Schools

School Administrator Threatens to Sue if Terminated by School Board Next Tuesday

Michael Ivanoff, assistant superintendent of finance and operations, says he was fired based on age discrimination, violating his civil rights.

Michael Ivanoff, the Riverhead Central School District's assistant superintendent of finance and operations who has seemingly been replaced by Joseph Singleton as an interim, said on Thursday he will sue the school district on the grounds that his civil rights were violated if the school board votes to fire him at its next meeting, on Jan. 11.

Ivanoff believes his was fired on Dec. 1 by Superintendent Nancy Carney because of age discrimination. 

"She told me she was young and had her whole career in front of her," Ivanoff said. "That kind of followed up on some conversations that may be considered civil rights violations that I probably can't get into right now."

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Carney, due to the legal repercussions the school may face in the future, said she could neither deny nor confirm Ivanoff's allegations of the district's unfair practices. 

"I would love to respond, but this is obviously a very sensitive personnel matter," Carney said. "I have to protect the district from any future lawsuits that may occur."

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On Dec. 15, Singleton was voted by a count of 5-2 (Angela DeVito and Kathleen Berezney in dissent) to hold the title interim assistant superintendent of finance and operations, a position Ivanoff has held on a permanent level since July 2008. Ivanoff was not at the Dec. 15 meeting. 

Ivanoff believes a younger candidate will be brought in by the district to be trained by Singleton for the position of assistant superintendent of finance and operations.

It is unclear if a resolution to terminate Ivanoff will be on the agenda next Tuesday. However Board of Education President Ann Cotten-DeGrasse did say that she had been meeting with Carney on Thursday afternoon, and they, "had prepared a statement which will address that."

Upon Singleton's hire in December, which was preceded in November by a short gig as a part-time financial analyst with the district, the school board offered close to no commentary on the hire of Singleton, who previously served in his current capacity, and also as interim superintendent of schools in the district. 

DeGrasse said at the meeting, "I'm sure this is going to come up as a question. So I will say right now: after a lot of deliberation in executive session, you are going to have to trust us that we are doing in what is in the best interest of the school district and the students that go here."

DeGrasse, reached on Thursday, deferred to Carney regarding Ivanoff's capability to perform his duties, stating that, "the school board has one employee - the Superintendent - who evaluates central administrators and building administrators. I do not evaluate Mr. Ivanoff."

Ivanoff said in his two and a half years on the job, his performance reviews were nothing but positive. He described the internal, external, and claims audits the school district performs as having been without problems.

A recent audit analysis dated Oct. 6, 2010, stated the following: "We did not identify any deficiencies in internal control over financial reporting that we consider to be material weakness."

While the school is entitled to terminate, Ivanoff said, doing so on the basis of age discrimination is another matter. 

"I am shocked and outraged over the whole situation," he said. "If I were a teacher or principal, I would have received progressive disciplinary comments so they were known and I could make certain changes. But for this to happen with no warning - that's not fair."


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