By Elizabeth Scheinberg
“Due to the Office of Pension’s stance that you cannot work as a seasonal employee, your employment with Pencader Charter High School is terminated effective October 1, 2011,” states a one-sentence letter signed by “Ann E. Lewis Ph.D.” addressed to her husband, who was one of the three teachers, and copied to the state. - News Journal, 7/22/12
School leader Ann Lewis instructed those working under her to remove the teachers, including her husband, Bob Lewis, from the state’s payroll system in October. The three teachers were transformed into independent contractors. - News Journal, 7/22/12
Pension Administrator David Craik said the school told his office the teachers had been terminated. - News Journal, 7/22/12
“The misleading, at best, and arguably dishonest letter by the school leader and the email that was copied to Mr. Lewis is very troubling, to say the least, and should cast real doubt on the credibility of what he is about to say,” Ellis told the pension board.- News Journal, 7/22/12
The school’s initial solution to the pension office communication was to reclassify the teachers in the state payroll system as “casual/seasonal” in an attempt to allow the teachers to continue collecting a pension and a paycheck, according to testimony presented in the pension board hearing and public documents.
State pension officials rejected this, public records show. Craik, the pension office administrator, wrote a letter dated Oct. 17 to school leader Ann Lewis saying there was a lot at stake.
“Further, the IRS would probably view the method in which these retirees were rehired as a ‘sham transaction.’ Unfortunately, this is a serious violation for both the employee and the State.”
After this letter from Craik, the Pension Office was sent the “termination” communication and the teachers were hired as contractors. - News Journal, 7/22/12
During their hearings, Bob Lewis and Shirley Roccia both said they were told by school leaders that classification as an independent contractor allowed them to collect their pensions while also working at the school. - News Journal, 7/22/12
In an interview last month, Ann Lewis told The News Journal that her husband only worked part time at the school, and that’s why he could also collect a pension. - News Journal, 7/22/12
The independent contractor plan at Pencader was used to “save money,” according to testimony at the pension board hearing.
State pension office officials said it is not helpful or legal for schools to seek cost savings in this manner. - News Journal, 7/22/12
There was no intention to trick the pension office by creating the independent contractor plan at Pencader, said Mike Scanlon, a former contractor for Innovative Schools, a Wilmington nonprofit that provides support services to schools.
Innovative Schools has been assisting Pencader this year with its budgeting and human resources.
By keeping the teachers collecting pension benefits, the school saved money because it was not responsible for paying health benefits or contributions to the state pension plan, he said.
Before Pencader moved to the independent contractor plan for the teachers – which Scanlon said was not his idea – the school talked to some other people in the education community, including Department of Education retirees. - News Journal, 7/22/12
Category:
16 comments:
I don't get why at the Pension hearing, the deputy AG tried so hard to cover for Shirley. She knew that her employment at Pencader put her pension at risk from a) the first warning and her job being revised as seasonal and b) WHEN SHE WAS FIRED, officially terminated by A Lewis and set up as a contractual employee.
I would FOIA any correspondence between Shirley and Ann and between Shirley and the Pension office. Unlike Bob Lewis' faked phone conversations, can Shirley get a pass for pleading I know nothing?
How can a person knowing that their pension was red flagged NOT take personal action on their own behalf and ASK the Pension office if the new arrangement is indeed ok. Did she get an explicit communication from Lewis stating such?
And I don't believe Innovative's Scanlon did not advise Pencader on the practice - who so passionately defended the 'common practice' of hiring retirees so as not to have to contribute to the pension fund nor health care.
It's my understanding that Shirley was continually told the school would handle it and that it was still ok. Why would any school employee doubt what they were told by their business office?
Shirley may be the real innocent here. The post itself is directed at the Innovative Schools employee who tried to justify his dubious actions as something that all pensioners and schools are doing. If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it, too? He calls the persecution of the Pencader Three capricious and arbitrary - very important legal words in education law. Only, it isn't capricious and arbitrary, the Pencader Three weren't picked on b/c they work for Pencader, they were investigated b/c they got caught. The Innovative employee has no basis for believing that all pensioners are violating the applicable laws. And Just because one retires and then returns to the field of education doesn't mean they are continuing to draw their pension. They may be smart enough to defer it as the Pencader Three should have done.
So tell me, if you invest your life savings and lose it all, should you get it back because the broker said it was a sure thing? No. You have no recourse. You hedged your bets and if you failed to do the research that tells you the stock is a scam, you are left to deal with it on your own. Maybe Shirley should be suing Innovative and Pencader for mishandling her situation?
If the Pension Board continues to investigate the issue of retirees still working and receiving their pensions, more names will be exposed and more reputations will be impugned. This practice has gone on for many years and even at the state level. Nicole Dobo will not have enough hours in her day to keep up with her goal of destroying the public's trust in the public school system. Maybe she'll destroy the reputation of every school eventually, not just Pencader Charter School, which happens to be a very fine educational institution with excellent teachers and motivated students.
The Pension Board should investigate all retires who are drawing pensions and who've returned to work outside the parameters of the law.
As for Nichole Dobo, I have no control over what a journalist investigates and what a newspaper prints. Although, I do doubt that she'll destroy the reputation of every school. That's a little far-fetched. And if that's a fear, folks need to stop double dipping. Easy as pie.
As far as Pencader, I have been and continue to be one of its most vocal supporters. I support my many wonderful students there. I will not however standby while any leadership violates laws and public trust. What the administration at Pencader have to deal with today is what they brought upon themselves.
Yes, there are teachers and staff (myself among them) and students and families who are caught in the cross-fire. That's horrible! But, the school leader put us all there by her actions coupled with a complacent and ill-informed board.
Pencader's only chance of survival is to acknowledge its weaknesses and cut the cord.
Stop protecting the school leader!
Or maybe the group really at fault is the Pension Board for allowing this practice to go on for so many years unchecked? Maybe the Pension Board should have made their rules clearer to each school district so that districts would not have hired pensioners and classified them in such a way that they were able to continue to collect their pensions for so many years? Placing the blame is not an easy task in these cases, but to me Shirley is clearly not to blame and has had to suffer consequences over which she had no control. The damages done by the News Journal's one-sided reporting of half truths and statements taken out of context continue to distort the issues.
I've already said that Shirley is likely the real innocent in this situation. You can blame the pension board, but they are just doing their job. Somebody has to do that job to ensure that pensions will be funded when those eligible go to collect.
As far as the NJ - the transcipts speak for themselves. You don't have to like the reporting. But, if you really feel that it's one-sided, write me an explanation why you feel that way with facts and I'll give it its own post, not buried here in the comments.
I don't agree with you though - the issues have not been distorted as far as Pencader goes. The school is being run into the ground by deceit. The ability to have spared the school this damage lies in the hands of its leadership.
I find it hard to believe that leadership coming into a school which had been led by someone who mismanaged the finances so badly that the school was in jeopardy of closing would be intentionally deceitful knowing that the school was under such close scutiny by the state. It is my understanding that Scanlon was brought in to assure that things were going to be done correctly and that the budget issues would be resolved. More deceit would be a foolhardy thing to commit when all eyes were on Pencader already. Leadership is indeed responsible for overseeing everyone and everything and is under careful scrutiny by the state. I guess time will tell to what degree the leadership failed in its responsibilities. Leadership has not defended itself publicly to date, so until both sides have spoken I'm willing to be open minded.
If I had kept all the NJ articles, I would be happy to accurately itemize my issues with its reporting. However, I have not kept them, so I'll be closely examining any subsequent articles for comment. My continued belief is that one cannot believe everything that appears in the NJ. They are diligent in including all the documents from the hearings and the board decisions - I'll give them that.
And yes, the pension board must do their job to ensure funds will be there for future pensions, but they have been lax for several years in searching out all those pensioners and school districts which have not followed their rules. For all present and future pensioners who will depend on those funds, I salute the pension board for their new diligence.
Just as an FYI - those NJ stories are available at www.delawareonline.com. Search Pencader and you'll find them.
Do you want your previous comment to go up as a blog post of its own?
If you'd like to check out Delawaronline.com and scribe your own post, the offer is always there, just tell me you are taking me up on and I'll be more than happy to add it into a relevant place in the discussion. To preserve your anonymity, you can drop it in any comment section on any post on this blog. I'll catch it for a comment rescue.
Been thinking....If you are a Pencader staff member, as you mentioned before, why do you still work there when you clearly blame the school leadership for wrongdoing? Why wouldn't you distance yourself? Working in a place that puts that much stress on you can't be good for anybody. oh well...just a thought. I like to go to work feeling as little stress as possible! Guess I'm lucky! lol
Still waiting for the day when all the facts are out there so people can form the right opinions about all of this, myself included. I think the public has only heard part of the story, and it seems the negative publicity must be very distracting and stressful for the teachers who work there to maintain a positive attitude when they go to work every day.
Why do I still work there when you blame the leadership for wrongdoing? Go Read This:
http://elizabethscheinberg.blogspot.com/2012/07/pencader-disclosure-to-satisfy-my-own.html
Note: Not all staff members are teachers.
Finances so badly that the school was in jeopardy of closing would be intentionally deceitful knowing that the school was under such close scutiny by the state.
Pension Advice
Supposedly there are teachers in other districts who are in violation of the pension rules. We haven't seen anything in the News Journal about them. Surely Miss Dobo must be searching for dirt about other schools, or are they just out to get Pencader? Who is really behind the Pencader crusades?
Let' not put the cart before the horse -
As in, if you read the transcripts, the Pension Office identified that Pencader had pensioners drawing full salaries in ways that were not compliant with the law. They noted reading about Bob Lewis using the B-Word as the impetus for re-investigating. Then the Pension office issued something to the Pensioners in writing. The pensioners appealed rather than pay back the office and that is how it landed in the NJ's lap. To use your words, Dobo didn't have "search for dirt." The pensioners could have paid it back or tried to settle the issue. If it had been settled or had never been appealed, the pension issues would never have fallen into the public domain. The law actually protects pensioners privacy if they acknowledge when they've made errors. This crew didn't. They appealed, and that made it newsworthy and public.
As far as other schools - I can only suggest that it is the reponsibility of the Pension Office to audit their rolls to ensure others are not violating the law. Since their rolls are exempt from the FOIA, we cannot count on the NJ to do it for us. Pension must step up their games if the rumors are in fact correct.
I certainly wouldn't liken Pencaders problems to the crusades. As for who is behind it's problems, I'd put my money on leadership.
Sadly, some of us, like Ms. Roccia, got caught in the crossfire.
So if someone exercises their legal right to appeal, they lose their right to privacy? Doesn't sound very democratic.
I was curious about who is behind the crusade to make Pencader look so bad. That wouldn't be the leadership. More likely it would be people holding some sort of grudge for some reason. Those things never get publicized, so I'm just guessing.
I didn't write the laws. I just spend time reading them. Pension got Sunshine coverage. I personally don't think they should. It should all be in the public domain. But, I don't the rules, just live by them.
Funny how you say "those things never get published." While have not waived my rights afforded to me by law, I have already disclosed my relationship with the school. While harbor no love for AL, I want to see Pencader's board rise from the mess that the school admin has created, clean it up and perform like an intellectually curious, high pforming school board that complies with the same laws that all other public school entities must live by.
Post a Comment
Word Verification May Be Case Sensitive