SCHENECTADY DA gets financial records from CSEA local treasurer BY STEVEN COOK Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Steven Cook at 395-3122 or scook@dailygazette.com.
Financial records from Schenectady County CSEA units are now in the hands of the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Offi ce as part of a criminal investigation, according to documents filed Friday in a lawsuit brought by the state Civil Service Employees Association. Through her attorney, the local union’s longtime treasurer Cynthia Chevalier answered allegations from the state union that she refused to turn over requested financial records after suggestions of financial improprieties. Chevalier said she was perfectly willing to help get the documents, but that the state CSEA never came to get them. Then, in February, she was served with a subpoena from the district attorney. Two state police Bureau of Criminal Investigation investigators then promptly came and assisted Chevalier in searching through CSEA Local 847’s records and taking them. District Attorney Robert Carney confirmed Friday that investigators have reviewed similar CSEA documents in the Steven Raucci investigation. He did not know, however, whether those documents were the same ones sought by the state CSEA. Raucci, the director of facilities for the Schenectady City School District, has been charged with arson and terrorism in connection with bombs set off in Rotterdam, Schodack and Clifton Park as part of an alleged campaign of intimidation and revenge. Chevalier was responding to claims by the state organization that she failed to produce the records, only handing over documents for a one-year period, when they had asked for more than three years. FILES COUNTERSUIT Chevalier not only responded to the claims, but filed a countersuit, claiming she was being set up as a scapegoat. “The [state CSEA’s] purpose is to create a ‘fall-guy’ to protect CSEA leadership from embarrassment as a result of the disclosure of rampant wrongdoing within CSEA,” the countersuit reads. She is seeking $250,000 in damages, calling the state CSEA’s actions “malicious and harassing” and saying she has been emotionally damaged and riddled with anxiety and depression as a result. State CSEA officials did not return a call for comment Friday. They have declined comment in the past, calling the issues an internal matter. Nowhere in the original CSEA suit or the countersuit is the name of Steven Raucci mentioned. Raucci, the former head of the city schools CSEA unit, was arrested Feb. 20 and charged with placing incendiary devices as a means of intimidation. He is sitting in the Schenectady County Jail now, held without bail on top-level terrorism and arson counts. The subpoena by the District Attorney’s Office would have come around the time of Raucci’s arrest. Three days after Raucci’s arrest, Local 847 was placed into administratorship, and the state CSEA stripped the board of its titles. Chevalier was treasurer from July 1, 2000 until the state CSEA’s action last month. Another link to the Raucci case can be found in Chevalier’s attorney himself. Chevalier is represented by Albany attorney John Hoke, the same attorney representing Ronald Kriss, the first person to publicly blow the whistle on Raucci. Through Hoke, Kriss filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Raucci and the city school district in February 2008, claiming years of on-the-job harassment by Raucci that he contends went unchecked by school officials. Hoke could not be reached for comment Friday. For his part, Raucci’s attorney, Ronald DeAngelus, said Friday he was not aware of any links between Chevalier and the case against Raucci. Meanwhile, the grand jury investigating Raucci’s alleged actions remains “hard at work,” Carney said. He expects an indictment in the case in a week or two. Raucci has been charged in..............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01000
But they didn't know nuthin. The School Bored never heard of this guy. So what if he ran all the School Bored campaigns. They never read the $8 MILLION SUIT against the City School System. So what if the City is on the federal worst list for the 5th straight time. Nobody resigns from either School Administration or the miserable School Bored. Unbelievable. No one has the decency to resign in disgrace.
This is So Schenectady. It could never happen anywhere else. The DA keeps digging. No one is in the clear. The woods are on fire and no one calls the fire department.
MT I feel we'll never get a chance to inject the antibiotics into this county until the sheeple educate themselves about what's happening in this county and vote for change.
MT I feel we'll never get a chance to inject the antibiotics into this county until the sheeple educate themselves about what's happening in this county and vote for change.
You are correct shadow. And unfortunately the majority of the sheople that are here are welfare recipients. THOSE are the people that our elected officials are governing. And until that changes,(which probably won't in my life time), the people in power will continue.
And as far as this whole school board thing....nothing will ever become of it. No one will be fired. That is what they do here in Schenectady County. No one ever gets fired and patronage jobs are created.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
This county is rotting from the core out ... it started with the police department, then to City Hall ... and it's spreading.
Election day will be time to inject some life saving antibiotics before it's too late.
It's already too late. They took over the School Boreds and non-profits and nobody cared. They took over the City Council and nobody cared. They took over SCCC and Sad SACC-TV and nobody cared. They took over the County and everyone that cared had already moved away. Welfare recipients make up only part of the many County sheeple. Mindless readers of the Gazetto and hopeless liberals are also in the mix. We have sheeple so stupid that they vote Kratz even though they are coming to take away their property. For overdue record taxes.
SCHENECTADY Consultant to probe officials’ knowledge of Raucci conduct BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter
The Board of Education on Wednesday hired an independent consultant to investigate what district officials knew about retired facilities director Steven Raucci’s alleged workplace misconduct. Rachel Rissetto, human resource director for the Clinton Essex Warren Washington BOCES, will investigate allegations that Raucci sexually harassed and intimidated colleagues. She will be paid $100 per hour. The board did not set a cap on her fee. School Attorney Shari Greenleaf said she did not know how long the investigation would take but said it would be more than just a couple of days. Rissetto was selected from three finalists interviewed and about a dozen considered. Greenleaf said the district wanted somebody who had no prior association or relationship with the district. Rissetto has worked for CEWW BOCES since 2000 and in her present position deals with personnel issues and employee discipline on a daily basis. Her other duties include health insurance coordination, contract negotiations for 17 school districts and arbitrations. Greenleaf said the investigation would begin immediately and Rissetto would be given “unfettered access” to documents and anybody involved in this matter. Last month, the board accepted Raucci’s retirement from his position. The 60-year-old Niskayuna resident is facing charges in three counties for allegedly planting explosive devices in what Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney has said is a pattern of intimidation. During the course of the criminal case, Carney also alleged that Raucci had won a school district power struggle and that “higher- ups were beholden to him.” The investigation will only focus on the allegations of workplace misconduct. One such allegation is that he distributed a memo to a new female hire to “Take time every day to keep your appearance pleasing for your supervisor.” In addition, the district is also being sued for $8 million by former employee Ronald Kriss, who alleges harassment by Raucci dating from May 2003 through October 2006. Kriss said he suffers from irritable bowel syndrome and an anxiety disorder and Raucci allegedly made demeaning comments against him. Kriss won a workers’ compensation ruling in his favor. Board President Jeff Janiszewski said the district has spoken with Carney about the matter and he is not opposed to the district’s investigation. “At this time he..............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01303
"Maintain the trust of the school system" lol! What trust? They have to pay $100/hr to find out what everyone knows? Try printing out the sexual harassment letter posted on the TU website. For free.
The circus continues. The fleecing of the City sheeple continues-and nobody knows from nuthin.
As administrator in charge of more than 100 workers, he had a direct role in their supervision, evaluation, promotion and discipline.(!!-lol) On the flip side, as Union head he represented subordinates with problems in any of those catagories. Perhaps a similar set-up exists elsewhere in the region, But Marv has no knowledge of this type of serving 2 masters arrangement.
Carl Strock THE VIEW FROM HERE Carl Strock can be reached at 395-3085 or by e-mail at carlstrock@dailygazette.com. Sch’dy school investigation a little skewed
It’s very fine that the Schenectady City School District is going to investigate the doings of Steve Raucci, its former head of buildings and grounds who stands accused of terrorism, but look who’s going to conduct the investigation. Not a hard-nosed private investigator or retired state police sleuth or anything like that but the personnel director of a North Country BOCES, Rachel Rissetto, who is a professional colleague of the Schenectady school attorney, Shari Greenleaf. It was Ms. Greenleaf who was supposed to find someone for the job, and she looked no farther than the New York State Association of Management Advocates for School Labor Affairs, of which she is the president and Ms. Rissetto is eastern regional director. So that’s one thing. Another more hilarious thing is that the results of Ms. Rissetto’s investigation will be turned over to one of the people who is or ought to be a prime target of the investigation, and that is Jeff Janiszewski, president of the Schenectady Board of Education. Yes, Jeff Janiszewski, who recruited candidates for the board and deviously promoted their election as well as passage of the annual school budget by using school janitors to do such campaign grunt work as stuff envelopes and work phone banks, those janitors having been intimidated into performing such chores by none other than Steve Raucci, their supervisor. And not just their supervisor but also their union chief, since Raucci wore two hats. He was head of buildings and grounds, and he was president of the CSEA unit that represented the buildings and grounds workers. Raucci was the muscle, you might say, for Janiszewski’s organization. He’s the one who made sure that the cleaners and custodians went to CSEA headquarters in Latham to make phone calls to Schenectady residents, urging them to vote “yes” on the board’s budget and to vote for Janiszewski’s handpicked board candidates. He’s the one who made sure they got themselves to Brandon’s restaurant on Van Vranken Avenue at the appointed time to stuff campaign envelopes under the supervision of Janiszewski himself or Janiszewski’s friend, Warren Snyder. Several employees have told me they did this “on the clock,” that is, when they were supposed to be working. If they balked, one of Raucci’s “round table,” or inner circle, would tell them they better do it to please Steve. Old Steve had a reputation for getting even with people who defied him or otherwise gave him trouble. The Schenectady County district attorney alleges the reputation was earned through such creative measures as planting explosives at people’s houses or on their cars, and as a result Steve Raucci is now in jail without bail, waiting for a legal resolution. How much did Janiszewski know about Raucci’s bullying and intimidation? How much did he avoid knowing? How much did other board members know or avoid knowing? How much did Superintendent Eric Ely know or avoid knowing? And the same for Mike Stricos, head of human resources for the school district, to whom complaints about Raucci would have been forwarded. The inquiries will be made by someone who is not exactly a professional investigator, someone who is a colleague of a board employee, with the results to be turned over to Janiszewski himself. None of this fills me with confidence.
Bravo Carl! What did you know and when did you know it? They never heard of this guy, so what if he ran all our campaigns? The MSM is having a field day with the stunadas "running" the pathetic City Schools. Just the tonic for sagging circulation!
Change is in the cards! What this District sorely needs is hope..so "suck it up" and resign in disgrace. It doesn't get any better than this!
enough is enough over here let the matter be already PLEASE DROP IT, the damage is done and it turns out the man did not bomb an officer at all from the people I know in the know, OK people? it is curious you repubs keep it up is this just a way to keep the conservs down now? You are making a mountain from a moule hill entirely over here and stop blaming the school board or principals for the lone person who did or didn't do these things, OK.
SCHENECTADY School officials defend Raucci probe Investigator’s link to school attorney has raised concern BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter
School officials responded Thursday to criticism that a probe into the alleged workplace misconduct of Steven Raucci will not be impartial because the investigator has a connection to the Schenectady school attorney. The Board of Education last week hired Rachel Rissetto, human resource director for the Clinton Essex Warren Washington BOCES, to study whether the now-retired facilities director sexually harassed and intimidated colleagues and whether other supervisors knew of Raucci’s behavior and did not act. The probe would be separate from the criminal investigation of the 60-year-old Raucci, of Niskayuna, who is in jail and facing charges in three counties for allegedly planting explosive devices in what has been characterized as a pattern of intimidation. School officials said at the time that Rissetto was selected to conduct the investigation, at a rate of $100 per hour, because she did not have a tie to the district. Her office is in Plattsburgh and does not usually deal with the Capital Region. But critics have pointed out that Rissetto serves as a director of the eastern region for the New York State Association of Management Advocates for School Labor Affairs (MASLA), an organization of school board negotiators that provides support, training and resource material to local school districts in labor relations issues. School attorney Shari Greenleaf is the president of the board. Greenleaf said Wednesday she was insulted by the suggestion that Rissetto could not be impartial. “I’m offended by the insinuation that she lacks the character to do an investigation when she’s already demonstrated her capability to do it,” Greenleaf said. Greenleaf said that while she knows Rissetto through the professional association, the two are not friends nor do they socialize. She said she has been working in the public school sector since the 1980s and knows many people. She added that Rissetto’s membership in the organization is a strength — she has knowledge and expertise in dealing with school personnel issues, Greenleaf said. “Find me somebody who wouldn’t be in the school labor community,” she added. An outsider not familiar with how New York schools and school boards operate would have to waste time familiarizing themselves with civil service law, bargaining agreements and organizational structure, Greenleaf said. She added that Rissetto is not reporting to her but directly to the Board of Education. Board President Jeff Janiszewski said he does not believe Rissetto’s association membership is an issue. He said somebody who has distinguished herself by holding a leadership post in that type of organization is exactly the type of person he wants conducting the investigation. “It means she would enjoy some measure of respect.” Janiszewski said people cannot give testimony anonymously to Rissetto for the investigation. “Then, it’s rumors and conjecture, like everything else.” However, he said names could ................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00101
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But they didn't know nuthin. The School Bored never heard of this guy. So what if he ran all the School Bored campaigns. They never read the $8 MILLION SUIT against the City School System. So what if the City is on the federal worst list for the 5th straight time. Nobody resigns from either School Administration or the miserable School Bored. Unbelievable. No one has the decency to resign in disgrace.
