ALBERTSON, N.Y. — Kathleen Cervasio’s daughter, Gina, who is 12, has cerebral palsy, cannot speak and is quadriplegic. Without a doubt, Ms. Cervasio said, the best thing that ever happened to Gina was getting into the Henry Viscardi School, one of 11 state-supported public schools for the severely disabled in New York.
Ms. Cervasio, a professor of nursing, said the education and rehabilitation programs were exceptional, offering services her family could never otherwise afford. Indeed, per-pupil cost at Henry Viscardi is $74,331 — about five times the cost of educating a typical child — and is covered almost entirely by taxpayers.
”I am so grateful,” Ms. Cervasio said. “Gina has a great social worker who understands her and can calm her like no one else.” The orthotic center, run by physical therapists, fixes Gina’s wheelchair when it breaks down or needs adjustment as she grows. “The swimming pool is her favorite,” Ms. Cervasio added. “It’s the only time she can relax her muscles, float — she can even stand up with help.”
But the school’s image went from outstanding to disreputable last month. An audit from the state comptroller’s office revealed that $835,074 was misused in 2008 and 2009, much of it going toward the $1.25 million in salary and benefits paid to Edmund L. Cortez, the chief executive officer, during that time. It gets worse: The state demanded the money be returned.
A few weeks later, on May 1, facing a budget shortfall — partly because of the disallowed salary expenditures — the school announced that nine staff members would be laid off or have their hours cut. The social worker Gina loves, along with a physical therapist and a lifeguard, are to be let go. The orthotic center and the pool at the school will be closed.
Parents are angry. “I can’t believe anyone would sign off on that kind of salary,” Ms. Cervasio said. “They were using our children to get rich.”
Six parents and two former employees interviewed said that when they tried to complain, as recently as last week, they were blocked from attending school board meetings. Wanda O’Brien, a social worker who made $58,000 a year and lost her job during an earlier series of layoffs in 2009, said people feared Mr. Cortez. “If someone wrote the board a letter of complaint about him, the board would turn it over to him,” she said. “These children are the most vulnerable of the vulnerable, and they’re paying for what this man took.”
Mr. Cortez is long gone — he retired in January, two months after a draft of the audit was sent to the school. Several efforts to contact him were unsuccessful.
A spokeswoman for the school, Katherine Heaviside, said, “He’s retired and doesn’t want to be in the limelight.” She and other school officials said they were in the process of changing school policies and intended to pay back the $835,074.
Patrice M. Kuntzler, the executive director, said the expected budget shortfall was caused mainly by a change in the state reimbursement process. But she acknowledged that if the repayment had not been demanded by the state and if Mr. Cortez had been paid less, fewer people would need to be laid off.
In addition to the $1.25 million Mr. Cortez received, he accumulated $1.36 million in deferred compensation over 12 years, according to the most recent tax data available.
He was also provided a house on the school grounds and a leased Lexus, both free.
Even while Mr. Cortez was laying off people and freezing teachers’ salaries, the chief financial officer, Sheryl P. Buchel, had her salary and benefits raised to $258,169 in 2009, from $255,345 in 2008.
To put this in perspective, Dennis M. Walcott, chancellor of the New York City schools, makes $213,000 for overseeing a district of 1.1 million students, including 24,000 who are severely disabled. The Henry Viscardi School serves 187 students.
The biggest example of malfeasance, according to the audit, involved Mr. Cortez’s being paid twice for doing the same job.
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