After alleging the district was mismanaging funds, the worker’s place was eradicated. Now, he is suing.
| The Daytona Seaside Information-Journal
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The Florida Division of Schooling dismissed a criticism the Volusia County Faculty Board misused tens of millions of taxpayer {dollars} within the ongoing implementation of recent pc methods.
Alex Kennedy, nevertheless, is not able to let the allegations go. He’s suing the district for retaliation after his job was eradicated, which he says is due to his claims of monetary mismanagement and malfeasance. He additionally hopes to enchantment the findings of his preliminary complaints.
The formal allegations pressured the district to rent an legal professional to analyze the claims.
Extra: Investigation: Volusia School Board did not waste millions on new HR software
The Florida Division of Schooling dismissed the unique accusations in October, basing its choice on an investigation carried out for Volusia colleges by a Gainesville-based legislation agency. Now, totally different attorneys with the identical agency are representing the district in Kennedy’s retaliation lawsuit.
“It’s simply shameful,” Kennedy mentioned. “They shouldn’t get away with making unhealthy choices and costing the taxpayers tens of millions.”
Kennedy filed a whistleblower criticism in opposition to the district final yr for mismanaging its implementation of a brand new pc system for funds and human sources, alleging that a number of deadline and price range extensions have been “unreasonable” and avoidable.
The software program was imagined to be totally applied by New Jersey-headquartered CherryRoad Applied sciences by January 2019. After three important modifications, the date has been tentatively pushed again to this month.
The unique price ticket was $5.2 million for implementation. However because the mission was first authorized in July 2017, $2.2 million has been added to the price.
That doesn’t embody an extra $1 million license charge the district should pay annually for the planning system known as Oracle Fusion.
“We voted on a half-cent gross sales tax for the betterment of Volusia County Colleges and they’re losing that cash that may by no means — if they will handle to get it working — won’t ever work effectively,” Kennedy mentioned. “It will likely be a hardship to maintain that factor working every day.”
Kennedy, who was vocal about his issues in regards to the product and firm from the start, was beforehand the assistant director of functions and infrastructure.
He believes that the district eradicated his place in retaliation for his opposition. His administrative and authorized complaints embody appeals to be reinstated. Kennedy misplaced his job in Could and complained to the DOE in July.
After receiving his criticism, the state instructed the district to analyze. The district employed Grey-Robinson Attorneys at Legislation, a agency that it continuously contracts with for authorized companies. Stephanie Marchman carried out an investigation and wrote a report. The report didn’t look at Kennedy’s claims that he was wrongfully terminated.
The Faculty Board unanimously authorized the investigative report Nov. 10, by which era the state had already let Marchman know the criticism could be dismissed.
Extra: Volusia gets new student info system
“We’re in the course of litigation concerning lots of these points, so I feel it might be acceptable for the board to not touch upon it,” Faculty Board Lawyer Ted Doran mentioned on the time.
Kennedy filed a civil go well with in opposition to the district Aug. 31 for wrongful termination, and three Grey-Robinson attorneys based mostly in Tampa are listed as representing the college district.
Kennedy nonetheless hopes to have the ability to undergo an administrative course of to enchantment the findings of the unique investigation by way of a listening to.
“Please take a second and look into your intestine, karma or no matter you consider in,” he wrote to the board members in November. “Ask yourselves, ‘Am I doing the correct factor right here?’”
