SCHOOLS Board agrees to fire truant officer

The board is seeking to have the money paid back.
CAMPBELL -- The board of education voted Tuesday to fire the district's truant officer and former varsity track coach, who owes the district more than $7,000 from a candy sale.
The board, meeting in special session, also agreed to pay $50,000 to settle a dispute with a former interim treasurer.
According to Treasurer Patricia J. McLaughlin, the board voted 5-0 to terminate the contract of Mark Greene, the district's home visitation specialist -- truant officer -- and former varsity track coach. Greene's annual salary was $30,600.
The state auditor ordered Greene to reimburse the school district $7,645 in June after an audit for fiscal 2003 revealed that most of the money raised during a candy bar sale Greene initiated was not deposited into school accounts.
State Auditor Betty Montgomery also cited Greene for violating the school district's purchasing policy by entering into several obligations with vendors to obtain things such as athletic shoes, uniforms and T-shirts without obtaining a purchase order and having the treasurer certify the availability of funds. As a result, more than $9,000 remains unpaid.
How Greene will make restitution has not been determined, but McLaughlin said the board "is pursuing payback."
Greene declined to comment today, but in an earlier interview, he said that he had been employed by Campbell schools since 1997 and would never jeopardize his job over a candy sale.
Settlement
During the meeting, the board also approved a $50,000 settlement with Joe Sebest, a former interim treasurer, in connection with a breach-of-contract lawsuit he filed against the district in 2002.
Sebest served as interim treasurer from April 1999 through the end of that year, McLaughlin said.
According to the current treasurer, Sebest was offered a two-year contract in January 2000 with an annual salary of $44,000, a reduction from the $48,000 he had been paid as interim treasurer. Under the two-year contract, the board would have contributed more to Sebest's retirement, McLaughlin continued, but he declined the offer.
Then, she said, he filed a variety of lawsuits against the board. The Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sided with the board in each case, including one alleging Sebest had been discriminated against, McLaughlin said. However, the 7th District Court of Appeals reversed the decision on a breach-of-contract suit, sending the case back to the lower court for trial.
To avoid ongoing legal expenses, McLaughlin said, the board opted to settle.
Both parties agreed to settle last month, but the amount the district will pay Sebest had not been released.
kubik@vindy.com