The Cuyahoga Falls School Board’s decision to sack an employee two years ago has cost taxpayers $335,000, not including the district’s legal fees.
The out-of-court settlement included a confidentiality clause, but the document was obtained through an open records request.
Former Falls High Principal Anne Alfano was fired in the spring of 2014. After the 2012-13 school year, she moved to the Department of College and Career Readiness, where she did grant writing, assessed data and kept an eye on state and federal grant compliance.
An article in the Cuyahoga Falls News-Press in May 2014 said the vote to fire Alfano was unanimous.
The story also quoted a Silver Lake resident who was highly upset by the move, saying during the public portion of the board meeting: “This is an administrator who’s been going through cancer treatments for the last year — chemo, radiation, complications from radiation —and I think a much better approach would’ve been to give her a one-year contract and given her an opportunity to have health care, find another job and to have moved on in a better way from this school district.”
Ya think?
When her contract was not renewed, Alfano sued Super-intendent Todd Nichols, former Deputy Super-intendent Mark Gleichauf and the school board, saying she had been discriminated against for having a disability — cancer — and that her rights had been violated under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
A mediation session in July eventually produced the agreement.
Although the public order signed by Judge John Adams in U.S. District Court says both parties would pay their own legal fees, the agreement calls for a payment from Cuyahoga Falls to Bolek Besser Glesius, the Akron firm retained by Alfano, in the amount of $134,511.
The rest of the money:
• $66,830 for Alfano’s lost wages.
• $133,660 for various damages, including Alfano’s “pain and suffering, mental anguish and emotional distress.”
This settlement will likely cause some emotional distress among Cuyahoga Falls taxpayers.
Just like the board’s vote on her dismissal, the vote to accept the agreement was unanimous.
The settlement contained a non-disparagement clause for both sides.
When I talked with Todd, the superintendent, on Friday, he said, “We reached a settlement that was in the best interest of both parties. That’s really all I can say about it.”
A Facebook message to Alfano was not returned.
The agreement prevents Alfano from reapplying for a position in the Falls school system for five years.
Meanwhile, the district’s treasurer, David Hoskin, is trying to jump ship.
Hoskin is a finalist for the same position in the Ravenna School District. He is competing against one other person and will have a final interview on Tuesday.
Good thing Hoskin only wrote the checks and doesn’t have to claim responsibility for blowing more than $335,000.
Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com. He also is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bob.dyer.31