Rockville Centre Investigating Error That Overpaid 44 Teachers for 3 Years

Rockville Centre School District officials are quickly working to address and resolve administrative errors that resulted in 44 teachers being overpaid over the past three years, according to a statement from the Board of Education.

“This is an unfortunate situation, and we offer our apologies to our taxpayers,” the board said in a statement on the district’s website. “We pledge that all due diligence and urgency will be exercised in the recovery of the funds, along with implementing any necessary corrective actions.”

After an internal investigation of payrolls, district officials discovered that 44 current and former teachers had been paid a total of about $250,000 extra since the 2011-12 school year, officials said.

Officials assured residents the error had been corrected before the first paychecks of this school year were distributed.

“The board wants a complete explanation, and it is a mystery to me -- with all the controls we have in place -- that something like this could happen,” Superintendent William Johnson told Newsday. “There was a clause in the contract that was . . . as best as I can see at this point, honestly misinterpreted.”

Legal representatives are conducting a “broad investigation” of the oversight, which the board said stemmed from a “mistaken execution of the collective bargaining agreement between the teachers’ union and the district.”

The district said that as a part of their investigation, they are investigating their protocols to find out how the error was not discovered sooner. They have notified current faculty members and are also reaching out to former faculty affected by the error, they said. Those who received extra payments were “senior faculty members who had exhausted the current step schedule,” said the district.

Have a news tip? Email heather.doyle@patch.com. You can also post your own news, events and announcements on Patch by following these directions. Curious about how our new commenting platform, Disqus, works? Learn more about it here and start interacting with your neighbors on Patch.