NEW CASTLE SCHOOLS Board fires business manager over altered document

The acting superintendent said the business manager threatened him.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The board of education fired its business manager after concluding that he altered a document detailing his criminal background.
School board members contend that Roger Havey changed his Act 34 Clearance -- a criminal background check prepared by the Pennsylvania State Police required for all public school employees -- to not show that he pleaded guilty in 1990 to theft charges in Elk County, Pa.
Havey, 49, said Tuesday that he plans to appeal the board's decision to Lawrence County Common Pleas Court.
Havey said he changed the document but only at the instruction of George Gabriel, who is substituting as superintendent for Joseph Martin, who is on leave. The school board is expected to appoint Gabriel to the position permanently when Martin retires at the end of this month.
Differing accounts
Havey said he gave Gabriel the criminal background document that included the Elk County guilty plea March 13.
The school business manager said he explained the circumstances of the charge to the superintendent.
Havey's attorney, John Havey, his brother, said the charge was the result of his brother's commingling funds from two organizations. His plea should not affect his ability to work for the district, John Havey said.
Gabriel "asked me if there was any way I can give him a document that doesn't show a criminal history," Roger Havey said. "I said I could white it out."
Gabriel testified at a board hearing Tuesday that Havey first gave him an Act 34 Clearance that showed no criminal background. He learned of Havey's Elk County charges in April from school district Solicitor Charles Sapienza. Havey then gave a second Act 34 document to the district, he said.
Felt threatened
Gabriel said Havey verbally threatened him when confronted about the altered document.
"I asked him to resign. He looked at me, stared into the back of my head, and said, 'Absolutely not.' He said if he goes down, I will go down, too," Gabriel said.
Gabriel said Havey also was seen driving past his house a few days later.
"After he made that threat to me, I did not feel comfortable around him. I did not appreciate him being near my home," Gabriel said.
Havey was suspended with pay May 5 pending the outcome of Tuesday's hearing.
The eight-hour hearing included testimony from Gabriel's sister, Debra DeBlasio, who also is an administrator in the New Castle School District, and Gabriel's two secretaries who handled the Act 34 Clearance papers.
DeBlasio said Havey called her shortly after he was suspended.
"He said my brother George knows nothing about his job. [Havey] said he would be my brother's guardian angel, & quot; DeBlasio said.
Called Havey about job
Havey and Gabriel testified that DeBlasio introduced them in 1999 and that the siblings contacted Havey a few years later when the district was looking for a business manager.
Havey had worked at several other school districts, but was working as borough manager of Midland, Pa., in Beaver County, when he learned that New Castle was looking for a new business manager.
Marie Pisano, the former school business manager, retired late last year and later died.