ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, September 7, 1996 TAG: 9609090028
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
THE ROANOKE SCHOOL BOARD had put off paying a consulting fee to the former superintendent because it found his initial funding report unacceptable.
Former Roanoke School Superintendent Frank Tota finally received his $35,000 annual consulting fee for 1995.
Marsha Ellison, chairwoman of the city School Board, said Friday that Tota met all requirements to receive the fee under his early-retirement contract.
"He provided us leads on three good funding possibilities [for the city's magnet schools] and presented a final report that was acceptable," she said.
The payment had been delayed several months because the board said Tota's initial report was unacceptable. The board told him that he would have to do more work to get paid.
The board is seeking funding for magnet schools because federal grants for them are being reduced.
Magnet schools are designed to promote voluntary desegregation through innovative programming. They are organized around a theme, such as space travel, and have the latest in educational technology. The idea is to attract white students to schools with a high percentage of black students.
Tota, now superintendent in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., took early retirement from the Roanoke position in 1993. Under his retirement contract, he is required to do consulting work for 160 hours a year to receive the $35,000 fee, which is based on 35 percent of his salary when he left.
The board paid Tota the full $35,000 fee for his first consultant report in 1994, but his 18-page report for 1995 was returned to him because it was handwritten.
Tota said he did not realize that was an issue; he had assumed a school employee would type the report. His 1994 report also was handwritten, but the board did not object to it.
After the 1995 report was typed and resubmitted, the board offered to pay Tota one-third of his annual fee.
Tota hinted that he might go to court to collect his full fee. He suggested that the board rejected the initial report for political reasons, but school board members said the issue was a contractual obligation to provide a well-researched report.
Later, Tota agreed to provide additional information on potential grants for magnet schools. He helped win almost $17 million in federal money for the schools during his 12 years as superintendent.
For the third-year assignment under the seven-year contract, Ellison said the board has asked Tota to research the construction of high schools in three school systems. It wants him to gather information that could be helpful when Roanoke renovates or replaces Patrick Henry and William Fleming high schools, she said.
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