REYNOLDS SCHOOLS Ex-official pays penalty

The former superintendent was cited for using school district property for his own or his family's benefit.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
TRANSFER, Pa. -- The former superintendent of Reynolds School District has paid $7,348.48 in restitution to two school districts for making improper personal financial gains by using district equipment.
The Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission issued an order Aug. 22 saying that Dr. Charles M. Cagno has violated the Public Officials and Employee Ethics Act numerous times during his employment as superintendent of the Valley Grove School District in Rocky Grove, Pa., and later the Reynolds School District.
The order said that Cagno had to make restitution to those districts, and John Contino, ethics commission executive director, said Cagno sent checks to the commission for that purpose about two weeks ago.
Valley Grove got $4,258.48, while Reynolds got $3,090.
Both checks were forwarded to the commission, which then sent the money to the school districts, Contino said.
Retired: Cagno announced in March that he was retiring, five months after being disciplined by Reynolds School Board for the actions cited in the ethics commission case.
The board handed Cagno a five-day suspension without pay in October 2000 and accepted his resignation for purposes of retirement in March.
He left the district June 30.
Cagno was hired by Reynolds in July 1999 and still had two years left in his contract.
He came to Reynolds from Valley Grove where he had served as superintendent from Sept. 1, 1993, until he was asked to resign by the board effective June 30, 1999, according to the ethics commission.
Cagno was represented in the ethics commission case by Atty. Jack Cline of Mercer. Cline didn't return a call seeking comment.
Dates cited: According to the ethics commission's final adjudication in the case, Cagno violated the state ethics law and improperly benefited financially when:
*On Aug. 11, 1999, he used Reynolds School District vehicles and employees to transport two aluminum planks belonging to the district to his mother's residence.
*On. Sept. 25-26, 1999, he used a Reynolds School District van to relocate his daughter from Pittsburgh to Hermitage.
*In 1998 and 1999, he allowed his daughter extended use of laptop computers belonging to Valley Grove and Reynolds school districts.
*In 1998 and 1999, he removed a Valley Grove School District TV/VCR unit and a Global Positioning System unit for his own use and took one bottle of cleaning enzymes from the Reynolds School District.