Documents: $100G to Roslyn's departing schools chief

The Roslyn school district paid $100,000 to its outgoing superintendent when he left in June with two years remaining on his contract, according to documents obtained by Newsday Thursday.

John A. Richman, who was hired as Roslyn superintendent in 2007 after a financial scandal rocked the district, announced in June that he was leaving the school system. He said Thursday that he had asked to leave and that he had had philosophical differences with the Roslyn Board of Education.

A clause in Richman's original agreement with the board said his contract may be terminated before expiration if both the superintendent and the board agreed. A written agreement signed by the board and Richman on June 18 stipulated that Richman would be paid $100,000 on the date of his resignation.

"The board and superintendent relationship is like a marriage," Richman said. "If the partners are not happy or there is a philosophical change in the relationship, it's best to part."

In October, the board approved a 2 percent "merit" raise to Richman on top of an annual contractual increase of 3 percent, boosting his pay to $262,000 per year.

A former superintendent in Plainedge, Richman, 62, was hired in 2007 as Roslyn's permanent superintendent at a $250,000 annual salary after an embezzlement scandal forced former superintendent Frank Tassone to resign in 2004.

Tassone remains in prison for his part in an $11-million embezzlement scandal that led to six people, including other school officials, pleading guilty to stealing funds.

Last month, the district named Daniel Brenner as the new superintendent and documents show he is earning a base salary of $255,000.

Current board president Meryl Waxman Ben-Levy and former board president Dani Kline did not return calls for comment.

Richman said he plans to retire, adding that he and the board disagreed on how the district should be run.

"I believe the superintendent is the chief executive officer of the district and the board determines policy," he said.

The district didn't disclose the terms of Richman's resignation agreement in June, providing documents only after Newsday filed a request under the state Freedom of Information Law.

Robert Freeman, with the state's Committee on Open Government, had said that any financial agreement between Richman and the district was public and should have been released.

Brenner said Thursday, "The way this has played out is completely at the advice of counsel.

" . . . The agreement stands for itself and I can't make any comments regarding it."

Former board member Jeffrey Borowick said the district should have been more transparent when Richman first resigned. "They breached their fiduciary responsibility by again not being transparent to the community," he said.