THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 17, 1996 TAG: 9602170302
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
An apparent clerical error resulted in about 100 letters being sent to Virginia Tech students and alumni statewide in Virginia Beach school district envelopes using a district postal meter last month.
The three-page letter was from Donald A. Peccia, district associate superintendent of administrative services. It urged current and former students of the Tech College of Education to lobby against the proposed merger of that school with another at the university.
Peccia, who received his doctorate from the Tech education school, said Thursday that he did not realize the district's envelopes and meter had been used for the letters until the issue was raised by a Virginian-Pilot reporter. He reimbursed the district $159.13 Friday for all letters that came out of his department on Jan. 17, the day of the Tech mailing, because an exact count of those letters was not available.
Anne Meek, executive assistant to the superintendent for school, community and media relations, said employees are expected to reimburse the district for any personal use of district supplies.
Peccia said the letter was typed by his secretary during her lunch hour and stuffed into envelopes by a student worker at the district office. Envelopes provided by Peccia were supposed to be used, and the correspondence was to be returned to him for mailing. Peccia said he had been so busy with General Assembly and budget work that he didn't realize the letters had never been returned to him.
``It should not have happened and the intent was not for it to happen,'' he said. ``It was wrong and it was a legitimate mistake.''
Peccia has been praised by some School Board and City Council members for his work in righting the district's troubled finances. He has been employed by the school system since 1969. by CNB