
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 5, 1993                   TAG: 9305050289
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BOARD SAYS TOTA MUST EARN FEES IN ROANOKE

During a closed-door meeting Tuesday night, Roanoke School Board members agreed to call on outgoing Superintendent Frank Tota to continue his work with the city's magnet school programs as a condition of his early retirement.

Tota must return to Roanoke for each of the next seven years to do that work.

"What we agreed is that for now, we would like to use Dr. Tota's services for continuing with the magnet school program," said School Board member Nelson Harris. "Five or six years from now, that could change and we may want to use him in other ways."

The board's decision follows two months of controversy over whether and how Tota should have to earn a $35,000 annual consulting fee included in his early-retirement benefits package.

Tota will be paid that money for each of the seven years following his 55th birthday, which is Dec. 28.

Tota may help writing grant proposals and making contacts to secure new grants, Harris said.

"We're going to get together and determine exactly what [he will do]," said board Chairman Finn Pincus.

Tota's contract, negotiated in 1989, promised him 35 percent of his salary - now $100,000 - as an early-retirement benefit in return for 20 days of work each year.

The contract came into question in March, when Tota accepted the superintendent's position in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. Tota begins the new job July 1.

School Board member Jay Turner angered his fellow board members by saying Tota was free to leave town without fulfilling his consulting obligation. Turner, who was School Board chairman when Tota's contract was negotiated, said the money had been intended as a benefit and that the board never intended for Tota to work.

But those who had joined the board after the contract's approval took issue with paying Tota for nothing.

Harris called for a legal opinion on whether Tota would have to earn the money. The answer was yes.

He and Pincus then met with Tota and spoke with incoming Superintendent E. Wayne Harris, who had asked that Tota not return as a consultant.

School Board member Harris said the new superintendent agreed with the board's decision.

Tota has helped secure more than $10 million in federal magnet school grants during his 12 years a superintendent.

by CNB