Harrell under investigation
SANDPOINT — A former Lake Pend Oreille School District superintendent is under investigation by authorities in Oregon for allegedly using a vacation cash-out policy to recapture more than $8,000 he lost in a voluntary pay cut during a 2003-04 budget crisis at the school district where he serves as district superintendent.
Max Harrell, LPOSD superintendent from 1995-'97, is charged with replenishing his lost wages "by awarding himself additional vacation days," according to Central Linn School Board chairman Pat McConnel.
Both the Linn County Sheriff's Office and the Central Linn School Board are investigating the charges against Harrell, who has denied receiving unauthorized compensation.
Harrell is on two years probation with the Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission for gross neglect of duty. The state panel sanctioned him three months ago for failure to remove an uncertified instructor as teacher of a middle school class and employment of a principal who had not yet obtained an Oregon administrative certificate.
District records and handwritten memos from Harrell to his district business manager show the superintendent calculated that the 10 percent pay reduction was the financial equivalent of about 29 day of vacation time. He then instructed her "donate" 29 more days to his "bank" of unused vacation.
Under the terms of his employment contract, Harrell may carry over unused vacation days from year to year; the addition of the extra days boosted the level of his vacation pool, which he allegedly converted to cash in addition to taking off regularly accrued vacation time, McConnel said.
Though Harrell said he "actually worked" the equivalent of the donated days, he declined specific comment, saying a district resident reportedly has filed a complain with the Sheriff's Office and didn't want to interfere with the investigation.
He noted, however, that the school board never amended his 2003-04 employment contract to reflect the voluntary reduction, even though his paychecks that year were reduced 10 percent.
But McConnel claims Harrell rewrote the district Administrators' Handbook in 2003, adding principals to the list of employees who could use the cash-out policy, but failed to have the changes approved by the board.
District records show that Harrell received a total of $9.462.83 for unused vacations from 2003 -2005. McConnel said every line item was "at or under budget except for the superintendent's office," which showed the unbudgeted vacation payouts.
If true, the allegations that Harrell acted to increase his compensation without board approval could constitute a violation of Oregon government ethics law.