ROBBINSVILLE: BOE member resigns amid ethics question

By Joanne Degnan, Managing Editor
   ROBBINSVILLE — The Board of Education accepted the resignation last week of school board member Rich Kasper, who found himself at odds with his colleagues on the board recently over an ethics matter.
   Board of Education President Mike Reca announced Mr. Kasper’s resignation during the April 24 school board meeting, which Mr. Kasper did not attend. Mr. Kasper was on a business trip last week and could not be reached for comment.
   ”We met with Rich last week and discussed the future of the board, and his future on the board, and he has submitted his resignation letter effective June 30,” Mr. Reca told the school board.
   Mr. Kasper’s statement at the Feb. 28 board meeting that he had asked school administrators to use his former employer’s $750 donation to the school district to “offset the eighth-grade (class trip) fee for my son and two other children” did not sit well with his colleagues. Many reproached him during the meeting and Mr. Reca said he would investigate the matter because of the ethics issues it raised.
   In a handwritten resignation letter addressed to Mr. Reca, which was released to The Messenger-Press after it filed an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request, Mr. Kasper said he was stepping down due to increasing work and family commitments. The letter, dated April 19, did not mention the ethics controversy.
   After unanimously voting to accept Mr. Kasper’s resignation, several of the board members addressed the ethics questions the episode had raised.
   ”I think it is very clear that there were some violations,” Board of Education Vice President Carol Boyne said. “I think at this juncture pursuing them wouldn’t really lead to anything as Mr. Kasper has decided to resign from the board.”
   Board member Vincent Costanza said the entire episode had been “embarrassing.”
   ”It reflects poorly on our board; it’s not the way we do our business,” Dr. Costanza said.
   ”I couldn’t agree with you more,” Mr. Reca said.
   Board member Flo Gange sought to clarify that Mr. Kasper was not stepping down because of what had transpired at the Feb. 28 meeting.
   ”I believe his reason for resigning had nothing to do with the impropriety of his actions,” Ms. Gange said.
   ”No, it did not,” Mr. Reca replied. “It had to do with the time commitment of his new job and his personal commitments.”
   The Verizon Foundation runs a Volunteer Incentive Program under which it makes a $750 donation to school districts or the favorite charity of any employee who volunteers 50 hours with an eligible nonprofit organization or school. School board members are unpaid volunteers and Mr. Kasper, when he was still a Verizon employee, requested a grant for the Robbinsville school district based on his time volunteering on the school board.
   The school board voted to accept the $750 Verizon donation at its Dec. 20, 2011 meeting. The agenda for that meeting said the money would be used for the eighth-grade class trip “sunshine fund” that provides financial assistance to students who would otherwise not be able to attend the trip because their families are experiencing financial hardship.
   At the Feb. 28 meeting, Mr. Kasper requested the donation be returned to Verizon, or given to the Boy Scouts, because he said Schools Superintendent Steve Mayer had recently “enlightened” him that no part of the grant can be used in a manner that directly or indirectly benefits his child.
   Board members asked Mr. Kasper how he could have voted in December to direct the grant to the sunshine fund if he had the expectation that part of the money could be used to defray his son’s class trip costs.
   Mr. Kasper responded: “Bad for me not knowing the whole definition of a sunshine fund and how the money is doled out.”
   During a long discussion that followed, Mr. Kasper made statements indicating that he had also made the same request to use part of the grant for his son’s trip fees in meetings he had with the middle school principal and guidance counselor prior to e-mailing Dr. Mayer. Mr. Kasper claimed that the Pond Road Middle School administrators did not tell him his request was improper.
   ”A building guidance counselor and building principal are not responsible for counseling you on your ethics responsibility,” Mrs. Boyne told him on Feb. 28.
   Dr. Mayer emphasized last week that Mr. Kasper resigned as a “member in good standing” of the school board and that the ethics matter was not being pursued.
   The Board of Education will interview interested candidates for Mr. Kasper’s seat at 6 p.m. on May 29. Residents must submit letters of interest to the Board of Education by 2 p.m. Friday, May 25 in order to be considered for the appointment, which takes effect July 1.
   The appointee will serve the remainder of 2012 and have the option of running in November for the rest of Mr. Kasper’s unexpired term, which ends Dec. 31, 2013.