures all around, 20% actual unemployment and a bankrupt state. We in Valhalla have about $175 per child in reserve and school board members that admit they don't even read the contracts they approve.

School Business is Public Business

2009-12-17T08:11:00.000-05:00

Letter to the Editor 12/17/09

Valhalla Board of Education meetings are becoming an education in themselves, thanks to trustees William Rosenberg and William McGuinn publicly questioning both the business administrator , Brian Wolfson, and Superintendent Diane Ramos-Kelly.

Recent meetings featured the revelation that 20 of 22 Valhalla students failed last spring's chemistry Regents exam and that the district hired tutors to cram for an August retake. Taxpayers already pay Valhalla teachers $65 an hour to tutor their failing students during the school year.

In another round of questions, the business manager was asked to explain $1.6 million in transfers between budget line items; nearly 4 percent of last year's "bare bones" budget.

Mr. Rosenberg, who admitted that no one reads school contracts, was surprised to learn that teachers are paid stipends to operate game clocks. This is just one of dozens of programmed contractual stipends, including stipends paid for attending school functions, mentoring new and often experienced teachers, and watching the school parking lot. Even kindergarten orientation comes with a $250 stipend.

At one meeting a former board member and another resident chastised the school board for handling these public matters in view of the public. But the public has the right to know. Board members are not cheerleaders. They need to report and let the people decide if they are deserving of the public trust.

John Fitzgerald

The writer is a former member of the Valhalla Board of Education

Who Reads Contracts Anyway?

2009-12-15T12:25:00.000-05:00

At a recent board of education meeting Mr. Rosenberg, who admitted that no one reads school contracts, was surprised to learn that teachers are paid stipends to operate game clocks. While the admission is refreshing, it is also telling. $40 Million spent every year, 99.9% under some form of contract and board members don't read them.

But, he says it's all public information, which it is; then he says you can find it on the the district's website, which you can't. If you want to see these contracts, you the taxpayer, who pays the bill have to write a letter, wait for over a month and then pay 25 cents a page for the documents. Why aren't all district contracts on the district website?

Mr. McGuinn is now questioning the continued payment of outside contractors. For instance, for some reason we have an outside contractor wash the windows at the Kensico School, while custodial staff wash the windows at all the other buildings.

Another revelation includes a $69,600 annual contract to pay a retired teacher, Roger Casey, as a computer consultant. From the board discussion, Mr. Casey ensures the integrity of the school district data, whatever that means. Nothing against Mr. Casey but you have to ask why can't the business office that costs over $500,000 a year ensure the integrity of district data? Why the internal auditor doesn't? Why the external auditor doesn't? What would Mr. Casey's liability be if there was a data failure? Is this contract bid every year? Are the duties of this position such that it would fall under IRS regulations as an employee position and not an outside vendor? Remember the district has been found guilty of violation of federal and state laws regarding payment of retired government employees in a fashion to evade income and employment taxes and even pension fraud.

Just a few of the things you will see watching recent Board Meetings.

91% Fail Chemistry Regents in Valhalla

2009-12-10T07:32:00.000-05:00

If you pay attention to the recent BOE podcasts you can pick up on some very interesting information:

Apparently 20 out of 22 Valhalla High School Students failed the spring Chemistry Regents. That is a 91% failure rate. Wow! After you let that sink in, realize that Valhalla teachers are paid hourly to tutor their own students after school. So think of what a tenured Chemistry teacher might earn while 91% of their students fail the Chemistry regents. But wait, listen closely as Bill McGuinn asks about the cost of outside tutoring in preparation for an August retake. And to top it off, the Superintendent had no idea how many students, if any, even passed the retest in August. This information had never been made public and the Superintendent's reaction was that Mr. McGuinn should have called her so that it never would be made public.

Fraudulent Enrollment Projections

2009-12-06T21:44:00.000-05:00

Last year the school district projected, funded and staffed an enrollment increase of 56 students. They missed that projection by 49. Where they expected an enrollment 1562, actual enrollment is only 1,513. By any reasonable standard the projection missed the mark by 87.5%. Not in Valhalla.

In what can only be described as moronic analysis, the superintendent of schools presents her inaccurate forecast as 97% accurate. Somehow, in Valhalla, if you project an increase of 3.7% and you only get an increase of .4% you simply subtract the .4 from the 3.7 and arrive at an inaccuracy of 3.4%, conversely accurate at 97%.

Using this logic, had the district projected, funded and staffed for a 10% increase and got no increase, they would be 90% accurate. It is absolutely mindless. Any 6^th grader could tell you that you can’t use percentages in this way.

But it is worse. Last year, when they were projecting the increase of 56 students, the superintendent, business manager and board of education knew that 16 students in last year’s eighth grade were being pulled out to go to public school. They knew they did not have the kindergarten registration to support the projected increases at Virginia Road. They went ahead and budgeted, funded and staffed for an increase they knew was phony. Now they are calling that fraudulent enrollment projection 97% accurate.

Valhalla is still dealing with padded budgets, $1 a year leases, illegal dumping, an illegal turf lease, no track and the illegal Westhelp deal; and now we have the enrollment scam. And they are worried about bad press and dishonest critics?

Newsweek Top 1,250 US High Schools

2009-12-06T21:42:00.000-05:00

May 30, 2007

Valhalla Fails to Make the Grade, Again

Every year Newsweek picks the top US High Schools based on a formula dividing the number of Advanced Placement tests taken by the total number of students in the graduating class. The Journal News, which does no reporting or analysis simply regurgitates those schools from our area that made the Newsweek list. These include Edgemont, Fox Lane, Croton on Hudson, Lakeland, Somers, Brewster, Carmel, John Jay - Cross River, Sleepy Hollow, Harrison, Hastings, Irvington, North Salem, Ossining, Pelham, Mamaroneck, Eastchester, Panas, Byram Hills, Carmel, Peekskill, Dobbs Ferry, Pleasantville, Scarsdale, New Rochelle, Mahopac, Yorktown, Gorton (Yonkers!), and White Plains. Hooray for Westchester-Putnam! In fact there are 152 school in New York State on the list. But what of those schools not on the list? School like Elmsford, Greenburgh 7, Mt. Pleasant and Valhalla.

It would be one thing if Valhalla said, this is a silly index (and it is) and we will not play this game. Simply adding AP classes, pulling in kids that should not even be in AP classes filling seats and inflating the number of courses offered and tests taken has no educational value. But that is not what Valhalla does. Valhalla chooses to compete in this ridiculous exercise and fails to make this list year after year. This was the standard set for excellence by the board of education, this was a reason given for more than doubling the budget in eight years.

Should Valhalla stop trying to keep up with the Edgemont’s and the Gortons and the New Rochelles? Is this a race we can not win?

Valhalla School District Tax Burden

2009-12-06T21:39:00.000-05:00

October 19, 2007

Each year at budget time there is discussion of the inequity of the tax structure of the Valhalla School District. The board of education, busy with their private agendas and fending off law suits and state audits refuses to address or even acknowledge the problem. But here is the problem in summary:

Greenburgh residents account for 33% of the student population and pay only 20% of the taxes required to run the district. Greenburgh pays only $15,000 per student per year.
North White Plains residents account for 20% of the student population but pay 33% of the taxes required to run the district. North White Plains pays $35,000 per student per year.
Mt. Pleasant residents account for the remainder paying 47% of the tax bill for 47% of the student population or approximately $25,000 per student.

This is why, historically North White Plains residents vote against the budget and why Greenburgh residents vote for the budget. One town is paying the bill, the other is getting a free ride.

Even when the Westhelp Homeless shelter was paying the Valhalla School District $1.8 million over three years, Greenburgh residents would not allow that money to be used for school district expenses. And the school board, eager to play with found money was happy to allow these residents to direct these funds toward their private interests.

Should the Valhalla School Board seek relief from the State of New York for this inequity? Is it fair to ask that expenditures on a per student basis be distributed evenly? Is Greenburgh entitled to a free ride? Your comments are welcomed.

The Extraclassroom Activity Fund Audit

2009-12-06T21:37:00.000-05:00

January 1, 2008

From documents foiled from NYS, we find that washing the Westhelp money through district accounts at the direction of private civic association members is not the only example of corruption in school district bank accounts. There is something called the Extraclassroom Activity Fund. Here is where funds are readily hidden, transferred and expended for private purposes. About a half million dollars flows through this account annually. Though it is audited annually, even when illegal activity is detected the old boy CPA firm merely says "don't do that anymore". Not even a slap on the wrist. We found this in the CPA's report:

In 2005, a line item for Tom Kelly's fond farewell party and gifts washed $15,702 through this account.
When the Westhelp funding was cut off in 2005, over $20,639 was paid from this account to cover purported Grand Canyon expenses. They spent money they did not have, took it from the children’s' classroom accounts and paid for nearly half the cost of the Grand Canyon Excursion.
A check was written with a forged signature to "Little Vikings Sports Program" in the amount of $4,650 with no documentation. There is no "Little Viking Sports Program"; it is a private enterprise not a school activity.
A check payable to cash and illegibly endorsed apparently paid for Drama Club dinner theatre expenses including an "alcoholic beverage". Why would checks for "legitimate expenses" be payable to cash?
Checks paying for teacher barbeques and other questionable activities paid out of student accounts
General lack of receipts and control for an account that we taxpayers pay a teacher to oversee.

In all, eleven exceptions are noted by the CPA, yet no one is accountable.

No Controlling Legal Authority

2009-12-05T21:32:00.001-05:00

In January of 2008 the New York State Commissioner of Education, the boss of bosses of the corrupt and unaccountable state public school system, visited Valhalla where corrupt and illegal practices are commonplace. The board and superintendent will surely kiss his ring, the Journal News will either ignore the visit or trumpet it as a media triumph. What have you heard of this visit? My opinion of the commissioner, Valhalla and the State of New York appeared in the Journal News last week. No one has challenged it and the Journal News would not print it, unless I had documented my assertions.

The Sunday editorial, "Following the Money," might be a great start to unraveling the corrupt and over-spent public education system in New York state, if not for one problem. There is no controlling legal authority in the State of New York that oversees the actions of the local boards of education. Appeals to the Commissioner of Education are a waste of time as the commissioner oversees the system. He is ultimately responsible for the corruption and waste.

I have been tracking illegal, unethical and wasteful practices of a single school district, Valhalla, for seven years, including a padded contingent budget, illegal stipends, double salaries, illegal leases, an illegal dump on school property, and spending public money for private purposes, both through the WestHELP Partnership and the Extraclassroom Activity account. All have been reported to the state comptroller. All are well documented on my Web site www.valhallavoice.com. Yet, not one person responsible has been held accountable.

In Valhalla, the audit and the budget committees are the board of education. Committees, when formed, are stacked with district employees and parents, direct beneficiaries of the system. Taxpayers who speak out are targeted as dishonest, and children's programs are threatened every year at budget time.

Expecting New York state to police school districts at this point is like putting a gelding out to stud. There is no interest and there will be no end result. The Journal News needs to do less cheerleading and more investigation of local districts. Just follow the money.

Audit Summary

2009-12-05T21:30:00.001-05:00

You owe it to yourself and your kids to read the Comptroller's Audit on the latest examples of Valhalla Fiscal Malpractice. Here is the summary from the State Comptroller:

Valhalla Union Free School District

Internal Controls Over Selected Financial Operations

The Board did not provide sufficient oversight over District financial operations.
We identified significant deficiencies in the internal controls over the accounting for and disbursement of WestHELP Grant monies, payment of employee compensation and fringe benefits, the Treasurer’s office and computerized data.
For example, of the approximately $1.7 million expended for the Grant, approximately $456,000 was not expended in accordance with the Grant agreement, proposals or applicable laws.
Furthermore, the Business Administrator chose to be reimbursed for a term life insurance policy that combined death benefit protection with the opportunity to direct the investment of net premium dollars into a broad portfolio of investment options. This selection provided him with benefits greater than provided for in his contract, resulting in $38,500 in unnecessary costs to District taxpayers.
Finally, District officials paid a retired transit police officer as a vendor, while also occasionally paying him as an employee through the normal payroll process. As a result, this employee may have received retirement benefits in excess of the amounts allowed by law and the District may be held liable for taxes, penalties and interest.

Comptroller's Audit Follow up

2009-12-05T21:26:00.000-05:00

So what has the Valhalla School Board done about the many "problems" found by the New York State Comptroller? Here is one "problem":

Are they still paying for a benefit not provided in Mr. Wolfson's contract?
Are they still making payments without documentation?
Are they still avoiding Federal and State payroll taxes?
Has Mr. Wolfson ever turned over those documents that reveal what we are paying for, that he has no right to, under his contract?

Citing the audit report of the New York State Comptroller’s Office:

Page 6 Audit Results, paragraph #3 “The Business Administrator’s contract provided certain fringe benefits including a provision to allow him to receive life insurance valued at twice his annual salary. However, rather than choosing to be reimbursed for a term policy, the Business Administrator elected to purchase a Flexible Premium Variable Universal Life (FPVUL) policy that combined death benefit protection with the opportunity to direct the investment of net premium dollars into a broad portfolio of investment options. This selection provided him with benefits greater than provided for in his contract, resulting in unnecessary costs to District taxpayers. We estimated that from July 2001 to July 2007, the District overpaid for the Business Administrator’s life insurance premiums by $38,500. Further, the Board made these payments without obtaining proper documentation. We were unable to determine the cash surrender value or the death benefit as of June 2007, because the Business Administrator refused to disclose the information. Beginning in the 2005-06 fiscal year, the Business Administrator chose to have the District pay the vendor directly for his premium payments. This payment method allowed the Business Administrator to avoid the deduction of payroll taxes, which could result in the District being held liable for unpaid taxes, interest, and penalties.”

The Tangled Web of Fill, Fields and Falsehoods

2009-12-05T21:23:00.000-05:00

So now the story changes, now somehow the Board President knew all along that four years after the board created an illegal dump on school property, three years after they were told the dump was contaminated, two years after they put kids on what they believed was contaminated soil, a second set of tests would show that the contamination was no as bad as first tested. Let's have cupcakes!

The board of education and the business manager of the Valhalla School district think that they should not be accountable for the illegal fill for fields fiasco.

I quote from the Journal News 9/16/2005 article "I find it hard to think that we should be made accountable when we based our decisions on the recommendations of our legal counsel," McGuinn said"

Really? The illegal lease is dated April, 2003 the first payment was made on July 1, 2003 and they finally got that legal recommendation they were shopping for on September 4, 2003. So, I guess they had no legal basis for their action? I guess they will accept responsibility? Don't hold your breath.

I find it hard to think of anything the board of education has ever been accountable for over the last ten years:

Fields contaminated with carcinogens
A dismal ranking of #31 of #35 county high schools
The budget padded by over $1.0 million
The illegal fill for fields scam
The illegal artificial turf lease
The missing track, now for over five years
The illegal $1 a year Easter Seals lease, costing tax payers $2.4 million
Using an emergency telephone system to notify only parents of a budget vote
The lie about Easter Seals spending 1/2 million dollars in capital improvements at the Columbus Avenue School
The follow up lie about Easter Seals spending 1/4 millions in capital improvements at the Columbus Avenue School
The children's vote program promising children playgrounds at taxpayer expense in return for bringing their yes voting parents to the polls.
The lies about soda vending contracts covering the cost of the illegal turf lease
The lies about why board meetings could not be televised, finally we can see these meetings on TV. We are still waiting for a definitive schedule and wonder why the Saturday noon to Sunday noon time slot is still dark. This 12 hour weekend viewing would be the most likely watched and yet Valhalla chooses not to show any meeting. Then at noon on Sunday Westlake's broadcast begins.
Now, the lawyers made them do it. When the illegal fill and turf deals began to unravel Valhalla went legal opinion shopping and finally got an opinion form a bond counsel based in San Francisco. It took so long to get that opinion that the artificial turf field was installed in November, 2002, the lease was dated April, 2003, the first payment was made in July 2003 and the legal opinion came in September 2003.

Being a board member is not about getting your child the lead in the play, getting your child onto the team or using district facilities for your personal benefit. Believe it or not, you sit opposite the interests of the teachers union in matters of business and fiscal responsibility. The teachers union actually understands who they represent, you don't. You are not travel agents booking charter bus excursions to Bear Mountain or flights to the Grand Canyon. You are not politicians handing out favors, part time jobs and stipends under the table. You are not property managers leasing buildings for $1 a year. You are not philanthropists subsidizing Easter Seals at the expense of the children of Valhalla. You are not managers of a landfill or brokers of a pyramid scheme. There was no Due Diligence, you were duped by someone with so few credentials that no respectable private business would have let her in the door and many school districts turned her away. You abdicated your authority and failed to perform your duties as trustees. Your defense now makes these lawyers part of a criminal conspiracy, especially given their opinion was sought to justify what you had already done.

You are guardians of the public trust, representatives of the entire community, and not just the parents. "The Lawyers made me do it", won't do this time. The sideshow is ending and those in charge will be held accountable. Finally, the parents of the children in the school ranked #31 will demand it.

It is time all the board members to stop engaging in illegal and unethical activities and to stop covering up those activities when they are apparent. These are not all in the past. Just this year it was uncovered that an employee was being paid as an outside vendor to cheat the NYS pension system and at least one full time employee is being paid for a second full time job on the school's payroll. Instead of reporting these crimes as required by law and by their oath of office, the board sought to cover-up. It is time for the business manager who had a hand in all of it, who padded the contingency budget by over $1.0 million and over saw this fiscal and ethical nightmare to be fired.

Congratulations to the parents who are starting to stand up, asking questions and demand the education that we have all overpaid for. The board should be ashamed of themselves as they continue to focus on their private agendas.

Valhalla - A Great Place to Live by a Dump Site

2009-12-05T21:19:00.000-05:00

When the school district received a letter from the Comptroller's department back in April, the district ran it up on their website with the following comments:

Office of the State Comptroller - Onsite Risk Assessment Over the course of the past several years the District has been forced to deal with unsubstantiated allegations of financial misconduct from a small group of disgruntled residents who operate a website and undertake periodic mailings at budget time. Of particular interest to these residents have been allegations that the 2003 - 2004 contingency budget and lease of the Columbus Avenue School were wrought with illegal misdoings. These allegations are at the core of their very existence and are featured prominently in all of their material.

In April of 2005 the Office of the State Comptroller conducted an on-site risk assessment in order to specifically examine the allegations levied by this small group. As stated previously by the Board of Education, the Office of the State Comptroller found no illegal actives with regard to either the 2003 - 2004 contingency budget or the lease of the Columbus Avenue School to a not-for-profit organization (Easter Seals of New York) and they fully recognized in excess of '90,000 in annual rent from this organization.

The Comptroller's letter was not an audit, it did not address any of the issues and it relied on fraudulent documents prepared by the school district. Our response quickly proved that not only was the Comptrollers letter in error as it did not as the district did pad the contingent budget but the district provided bogus "financials" to the Comptroller on the Columbus Avenue School that did not include the '300,000 dollar continuing bond payment. We have now been able to show that the padded budget had everything to do with the district's desperate attempt to hide their illegal turf lease and illegal fill project from the public and state authorities. Now that we know so much more about those issues, we will again request the Comptroller to come back and to a complete audit.

According to the Journal News, the Greenburgh school board has admitted that the Fill for Fields and artificial turf leases that were entered into as educational equipment leases were in fact illegal.

These deals are identical to the deals that Valhalla brokered with the same cadre of dirt brokers and finance companies. They are the subject of a NYS Comptrollers Audit to be published this month. Valhalla's baseball and softball fields, atop thousands of truckloads of fill of unknown origin, are padlocked and not available to local residents. What was once a patch of grass for the children of the million Kensico School is now off limits. The artificial turf is costing the taxpayers of the district hundreds of thousands of dollars in lease charges and has obliterated the high school track.

The Valhalla Voice has said all along that these deals were illegal, unethical and mismanaged. Greenburgh has now admitted we were right. It is time now for someone on the Valhalla School board to do the same. And while they are at it, let's look again at that inside deals illegally leasing the entire Columbus Avenue property to Easter Seals for $1 a year. According to our conversations with the state Comptroller's Department that lease is costing taxpayers over 2.4 million dollars.

Illegal Activity and Fiscal Irresponsibility, and Criminal Behavior

2009-12-05T21:16:00.000-05:00

In response to continued denials by the board of education president that there was no prior proposal and that there was no prior warning about a similar fill for fields deal, we have again called and confirmed that deal with former Superintendent Frank Ehrhart. There is no question about it. This deal is also confirmed in the Gannett Fleming report of November 2005 that can be found on this website. Consider this as you read on.

The New York State Comptroller's Department has issued a scathing audit of three school districts, including the Valhalla school district and the town of Eastchester. We knew this was coming and in fact, the Valhalla Voice has been pressuring the Comptroller's office to release the audit that was completed in January 2005. In a district wide mailing, at taxpayer expense, the superintendent continues so claim that the board and administration did nothing wrong, but the facts prove differently and the Comptrollers Department has issued a reprimand to the district. You can see the latest Comptroller's letter to the New Dr. Kelly by clicking the newsboy at the right of this article. The district continues to spoon feed only what it considers favorable information to the residents, never admits its failings and errors and selectively touts its meager accomplishments.

Until now, the scope of the illegal deals and fiscal irresponsibility could only be guessed. We have been saying these deals were ill conceived, putting children at risk and costing the taxpayers millions, now the truth is known. And finally we know that the Valhalla ziggurat is contaminated with cancer causing agents, the board has hidden this from the public for two years and made the children play on the field this spring.

We quote the audit in Red

"By accepting C&D (construction and demolition) debris in exchange for athletic fields, the Districts and the Town essentially operated solid-waste disposal facilities without obtaining appropriate permits, and without adhering to State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) requirements"

Imagine a solid waste facility right at the Kensico School. Who is accountable for this?

"The Greenburgh, Valhalla and Eastchester School District and the Town of Eastchester allowed dirt haulers to essentially operate unregulated landfills..."

And who is accountable for this?

"In November 2003, after learning about the problems in the Eastchester and Greenburgh, Valhalla District officials contacted DEC to help them ascertain whether their field-renovation project presented an environmental hazard"

After learning about the problems? Weren't we told our officials were being pro-active? Their time lines never are in sync. The more they talk, the deeper they dig. Who is accountable for this?

"The three School Districts and the Town did not acquire their athletic fields in an appropriate manner or at a reasonable cost"

Who is accountable for this?

"As a result these athletic fields will cost the Districts well in excess of $1,000,000"

"The three (school) Districts did not obtain voter approval for the construction, purchase, and financing of their artificial-turf fields. In addition, the Districts did not obtain building permits from SED for the artificial-Turf fields, or for the construction of the natural-grass fields."

It is time for accountability. It is time for the board to admit its culpability and remove the fill. It is time for those three board members who oversaw this fiasco to go, along with the business manager. We would expect no less of children caught red handed, but then again children don't have the same vested interests to protect. And please, let's not hear "the lawyers made me do it".

We heard back in November that the district was pursuing legal action against the dumpers. We were told again this was the case a subsequent board meetings. The DEC announced plans to pursue the dumpers (which we believe should include all the board members, the former superintendent and the current business manager.) At the last BOE meeting in June, we were told that the district's landscaper was responsible for the contaminated top soil. Still we have not received our FOIL made last December asking for an accounting of all the work done on all the fields in this fiasco. What carters dumped the fill, who built the decorative and dangerous wall (twice), who built the fence, who dumped under the illegal artificial turf field, who topped the fields? These questions are still unanswered, in violation of New York’s State Freedom of information laws. This accounting was promised to former school Board member Fred Feit at the "Town Meeting" Eleven months later there is still no accounting and no one has been held accountable. Valhalla continues to deceive at a higher standard.

Tires - Athletic Fields, Playgrounds, Garden Mulch

2009-12-05T21:13:00.000-05:00

Recently published studies have questioned whether turf fields packed with tire crumbs are safe. Other studies have shown that pressure treated wood contains arsenic and is a cause for concern. Here are some of the findings on these subjects. If your children go to Valhalla Schools you may want to investigate these findings.

Recommendations

There is enough information now concerning the potential health effects from chemicals emanating from rubber tire crumbs to place a moratorium on installing any new fields or playgrounds that use ground-up rubber tires until additional research is undertaken.
Exposures to already installed synthetic turf fields that contain rubber tire crumbs should be limited pending the development of more definitive information.
Synthetic turf fields should not be used on very warm days, as they can become extremely hot, sometimes reaching 160 degrees F.
People who are allergic to latex should be careful when using these fields because rubber tire crumbs might contain excessive amounts of latex.
People who have a history of asthma or other allergic reactions should be careful when using fields containing tire crumb rubber until additional information is available to assure that the released materials will not cause allergic reactions.
When weighing the exposures of children to recycled tire crumb rubber there should be measures to reduce their exposures over time.
The State of Connecticut should consider a detailed analysis of the health and environmental risks from recycled rubber in all its proposed uses.
A detailed epidemiologic study focused on the irritant and the systemic actions of the semi volatile compounds released should be conducted.
The North Carolina Department of Agriculture’s study shows that ground-up rubber tire mulch increases the potential of zinc toxicity and indicates that it is unsuitable for use in production of nursery plants. Therefore, EHHI is in agreement with this study and others that recommend ground-up rubber tire mulch not be used for gardens.
New York City is moving away from using artificial turf as it is a health hazard. But in Valhalla, we have no such concerns.

Enrollment Over Projections

2009-12-05T21:09:00.000-05:00

We have the documentation that shows on average, over the last seven years, the budget funds 17.67 more students then materialize. This year alone according to the Journal News, funding was provided for 1,581 students. Only 1,550 attended school. Yet next year we hire 5 more teachers, increase spending 8.1% to fund a projected 1,562 students, 20 less than this year. Go to the home page for more information.

Here is some of what we can report from the meeting we have seen, in case you missed them.

In a recent workshop. District resident and board candidate Bill Rosenberg states that the former Dr. Kelly told us that we make money on special ed students tuitioned in to the district. So how much? Tuition income is $50,000. How many students would that be, Mr. Wolfson? Two says Mr. Wolfson, I think .... Dr. McGowan chimes in, we have five students, but one is the child of a teachers so four are tuitioned. (Mr. Wolfson was quite sure of his $50,000 tuition, but not how many? Two four that is so confusing) So, points out Mr. Rosenberg we get $12,500 per student? That doesn't cover the cost of a special ed student! It is virtually half of the average cost in this years budget of $23,500 that we pay on all students K-12. But wait school board president McGuinn comes to the rescue and points out that adding a student to an existing program actually costs nothing. You just put in another desk! Does the DVD deceive? Did Mr. MGuinn just tell us that increasing enrollment is a sham, a shell game? Well welcome to reality Bill, we have been saying that for years. We hope now you can make a complete recovery from your years on the Kool-aid when your term in up in July.
At the same meeting, Mr. Salese, the HS principal tells us we need a bigger auditorium at the HS because he can't fit more than two grades at a time. But aren't there about 500 seats in the auditorium? Later we find out he meant he couldn't fit the middle school and high school together in the auditorium. That would be seven grades. So what would he have us do, build him an 800 seat arena? And what assembly involves grades 6 through 12? Still later we find out that the assembly is not an assembly it is a pep rally and quite frankly we do not need to build an 800 seat amphitheatre so that 6th graders can attend a pep rally.

The Valhalla Trophy Defense

2009-12-05T21:07:00.000-05:00

Efforts to get answers as to the why board of education allowed their newly hired administrators to trash the trophies are now being frustrated by the Valhalla defense. One board member claims to know nothing about it. The superintendent is asked directly in an email the following questions:

1) Why was it deemed necessary to remove the trophies and plaques from where they were and throw them out?

2) What person or persons suggested that this be done?

3) Under who's authority was this action given the ok to carry out?

What ensues is a classic example of the Valhalla Defense. Redirection, dumb looks, throwing someone (on bed rest) under the bus. No one responsible is accountable. No one ever has a ready answer to simple questions. The buck stops no where in Valhalla. It is important to note that board members and the superintendent were copied on all Mr. Panetta's emails. Call the board office, call your elected board members. Hop on the merry go round write to the superintendent dramos-kelly@valhalla.k12.ny.us

Contracts Raises and Tenure

2009-12-05T18:41:00.000-05:00

So much for transparency, they really should have all contracts on the website. But for the purposes of this discussion, let’s assume that the provisions of the current contracts are more or less the same.
My reading of the contract provides that in addition to the automatic raises of 8% 7% and 8% - see paragraph #2. (outrageous for no account government jobs, even more outrageous when you consider to awful state of Valhalla’s SAT placement at #30 in the county) In addition to the automatic raises the BOE can give discretionary raises of up to ANOTHER 6%- see paragraph #6. Possible annual raises of 14 and 13%!! Even in a recession, even when teachers and aids were cut, even as North White Plains taxes climb another 6%.

But as far as we can see, this is done in secret, no raises appear in the minutes, no salary level are defined. No contracts are posted on the district website.

So, rumor has it that these discretionary raises, at least for the newly early tenured position of HS principal, MS principal and Athletic director are on hold. At least until no one is paying attention
The prior administrative contract is so poorly written that it is impossible to tell the exact intent or affect of these discretionary super raises are. My reading is that in fact the board can simply raise the pay of any or all administrators by 13 or 14% every year. There is no formal review process indicated,There is no measure of accountability and these super raises are compounded within each administrators base pay. They are, at least as far as we know, illegally discussed and voted on in secret.
Again, the contract is poorly written, so if these are not super raises, if these do not become part of the administrator’s base pay, I would like to know that.

Other People's Money

2009-12-05T18:38:00.002-05:00

On Tuesday, June 23rd the Valhalla School board will be giving out some very pricey gifts with your money. 9.5% raises for school administrators including the principals and the athletic director. A $15,000 retirement bonus for Sal Meile and a two year extension on the contract of the Superintendent, a contract that has two more years to run.

Let’s examine each of these gifts:

Administrators are entitled to a 3.5% raise as per their contract. Given the state of the economy, the nearly tripling of local unemployment rates and the fact that they already paid in the mid $100,000-$200,000 range, 3.5% is a very generous raise. But there is more, each building principal gets a stipend to attend regular evening functions in their own buildings. You might expect to see the principal at parent teacher night, but in Valhalla they are paid a $5,000 stipend to be there. So why would the BOE vote to give them an additional raise of 6%? Is it because our SAT scores are so exemplary? They are not. Is it because enrollment is increasing? No enrollment is declining. They are irreplaceable? The last person so gifted, Dr. Ackerman, took the money and left with in a year. No it is because it is not their money. It is like they woke up one day and they were in the philanthropy business.

A $15,000 retirement gift for Sal Meile. Ask yourself, would $15,000 entice you to retire, if you were not already retiring? If you were inclined to retire, would not receiving $15,000 make you inclined to stay? Mr. Meile has already been paid more than $150,000 to run the illegal Westhelp Partnership program. If he stays he will get at least $5,000 to show up at parent teacher night. A $15,000 gift in a year that teacher aids are cut is unconscionable and fiscally irresponsible. Why do we want to entice Mr. Meile to retire? Aren’t the 3rd grade assessments the highlight of Valhalla’s academic records? And how do they offer this to only one person? What about Bob May and Brian Wolfson? Those two might be worth the price. What is this, if not a gift of taxpayer money?

Finally the extension of Ramos Kelly’s contract. Why? She has two more years on the present contract. She is not going anywhere, this is the only district she has ever run and the results of her tenure are disappointing. In a year when most districts returned budgets with no year to year increases our taxes climbed between 4 and 6 % on 80% of the tax base. Our SAT scores are 200 points below neighboring Mt. Pleasant. We rank #30 of all Westchester Districts. Our alumni suffered in the knowledge that her administrators tossed 50 years of their trophies in the trash. There is very little to back up the ever excited feel good rhetoric. So why the extension of a contract that even includes a car to commute to work. No, again this is a gift. She would rather retire in four years than 2 years, and the present board would rather not face her failures.

Where are all the parents who pleaded with the board to somehow find the money necessary to keep teacher aids in the classroom? How do they feel knowing that the board planned to give these gifts all along. This is just another reason why the district needs a budget committee to reveal what is in every budget line item.

Better Safe Than Sorry:

2009-12-04T17:47:00.000-05:00

There is no harm in studying the possible health ramifications of artificial turf made from old tires.

By The Day

[August 8, 2007] Why not err on the side of safety and heed the recommendation of an independent environmental group that has suggested a delay for towns or schools planning to install artificial turf that is made from chopped up tires?

As schools and sports complexes across the country move toward installation of the artificial athletic surfaces, questions have been raised about the possible toxicity of their composition — rubber pellets made from discarded and ground-up tires.

Recent preliminary tests conducted at the state-run Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station showed that volatile organic compounds are being released into the air from the rubber pellets made from ground up tires that form the fill material of the artificial turf.

The independent group Environment and Human Health Inc. commissioned the Vo-Ag Station to do the study after questions about possible health hazards related to the turf were raised. Locally, both Montville High School and Connecticut College have fields made from the questionable rubber pellets.

News that Environment and Human Health was recommending that others planning to install the turf await further study before moving forward has caused outrage among some supporters of the fake turf, who consider it a safer option for athletes because it absorbs impact and helps prevent some injuries better than natural grass.

It's also easier to maintain.

And for many communities, it is a symbol of athletic prestige.

All of that is fine.

But if reputable scientists at a state laboratory reported to Environment and Human Health Inc. that preliminary tests showed a dozen or more organic compounds were evident in testing of the pellets, and suggested more studies be done, why ignore that advice?

The state Department of Environmental Protection has agreed to study the possibility that toxic chemicals from the rubber pellets could seep into groundwater. It is a cautionary measure. And interestingly, support for installation of the artificial turf was spurred in part by new state restrictions on pesticide application on natural turf fields.

In this day and age, there are legitimate concerns about environmental safety. We now know how ordinary things can hurt us. So what is the harm in giving scientists a little more time to figure out what the ground-up tires may or may not be doing to athletes?

Producers say the rubber pellets are inert and harmless. Let's be certain.

from The Day, New London.

Should parents be concerned?

2009-12-04T17:09:00.000-05:00

EHHI recommends a moratorium on installing new synthetic fields until testing has been completed

Press Release

[North Haven, Connecticut, July 11, 2007] Environment and Human Health, Inc. (EHHI) has been concerned about the number of communities and schools that have, or are in the process of, installing very expensive synthetic fields without any testing of their out-gasing potential or without understanding what the health effects from these fields might be.

The new synthetic fields are made of a synthetic grasslike material to which large amounts of ground up rubber tires are added -- as in-fill. It is the out-gassing from these ground up rubber tire pellets that have been of the greatest concern.

Because of this concern EHHI has asked and paid the CT Agricultural Experiment Station's chemical laboratory to test the out-gasing potential of these rubber tire pellets that go into the fields.

The preliminary report came out today and the CT Agricultural Experiment Station's preliminary testings show that volatile organic compounds are out-gasing from the rubber pellets and that this out-gassing increases as the temperature rises.

As well, the CT Agricultural Experiment Station has completed a scientific literature review of synthetic fields and the materials that they are made from. The results of the preliminary testing as well as the literature review demands that additional testing be done on these ground up rubber tire pellets in order to be protective of children's health.

EHHI's Public Health Toxicologist, David Brown, Sc.D. is concerned that some of these organic compounds could effect children's respiratory health as well as having other health effects.

Because of these preliminary findings and until additional testing is completed, EHHI is recommending that no additional synthetic fields be installed until the additional testing is completed. Synthetic fields are extremely expensive and can cost up to $750,000. Once these expensive fields are installed. towns and schools will probably not want to remove them no matter what is found.

Are district officials concerned?

It is estimated that there are 11 to 15 pounds of tire crumbs in each square foot of these fields.

Quick Facts

- Synthetic turf materials are made out of plastic and ground up rubber tires -- both of which tend to absorb heat and get much hotter than the air around them.

- Ground up rubber tires are also being sold for use as garden mulch and on playgrounds.

- There has not been enough testing or public health evaluation studies on synthetic turf fields to determine whether some of them pose a health problem for children. There are many important public health questions that should be answered before these expensive synthetic fields are purchased and installed.

Fill for Fields Time Line

2009-12-04T16:55:00.000-05:00

Here we go again with another self serving district wide mailing, aimed at calming the concerned and the oblivious. Pay no attention to that Comptroller behind the curtain. Ignoring the findings of the state Comptroller, Valhalla claims to somehow have stumbled into a great deal with no cost, no hazards, no illegalities because they bought a legal opinion from a law firm that specializes in leasing, not the school district's counsel.

The facts, as shown by this timeline prove otherwise.

Summer of 2002- 90,000 cubic yards of fill are dumped on what used to be a patch of grass that the children at the Kensico School had as their play area. There were no records kept by the district as to who was dumping or what they were dumping. There were no permits, no certificates of insurance from anyone involved, no contract and no record of who was paid what. No legal opinion was sought or received
September of 2002 a wish list is signed by the then Dr. Kelly on a paper headed as an agreement of between Valhalla High School and Goodwill. The agreement contains only two complete sentences. The agreement is not prepared by legal counsel, it looks like it was typed by a child. You can see it on our "See the documentation page"
November 2002 the football field and track are excavated, the artificial turf is installed, the track is ruined. No legal opinion covers this phase either.
For six months no one quite knows if the turf is a gift, a leased piece of educational equipment or manna from heaven. We can assume the legal opinion shopping was in full gear, but no opinion could be found.
In April of 2003 a lease finally arrives. Still no one knows if it is legal or illegal. After all since when can a BOE commit to a three hundred thousand dollars lease to be paid over seven years with no public discussion and no vote? (The Comptroller's Department say they can not) Finally a month later the board president signed the lease.
On September 4, 2003 a legal opinion arrives that says that because there are thousands of ground up tires in the turf, it somehow does not require a competitive bid. This is the opinion they relied on for a year and a half before they bought it. This opinion has been found to be in error by the state Comptroller's office. July 2004 independent tests showed the soil was contaminated with carcinogens.
January 2005 the firm of Gannet Fleming writes to the DEC notifying them of the contamination. Brian Wolfson, the business manager is copied on the letter. The board is apprised.
May 2005 to dispel rumors of contamination, the school board moves all baseball and softball games from the old fields with no contamination to the fields contaminated with carcinogens. They watch as the children play.
September 2005 the new superintendent issues a letter to the entire district denying that there is contamination
In response to the district wide letter we foil for the soil test results the district stretches their response to the legal limit of 20 business days, adding days for weekends, two for Rosha shana, one for Yom Kippur, one for Columbus day. The superintendent confirms that they are stretching their response to the Journal News Reporter Dave Wilson. Does this sound like someone who is spearheading an effort to address the situation or to cover it up?
In late October we receive the raw results showing elevated levels of several carcinogens. There is no analysis of the data. We email the data to Dave Wilson of the Journal News, who on November 4th compares the Valhalla results to the Eastchester results and sees that it is clearly as bad or worse. He calls the superintendent who finally releases the smoking gun letter from Gannett Fleming. The letter that shows that not only did the Valhalla board and adminstrator know the soil was contaminated, the DEC knew as well.
Finally, with the facts we obtained under the freedom of information law now reported in the newspaper, the DEC is forced to take control of the carcinogen laced fields. The superintendent now claims she spent weeks dragging the DEC in, our documentation proves otherwise.

Now there will be a "Town Meeting" Now they want your input? Trust is the issue? Do you really trust them after all the lies, half truths, and deceptions? Didn't New Dr. Kelly just tell everyone that the fields were not contaminated, when she knew the 2004 test results showed high levels of carcinogens? Was she just spearheading those efforts on the field or deceiving at a higher level? When she tells you not to worry at the "Town Meeting" what credibility does she have? Do we really need a dog and pony show?

They have put all the children at risk. They have exposed the children to carcinogens that the state says there are no acceptable levels of contact. The soil is contaminated, it is a few feet from the Kensico School, it is a short distance from the Kensico Reservoir, the pond in back if the Kensico School and a stream just to the west. Keep asking questions. They will lie to you at every opportunity and now they ask you to remember they have children at the schools too. Don't let them hide behind their children. They put all the children at risk. Make those responsible, accountable.

The Trophy Trashing

2009-12-04T15:49:00.000-05:00

Enter any High School in Westchester County and you will surely find a case filled with the trophies and medals honoring the accomplishments of students from as far back as when that high school first opened. Each inscription on every plaque telling of individual and team accomplishments that define what it is to be a student and an alumnus at that school.

Visitors at Valhalla High School, whether they are alumni, parents, grandparents or students might be surprised to find that the trophies, plaques and medals telling the history of Valhalla student-athlete accomplishments are gone. Already two teachers have reported pulling a few trophies out of the trash.

We are finding out that more than one long time teacher plucked these trophies and awards out of the trash. As you can see from the following posts on our Blog, both Mr. Wylie and Mr. Gaglione have several. Another teacher pulled 21 first place trophies and gave them to the new Athletic Director. Let's see if they put them back. How will they explain why they were trashed in the first place. And why are they trying to destroy Valhalla's traditions, accomplishments and links to its past?

Roger Wylie said...

I know where two of the recently moved plagues are, I have them. I was able to save them from the trash on the day of the MS/HS luncheon. One of the plagues is the 1997 League Championship for Softball and the other first place at the Mt Pleasant Softball Tournament in 2003. These mean very much to me but even more so to my players. The Class of 1963 donated several years ago an Outstanding Senior Football trophy to replace the one which had no more room. Where is the trophy? This year the Class 0f 1987 donated another trophy to replace the original one knowing it had already been replaced once. I am not only angry as a coach but as an alumnus. I spent most of my life in one way or another in the Valhalla system. I went K-12 there and then taught 32 years; it was my family away from home. I feel like so many others that I have talked to recently, they no longer want to have any thing to do with Valhalla, for many reason, too many to list at this time. History is just that, history. What do you have when that is taken away? I can no longer take my grand children to the school and show them the things that I earned as an athlete or some of the accomplishment I had as a staff member. Some one or many people should and must be held accountable for what they have done. This is not over!

Posted July 20, 2007 03:44 PM

Robert Gaglione replied to Roger Wylie...

I wholeheartedly agree with Roger Wylie's comments. Not only did I teach at Valhalla High/Middle School for 33 years, but all three of my children also attended. Two of the plaques thrown away were given to me by two students last year, and they were BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS that my son, Joseph, played on from 2001 and 2002. There is no rhyme or reason on which trophies and plaques were discarded. For example, if it was stated that all championship awards from 1962 through 1970 were being destroyed, at least there was some conscious effort by the administration to come to some rational, although erroneous decision, on which ones to discard, but my son's championships were from the early 2000's. Based upon what I observed during my last year at Valhalla, there seemed to be a conscious effort to rid the school of all tradition and history. Considering that Valhalla does not even exist on the map, but is only a hamlet, all that the community has is the school and Little League, and the history of the school is being eradicated, along with other accolades, such as the musicals performed by various classes which once were posted in the auditorium lobby, the class of '85 school gift, (activity directory), and finally, even the library books, which were destroyed without even asking the staff that used them if they still were needed. Just like the sport's trophies, plaques, musical listings, library books, and class gifts were part of Valhalla's history, so am I, but for those parents and students who still are attending the schools, you need to come to grips on the direction of the school district. If it's time for in with the new and out with the old so be it. Otherwise, it's time to change the direction and agree upon a new mission statement.

Posted July 20, 2007 10:16 PM

Board of Ed Runs from Alumni and Accountability

2009-12-04T15:47:00.000-05:00

The board of education is still running away from the alumni. This letter denying the alumni the opportunity to simply address the great and powerful board of education, Dr. Ramos Kelly ignores the board policy on providing for a forum to address these requests. She ignores the fact that neither she nor the board has the authority to deny any request to that is properly submitted.

Ramos Kelly goes further and makes bizarre accusations of North White Plains resident Richard Panetta, of a "harassing and intimidating tone" . The facts are that her "clerical staff" was not at work on time, did not have the information available, though it was available the night before and did not put it together until later that afternoon. Harassment and intimidation? Will she seek to crush all those who stand in her way?

Perhaps she can threaten children and parents and even an administrator this way but I doubt Mr. Panetta will retreat. Given the consistently substandard way the district performs in everyway, it is no surprise that Dr. Kelly uses this tactics to deflect criticism.

By all accounts what the board of ed did at the September 25th BOE meeting was nothing short of bizarre. With Television cameras from CBS and News12 filming, the board refused to allow alumni and retired teachers to speak and ran from their own meeting. This will again be MUST SEE BOE TV.

The district policy has never prohibited non-residents from speaking. Alumni and former teachers were always part of the general community that were welcomed and encouraged to speak; but not any more. They even formed yet another committee to replace the trophies they claim they did not throw out. About 25 of these trophies, including many 1st place awards taken out of the dumpsters and off the trash heaps by the same teachers that were threatened for meddling with school garbage and who, last night were refused access to a microphone.

Now, following official board policy, a formal request has been made by Rich Panetta of North White Plains, to put the trophy trashing issue back on the agenda on October 30th and allow Alumni to speak. We will publish the official response from the district, but informally one board member has already called the request a joke and told Rich they will not agree to it. Alumni don't count in Valhalla. Read what the board policy manual says about the board's community relations goals. What a joke!

Board members come and go but Alumni are forever. Alumni are to be forgotten, like the criminal and unethical practices of the board of education. Trash the trophies, let the memorial gardens go, take down the announcers tower and the weather vane dedicated to an alumnus. Let's get to that bond and another $4 million dollars. And if all else fails run away!

Who is in Charge?

2009-12-04T15:45:00.000-05:00

In any school district there is a Board of Education responsible for representing all residents of a school district, not just the special needs of a few. In any given district only one third of the residents have children attending school and are the only ones receiving the direct benefit. This board has a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers of the entire community, and are the highest authority with regards to the decision making process of the school district. In the Valhalla School District we have a case of the tail wagging the dog. The Superintendent of Schools, Tom Kelly, is the person calling the shots with the board members loyally clenching their rubber stamps, ready to give the OK to anything he proposes. This is evidenced by information, obtained through freedom of information, that shows Tom Kelly negotiating deals involving hundreds of thousands of tax dollars before he received approval from the school board. The board refuses to assert its authority and follows Kelly's every command..

By virtue of the fact he is a civil servant, it's easy to understand the total disregard for fiscal responsibility and cost effective practices by Superintendent Tom Kelly, but what about the Board of Education? Let's examine this closely.

Six of the seven board members have children attending Valhalla Schools, and the seventh has only recently had their last child graduate. Although this does not fall into the legal definition of a "conflict of interest" anyone can see that a practical, ethical conflict does exist. Our system of funding schools asks the senior citizen on a fixed income to pay the same amount as a family with four children attending school. With this in mind it's easy to see how parents with children attending school would encourage increased spending, and since the Board members are all parents, you can see how the conflict exists. This also explains the double digit budget increases we've had over the last four years. Adding to this conflict is the fact that one board member is a teacher in an adjacent town, another board member's spouse is a teacher at Valhalla, one does not own a home in the district and one's wife is a teacher aide.

The residents of the Valhalla School District have defeated their budgets more than any other school district in Westchester County, which speaks volumes about how poorly Valhalla's Board of Education represents the district.

Padded Budget, Illegal Landfill and Illegal Turf Lease

2009-12-04T15:43:00.000-05:00

The Padded Budget, Illegal landfill and illegal turf lease all were connected

At last, the release of the Comptroller's audit report on the fill for fields scam finally explains why the Valhalla School board padded the 2003-2004 contingency budget.

Valhalla had allowed dozens of unidentified carters dump 90,000 cubic yards of undocumented fill on school property, mere feet from the Kensico School and on the High School athletic fields. The deal was unraveling. They had accepted delivery of a three hundred thousand dollar unneeded artificial turf field and to cover things up, they had entered into a seven year lease, that was clearly illegal. They had not gotten voter approval to buy the artificial turf or enter into a multi year bond or even to enter into a fill project. They had no DEP permits, no insurance from the carters or the brokers.

Two honest candidates were running for the board and the administration feared the budget might be defeated. Three years before, the budget went down, when three candidates ran without being anointed by the board. If the budget was defeated this time, the lease would be revealed, the illegal dump would be exposed, the soil would be subject to DEP testing and the state oversight of district actions would follow.

So they padded the contingent budget by over $1.0 million, making it appear so close to the proposed budget that no one would bother to vote against it. No one would bother to campaign against it. This is the only possible explanation for an action so childish and indefensible that to this day the school district has never explained what a million dollars in "Expenses attributable to FAPE" was. The current board president, who was running at the time, announced at a meet the candidates night that he saw no reason to vote against the budget because the alternative contingent budget was so high. I wonder how he knew?

Imagine their shock and distress when someone actually did put out an anti- budget flyer. Imagine the shock when although the anointed candidates were elected, the budget was defeated. Surely the taxpayers were angry. If a mere difference of one hundred thousand dollars between the proposed and contingent budgets were not enough to keep them home, they might well defeat the budget again. Panic set in, they were trying to cover up the illegal fill and illegal lease, they were desperately trying to get a legal opinion to justify the lease. Now they had padded the contingent (austerity) budget so high that there was no place to cut. Taxpayers resigned to an austerity budget over 7% asked why for ninety thousand why not save ten thousand on a revote and simply go to contingency. But the administration and board knew the Expenses attributable to FAPE would never be approved by state ed.

Caught in a web of lies, they lied some more. First they cut the contingent budget to give themselves some room to cut the proposed budget. They actually cut the illegal line item "Expenses Attributable to FAPE". Then they cut the proposed budget to appease the taxpayers, but still leaving room enough to scare the parents with an otherwise padded contingent budget.

As the re-vote drew near, they could not leave it to chance and certainly not to the electorate. Somehow they came up with a Verizon phone calling system, programmed it to call only the parents with children in the school district. The board president then recorded a message to remind only parents to vote and the calls were made over three days from Sunday to Tuesday. This promotion of a yes vote is of course, also illegal but it was all or nothing.

The budget passed, the phone system disappeared, they made the first payment on the illegal turf lease on July 1st, finally were able to buy that legal opinion in September and thought they had covered things up.

But thanks to this website and the investigative reporting of the Journal News' Dave Wilson and the Comptroller's Audit we know now what happened.

Illegal and Deceptive Item in Valhalla's Contingent Budget

2009-12-04T15:30:00.000-05:00

Last year, in a letter to the editor of the Journal News, I discussed how abnormally high Valhalla's contingency budget figure was (7.7 percent) and that it was only 1 percent lower than its proposed budget (8.7 percent). Through a freedom of information request, I acquired Valhalla's contingency budget. On it was an expense identified as "FAPE" (Free Appropriate Public Education) in the amount of 941,840 dollars. This amount represented 3.5 % of the total budget. I also acquired the contingency budgets of every other school district in Westchester and discovered that not one of them had this expense! In an e-mail correspondence with Mary Clark, who works with General Education Management Services of the New York state Education Department, I asked about the legitimacy of the FAPE expense, and here was her reply: "Every item in a budget reflects FAPE; however, there is no such function or object of expense identified as FAPE."

The Education Department's "Budgeting Handbook 3" outlines the legal responsibilities of boards of education to prepare budgets. In this handbook, under the heading of "contingency budgets," there are seven expense items listed that are not subject to the contingency cap. Valhalla has broken new ground by providing an eighth. The 941,840 dollar FAPE expense that appeared on Valhalla's 2003-2004 contingency budget is not an allowable expense, according to department guidelines. It is Illegal.

Despite repeated requests from taxpayers and state ed, Valhalla has yet to identify what this expense was.

The padding of Valhalla's contingency budget affected voter turnout and drove up the amount of the budget by up to 3 percent after the first budget was defeated. It remains in the budget and grows every year.

Richard Panetta, North White Plains

The Fudge Factor

2009-12-04T15:29:00.000-05:00

What State Ed Really said about Valhalla's Padded Budget

Here is what Mary Clark's supervisor, Charles Szuberla, a contingent budget expert, of the NY State Department of Education said about Dr. Kelly's convoluted explanation of the illegal padding of the Valhalla School district budget, the mystery "Expense attributable to FAPE" :

"The fact that we don't know what it is bothers me"

(Dr. Kelly's) " Explanation is unsatisfactory and still doesn't tell me what it is"

"to me, it is a non answer"

"I don't know what it is"

"this just looks like... where did it come from?"

"I have never seen it before"

"It looks like a fudge factor"

Mr. Szuberla later writes," I spoke with the district business official and he is aware that "FAPE" would not be an allowable expense to exceed the contingent budget cap. He said they put it in to show the resources necessary to continue to provide core educational services. The business official said that the worksheet was for internal use and was not distributed publicly."

We are sorry, Mr. Szubera, the contingent budget is not for "internal use" It generates the fall back budget. It appears on the mandated voter registration card. Voters rely on this budget to measure the effect of a defeated budget. It affected the vote.

It is illegal and unethical and is unique to Valhalla.

Contingent Budget Fraud

2009-12-04T15:05:00.000-05:00

Open Letter to NYS School Districts- Comptroller's Office Sanctions Padding of Contingent Budgets

Valhalla, NY May 16, 2005

We are writing to make you aware that New York State Comptroller Alan Hevisi’s Office has ruled, in effect, that Contingency budgets prepared for your public notice need not be presented in accordance with Education Law 2023. According the Comptrollers finding, a contingency budget only exists and must be lawfully prepared at the time it is adopted. Contingency budgets prepared for public notice as required Education Law 2022 can contain fraudulent, padded and improper items, with no penalty whatsoever.

Background:

In June 2003, taxpayer advocates uncovered several fraudulent, padded and illegal line items in the Valhalla Union Free School District contingency budget worksheet, which generated a contingency budget figure overstated by over $1.0 million. The fraudulently prepared figure was sent to every resident in the school district. (Contingency budgets disclose the maximum spending level allowed by law, in the event the voters fail to approve a school budget after two votes).

The taxpayers first contacted the New York State Education Department- Office of Management Services who volunteered that the line item looked like a fudge factor and was clearly not permissible under the rules of the budget handbook. Mr. Charles Szuberla wrote to the taxpayers saying that the district business manager knew it was not an allowable expense and that it was not meant to be seen by the public. Then the Office of Management Services began to stonewall the taxpayers group, referring them to an arcane process of appeals to the commissioner, a process that carries no penalties and takes years to complete.

The taxpayers then turned to the New York State Comptrollers department, which, after a year issued the attached letter, ignoring all the facts in the case and concluding in effect that a contingency budget, as presented to the public, may be padded in any fashion with any item, legal or fraudulent as long as, after two votes the contingent budget submitted to New York State Education Department is correct as prescribed by law. In Valhalla’s case their budget passed on the second vote, so the two fraudulent contingent budgets presented to the public were no longer an issue.

School Districts are now free to report any figure, legal or fraudulent to the public in its pre-budget vote notification, change it if the budget is put up a second time, as Valhalla did. They are free to use a fraudulent contingent budget to promote a yes vote, which is also here-to-fore illegal, which Valhalla also did.

In a conference call with Mr. Ellis, he admitted

He did not know the contingent budget was publicly disclosed to residents as required by Education Law 2022 or that it was to be sent to every resident at the time of the school budget vote.
He never read or referred to the New York State Education Department Budget Hand Book in making his decision
He did not know that the illegal line item they termed “Expenses Attributable to FAPE was changed by Valhalla between the first and second vote in order to maintain a spread between the budget being voted on and the reported contingent budget.
He did not know that Valhalla had actually presented two fraudulent and illegal contingency budgets in 2003.
His findings say that, as the district avoided going to a contingency budget, the fraudulent budget presented to the voters was no longer an issue. Of course, one of the reasons they avoided going to contingency was the fact that the contingency budget as presented was padded. The end, in his finding, justified the fraud used in the means.

If this finding stands, districts throughout the state are no longer bound to prepare their budgets in accordance with the law. They can include any and every fraudulent or improper expense in the contingent budget presented to the public, as long as they fix it after two defeats at the polls. Contingency budgets can now be equal to, or even greater than the proposed budget, in order to promote a yes vote.

Let's see if Mr. Hevisi will correct this incredible ruling or if he seeks to override the New York State Legislature and New York State Education Department, writing new law and rendering the entire statewide voting process, a joke.

Update: We appealed the Comptroller's department denial of access to their records on this matter and won. The Committee on open government has ruled that we must be given the documents that will show fraudulent financials prepared by the district and much more.

Real Estate Amateurs

2009-12-04T15:01:00.000-05:00

Where does the money go?

Here are the facts regarding the $1 a year Columbus Avenue Lease shown in the documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Law:

1. The Valhalla School district is leasing the entire Columbus Avenue School Property to Easter Seals of NY for $1 a year. It is not just for 10,000 square feet as the state Comptroller was told. It include the entire building and grounds.

2. The $1 a year lease was prepared by a school attorney at the direction of Tom Kelly and Brian Wolfson, who offered it to Easter Seals five months before the school board voted to "enter in to negotiations" on leasing the school.

3. Dr. Kelly even applied, with his tenant, Easter Seals, to the New York State Office of Children and Family Services for a day care license before the board voted to enter into negotiations on a lease. Click here to see the lease prepared by school attorneys at the direction of the superintendent and business manager at taxpayer expense.

4. It is a ten year lease, with a ten year option. There is no provision increasing the $1 a year rent over twenty years

5. Valhalla pays for maintenance and utilities on the building. The $110,000 annual payment which the district claims as rent is a reimbursement for security, utilities, snow removal and maintenance that any other tenant would pay in addition to market rent and it is all that Easter Seals pays. Utilities alone are now over $40,000 a year and with fuel prices continuing to rise our losses will mount. $300,000 is paid for a maintanence bond.

6. The former superintendent’s claim that Easter Seals paid $500,000 for "improvements" to Columbus Avenue, was a lie. The lease requires Easter Seals to provide such documentation to the school district and the New York State office of Children and Family services must review and approve such improvements. Neither the district nor the Office of Children and Family services has any proposal, permit, invoice or correspondence evidencing any major capital improvements. Please visit the Columbus Avenue site. See the broken retaining wall, the rusted swings, broken and in disrepair. See the broken iron fence just a few feet from the main entrance. See the broken chain link fence. Our tenant is not even keeping up the property, much less improving it.

7. The school district has a continuing bond payment of $300,000 for work done on the Columbus Avenue School in 1991. The district pays $300,000 of funds meant for children’s education to pay the bond so that Easter Seals can rent the building for $1.

8. According to the district's Voyages newsletter in 2004, only 24 Valhalla students use the after school program offered by Easter Seals exclusively for Valhalla residents. Yet the district told the state Comptroller that 70 students were enrolled in Easter Seals daycare. Even if that number was 1,500, why are taxpayers subsidizing this private Park Avenue corporation?

9. To secure board approval of the $1 a year lease, school board members were told that if the district received market rent, the district would have to pay School, Town and County real estate taxes on the property. Another lie and this one they told each other! The truth is school districts are never subject to paying real estate taxes.

10. In a district wide mailing Sideshow Tom Kelly claimed that Easter Seals had committed to installing playground improvements at the Columbus Avenue School. Really? We are five years into their sweetheart (illegal) lease and there are no improvements. In September, 2005 and again in September 2006 Easter Seals held a fundraising golf tournament with the specific purpose of raising funds to install a new playground at the Columbus Avenue School. It is November 2006 and the playground now has 3 replacement swings. Where did that fundraising money go? The playground and grounds in general are still falling apart, not even being maintained properly.

School Districts are government agencies organized to operate under the laws of the State of New York. Employees of the school district and even boards of education are not permitted to use tax dollars to subsidize privately run, un-mandated pre-school and after-school programs. By ignoring state law requiring districts to lease property belonging to the taxpayers at market rent, the board of education is effectively subsidizing Easter Seals, a Park Ave corporation, and its clients.

The resources of the school district must be directed to the education of the children of the district who are of age and only as prescribed by law. This matter has been brought to the attention of the New York State Comptroller's Department and after completion of their audit, the board should sell the property, applying all proceeds to outstanding debt of the district.

Update 2006- Part of last year's budget side show is floating the idea that a 6th grade academy could be housed at the Columbus Avenue School. In 2005 they dismissed Mr. Panetta's suggestion that to address space problems at Virginia Road, the district should move BOCES classes to Columbus Avenue. That would violate mandates on "least restrictive environments". One year later there are BOCES classes in Columbus Avenue in addition to Easter Seals.

In 1998 they told us that CAS did not even meet minimum NYSED standards for a schoolhouse. They told us we had to close it and build a new $16 million building, twice the size of CAS. Expect that this ruse will come up every year to divert attention from the real issue. The building is costing the taxpayer in excess of $300,000 a year in hard money and millions more in opportunity costs. We can't afford to fix it, they are floating the idea of a third bond and in 2007 we are already paying $23,500 per student.

The Easter Seals Rip-off

2009-12-04T14:23:00.000-05:00

Much more is wrong with the Easter Seals program than an illegal $1 a year lease. We know that the grounds around the Columbus Avenue building continue to deteriorate. Broken fences, an unkept sandbox playground, crumbling walls and often unattended garbage cans. But apparently, if the blogger is correct and we believe she is, more than the Valhalla taxpayers are being ripped off. We know that Easter Seals has held two golf fund raisers and now an auction of Sports Memorabilia. We know there is no new playground and no plans for a new playground. We know that back in August the BOE observed that a fire door is illegally propped open and that the closing mechanism on that door is broken and it swings closed with terrific force. Bob May was told to fix it. As of November it has not been fixed and is still propped open. Now we learn that the BOCES class that is in that building is not freeing space in VRS, this is a new program and we are not even sure they are leasing space from the Valhalla taxpayers, could they be subleasing space from Easter Seals? Checking back through the sparse Valhalla board minutes, we can't find a new BOCES lease. Many of us figured this class was part of an existing BOCES deal, but apparently not. Are these special need preschool children really with out their proper services? Are school district throughout the county really paying for services not provided? Are we, the Valhalla Union Free School District sending our children to these programs, paying Easter Seals and not getting the required services?

For those of you are uncomfortable with these questions, ask them yourselves. Read the Blog and find out.

As we reported, the Easter Seals lease is costing the district over $2.4 million. Now you and the board can see just what it costs us for heat and electric for the Columbus Avenue School building. Over $28,000 last winter, up 21% from the year before even though fuel consumption in a warmer winter was down 10%. Utilities alone already account for 30% of the fixed "maintenance reimbursement" paid by Easter Seals.

This information is never publicly disclosed and when the Superintendent says she was shocked that energy costs will be up 30% in the coming year, you have to wonder if she or anyone on the board looks at the bills they already are paying.

But this is not all that is paid for utilities. We estimate, based on 2003 figures provided by the NYS Comptroller, an additional $14,000 a year is paid by Valhalla to NYSEG for electric at CAS. We also gave Easter Seals the entire phone system and continue to pay for phone service at the building, we pay for security, grounds keeping, water & sewer, rubbish and water and sewer. And lets not forget the $300,000 a year for the 1991 maintenance bond.

Do you remember when they told us the Easter Seals Lease was a money maker? Why are we giving away this asset? Why are we subsidizing Easter Seals? The property is an eyesore. The upper playground is not swept. The lower playground sand appears never to be raked for glass and animal droppings. The new handicapped accessible playground that Easter Seals raised funds for last year, is nowhere to be found. Fences are broken. But Easter Seals is making a fortune, charging top dollar and paying one dollar. When will this Board address this incredible waste of a valuable district asset?