OSTROSKY WANTS BACK PAY, APOLOGY TO END SCHOOLS SUIT
KIMBERLY MILLER Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Ran all editions.
The Palm Beach Post
Copyright 2002
Thursday, October 3, 2002
A SECTION
The Palm Beach County School Board has been meeting privately
during the past two months to discuss settlement offers in the
Dreyfoos School of the Arts lawsuit, including requests from former
Principal Amelia Ostrosky's attorney for back pay, an extra year
of
tenure and a public apology.
Ostrosky is suing Superintendent Art Johnson, who transferred her
from Dreyfoos to Jupiter Middle School in the spring of 2001.
Ostrosky, who is represented by attorney Bob Montgomery, has
since resigned from the district. But Montgomery and school
officials are mired in a legal battle over a 6,000-page
investigation that looked into allegations of unfair audition
practices, grade changes and the preferential treatment of some
students.
School district critics have complained about the price of the
investigation and subsequent legal costs, which will equal more
than
$150,000.
Letters obtained by The Palm Beach Post show that Montgomery made
at least one attempt to settle part of the case out of court.
The Aug. 5 offer, which was rejected by the school board,
included the following:
- Ostrosky would receive one year toward her pension, which would
allow her to retire as a vested 30-year employee.
- Ostrosky would receive six weeks back pay. (Ostrosky earned
about $92,500 when she resigned.)
- Ostrosky would receive a public apology signed by either the
school board or Johnson. Further, no member of the school district
could comment to the media regarding the apology and/or the
settlement.
- No part of the investigation would be placed into the personnel
files of employees represented by Montgomery. Also, the
investigation would not be sent to the Department of Education's
Division of Professional Standards or any other administrative body.
The investigation, which has yet to be released in full, includes
findings that one student's grade was changed and that there were
irregularities with the audition process, including students who
were said to have failed their audition but were later allowed to
enroll.
Ostrosky has denied any wrongdoing.
School board members, who met again Monday to discuss the case,
would not comment on the progress of settlement talks.
But they may have rejected the August offer, in part, because it
is not in their legal power to keep investigative findings out of
personnel files or from being forwarded to the state.
Also, Montgomery's settlement offer applied to only one suit, not
a second filed against Johnson and former board member Jody Gleason.
Gleason settled her suit last week, and the school board agreed
to
pay $15,000, with no admission of guilt on her part. The suit
against Johnson is still active.
Montgomery said Wednesday that the offers he's made to settle are
not because he's eager for the case to be over.
"There are other suits out there that I'm just waiting to file,"
he said. "I'm just seeing what the school board is going to
do."
Montgomery has deposed most of the school board members and
Johnson. In Johnson's six hours of sworn testimony, he said he is
concerned about the cost of the Dreyfoos investigation and continued
legal wrangling. He was sued again Monday by Montgomery associate
Judy Hyman, who said Johnson violated public records laws by not
turning over all of his phone messages after she requested them.
"The turn of events that have occurred in the last few months
are
unnecessary," Johnson said in his deposition. "It distracts
us from
the mission of the school system, which is to raise student
achievement."