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Chilling portrait of Raucci
School report on felon cites misconduct but does not hold district responsible

By PAUL NELSON, Staff writer
First published in print: Friday, April 16, 2010

SCHENECTADY -- Steven Raucci routinely intimidated employees he supervised in his dual role as facilities director and local union leader while maintaining the tacit support of his bosses, according to an investigative report commissioned by the Schenectady City School District.
     
But while the findings by an outside expert go into great detail about his menacing misconduct, they stop short of blaming the district officials for Raucci's bullying -- and failing to intervene. The Times Union on Thursday obtained a copy of the 51-page report, which the district repeatedly refused to make public. A judge ruled the report could remain private.
Raucci was convicted this month of arson, weapons possession and conspiracy for blasts and vandalism that targeted those who crossed him and his friends over the course of two decades.

"We were all victims," one employee told Rachel M. Rissetto, human resources director for the Clinton-Essex-Warren-Washington BOCES. The school board hired her at $100 per hour in March 2009 a month after Raucci was arrested. Her total bill for the report was $12,925.

"I found all the interview participants to be cooperative, candid, honest and very willing to discuss their personal observations and experiences" with Raucci, Rissetto wrote.

She also found, with one exception, the employees who endured or witnessed the Raucci's abusive actions, admitted they failed to report it to the administration because they were "scared for their job and/or personal safety."

The lone person who spoke out was James "Dan" Bachus, who testified for the prosecution in the criminal case that in 2007 Raucci sent him to the high school as a cleaner after Bachus cursed him because he thought Raucci had called him a liar at a staff meeting.

In the report, six of the 12 specific examples of retaliation cited by workers involved getting sent to the high school as punishment.

Five employees recalled being subjected to acts of humiliation for something as simple as forgetting a phone or keys.

Rissetto wrote "requiring employees to write on a white board 25 times 'I will not forget my cell phone' is in my opinion, not a toll that quality managers and supervisors use with their employees." She stopped short of saying the humiliating and embarrassing behavior and the perception of possible retaliation "rise to the level of retaliation."

Workers also complained CSEA and the school district permitted Raucci to be both a high-ranking manager and union head, which undermined the grievance process and their confidence that the union would protect them.

"Employees stated that every time they approached CSEA officials with a concern regarding Raucci," the report said, "they would inform Steve Raucci and appropriate action would not be taken."

On Thursday, CSEA spokesman Stephen Madarasz declined to discuss the matter..........>>>>............>>>>............Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=922201#ixzz0lGH14MKt

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Just how unaware were district's administrators?
DA says plenty of evidence about Raucci's conduct

By LAUREN STANFORTH, Staff writer
First published in print: Saturday, April 17, 2010

SCHENECTADY -- Superintendent Eric Ely put out a statement Friday saying the internal report the school district finally released about now convicted arsonist Steven Raucci proves administrators were unaware of Raucci's intimidation and mistreatment of his co-workers.

But evidence presented at Raucci's trial last month in Schenectady County Court painted an opposite picture -- from assistant superintendents giving Raucci a framed photo of Marlon Brando in "The Godfather" to Ely knowing there was a criminal probe over Raucci's conduct.
The report, which the district released Friday morning after fighting to keep it secret for almost a year, places no blame on district administrators, saying employees did not report Raucci's abuse for fear of retaliation by him.

While one assistant superintendent retired and another's contract ends in June, no one was ever disciplined after the report was completed -- even though it found that Raucci threatened employees by saying, "I'd kill you, your wife and kids," if he was ever crossed.

"If they really didn't know about it I suppose it's hard to blame them," said Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney reacting to the report. "But there's plenty of evidence out there if someone wanted to really know what happened."

Rachel Rissetto is a North Country BOCES human resources director who was hired in April 2009 to investigate and report on allegations of Raucci's workplace misconduct. She interviewed 35 employees, including Ely, and past and present school board members.

She also was provided access to more than 10,000 district e-mails. Last year, Rissetto worked on the same panel for the state Association of Management Advocates for School Labor Affairs as Schenectady school attorney Shari Greenleaf...........>>>>...............>>>>...........Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=922541#ixzz0lKmnqn7z

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She also was provided access to more than 10,000 district e-mails. Last year, Rissetto worked on the same panel for the state Association of Management Advocates for School Labor Affairs as Schenectady school attorney Shari Greenleaf.

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EDITORIALS
Rissetto report only raises more questions

    The Rissetto report done for the Schenectady City School District is no longer secret. But neither should it be considered sacred. What’s not there is as interesting as what is, and casts doubt on the investigator’s thoroughnesss and toughmindedness, as well as her conclusions.
    The most notable of those conclusions was that administrators in the district didn’t know what the volatile bully and now-convicted criminal Steve Raucci was up to in school and out, couldn’t have been expected to, and therefore couldn’t be blamed for not taking action.
    The Raucci trial took place after the report was made, but voluminous testimony and evidence there presented a different picture. Did Rissetto have access to all the pertinent information, from damning e-mails between Raucci and administrators (including one from Superintendent Eric Ely tipping him off to a criminal investigation); to hand-written notes taken by administrators; to a Workers Compensation judge’s decision against the school district in 2006 that concluded, in direct contradiction to the district’s findings, that Raucci had in fact abused one employee, shouting at him, threatening to abolish his job, mocking him, and grabbing his genitals? If she didn’t have this information, why not? If she did, why isn’t it reflected in her findings?
    Nor is there anything in the findings about Gary DiNola, the former athletic director who complained to the superintendent about his treatment at the hands of Raucci, including a string of belligerent e-mails from Raucci (which Raucci copied to Ely) and a bomb placed under the windshield of his car (Ely told DiNola it was a police matter, not a school matter).
    Rissetto didn’t interview those who had a pending lawsuit against the district. Perhaps these individuals, who had been most harassed and had their cars and homes vandalized by Raucci, would have refused, but why not at least try? She said it would have been “inappropriate” to interview people who have litigation “under these circumstances.” Why is that? Rissetto’s confident assertion that “failing to interview these two (2) specific potential witnesses in no way diminished or detracted from a thorough and comprehensive investigation in any way shape or form,” hardly seems justified. ............>>>>.....................>>>>..................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r03801&AppName=1

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Not so fast, Schenectady

First published in print: Tuesday, April 20, 2010

So Eric Ely, superintendent of the Schenectady schools, is pleased, is he, that an otherwise scathing report about Steven Raucci, the former facilities manager and union leader and now a convicted arsonist, is so sparing in what it says about him and other district officials?

Mr. Ely and his colleagues might reread the 51-page report compiled by Rachel Rissetto, human resources director for BOCES in Clinton, Essex, Warren and Washington counties (http://tinyurl.com/y6bsc4y) before claiming any vindication. This, remember, is a report that school district officials tried to keep from becoming public. The report was posted on the district's Web site last week only after the Times Union had obtained a copy of it and reported what it said.

District officials should be careful about taking much solace in a report that portrays them as being hopelessly out of the loop as Mr. Raucci intimidated, humiliated and generally mistreated his subordinates.

It's hardly a compliment that perhaps the most reassuring thing that could be said about them in regard to Mr. Raucci is that he was able to abuse people in such a way that they were too scared to report it.

That's because he not only was their boss, but also was the leader of the CSEA union local where they might have brought their grievances. Both the union and the district need to address this. Separating those two positions in the union contract, to avoid such a misuse of power, is the first of some 13 recommendations that Ms. Rissetto makes to the school board about preventing misconduct in the workplace.

Other recommendations go directly to the need to transform the culture of the school system and implement a standard of ethics for the people who work there.

Consider, for instance, the response of District Attorney Robert Carney, who successfully prosecuted Mr. Raucci on 18 of 22 criminal charges, ranging from arson to possession of a weapon, to the report Ms. Rissetto compiled months before that trial.

"If they really didn't know about it, I suppose it's hard to blame them," he said. "But there's plenty of evidence out there if someone wanted to really know what happened."

A school system truly capable of preventing the outrageous conduct of the likes of Mr. Raucci already would have had an atmosphere in place where the policies Ms. Rissetto is calling for could have been enforced -- such as: "Managers and supervisors must support employee reports of violence, threats, intimidation, retaliation or harassment.".....................>>>>.................>>>>.................Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=923181&category=OPINION#ixzz0lfoA9u4R

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Why hasn't Carney found any evidence linking Raucci to school administrators? I don't get it. All those years and no complicity.

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CSEA leader: We begged for proof
Union's region president speaks about the Raucci case for the first time

By LAUREN STANFORTH, Staff writer
First published in print: Tuesday, May 4, 2010
COLONIE -- CSEA Region 4 President Kathy Garrison gave her first interview Monday about the scandal surrounding former school facilities supervisor Steven Raucci, saying the CSEA begged local union members for proof of Raucci's alleged misdeeds and got nothing in return.

Garrison said she is speaking to reporters now because the CSEA did not want to be involved in the "media frenzy" during Raucci's trial on arson and weapons possession charges. Raucci, who also was head of the union's operations and maintenance unit in the school district, was convicted April 1 of charges stemming from leaving explosive devices at the homes and on the cars of his enemies.
The CSEA took much heat during the monthlong trial as information arose showing Garrison and other state union leaders knew about complaints about Raucci and did nothing to remove him from his post. Various school maintenance employees testified that Raucci intimidated employees through many means, from threatening their family members' lives if he was ever crossed to flicking male employees in the crotch. According to testimony, Raucci also never filed grievances on his employees' behalf as a way to make school administrators happy. Raucci also provided unearned overtime and free use of school vehicles to employees who were loyal to him................>>>>................>>>>............Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspS.....4/2010#ixzz0mxIm6nVq