SCHOOLS Salem district employee files suit over job

A school worker says she was demoted after blowing the whistle on a thief.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- A woman has filed a lawsuit to regain the job the city school board says she has.
Annette M. Howard of Salem is also seeking more than $50,000 in damages from the school board.
The school board decided earlier this year to return Howard to her post as assistant director for business and finance.
Board President Marguerite Miller said Monday that Howard had been returned. But Miller declined further comment on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed late Friday in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court, is connected to the prosecution of former school Treasurer Ted Cougras, who was sentenced in May to three years in prison on charges of bribery, money laundering and theft in office.
An investigation found that between December 2000 and December 2002, Cougras accepted cash and gift certificates from a salesman. In return, Cougras bought $276,929 in school supplies from two companies the salesman represented.
What lawsuit contends
In her lawsuit, Howard contends she discovered "financial discrepancies and improprieties" in the school treasurer's office in June 2002. She says she alerted Superintendent Dr. David Brobeck, who directed her to deal directly with Cougras.
Howard said in the lawsuit that when she went to Cougras, he told her to follow his instructions and then threatened her to stop her from taking further action. But she said she brought information to the attention of a school board member in December 2002, including Cougras' buying a desk with school money and having it delivered to his home.
Cougras resigned Dec. 8, 2002. But the lawsuit says the board began to retaliate against Howard and accused her of wrongdoing, according to the lawsuit. She was ordered to go home, and in January of 2003 was placed on leave with full pay.
In February of this year, the board voted 4-1 to reject Brobeck's recommendation that she be fired. Howard was accused by the superintendent of participating in and then trying to cover up Cougras' purchase of office equipment. The 14-year school employee was to have returned to her post that month.
Demoted
Howard says that instead she was demoted to an "office staff position" with different duties, fewer benefits, no private office and less prestige. The lawsuit says she was demoted by a defendant, who is not identified.
Howard's lawyer, Martin S. Hume, did not return a call to explain why she was not reinstated or say who demoted her.
Since returning to work, Howard contends she has been subject to petty harassment and undue discipline, and has lost an unspecified amount of wages, benefits and pension rights. No details were given in the lawsuit.
Brobeck did not return a call seeking comment.
County Prosecutor Robert Herron has said more people will be charged in the case. He was also unavailable.
wilkinson@vindy.com