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To read the Audit Report as well as the District's response to the Comptroller's Report, click here and then scroll down to the bottom of the page and select "Complete Audit in PDF" |
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To review the Fred Hirsch cell phone logs, click here (To review the "Don Farris" cell phone log sheet, click here; or, to review the "Tim Price" cell phone log sheet, click here) |
A FOIL was recently filed requesting the District's itemized cell-phone bills for Senior High Vice-Principal Fred Hirsch. The bills revealed some very interesting (and disturbing) data, which I will share with the readers herewith. Actually, what I found was beyond disturbing---in my opinion it is one of the worst cases of abuse I've seen yet.
But first, before I reveal my findings, I want to repeat Superintendent Rhau's words of defense regarding the use of the 25-District cell-phones that are assigned to the school's administrators, and which cost the District approximately $13,000 per year: "They are a necessary tool to keep school officials in touch in case of emergency." The reader will undoubtedly recall a recounting of the abuse by Superintendent Rhau and Principals Don Farris and Tim Price, who all took advantage of the District cell-phones to call friends and relatives in Georgia, Massachusetts and California, presumably to wish them a Merry Christmas and New Year (in addition to the hundreds of other calls they made to numbers outside the District).
Hirsch's Calls
Although Hirsch didn't make any cell-phone calls on either of those two holidays, he made thousands of calls at other times. For example: C H Energy Group Inc; Ulster Savings Bank; Kelly Oil, Inc; Quick's Complete Tree Service; Four Winds Hospital; Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation; 24 7, Brooklyn; Grade's Electric; attorney Anne Logogram; Village Pizzeria; Ricers Electric; Ming Moon Restaurant; Woodstock Plumbing & Heating; The Reis Group; Daily Freeman Classified Department; Kidney, Donald Aping Rear; All Motor Cars Ltd; Tom Sutton Electric & Plumbing, Cinemaplex Video Fax; Mother Earth's Storehouse; Sweetheart Gallery; Wallkill Body Shop; Bought on Place Inc; Greene County Realty; Colony Liquor Disturbers Inc; Home Depot; Water Dept; Independent Financial Services; The Sports Authority; Hudson Valley Water Resources Inc; Jerry Brown Ins; New England Screen Door Co., Maine; Aqua Jet Pools & Service Inc; Arthur Diabolic, PhD MD; Taste Of Home; N & S Supply Of Kingston; Saugerties Times; Steamco Carpet Cleaning; Enterprise Rent A Car; Davenport's Circle Farm Stand; Sawyer Leasing Co Inc; Door Jamb; Village of New Paltz Parking Violations Bureau; Hudson Valley Volkswagen; Subway Of Saugerties; Creative Ink; Parco Gas Corporation; Ward Backhaus Used Cars Inc; Unlimited Care; The Hotel & Conference Center, Saratoga Springs; Time Warner Cable; Metes & Bounds Realty; Weather Realtors; Kingston City Water Department Business Office; Szechwan King; Peak Trading Corp; Anchor Motel, Narragansett, RI; Hudson Home Loans; Canine Country Club; Lowes Home Improvement Warehouse; Aeries Courier; Edward J Seasick Plumbing; Hackworth Plumbing Electric & Heating Inc; Mid Hudson Heating & Plumbing Inc; Murphy's Plumbing Heating & Air Conditioning; Main Drain & Flow; Kingston Mechanical Contractors Inc; Greylock Electronics; Augustine Insurance; Demure Gil H Land Surveyor; Hair Braiding Mama Senegalese.
And here are some of the locations he called: Brooklyn, Dobbs Ferry; Catskill, Schenectady; New Paltz; Albany; Rosendale; Woodstock; High Falls; Troy; Brentwood; White Plains; Clintondale; Freehold; Newburg; Shokan, Bronx; Queens; Ossining; Brooklyn; Milton; Kerhonkson; Tivoli; Phoenicia; Wallkill; Nyack; Stony Brook; Rhinebeck; Red Hook; Chatham; Palenville; Saratoga Springs; Wappingers Falls; Patchogue; Bloomingburg; Middletown; Monticello; Cairo; Beacon; Hudson; Poughkeepsie; Spring Valley; Lake Mohawk NJ; Media PA; South Orange NJ; Fanwood NJ; Cranford NJ; Damariscta, ME; Harpwell ME; Fuquay-Varina, NC; Narragansett RI; New London CT; St. Petersburg Fl; Plainfield NJ; Emporia KS; Leesville LA; Hackensack NJ; Jupiter FL.
Records reflect that 712-calls were made on Saturdays and Sundays, 453-calls were made to his residence, 1,321 calls were made after school hours and he received 875-incoming calls. Mr. Hirsch receives approximately $90,786 annually which includes salary and cost of health benefits, but does not include pension, employer portion of social security, or other costs. He has a full time secretary and he has access to so many land-line telephones at the school.
Why?
Why so many cell-phone calls? And why so many calls to places such as electric and plumbing and utility companies, realtors; insurance groups, lawyers, financial services, savings banks, or the Door Jamb; Screen Door Co; Tree Service; Mechanical Contractors, Inc; Steamco Carpet Cleaning; Home Depot, Lowes Home improvement, etc.? Curious as to why, I dug a little deeper and checked with the Town Assessor's office to see if Hirsch had made any recent real property purchases. Lo and behold, public documents (records maintained at the Town Assessor's office which are available for public scrutiny) show that on June 30, 2006, Hirsch purchased real property consisting of land and three buildings (all of which, according to the photos, were in a state of disrepair at the time). Could this be why Hirsch made all those phone calls? The calls seem to dovetail perfectly with such a project. But, you be the judge! (To view all 28-pages of Hirsch's cell-phone bills, see above.)
Obviously, under his leadership, the board president (which would be Mike Brennan) has an obligation and responsibility to the taxpayers of Saugerties to encourage the board to investigate this abuse of District cell-phones by the school's administrators. I would also encourage citizens to do the same, and call Mr. Brennan to demand that this abuse cease immediately.
And finally, I Foiled to learn when the board approved (or even requested) that the school attorney draft an opinion regarding the $160 that Rhau was inappropriately paid. The reader will recall that an ad restating the attorney's "opinion" was placed (by Rhau) in The Post Star a few weeks back. According to the District clerk, no such document exists. Does that mean that we, the taxpayers, covered the cost of the background information for Rhau's ad? Is this an example of adding insult to injury? I'd like to know just who requested that the attorney draft that letter/opinion? Was it Rhau himself? Again, you be the judge!
Stay tuned…..
George D. Heidcamp, Sr.
March 8, 2007