District Attorney’s Office Looking into ‘Talk of the Sound’ Allegations Against New Rochelle School District

Written By: Robert Cox

D2C98C6A-2F32-4196-AD55-192A08B17CBE.jpgInformation we have obtained as part of our investigation of Frank Demasi, the carpenter with the school district van parked in front of his house on evenings and weekends, has been turned over to the Public Integrity Section of the District Attorney’s office which has authorized Talk of the Sound to report that they have received our complaints and are now investigating. The DA’s office has spoken to the City School District of New Rochelle. If readers have any further information please post it in the comments below or send me a confidential email and I will provide the information to the District Attorney’s office.

Serious questions have been raised on Talk of the Sound about what has been going on with the maintenance, buildings & grounds and environmental services departments within the City School District of New Rochelle. As Dr. Jack Wagner, school board candidate, has been pointing out in his public appearances, the school budget shows millions being spent on employing a large number of tradesman while millions more being spent on hiring private contractors to do work that could be done by the tradesman already employed by the district. Vehicles go missing for years at a time and no one seems to notice. The union argues that there is nothing wrong with this because it is a “past practice” that workers have “always” been permitted to make personal use of school district vehicles. The use of this particular term implies that District officials knew that workers were taking vehicles home at night and on weekends but school officials have privately stated this is not the case. Superintendent Richard Organisciak and Fiance Chief John Quinn have declined comment.

As the investigation into wrong doing and the New Rochelle School District continues, the District should begin now to consider ways to begin to restore public confidence in the New Rochelle public schools. We call on the School Board to ask the tough questions of senior school officials and insist that school administrators cooperate fully with the DA’s office, the New York State Comptroller’s office and the New York State Department of Education, all of which are processing complaints against the school district.

Going forward, the District needs to be proactive in bringing greater accountability and transparency to the school district, starting with the operations being run out of the Grove Street offices.

For starters, the District can save money, discourage misappropriation and provide assurances to the public by employing GPS tracking systems that can integrate into existing financial control applications and provide access to tracking systems via the Internet. Authorized users could then use smart phones, PDAs, laptops or any computer connected to the web to get real-time status on school vans, “yellow iron”, cars and trucks. The District should also renegotiate with transportation contractors to require they add tracking devices to their vehicles. If Westchester County has something like this for the Bee-Line buses already, their system should also be integrated for students who use the County buses to get to and from school.

GPS systems are now common in new cars and the benefits our clear.

1. For vehicles that travel specific routes, GPS systems can provide route-activity verification to make sure vehicles on specific routes are where they are supposed to be at a given time and provide alerts if the vehicles deviate from their assigned routes.

2. Vehicles with advanced engine diagnostic system can transmit vehicle fault codes to alert dispatchers if vehicles require maintenance or have broken down in the field.

3. Vehicle navigation systems allow for the text messaging, email alerts and auto-genreated system and route reports which cuts down on more expensive cell phones calls and paper-based reporting systems.

4. Inventory control, anti-theft devices, theft recovery and loss prevention.

5. Engine run time and geo-fence violations reporting.

6. Equipment tracking, recovery and engine hours for heavy equipment and “Yellow Iron”.

7. RFID Tagging to track checking in/out of tools and equipment.

Computerized Work Order Management Systems

1. The District can get greater control and accountability for service personnel, and the jobs they are allocated to.

2. District can track ALL time spent on specific jobs and compare time spent across workers, across departments and against industry benchmarks.

3. Increased communication and better documentation of service work.

4. Fully leverage current technology investments by using the Internet and wireless technologies to communicate with field service personnel.

5. Allow field service personnel access to jobs scheduled, work order information and to access and report labor and parts for jobs on-line through a web browser or mobile device.

6. Reduce the risk of losing key people by using automated knowledge management to keep valuable tacit knowledge within the organization, and not just in the heads of service personnel.

7. Analyze service personnel performance, chargeable vs. non-chargeable jobs, work in progress, accounts receivable, etc.

Sources within the District tell Talk of the Sound that Assistant Superintendent John Quinn has been attempting to implement precisely the sort of work order management system described above but has been repeatedly rebuffed by the leadership over at the Grove Street location.

765777F0-BF38-4E7F-8848-662A178AD981.jpgNew Rochelle residents should ask themselves a simple question: why would any supervisor not want to have a real-time, high-tech system that can keep track of where his workers are, what jobs they are working on, what equipment and vehicles they are using and what supplies or parts are being used to complete a particular job? The answer is becoming increasingly obvious.

14 thoughts on “District Attorney’s Office Looking into ‘Talk of the Sound’ Allegations Against New Rochelle School District”

  1. Hopefully, if there is any
    Hopefully, if there is any corruption going on here it will be rooted out & dealt with. I heard of something similar a few years ago in NR DPW. A city employee was investigated by the DA office, for some kind of corruption. Apparently it never went anywhere, but as the story goes, everyone in the administration, from the DPW commisioners, to the council(at the time),AND the administration at the board of ed knew of the investigation( it involved the board of ed also). To top the whole messy situation off, the “employee” involved was given a city owned vehicle to take home(for over a year). In the real world, people are let go for these types of things, NR, actually rewards you with a take home car.

    1. They days of sweeping these
      They days of sweeping these things under the rug is over.

      Welcome to the blogosphere.

  2. Yes, that is correct towing
    Yes, that is correct towing co. The bill was made out to NR City Yard Garage. Rich Revang is the fleet mananger who was also under corruption investigation but that’s another story. The work done by the City of NR Garage and billed to the School District. The vehical in ? was E51 or E52 and had heavy transmission damage As for the year I would sat at least 2006 or 2005.

    1. I will make sure this and
      I will make sure this and any other information you might have finds its way to the Public Integrity Section of the DA’s office.

      BTW, I am changing your font to regular text because using ALL CAPS is consider SHOUTING. We generally let folks post what they want but we do not allow the use of ALL CAPS in headlines and as the body of a post.

      Please keep it coming. This is all quite eye-opening.

      1. NR School needs to change
        NR School needs to change there policy! A few months ago a security guard in A.L.M.S. took a cell phone from a student that was showing nake picutres of his girl friend to other people in the school. The Guard did not notify her supervisor or anyone else. A few days later returns the phone back to the student. The guard transferred the naked pictures on to her phone and the guard was showing her friendsthe naked picture when someone reported the guard to the school district. As usual they swept it under the rug. They transfer the guard to [—— redacted ——-] and is still there. Now I might not be the sharpest pencil in the box but is this not child pornography?

      2. Dear Anon,
        Thank you for

        Dear Anon,

        Thank you for this amazing comment. You are a hero.

        We had little bits and pieces of this story but your comment Sunday night which we held for publication until today provided what we lacked — the narrative that would explain the sequence of events. Given this, we reported out the story more fully today and published it here:

        http://www.newrochelletalk.com/node/625

        I hope more readers will start to see that the blog can be a way to shine a very bright light on this sort of thing — not just the sexting but the dozens of people who knew about it and did not inform the public.

        We redacted the comment on where the guard was transferred to as that would be information that could be used to personally identify this individual. We do have this information and the person’s name but we are holding off publishing until we have completed our public records requests.

        I know the District and Union will scream about “due process” but I would point that this concern for “due process” only extends to union employees not to parents and students. It is not about due process but protecting adults at the expense of children. If the school district cannot or will not fire an employee in an incident like this then the system is truly broken.

    2. I believe your “
      I believe your ” another story” is what I was writing about. Apparently, no one in the city administration wanted to get involved. Makes you wonder why, dosen’t it? Nobody wants to admit ( government or private sector ) for that matter, that corruption exists in their enviorment, which I really can understand. I think everyone that posts here, would admit that not every municipal employee is a crook , nor is every corporate worker responsible for the scams that happen in their companies( just look at Enron or Worldcom), thousands of innocent employees got the shaft, because of the criminal activity of a few at the top.

      However, when corruption comes out, justice must be swift. It’s not fair to the good employees, the taxpayer ,or the shareholders( of corporations), to keep the LOW LIFES around. They bring down morale, and make good people uncomfortable. Personally, I don’t know how they have the balls to even look their “peers” in the eyes ( they aren’t really peers, they are way below anyone they work with or supervise). They are low lifes pure & simple, can’t put it any better than that. I am sure some of them are reading this, & they know who they are. Take a good look in the mirror, anyone who covers up for them should take that same good look. They make me sick, and should make every decent hardworking taxpayer of every city sick as well.

    3. city garage
      city garage to corrupt look who is running it rich fevang a man that was under investigation. and city hall knows he used to go to lunch we comm. james maxwell and talk what we can steal next everybody knows. city workers & boe workers.

  3. The technology is already
    The technology is already mainstream so your not looking at something that has to be invented. For many years companies that maintain fleets, or have personnel that travel, like verizon or transport companies have been using this stuff. Even nextel can set you up with a phone that gives real time info for locations. Other phone companies/services give you the ability not only to track through GPS but it will alert you when someone gets to their location(or doesn’t for that matter)It’s ffered so parents will know when their kids get to where they’re going)Good for you Mr Quinn. I actually believe he’s Trying to make a difference, but sadly, his hands are tied.

    1. To add to the recent reports
      To add to the recent reports about NR school vehicles. A few years ago I learned that during a snowstorm a district pickup truck from Cliff Street with a plow and loaded saltspreader was plowing snow in I believe Armonk when it broke down and had to be towed back to the NR City Garage. I no this to be true because I have seen the towing receipt from Safeway towing. To much of my surprize nothing was ever said!

      1. The DA’s office is reading
        The DA’s office is reading these comments so this is good information but if you can come up with some further detail it will help narrow their search.

        I take it you mean this company: http://tinyurl.com/og7fu4

        Safeway Towing & Haulage Inc
        5 Pleasant St
        New Rochelle, NY 10801
        (914) 632-5555‎

        I am sure the DA can subpoena records from Safeway to see if any district vehicles were towed but it would help if you could narrow down the search. Think about it and see if you can come up with a year.

        Also, any details about the vehicle would be helpful.

        As you say you saw a receipt I take it you work for the district and have something to do with finance?

        We’d certainly be interested in any additional tips you might provide that can help the DA track down misappropriation of school vehicles or equipment — or any other form of corruption and self-dealing.

  4. OMG ! Could the troll really
    OMG ! Could the troll really be Sgt Shultz? (or maybe his offspring given the genetic predisposition)

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