THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 11, 1996 TAG: 9602100120
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: Kevin Armstrong
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Mordecai L. Smith missed his calling. He should have been a defense attorney.
Either that, or the school district's director of budget development discovered one of the best kept secrets in the legal field by hiring attorney Timothy P. Sceviour.
How else do you explain the School Board's change of heart last week in reinstating Smith? What in the world did Smith and Sceviour cook up Tuesday to convince board members that Smith deserved a second chance?
Imagine if you were in charge of finances at your office and you ran up a multi-million dollar deficit on your watch. How do you think your boss would respond?
Well, in Smith's case, he received a 5-month paid vacation. Then, he was told to return to work with a demotion and small pay cut. How much, you ask?
Smith will be paid $67,892 this fiscal year. That includes his work as chief financial officer from July 1, 1995, to Feb. 6 and as director of budget development from Feb. 7 to June 30 this year - if he survives probation. It also reflects a 6 percent pay cut that Smith was forced to take because he was placed on probation - standard procedure for school employees.
The changes will drop Smith's pay to $65,373 during the 1996-97 fiscal year - if he's still around.
As director of budget development, Smith would report to the chief financial officer. But since that position is now vacant, Smith will report to Associate Superintendent Donald Peccia.
Of course, all that surely will change after Feb. 20 when Tim Jenney arrives as superintendent.
Jenney will have the power to reorganize his staff, but it's the board, in the end, that does the hiring and firing.
Members proved last week that they perform that role no better than they balance their books.
Take a look at just some of the evidence against Smith:
An internal audit report a year ago by then auditor Kevin Jones criticized the budget development director for underestimating certain expenses and overestimating revenues in some areas.
KPMG Peat Marwick's expanded audit presented Nov. 7 said the budget had become a useless document because it was so screwed up.
New internal auditor Victoria Lewis said in a Jan. 5 report to the board that the budget director had transferred funds of more than $10,000 without the required board approval or before he got it.
James Pughsley, who until he left the district Friday served as interim superintendent, told the board as recently as Tuesday that Smith should not be reinstated. This advice came from the same man whom the board had trusted enough in December to offer him the superintendent's job permanently.
So who was the board listening to when it made its decision?
Some of these decision-makers managed to earn honest-to-goodness Ph.D.'s (not mail-order ones) or retire as an admiral. None of that experience was evident last week.
Seven board members voted to return Smith to work; four didn't.
Smith's supporters on the board have for the most part remained mum on their decision.
Susan Creamer, one of the four dissenters, spoke loudest of all - with her actions. She resigned.
It's time we heard from others. The public deserves an explanation. Privacy laws prevent certain aspects of personnel matters from being discussed publicly, but there's plenty of room to talk without breeching confidentiality.
The evidence to date has been lopsidedly against Smith. It also has weighed heavily against any board member who hopes to keep his job after May 7.
That's the day the voters get to speak. Let's hope that's not the next word on the subject, though it will be the last.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL BOARD by CNB