School Board Votes Down Asking for Return of Severance Payments

The West Bloomfield School Board voted down a motion to terminate all voluntary severance incentive payments to former assistant superintendent Tony Marasco, and to ask for payments to be returned, after a lengthy debate regarding board standards and practices in the time since he was paid in 2010.

The debate at Monday's board meeting at centered in large part on the size of Marasco's payout. The severance package approved for Marasco was $70,000. In total, all the VSI packages approved for the seven administrators who took advantage of it has cost the district $560,000, according to trustee Matt Chase, who moved at the that an action item be brought to the agenda.

"It’s obscene," Chase said Monday.

The motion failed 5-2, with Chase and trustee Melanie Torbert casting yea votes.

"The moneys that we’re paying out could have taken care of some of the transportation issues in this district … when parents are struggling to not have kids not picked up at the door. When we’re looking at money to run an IB (International Baccalaureate) program and can’t because the dollars aren’t there, that’s another place we can go to," Torbert said.

The VSI package accepted by the seven administrators and Marasco as part of the 2008-10 administrative contract was a matter of controversy going back to the time of implementation. Vice President Bruce Tobin said at the time, however, that the voluntary severance represented a "break-even" proposition: He pointed out that a departing administration member – in this case, Marasco –  opened the door for other employees to pick up his responsibilities (with pay raises) and that the district would avoid the cost of Marasco's health care payments.

Chase said that as part of the administration which signed the contract, Marasco effectively was taking action on a package that would benefit himself.

As an administrator at the top of the pay scale based on experience, Tobin explained, Marasco's salary was significant and with it came significant health care benefits. Tobin explained that the incentive was allowed for those administrators who had reached the top of the pay scale.

Chase at one point during the meeting said that if the cost to the district was simply too great, and "that he did what you were telling him to do, then I don’t know what my recourse is than to ask for you guys to resign."

Chase was referring to  board members who were present at the time the contract was approved, including President David Einstandig.

"The issue for us was whether we were going to save money," Tobin said. "I’m not sure why there’s a perception that Mr. Marasco took advantage of a situation ... I think we need to move on."

But Torbert and Chase countered that the incentive was allowed to those who retired – and not simply reached the top of the pay scale. Upon retirement from WBSD, Marasco took up employment with another school district. Torbert explained this was an oversight on the board's part which would not be remedied by inaction.

"There’s so many support areas that we have cut back in our resources to help our employees succeed and our kids succeed where that money could have been very valuable and now it’s lost and we have a very cavalier attitude on the board," Torbert said.

Several ideas were bandied about as a means to ask Marasco and other administrators for money returned, prior to the motion's final demise. "I think people would be open to that kind of conversation; the board never intended for us to look at the four corners of the document only," Torbert said. "We have re-negotiated and revised contracts in the past."

However, no means to collect the money or to ask for its return were established. As the meeting clock moved past the four-hour mark and the debate reached 2 1/2 hours, Einstandig asked that the board's time not be used to formally decide upon the best course of action in committee form to ask for the money back.

“I think a formal committee is a huge mistake,” Einstandig said. “You’re talking about spending dollars upon dollars upon dollars. If you want to informally call anyone you like to ask them for the money … I don’t really care.”

Other highlights included:

• A goodbye, delivered during public comment, to Torbert by local resident Judy Herman, on behalf of state Rep. Lisa Brown (D-West Bloomfield) and state Sen. Mike Kowall (R-15th), as well as herself. Torbert elected not to run in the November election and will be replaced by newly elected Carol Finkelstein. 
• The award of a bid to Hoekstra Transportation for the purchase of one special needs bus for $51,350.