Articles

Another addition to the Parma Schools game trail from an MtM reader:

...I'd like to see [if] the firm connected to the Berea court mess that is being heard before the Grand Jury on the 26th.

There is talk of the firm being involved in the Berea matter, and a lawyer there named James Thomas reportedly contacted a hearing officer in the Winkelman matter (special ed case in Parma) in an ex parte matter and attempted to intimidate the hearing officer. There was also an earlier meeting, that appears to have been an attempt to bribe the hearing officer with a job.

And this attorney is a partner with the firm in their litigation department. Does the Squires firm routinely contact judges and hearing officers in ex parte fashion, do they routinely attempt to intimidate judges and hearing officers, and have others in the legal arenas experienced this type of conduct from Squires?

Connecting these dots of corruption to Squires seems like a certainty to me.

More from an MtM reader speculating on Parma Schools:

Sarah Zatik, the superintendent in Parma, replaced Kurt Stanic, who left reportedly because he did not want to be involved in the shenanigans that Kelley and the Board were orchestrating. And then Zatik gets brought in, and has been an empty chair.

Zatik then gets named superintendent of the year, while at the same time legal fees are skyrocketting. And how was that orchestrated? Christina Peer of Squires firm nominates her. So, Peer gets fees, Zatik gets award. And then later Zatik gets rehired after retiring, effectively doubling her income at nearly $500,000 a year.

What is Zatik's connection to Peer and Suires firm. Had they had dealings in past districts with similar patters of high legal fees?

What about Zatik's connections to Kelley? Was she brought in because of some connections to other members of the Cuyahoga Gang of three, or Carbone and his running mates?

I'd like to find the connections that Zatik has that allowed her to be this "empty chair" and benefit as she did.

From a MtM reader. More on Parma Schools:

I'd like the connection between Michelle Nolan, the Director of Special Education in Parma explored. She was hired at the time the District's litigation expenses exploded. She was hired from Lakewood, a much smaller district where she was not the Director but relegated to menial tasks. She also was hired with a serious health problem. And her general abilities are questioned my many parents in the district. (And I am saying this politely.) Why would a district hire someone that was going to take medical leave even before reporting for duty? Were special arrangements made to allow her to immediately be eligible for Parma's health insurance? So, what connection did she have to get this job? Does she have a connection to Squires? To Kelley? Her husband reportedly is out on disability? Is this related to a construction injury? Does he have a connection to these construction companies named in the scandal?

Another contribution from a MtM reader:

Parma City Schools


Item 1: From http://www.parmacityschools.org/treasurer/webreports/
For searches using the two sets of codes that seem to record legal services:

fund=GENERAL (001)
function=BOARD OF EDUCATION SRVICES (2310)
function=PROFESSIONAL/LEGAL SERVICES (418)
Total Amt Paid 01/01/2007-12/31/2007: $583,191.18
Total Amt Paid 07/01/2007-06/30/2008: $402,776.44

fund=GENERAL (001)
function=BOARD OF EDUCATION SRVICES (2310)
function=OTHER PROFESSIONAL & TECHNICAL (419)
Total Amt Paid 01/01/2007-12/31/2007: $0.00
Total Amt Paid 07/01/2007-06/30/2008: $38,905.61

Two date ranges are given because it is unknown whether fiscal and calendar years coincide.


Item 2: According to http://ednews.org/articles/28214/1/Ohio-corruption-scandel/Page1.html
"Parma spends about $1 million dollars on special education litigation each year -- three or four times the cost of similar districts"


Additional information is required to reconcile items 1 and 2.

A MtM reader follows the game trail on the Parma City Schools. I've set up a forum to help us connect information on the Parma City Schools here.

I didn't see a forum for the Parma City Schools, so I'm posting here.

Expenditures for Parma City Schools can be found at: http://www.parmacityschools.org/treasurer/webreports/

If one does a search with:
vendor=SQUIRE, SANDERS & DEMPSEY LLP
date range=01/01/2000 to 08/20/2008
Total Amt Paid Listed in Search: $788,694.43
with first PO Date = 6/16/2004, last PO Date=6/26/2008

If one does a search with:
vendor=NATURE STONE
date range=01/01/2000 to 08/20/2008
Total Amt Paid Listed in Search: $57,783.74
With first PO Date = 11/6/2006, last PO Date=6/29/2007

If one does a search with:
word in description=legal
date range=01/01/2000 to 08/20/2008
one will find several firms in addition to Squire, Sanders that provided legal services

From a MtM reader:

We recently heard a bit of information that we found rather intriguing, simply because there has been no public mention made of it anywhere, so I guess we can classify it as a rumor. It may or may not have a Forest City connection.
 
A probation officer who works at the Federal Court house mentioned that the ten bed holding facility for federal prisoners awaiting trial was going to be expanded to become a 200 bed prison behind the courthouse overlooking the river. Have you heard anything about this? Will a federal prison soon be situated in the heart of downtown Cleveland? Have the lawyers figured out how to get around public scrutiny by simply calling this an "expansion"? If this is true, the lack of publicity may indicate some backroom shenanigans going on here.
 
Of course, this is all hear-say, but I figured I might as well get it up on your radar screen...you never know.
 

 

From an MtM reader:

The Squires firm, that represents Parma and Orange, is rumored to have given kickbacks of legal fees to Parma and Orange School District decision makers for the purpose of running up legal fees in litigation. Kelley is a board member in Parma and Carbone was a board member in Orange, until his conviction. Both Districts also took on many construction projects while these two were on the Boards, and a very large number of the contractors overlap and are included in the search warrants executed by the FBI.

In both Districts, immediately after these guys got in office, they orchestrated changed in the administration, including ousting the supers and sped directors.

Rumors in both these districts indicate that Board members and some of the administrators were receiving kickbacks and favors from Squires, although sources are fearful of retiation if they speak out.

These are dots that need to be connected.

From and MtM reader:

A couple years ago I worked for a stone flooring company. We always did work for free at both of these guys houses. This is around the same time we got contracts to put stone flooring down at different Parma City Schools, the Solon Police department, the Juvenile Correction Center in Warrensville, etc, etc
neb
P.S. I'll let you guess what company i worked for

http://blog.cleveland.com/pdextra/2008/08/the_cuyahoga_county_raids_five.html

According to a MtM reader, Christopher Kennedy has not been seen near the Convention Center Med Mart deal in a while. Speculation is rising in the City that Hagan has worked with Kennedy to quietly pull the plug.  "It's the Russion Jews against the Irish Catholics. Hagan may be stiffing Albert and Sam and leaving no finger prints."

This was submitted by a MtM reader:

This was posted on www.ohioschoolwatch101.com regarding the corruption scandal in Parma that is linked to the Cuyohoga Gang of Three.

WAKE UP PARMA! THE DISTRICT IS A TARGET OF THE CORRUPTION SCANDAL, AND THE SCANDAL IS EXPLOSIVE.

Everyone in Cleveland is following the corruption scandal in Cuyahoga County, which appears to be focused on three government officials, Dimora, Russo, and Kelley, who appear to have been involved in some sort of kickback schemes and quid pro quo shenanigans in which they abused the public trust. The FBI raided their offices and homes and executed search warrants, including Kevin Kelley’s office at the Parma City School District where he was the Board of Education President. As recently reported in Education News (www.ednews.org) this corruption has been linked to the Parma City School District. Everyone needs to read

Parma City Schools are in rough budgetary shape. They currently are trying to pass a levy that will increase taxes significantly. The Board is rightly concerned that the levy will not pass because of the public being outraged by the Parma Board’s and Administration’s link to the corruption. Board Vice President Rosemary Gulik and other board members are campaigning for the levy, trying to divert attention from their culpability in the corruption scandal. Yes, we said “their culpability.” It did happen under their watch, and this board did allow Kelley unusual control of decision-making, which by the way he continues to wield. Why?

One of the dynamics of the Parma Board is that Kelley is the only male member. The other members are older women, who Kelley has taken to bullying. Even in recent executive session, when some of these women attempted to suggest Kelley resign for the good of the District, Kelley became verbally aggressive, which stifled the women. At that point, Kelley quickly changed the subject to forcing an internal audit, as he believes this a move that will help cover his tracks. He knows that an internal audit is not going to show that he and his fellow conspirators were given anything directly by the District. Once this internal audit is complete, he intends to waive it around in attempts defend himself. But as was laid out in the Education News piece, the corruption involved benefits that do not show up in the books of the entities being ripped off.

Parma School Board Vice President Rosemary Gulik recently was a guest on WTAM 1100 campaigning for the levy. She explained in the interview that Parma’s special education budget is $800,000 under what it needs. How does this happen, when a great percentage of special education money comes directly from the State and the Federal governments? Well, it’s simple. Litigation costs. Parma has been in continuing litigation with one family and has spent nearly $3,000,000 on that litigation, equating to about $500,000 each year. Yet the program that they are litigating over for this child only has a value of about $60,000 per year. Why would any entity pay ten times the amount of a program to lawyers instead of providing the special education services to the child? There is a great deal of talk that Kelley was getting kickbacks from the firm. (Squires Sanders and Dempsey is the firm representing the district.) And as is pointed out in the Ed News piece, Vincent Carbone (convicted of bribery recently and now alleged to be in the protection of the FBI due to affidavits provided to them as part of his plea deal in which he ratted out Kelley, Dimora and Russo) was a board member in the Orange City School District and special education litigation costs there shot through the roof, also with Squires Sanders and Dempsey being the firm involved. And all of Cleveland has observed that this firm seems to be linked to the “players” in nearly every scandal that breaks into the news, whether it is a construction related, a bond issue, or something else. The interview of Ms. Gulik can be heard on the following link:

http://www.wtam.com/cc-common/mainheadlines3.html?feed=122520&article=4107388

What makes these legal costs particularly suspicious is that the Parma Schools, throughout most of the litigation, has had insurance. The insurance company Ohio Casualty (formerly Indiana Insurance) has provided the school district an attorney to defend against the parents claim, and the insurance company has paid Britton, Smith, Kahail and Peters to provide one of their partners, Scott Peters as the attorney. Yet still, Christina Peer of the Squires firm sits at every day of hearing billing, and the Squires firm has had over 20 attorneys working on the case duplicating the work of the Britton firm. This is highly unusual. One of the primary purposes of this type of insurance is to protect a district from the cost of having to pay an attorney to defend it. What financial protection has this arrangement provided the Parma District? None. They are paying for the high cost insurance AND the attorney fees. And why has the Parma Board made this arrangement? Because it was instigated by Kelley! Does anyone really think that the scandal is only related to construction contracts?

Take a look at the double-dipping of the Parma superintendent. This superintendent is an empty chair. Kelley and the Board had complete control over administrative decision-making, including contracts, hiring, legal issue, etc. Sarah Zatik has no authority in the District, as supers do in other Districts. All she has done is agreed to sit quiet while these shenanigans go on. Her payoff? Well, when her contract expires they allow her to retire to collect her pension and then rehire her on a salary. She brings in nearly half a million dollars a year with this double dipping arrangement at taxpayer expense. A payoff for her keeping quiet about the corruption? That's what we are hearing.

Kelley made very clear that he is not resigning from the Board, despite attempts to discuss it in executive session by other Board members. Why? Because Kelley knows that he needs to stay close to Parma so he can anticipate where the investigation is going and be in a position to cover his tracks—just at Russo and Dimora have no intention of going anywhere. They have their networks of others who are involved in the corruption, and should they lose their holds on these networks, they will fall apart, and new individuals will come in and be able to expose more of the scandal.

Kelley is deathly afraid of the special education scandal coming to light, which involved the Squires firm. One of the key players in that scandal is the Director of Special Education Michelle Nolan. Nolan was brought into the District by the Board when Kelley was president. She came from Lakewood School District where she was an ill thought of low level special education administrator. Sources there indicate she had been relegated to a back room and menial tasks because of her general inabilities. Out of nowhere, and without the legally required posting for the position, she gets hired as the Special Education Director in Parma. Since then, she has been integral in driving up the District’s legal costs. Well, what might the payoff have been to Nolan? She gets brought into Parma and special arrangements had been made to allow her to take a medical leave almost immediately after she is hired. Then she returns to work and engages in a pattern of conduct that appears intended to drive up legal fees. Kelley must stay on the Board to try to protect the others who are integral players in the shenanigans. Kelley will not be stepping down from the Board.

On Kelley’s old radio show and in interviews he has had with the press in the past, he was known to often quip, “It’s for the children.” We should now be asking Mr. Kelley what part of this scandal was for the children. It really seems as if these schemes were well orchestrated by and for Mr. Kelley and the connections he has with organized crime. If Kelley really wanted to do something for the children, he’d step down from the Board of Ed, disclose all of this corruption to the FBI so that all those responsible can be held accountable.

Parma taxpayers, do you really want to funnel more of your hard earned money into the hands of organized crime?

From a MtM reader. MtM points out that these are allegations and that MtM is looking for patterns of connections. We leave it to prosecutors to see if any laws have been broken:

Alright, what is the Plain Dealer doing? Do they not have any idea on how to do investigative reporting?

The Plain Dealer has not yet connected Kelley to the kickbacks in Parma and how they were carried out. Why have they not made the connection between Kelley and Nature Stone that installed all the tiling in the Parma pools? Why have they not tracked the payments to Kelley's 'consulting' firm to the contractors in Parma? Are these reporters just sitting in their offices waiting for people to call them with information? What kind of reporting is that.

And why is the Carbone/Kelley connection and the Orange School District/Parma School District similar schemes and connected players not being reported upon?

Why aren't the calling Kurt Stanec, the Dayton Super, to find out why he left Parma? He was very vocal speaking out against Kelley and his shenanigans at the time. What information might he be able to share now that he is not looking for a new job?

Oh, and Nature Stone, let's see what unaccounted for and missing inventory they have....Where is Dimora's and Russo's pool tiling from? Guess. Receipts for this? Right.

Cleveland really needs some investigative reporting, not the dribble and drabs we are getting on this. Where's the beef?!

Submission by an MtM reader:

This was recently posted to www.ednews.org .

It appears the Corruption in Cuyahoga is gaining national attention.

http://ednews.org/articles/28214/1/Ohio-corruption-scandel/Page1.html