Why Hamburg agreed to pay $100,000 to disgraced superintendent

Sept. 27--RICHARD E. JETTER -- who admitted lying to police and the public, was convicted of filing a false police report and took $500 from the Hamburg Central School District -- will walk away with more than $100,000 and a year's health insurance after he resigns Wednesday as superintendent of the district.

Paying him to resign was less expensive than holding a hearing to remove him, district officials said.

"I think we cut the best deal for this district," said Board President David Yoviene. "I think we want to move on."

Why wouldn't the district fire the superintendent instead of paying him to resign Oct. 1?

It's not that easy.

According to Jetter's contract, the School Board could discharge him if he neglected his duties, or showed he was incompetent, insubordinate, inefficient or committed immoral acts. But to do that, the district must have a hearing, and it must give the superintendent 60 days notice of the hearing. And according to his five-year contract, Jetter would be paid while suspended from his duties.

In addition to paying him about $3,100 a week through the 60-day notice period, the district also would be required to pay him the same amount through the hearing. Having just finishing a contentious hearing that resulted in the removal of Board Member Catherine Schrauth Forcucci four months after the board placed charges against her, no one on the board wanted another hearing.

"If we did go to a hearing, they could delay it," Yoviene said.

Now add lawyers' fees paid to Hodgson Russ to represent the school district at the hearing. It's not known how much that would cost, but the district pays its attorney $247 an hour, and it spent well over $100,000 in legal fees on the Schrauth Forcucci hearing alone.

Add it all up, and the board decided the Jetter payoff settlement was the cheaper route.

"We fully understand that this is not an insignificant amount of money," acting Superintendent Vincent Coppola said of the settlement paid to Jetter. "But this was the right decision. Had we not done this, the legal costs associated with removing Dr. Jetter likely would have far exceeded this amount."

That's why the Hamburg School Board voted 5-1 Friday morning to approve the deal, which brings to an end one of the most bizarre chapters involving a public official in Western New York.

Under the agreement, Jetter will receive $82,000, representing six months salary, and $20,490 in unused vacation time, as well as district health care for a year. He also has been paid about $31,500 since he was placed on administrative leave July 23.

Jetter agreed to pay the district $513 to cover the reimbursement he sought from the district for the deductible for the rental car he used when his car was being repaired.

Public outcry was swift after the board vote.

"This is unfair. When you do something wrong you should be punished, not rewarded," one Buffalo News reader posted online.

"So in order to prevent paying legal fees defending against a lawsuit for termination, which generally the loser gets tagged to pay, they reward him for lying to the police and the people who put him in charge. What a shame. Pay someone $100K for committing a crime," posted another reader.

There is more than money to think about.

"As long as you're fighting with a person to remove them from the office, they still have claim to the office," said Richard Timbs, executive director of the Statewide School Financial Consortium. "If the school district wants to move forward, it makes it very difficult if the person could potentially come back."

While Jetter might be on administrative leave up until his resignation takes effect Wednesday, he still is the superintendent of the district. A permanent or an interim superintendent cannot be appointed while there still is a sitting superintendent. That means Coppola, who is sitting in the superintendent's office, becomes the interim superintendent only when the vacancy occurs after Jetter resigns.

If a lengthy hearing were to be held, that would further delay the ability to bring in a new person, said Timbs, the former district superintendent of the Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES. The district soon will begin making plans for next year's budget, and a permanent superintendent would want to have input on that, he said.

"How long do you want it to be before you finalize who's going to make long-term decisions for the district?" he said. "What you want to do is solve that dilemma as quick as you can."

Board Member Sally Stephenson voted against the settlement agreement, arguing Jetter should return his district computer before the agreement is signed so a forensic exam can be performed on it. He is scheduled to turn it in by next week.

"We need to know what was actually going on with the superintendent," Stephenson said, noting that she also had voted against Jetter's contract. "This may be the tip of the iceberg."

But the cost of continuing legal wrangling weighed on board members' minds.

"As far as anything on his computer, it gets us no further ahead than we are now. We're going to have to go ahead with the hearing and we have to continue to pay him every week," Board Member Thomas F. Flynn III said. "We'll be able to go through the computer when we get it back."

A protracted fight also might give superintendent candidates pause before applying, Timbs said.

"The faster they can get it behind them, the faster they can get a new candidate," he said.

It is not yet over for Jetter.

He pleaded guilty Sept. 17 to falsely reporting to Hamburg Village Police that vandals had damaged his car in a school parking lot May 6, when he had struck a utility pole in South Buffalo the night before. He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 25.

email: bobrien@buffnews.com

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