SCHOOLS Official: Job in lawsuit doesn't exist

The worker also sued for monetary damages.
By D.A. WILKINSON
SALEM VINDICATOR BUREAU
SALEM -- A city schools worker has filed a lawsuit against the district to get her old job back, but a school official says the job she once had no longer exists.
Annette M. Howard of Salem said she has a different job and title in the aftermath of the district's purchasing scandal.
Howard filed a lawsuit in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court asking that she "be immediately restored to the Assistant Director of Business and Finance" position she held from 2001-04.
The lawsuit also seeks in excess of $50,000 from the school board for alleged damages to Howard for reporting financial irregularities by former Treasurer Ted Cougras.
Cougras of Poland was sentenced in May to three years in prison for taking cash and gift certificates from an unidentified salesman in return for $279,929 in purchases.
Vote by board
The board voted in February to return Howard to her job. She had been paid while she was at home from January 2003 to February of this year.
During efforts to fire her for reported misconduct in the scandal, she was often called "an assistant treasurer," the suit says.
Superintendent Dr. David G. Brobeck Jr. said her current title is "treasurer's office employee."
"That's a [job] classification we have," Brobeck said.
Howard's position had been as the assistant to the director of finance, Brobeck added. Since there is no finance director, there is no need for an assistant, he said.
Howard's lawsuit says she is handling different duties.
Brobeck said Howard had not had a cut in pay as a result of the classification change.
Brobeck said he handles district purchases with input from school employees with knowledge in the particular area.
The superintendent said he was following the advice of the district's lawyers when he sought to have Howard fired. "I did what I thought was in the best interests of the district," Brobeck said.
wilkinson@vindy.com