Court papers detailing charges against former Poughkeepsie School District Superintendent Robert C. Watson allege that, beginning in 2002, he hired four individuals, who did not have proper certification, for administrative positions at the Circle of Courage School.
The details of the seven-count indictment, released last month, were filed March 13 by the Dutchess County District Attorney’s Office with Dutchess County Court Judge Thomas J. Dolan. Watson and his attorney, Michael J. Sussman, appeared in court before the papers were filed. The case was adjourned until April 15, when the court will hear motions.
The papers, known as the bill of particulars, go into specific detail regarding the charges facing Watson, who has pleaded not guilty in the case.
The charges
The most serious charge, grand larceny in the second degree, is a class C felony. The papers allege that Watson first contracted with four individuals, Dwight Paine, Frank Mulhern, Theodore Arrington and John Rodriguez to “consult and analyze educational programming for the Union Street Circle of Courage Learning Center.” According to the papers, this contract was not authorized by the Poughkeepsie Board of Education. All four were recommended in June 2002 to the board for administrative positions at the school.
“All of these positions required administrative certification. None of the four individuals appointed to the positions at the behest of the Superintendent had administrator’s certification at the time of the appointment. The defendant was aware of the need for certification, as he had been advised by attorneys for the district that certification was necessary for the four individuals during contacts subsequent to their appointment,” allege the papers.
The four administrators, who no longer work in the district, were paid a total of $725,000 during their tenure. When Arrington was removed from his position as dean of students at the school, he was transferred to a position of social worker at the middle and high schools. The papers allege that Watson continued to pay Arrington his administrative salary plus increases. By the end of 2005 he was earning nearly $100,000 per year.
When Paine was required to be removed from his position, the papers allege that Watson created the position of Assistant to the Superintendent, which paid approximately the same as the administrative position.
In August of 2003, the papers charge that Watson signed an “administrator’s sidebar agreement” with the Poughkeepsie Public School Administrator’s Association to make longevity payments to administrative employees based upon time served outside the district “at the pleasure of the Superintendent” According to the papers, this agreement was not approved the board and violated New York State Labor Law in that there was no cost attached and was open-ended. This is said to have resulted in $15,000 in illegal payments.
The papers go on to state that Watson made two other sidebar agreements with the administrator’s association, which were also not approved by the Board of Education. One of these allegedly concerned work approved by Watson that was beyond “the normal workload” and resulted in unauthorized payments of more than $45,000 between 2004 and 2006.
Also in regards to the charge, the papers allege that Watson recommended payments totaling $265,000 to the Polumbo Group, which was contracted to serve as construction manager for a $27 million capital improvement project. According to the papers, the payments were not authorized in the original contract and that Watson misrepresented to the board that documentation for the payment had been reviewed by the district’s director of facilities.
In the second count of the indictment, third degree grand larceny, the papers allege that, beginning in 2001, Watson was paid improperly for unused vacation time and personal time, as well as being illegally reimbursed by the district for regular salary when he was outside the district and being paid to speak at four separate conferences. Also alleged is that Watson, in June 2005, directed the district business office to give him a 5 percent pay increase, totaling $4,700 in salary, without school board approval. Improper reimbursement for district-related dinner meetings is also alleged. In total, the charge accuses Watson of improperly using approximately $20,000.
Three other charges relate to first degree filing of a false instrument. These allege that Watson included false information in the recommendation of the four administrators.
The final count of the indictment is a misdemeanor charge of payment of an unqualified teacher. This relates to the hiring of Arrington, who the papers allege did not have certification and was unlikely to receive it due to a prior conviction for manslaughter.
Watson is free on $50,000 bond. Calls to Sussman for comment were unsuccessful.