Pay problems in Pasco

Cheryl Ferro has worked as a guidance counselor in Pasco County schools since 1985.

She recently learned that the school district has overpaid her since day one — and now it wants a portion of the money back.

Ferro is not alone.

A recent state audit of wages revealed the district had overpaid 17 employees by $120,998 over several years and underpaid another 26 workers by $169,807. After the human resources department confirmed the numbers, assistant superintendent Renalia DuBose sent a letter to everyone who was affected to tell them about the administration's plans to fix the problem.

The folks who had received too little money would get it all back. Those who got too much would have to reimburse the district two years' worth of the amount, the maximum allowed by state law.

"I know this was our fault," superintendent Heather Fiorentino said, explaining the rationale behind her proposed solution. "You've got to be fair."

But at least one board member is questioning whether Fiorentino had the right to offer this deal, noting it doesn't match the language of employees' contracts.

And Ferro wants to know why employees should be held financially responsible for district errors.

The matter is now slated to come to the board on Tuesday. See tomorrow's St. Petersburg Times or tampabay.com for the full story.

Comments

[Julie]

You have got to be kidding! This is not about weak employees!
If Pasco County Schools has an audit every year, why was this not caught before? Why did it take 22 years to finally be found?

[Kim]

Well, I now see that the hiring of lesser and inexperienced individuals has been a long-time practice in Pasco. I was hoping that Heather got rid of the good-ole'-boy network, but no, when you hire lesser qualified people, you get problems. Heather, think about it, most of your headaches are due to the work of poor employees. Please Heather or Steve Donaldson do something about this; it is just NOT right that public tax dollars are being used to hire weak employees.

[Joanne]

Bernie, the superintendent nor the board do payroll...how about holding the ones who messed up (payroll)accountable? Also, since the error was done back in the day, the payroll employees, superintendent and board members are all retired now.

Your solution is like holding the Governor accountable when a low level state employee messes up payroll.

There are plenty of people who should be held accountable for the error before it reaches the board and superintendent. The board and superintendent have to trust the managers between the clerk and them or they would be micromanaging. I am sorry but your comment indicates you hold a low level position. After all, would you like to be held accountable for the mistakes the person you replaced when you were hired?

Regardless, this was done in the past and rather than pointing fingers at who made what mistake, we need to solve it according to Florida Constitution and move forward so it doesn't happen again. If it does happen again, the Superintendent needs to get rid of those who keep making errors.

[Bernie]

What happened to auditing the books? Another disappointing performance by my children's school system. I continue to consider other educational options especially if the school district cannot do simple math to calculate employee pay. Time for a new superintendent and a new school board.

[Karl]

No matter how much I'd like to chew this one up and spitt it out, I have to say if Heather is following Florida's Constitution, then her hands are tied.

However, it would be interesting to find out what loophole Polk jumped thru. Maybe Pasco could jump too.

[Teacher]

The Human Resources Dept or Employee Relations Dept (whomever you ask) makes mistakes all the time. Then they lie and/or cover it up or blame the teachers for the error. It is no wonder why HR is recommending the teachers pay back the extra money. I also agree all HR/ER needs to be fired. I thought Dubose was brought into clean this dept up? 2 years and she is hasn't gotten the job done, when is she up for review? I mean before she is granted administrative tenure. HA HA (Don't slam me people I made this up so I can at least laugh at something).

When I was hired several years ago, I was paid at the rate for a Master's Degree and not Master + 18 for almost the entire first year. Luckily, I figured this out shortly before the end of that first year and got reimbursed for the amount that I was shorted. It's not only the communication department that's messed up at district.

In the full version of the story, Marge Whaley seems like an unsympathetic robot. With her recent WALMART comments, one has to wonder if this clown is past her prime. Glad she is retiring

[Teacher]

HF has to follow the Constitution. How did Polk get away with it could be a great story Jeff.

In this situation, HF/Board's decision will not be like. Once again, it seems like this is the result of DOE/Legis. Why isn't education #1 in Florida? Think about it, why did it take so long for the DOE to finally receive a full-blown audit on Pasco? Why are they cutting our budgets? Why are we dealing with issues on the past and not working toward the future? When will Florida's education be a priority?

[tampa]

I have had both happen when I was paid too much I had to return everything - when I wasn't paid enough they only had to pay up to two years and it had been wrong for four years and questioned many times

whoops, I meant including us- the taxpayers, sorry.

If I remember correctly, another school district recently had a similar case. They were forced to require returned payment because of statute. Look into it, doesn't seem like the district has many options. Sounds like district is trying to work with people-be fair to all involved- incluing us, the taxpayer!

[Karl]

Heather, you can't do anything about inheriting this problem, but you can fix it. You showed your leadership skills by admitting the District owns this mistake. However, part II is to solve it with integrity. This can only be done by not asking or expecting the teachers to pay the District back. Think long and hard about the pros and cons of your decision. Until then we will wait and see what you recommend to the Board.

[Sunny]

What is done is done, move on, its the district's error not the employees!

[Teacher]

They should also realized the union will get involved.

A similiar problem happened in Houston, TX when teachers received their merit pay for student performance. Unfortunately some teachers received too much money. The district demanded the money back. Instead of asking for the money or coming up with a compromise, they asked employees how they would like their pay docked. If they didn't work with the district, the board was going to decide how the teacher's pay will be docked. Anyway the result was lots of laywer fees, morale dropped, complaints increased. In the end, the district sucked it up.

[Joe]

My bad, I think it was Weightman who the Supt back then.

[Joe]

This goes back to the John Long days. The teachers who were the recipient of the extra funds should not have to pay anything back. If an employee retired or moved to another county, is Pasco going after their money? Probably not, so her is an example of maybe age discrimination? After all, had they been old enough to retire, they would have kept the money.

Heather, you need to do be fair to the employees. I can't believe Dubose the JD didn't tell you what a legal mess you will be getting yourself into.

[geniuses among us]

Oops!!! Their bad!