Apparently the prospect of seven years in prison has wiped the smirk off Vito Costa’s face.
We have a quick update on the Vito Costa case, a story we first broke here on Talk of the Sound on June 8, 2009.
Costa was arraigned last week on one count of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, a class “D” Felony and one count of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, a class “E” Felony based on evidence that Costa “submitted weekly time sheets which falsely reflected hours worked”. The DA alleges that each Costa would claim that he worked on school grounds from 7:00 am to 3:30 pm when, in fact, he worked a fraction of that time. Investigators from D.A.’s office observed the defendant off school grounds engaged in “activity unrelated to his school job”.
Costa, who is out on bail, is scheduled to appear in court on September 18th, 2009. He faces a maximum of two and one half to seven years in state prison.
Talk of the Sound has obtained a copy of the charging document in the case (pdf) for your enjoyment.
So far the District has refused to comment on the case but rest assured Marty Daly is gearing up to claim that Costa disappearing in the middle of the work day was a “past practice” and thus “protected” under the contract, Organisciak already has his “isolated incident” routine prepared and the school board is still deciding who will play Kikazaru (covering his ears), who will play Mizaru (covering his eyes) and will play Iwazaru (covering his mouth), in the BoE’s latest adaptaion of “The Three Wise Monkeys”.
vito costa and the boyz
is mr. costa still on payroll since his arraignment? are you to tell me that mr. gallagher, costa’s supervisor, didn’t know of costa’s whereabouts? whoever checked off on timesheets must have known and should be fired? margaret pecunia, the personnel director must have known? who is minding the store? who signs off on paychecks and corroborates them with time sheets? does the boe have the courage to go beyond the da’s investigation and be transparent? will the boe cover up other rotten apples? we should all ask questions at the next boe mtg.
Now you know why..,
Organisciak dragged his feet on reporting Costa to the DA.
The Board has now a good-sized can of worms.
Now all they need is a spoon and they can dig in.
Yum!!!
Now you know why..,
Organisciak dragged his feet on reporting Costa to the DA.
The Board has now a good-sized can of worms.
Now all they need is a spoon and they can dig in.
Yum!!!
Do any of his cohorts live in the Trump Tower ?
About 10:15 this morning , there were 5 police cars and one supervisor car out in front of the tower’a entrance ? What’s that all about ?
Police call to Trump Tower was…
…a report of a moving van around back.
Apparently neighbors were confused by the site of someone moving into the building and called the cops.
Now THAT’S funny
I could see how it would be disorienting .
He’s not the only one
that showed up for the morning work assignments and went off to do private work all day. It goes much farther up the food chain….MUCH!
We know it goes further up
The question is whether the DA intends to build a case by flipping Costa or whether they will look at the carpenters and the locksmiths and the rest.
Also, whether the school board intends to give themselves more awards or stroke their egos over inflated scores on dumbed-down tests (if I have to listen to Deidre Polow lecture residents on how New Rochelle Schools have achieved “adequate yearly progress” I will throw up).
Costa reported to someone, right? Are we supposed to believe that his boss did not know he was disappearing every day?
BOED WORKERS
I been reading this post for some time now,
It is about time a lot of things at the BOED should
be looked into.The unfairness that is going around.
All dept. should be looked into.starting from the
top down.
If its sooo bad
Why do you send your children to these horrific schools? Surely no one in New Rochelle could ever graduate to a good college given how terrible the school system is. And no caring parent would endanger their child’s well being and future by allowing them to attend these dumb-ed down schools. Wouldn’t you put your son/daughter into private school in order to save them and give them a chance to get into Harvard or Notre Dame? I can see attacking a school system because of waste and paying such high taxes — but to keep my child in that mess doesn’t make sense. If it was so bad I would have my kid in the best private school, and then attack the district. Otherwise I would just be a complainer who really isn’t all that upset by the system that continues to educate my child.
Again, the TESTS are dumbed down
The problem is the tests are so watered down that they do not serve their intended purpose. A test where 99% of the students get a 2 or higher (required to go to the next grade) is almost the same as not having a test at all. Recall the entire point of No Child Left Behind is to PREVENT social promotion which gives us students are passed along, year after year, without mastering basic skills.
The the test is dumbed down does not make the students dumb or mean teachers are bad it just means the tests as a diagnostic tool to flag students who are not learning is rendered dull and useless.
Ultimately the “test” becomes whether a kid stays in school or graduates on time. This is not a major problem for white students but a major problem for black and Hispanic kids who have, as a subgroup, very bad numbers in New Rochelle.
If you are white, from the North End, track into the advanced Programs Nee Rochelle schools are very good. You want proof? Go attend the academic award ceremonies before graduation. The VAST majority of top students are white kids from the North End.
Anyone who disputes this is either uninformed or lying.
Soooo bad for some
One point of the threads here is that ,if your on the right side of the (bell)curve , your opportunities and chances of success are far superior to those less fortunate . The left side of the curve are not being served if your measure of success for them is to lower the expectations by lowering the bar of achievement. Suddenly showing an increase of performance as a result of this tactic exhibits a grave disservice to those who need it most and a failure of the district to allow children to reach their potential . Everyone has the capacity to learn so who’s fault is it if they don’t ? Besides , it is a small percentage of people who COULD afford private schools .
The B of E administration is
The B of E administration is located at 515 North. Seems apropriate for thieves.
The New Rochelle Schools are not dumbed down.
In fact today’s student are growing up in a time with far more academic challenges than I’m sure you had when you were growing up Mr. Cox. So you need to stop insulting our school district, because reading your writing makes ME want to throw up. Next your article is extremely harsh, but clearly you have nothing better to do than humiliate people on a local blog. Oh and by the way, in your article you should have said the smirk was wiped OFF his face, not “of” his face. Try spell check.
The TESTS are dumbed down
But this is the wrong post for this discussion.
I guess you want me to feel sorry for people who, according to the DA, stole from the school system? Let me remind you that parents will soon be forking over $100 per child to buy supplies for their kids schools. Not pencils and erasers but cleaning fluids and photocopy paper. The schools say the parents must by this because the school does not have enough money. Why is that? Maybe one reason is that we are paying $150,000 a year for locksmiths we do need, or $14,000 in phony “emergency” invoices or $80,000 for HVAC engineers who work elsewhere but still collect a paycheck from New Rochelle.
We don’t “humiliate people on a blog” we write stories about people who steal money intended for our kids and celebrate when arrests are finally made.
If you want to support the crooks on this blog by all means go right ahead. While you are busy weeping for criminals we will continue to call them out at every opportunity and cheer as they are frog-marched out of our school buildings in hand-cuffs.
Fixed the typo. Thanks for the heads up but I make alot of them so you will just to learn to read around them.
.
All the more reason
If you follow the logic that there are more academic challenges , that’s all the more reason to expect MORE from the district . If you understand it and I understand it , shouldn’t the people to whom we pay ONE QUATER OF A BILLION dollars understand it ? To say they’re slipping because times are more challenging only underscores how the district is failing in it’s duty. Thanks for clearing that up .
What are these “academic challenges”?
When I was growing up the “academic challenges” I faced were called exams, mid-terms, finals, quizzes, labs, essays, term papers, etc. As this has not, to the best of my knowledge, changed, I have no idea what other “academic challenges” you have in mind. Perhaps you can define what you mean so readers can understand your point (if you have one).
As for “insulting our school district” your mean offering an alternative to the happy-horse poop the district dishes out (“we were “honored” to be subject to a state audit of our food services” or “we were “selected” to be part of a state effort to gather BMI data” or “every school in New Rochelle achieved ‘adequate yearly progress’). On that last one, saying that our schools achieved AYP is trotted out by Ms. Polow as if the school won a Noble Prize.
You just inspired me write this post:
Deidre Polow and the Significance of “Adequate Yearly Progress”
http://www.newrochelletalk.com/node/988
As for your not liking the stories I write, the solution is simple. You obviously have a computer and can write a sentence or two. Instead of telling me what I may or may not say on this web site why don’t you start your own web site? If that’s too much effort then how about registering and publishing stories that YOU like about the district. There are many good things going in the District and many good people who work for the District. And they get “adequate yearly coverage” elsewhere so I see no need to repeat what the District has to say about itself. They have their own web site so let them do that there.
Tax Money
We the tax payers should thank Mr. Cox, for reporting to us about the employees who are RIPPING us OFF. We pay such HIGH school taxes here in New Rochelle,we deserver better. And so do our kids. We need to clear all the waste out!
New Rochelle Property Taxes
I personally know a family that moved out of New Rochelle to Long Island into a similar house, similiar commute to Manhattan and CHEAPER taxes.
Also, another family I personally know is purchasing a house in Darien, CT. They were luxury renting here and shopped for homes in the Daniel Webster school district. Taxes of $21K were not uncommon in their price range. The house cost a bit more in CT but cheaper property taxes and much less income tax.
The school taxes are out of control. There is no end in sight. No one has ever told the district NO.
I really can’t remember a school budget voted down here and it shows.