Sunday, May 19, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013

Outgoing Camden superintendent asks for five-figure reimbursements

On Friday, just before she walked out of the Camden School District administration office for the last time, outgoing superintendent Bessie LeFra Young made a phone call.

13 comments

Outgoing Camden superintendent asks for five-figure reimbursements

POSTED: Thursday, July 5, 2012, 10:06 AM

On Friday, just before she walked out of the Camden School District administration office for the last time, outgoing superintendent Bessie LeFra Young made a phone call.

She called the district’s state fiscal monitor Michael Azzara, who was on vacation, asking for her check.

No, not the $62,000 buyout agreement the board signed off on. But the check for all the expenses she had filed.

Officials did not say how much she initially requested, but the district last week agreed to reimburse Young $6,000 for travel expenditures she incurred and neverfiled for during her five-year tenure.  The other expense claims are still being sorted through, Azzara said. Young has asked for a five-figure check for non-travel expenses.

As I’ve reported, Young faced intense criticism this year from state and city officials as well as community members for her long absences and the district’s lack of improvement in academic performance. She blamed her absences on a chronic illness. A former top administrator in the Philadelphia School District, Young had a year left in her contract, which paid her a $244,083 annual salary, when she decided to take early retirement.

Of the district's 26 schools, 23 are on the state's "priority" list of the 72 schools with the worst academic performance in New Jersey.

Deputy superintendent Reuben Mills was chosen last week to serve as interim superintendent. No word yet on how the transition to Mills is going.
@ 10:06 AM  Permalink | 13 comments
13 comments
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Comments  (13)
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 10:24 AM, 07/05/2012
    Give her zero dollars and take your chances in court!!
    — oneway
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 10:43 AM, 07/05/2012
    Isn't there some rule that says you file expenses the week that you incur them? How can she get paid for this? How do they manage budget and cash flow? WHAT A JOKE
    — rugbyjt
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:03 AM, 07/05/2012
    Why are these top District spots so often filled by incompetent candidates? I'm not willing to get paid 244K/year for fooling the board that I know what I'm doing. They know what I'm doing, and who I'm doing it to.
    — manyhats
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:55 AM, 07/05/2012
    ahha 224k for a failing district... wait a minute, sounds familiar
    — raynesrock
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:12 PM, 07/05/2012
    Don't forget she is a friend of the ex Philadelphia super, who recommended her highly.
    — thegeorge
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:24 PM, 07/05/2012
    What possible expenses could she have? Maybe all those stupid trophies and awards she gave out and let everyone know it was from her own money at the time.
    — insider123
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:24 PM, 07/05/2012
    You can't make this stuff up....she had a "chronic illness" that prevented her from coming to work.....we call her illness "Tangueray"
    — j.k.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:10 PM, 07/05/2012
    Actually she was forced out! She like Arleen the Queen both should have been arrested and tried!
    — SPENDSPEND
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:02 PM, 07/05/2012
    Is there any question in your mind why Camden is such a mess. They can't even negotiate the firing of an administrator whose main accomplishment is lowering the standards and performance of a dismal school system even lower. The entire board should be fired for dereliction.
    — Mikepedia
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:32 AM, 07/08/2012
    This is why Camden as a city will never recover. Leaders do not follow rules, citizens have no sense of morality or civility, and the politicians suck the money out of the city faster than a misquito sucks blood out of a fresh body.
    — macthefed
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 10:15 AM, 07/08/2012
    What...are school districts nuts? Paying salaries of over 244K, plus benefits and, Pensions? No wonder districts are broke!
    — shadowelkie


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About this blog
Claudia Vargas has been covering Camden’s fascinating characters, quirks and city council and school board meetings since January 2011. Having grown up in a bilingual household, Claudia enjoys the diversity of Camden and the opportunity to connect with the large Spanish-speaking population.

Prior to covering Camden, Claudia wrote about South Jersey’s interesting dead as the South Jersey obituary writer. Before arriving at the Inquirer in 2010, Claudia covered crime in Rochester, NY, which, like Camden, has struggled to emerge from the fall of its industrial peak several decades ago.

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