Superintendent John Long asks school attorneys to get records of the lawmaker's travel in her legislative position.
By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published August 11, 2004
LAND O'LAKES - Pasco County school officials will seek state records detailing Rep. Heather Fiorentino's legislative travel while working for the school district.
School Board Chairman Jean Larkin Weightman questioned administrators during a Tuesday board meeting about St. Petersburg Times stories that showed Fiorentino charged the district for about 96 hours she worked when her state travel records showed she was elsewhere.
Assistant superintendent Sandy Ramos said that superintendent John Long has asked school attorneys to make a public records request for the documents.
"We have not seen any information firsthand," said Ramos, who presided over the meeting because Long was sick. "Only what we have read."
Fiorentino, a teacher running to replace Long after his November retirement, sat quietly at the back of the room through the one-hour meeting.
"I never tried to rip anyone off," Fiorentino said afterward. The former Pasco County Teacher of the Year has maintained that her district records were accurate and the state forms were wrong.
She said she welcomed the review because she was sure it would clear things up. Last week, Fiorentino sent $48 to reimburse the state for meals she charged on days her school district time cards show she was working locally.
Chuck Rushe, the school finance chief challenging Fiorentino in the Aug. 31 Republican primary, arrived to the meeting uncharacteristically late - 15 minutes - and said nothing from his place at the table. Whoever wins the primary between Rushe and Fiorentino will face Democrat Alice Delgardo and a Republican write-in candidate on Nov. 2.
Neither Weightman nor Ramos mentioned Fiorentino by name during the brief discussion.
But Ramos referred to a letter Fiorentino hand-delivered to Long on July 29 in which she stated her legislative duties "generally force me to take unpaid leave from work up to three times per week."
"That did not jibe with our records," Ramos said.
Long, who attempted to reassign Fiorentino to a teaching position in a local school this fall because her legislative duties are ending, said that her letter prompted him to look at her record. She rarely claimed unpaid leave for her legislative duties during the months in question, he said.
Fiorentino has been working in a part-time position at the district office since she was elected to the Legislature in 1998. She said Long's attempt to move her was motivated by the fact that he is one of Rushe's chief supporters.
By Tuesday afternoon, Fiorentino was blasting the administration for not keeping her apprised of requests to review her public personnel records.
David Salerno, supervisor of Human Resources, said that the district typically notifies employees when their files are reviewed by someone other than an administrator.
He said records showing unpaid leave - the type of records that were used to identify that she earned about $2,400 from the district while also working as a legislator - are not necessarily kept in the personnel file. And the district does not notify employees when such requests are made, he said.
It's not an answer Fiorentino liked: "If it had been any other teacher, the letter (requesting information) would have been in their file," she said.
Fiorentino said the last time she was notified by Human Resources that someone reviewed her personnel file was October 2003, when the St. Petersburg Times looked through it.
District finance director Olga Swinson said late Tuesday that Rushe's campaign had asked her office - not Human Resources - for Fiorentino's time cards.
"I'm telling you, this is a political game and it stinks," Fiorentino said.
