OSTROSKY, DISTRICT SETTLE FOR $200,000
KIMBERLY MILLER; MARY ELLEN FLANNERY Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Ran all editions.
The Palm Beach Post
Copyright 2003
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
A SECTION
Former Dreyfoos School of the Arts Principal Amelia Ostrosky will
get $200,000 and the retirement benefits of a 30-year vested
employee in a settlement approved Monday by the Palm Beach County
School Board.
The unanimous vote by the board was made with no comment,
bringing a quiet end to at least part of a 19-month-long controversy
nicknamed "Ameliagate" by parents.
Ostrosky's settlement will be minus $17,750 the district has to
pay to cover its contributions to her federal taxes, Medicare and
the Florida Retirement System. The remaining $182,250 will be paid
in the form of back pay.
The settlement also includes the following terms:
* Ostrosky is retroactively reinstated as an employee of the
district from April 2002 to August 2003, allowing her to become
a 30-
year vested employee and receive full retirement benefits.
(Ostrosky, 50, resigned from the district March 28, 2002.) Estimates
are she will be eligible for about $40,000 a year beginning in
September. If she had not been reinstated she would have retired
at
a lesser amount and been eligible for $18,000 a year, according
to
her attorney, and would have to wait until she was 55 to begin
collecting.
* Ostrosky will submit a response to the investigation on or
before Feb. 24, 2003, and it will be included in the report when
it
is released.
* Any inquiries from future employers about Ostrosky's employment
will be limited to her dates of employment in the school district.
* Only the portions of the report that are considered "founded"
by the district's personnel office will be forwarded to the state's
department of education. With those records, Johnson will include
a
letter that says "the conduct in question does not rise to
a level
which would warrant suspension, termination or revocation of Ms.
Ostrosky's professional certificate."
Still undecided is when a 6,000-page investigation into
allegations of wrongdoing at the prestigious arts school, including
concerns about audition results, will be made public.
"I'm glad this is over, but it's one of those things where
nobody
wins," said school board Chairman Tom Lynch. "Hopefully
we can move
onto our real goal, which is to educate the children."
The Dreyfoos investigation was launched after Ostrosky was
transferred to Jupiter Middle School in June 2001. The transfer
decision brought more than 400 Ostrosky supporters to a standing-
room-only school board meeting where they disputed Superintendent
Art Johnson's recommendation to make the transfer.
Ostrosky resigned from Jupiter and sued the district, claiming
officials misused confidential information, invaded her privacy
and
caused her stress.
Johnson has remained tight-lipped about why Ostrosky was
transferred, but depositions of school board members and pieces
of
the investigation leaked to the media point to concerns about
students getting into the school without passing auditions, misspent
school money, and a grade change.
Monday's agreement lets everyone off the hook. Neither Johnson
nor Ostrosky are admitting liability or wrongdoing, and the school
district is given a "general release" from future litigation.
Costs for the investigation and subsequent legal fees have topped
$425,000, not including Monday's settlement.
Lynch and Ostrosky attorney Judy Hyman commented after Monday's
meeting that they were happy the $200,000 is being paid by the
district's insurance company and won't come from its operating
budget.
"Not one penny comes from school children and that was very
important to Amelia," Hyman said.
The settlement also ends the suits of former Dreyfoos Assistant
Principal Scott Blake, teacher Rona Craddock and Hyman. Blake and
Craddock were named in Ostrosky's suit against Johnson and will
receive no monetary settlement.
"I'm glad it's over," school board member Debra Robinson
said.
But, like other board members, she wasn't entirely happy. "I
think
the whole process has been disgusting, distracting and
disheartening."
School board member Paulette Burdick reminded reporters that she
didn't support the original recommendation, approved almost two
years ago, to remove Ostrosky from Dreyfoos.
School board member Sandra Richmond declined to comment.
Dreyfoos parent Jan Porter said she's happy the case was settled
because of the money issue, but at the same time she wanted it to
go
to court so Ostrosky would be cleared of all allegations.
"Going to court would have been to Amelia's benefit,"
Porter
said.
Few people have read the entire Dreyfoos investigation. Not even
the school board has glanced at its 6,000 pages and it's not likely
to be released soon.
"They are two completely separate issues," said Tom Panza,
a
private attorney working for the school district, about Monday's
settlement and the investigation.
Debate about the report's release now surrounds whether the names
of more than 900 students mentioned should be made public.
Former Circuit Court Judge Stephen Rapp ruled in January that
only a handful of disabled students' names should be redacted from
the document. But school board officials claim state law requires
student records be kept confidential and they have appealed to the
4th Circuit Court of Appeal which could take up to a year to review
the case.
Until then, school attorneys say the investigation can remain
legally sealed from public view.