Clarkstown schools Superintendent Margaret Keller-Cogan sent this e-mail out to district parents last night (I inserted a hyperlink to the news article she references in the first paragraph):

Dear Colleagues and Parents,

As you may be aware from today’s Journal News article, Eastland Corporation, the general contractor hired to complete a two classroom and library addition on to New City Elementary School, the principal of the company, and two subcontractors were charged with a failure to pay prevailing wages to workers on the New City project pursuant to Section 220 of the Labor Law. This communication is intended to share the facts related to this issue, as we have been informed of them.

Eastland was hired as the lowest responsible bidder by Clarkstown in June 2007 to complete the New City project. As such, it was required to pay prevailing wages as are its subcontractors, and certified that such would be done. At this point charges have been filed. There have been no indictments or convictions.

The District began cooperating with the DA’s office as soon as our Counsel and I learned that our records were needed and that charges would be forthcoming.

Last school year in recognition of the amount of capital work planned in Clarkstown, our BOE approved the hiring of a long time employee to oversee all projects, including New City. As the project manager, this person has been at New City daily overseeing progress and assuring that the work being done is aligned with designs and specifications. As of today, we anticipate the project coming to closure in late July or early August, in time for the start of the school year. Along with our on-site employee, we employed Fairway Testing to provide ongoing site inspections as required to verify the workmanship meets standards. We also have employed a roofing inspector and a soils engineer to ensure the work meets standards.

We agree that the mandates of the Labor Law must be followed.

We also take our responsibility for both the quality and safety of all work being done in our school system very seriously. As a result, we believe that to date the work has met standards despite the wage issues. We also anticipate that the work will be finished in time for student and staff use in the fall. This may require obtaining another contractor to finish the work pursuant to the Performance Bond which we are pursuing.
Sincerely,

Margaret Keller-Cogan Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools