Transcript of Termination Proceeding Held Before Richmond Heights School Board

1 1 2 3 MS. MARGARET PARKER, ) ) 4 and ) ) 5 RICHMOND HEIGHTS ) LOCAL SCHOOLS, ) 6 ) Employer.
) 7 8 9 10 Transcript of a termination proceeding held ---
11 before the Richmond Heights Local Schools Board 12 of Education and taken before Kimberly A. 13 Perhacs, Notary Public within and for the State 14 of Ohio, taken at the Administration Offices at 15 447 Richmond Road, Richmond Heights, Ohio, taken 16 on Thursday, October 27, 2011, commencing at 17 8:03 p.m. 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 2 ---
file:///A|/Parker%2010-27-2011.txt[11/4/2011 10:01:54 AM]
1 APPEARANCES: 2 3 RICHMOND HEIGHTS LOCAL SCHOOLS BOARD OF EDUCATION: 4 Joshua Kaye, President 5 Robert Fox, Vice-President Aaron Burko 6 Linda Pliodzinskas Bobby Jordan 7 8 ON BEHALF OF MS. MARGARET PARKER: 9 10 11 12 13 14 ON BEHALF OF RICHMOND HEIGHTS LOCAL SCHOOLS: 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 INDEX --Charles Tyler, Sr., Esq. 215 East Waterloo Road Suite 12 Akron, Ohio 44319 (330) 786-9333 Charles.Tyler@TylerLawOffice.com Keith E. Belkin, Esq. Luria & Belkin 1111 Tower East 20600 Chagrin Boulevard Shaker Heights, Ohio 44122 (216) 283-8970 Kbelkin@luriabelkin.com
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EXAMINATION INDEX
Brenda Brcak 4 BY MR. TYLER . . . . . . . . . . . 5 CROSS BY MR. BELKIN . . . . . . . . 14 5 REDIRECT BY MR. TYLER . . . . . . . 29 RECROSS BY MR. BELKIN . . . . . . . 30 6 Madeline DiCillo 7 BY MR. TYLER . . . . . . . . . . . 32 CROSS BY MR. BELKIN . . . . . . . . 38 8 REDIRECT BY MR. TYLER . . . . . . . 48 RECROSS BY MR. BELKIN . . . . . . . 49 9 Dr. Timothy Pingle 10 BY MR. TYLER . . . . . . . . . . . 50 CROSS BY MR. BELKIN . . . . . . . . 56 11 REDIRECT BY MR. TYLER . . . . . . . 59 12 13 14 District's Exhibit 15 1 16 2 17 3 18 6 19 7 20 Parker's Exhibit 21 A 22 23 24 25 4 1 2 MR. TYLER: Good evening, I am Charles Tyler, Board counselor for the Richmond 26 Page 6 11 9 12 35 EXHIBIT INDEX
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Heights Local School District, and we are here in the matter of Richmond Heights Board of Education as they are considering the termination of the employment of Ms. Margaret Parker as a clerk typist for incompetency, dishonesty, insubordination and neglect of duty pursuant to ORC Section 3319.081. The specific conduct for considering Ms. Margaret Parker's employment termination is misappropriation of district property, including but not limited to: Confidential letters and e-mails between Board counsel and Board members and the Superintendent. Ms. Margaret Parker's dishonesty and her testimony and communication during the investigation of central office staff concerning the theft and distribution of confidential documents and e-mails. Ms. Margaret Parker interfering with the district investigation of central office staff; and Ms. Margaret 5
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insubordination and not reporting to work on October 5th through the 7th of 2011; and Ms. Margaret Parker's insubordination for
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not turning in all keys to the buildings as instructed on October 11, 2011. At this time the Board of Education will call its first witness, Ms. Brenda Brcak. P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S --EXAMINATION OF BRENDA BRCAK
12 BY MR. TYLER: 13 Q. Would you please state and spell your name
14 for the record? 15 16 A. It's Brenda M. Brcak, B-r-c-a-k. Q. Are you employed by the Richmond Heights
17 Board of Education? 18 19 A. Yes, I am. Q. Who do you report to in your position with
20 the Board of Education? 21 22 A. The Board of Education. Q. Are there any employees that report directly
23 to you? 24 25 A. Yes, there are. Q. Who are they? 6 1 A. Janice Cook, payroll; Therese Humanchuk,
2 accounts receivable; and Peggy Parker is part of my 3 employees as a clerk typist. 4 Q. Ms. Brcak, for the record, let me ask you,
5 are you aware that sometime in August 2011 and 6 September 2011, that letters and e-mails that had been 7 written by the district attorney to the Superintendent 8 and the Board of Education had been taken from the 9 Board's office without authorization? 10 11 A. No, I was not. Q. At any time did you come to learn that there
12 were documents that had been taken from the district 13 office? 14 15 A. Yes. Q. How did you become aware that those documents
16 had been taken from the district office? 17 A. District counsel, Chris Williams, made a call
18 to me to see if I knew anything about it and, I 19 believe, he also contacted our Board President at the 20 time. 21 22 23 24 --(District's Exhibit 1 was marked for identification purposes.) ---
25 BY MR. TYLER: 7 1 Q. Okay. I'm going to show you what has been
2 marked as District Exhibit Number 1, and I'm going to 3 ask that you would take a look at Exhibit Number 1. 4 5 THE NOTARY: Would you like me to swear in the witness?
MR. TYLER: Yes.
7 (Thereupon, the witness was sworn.) 8 A. Yes. This came from President Josh Kaye, and
9 this was after learning that documents were missing 10 out of central office. 11 12 Q. What does that document purport to say? A. Well, it was written to myself and the
13 Superintendent. It says, "As you are aware the Board 14 recently learned that some confidential documents were 15 stolen from the central office." 16 It was a great concern to the Board because
17 student records, employee records and many other 18 documents we have in our office were supposed to be 19 kept confidential. It raises the questions about the 20 internal control that we have in our office, and it 21 does state that he has started an investigation and 22 the Board's attorney would be in the central office to 23 conduct interviews of all of the staff members and 24 reviewing policies and procedures regarding this case. 25 Q. At some time did Board counsel appear to 8 1 conduct an investigation? 2 3 A. Yes. That Monday. Q. On that Monday did Board counsel interview
4 any employees? 5 6 A. Yes. Q. Did Board counsel interview Margaret Parker
7 on that Monday? 8 9 A. No. She refused to be interviewed. Q. Okay. Do you have any personal knowledge at
10 any time after that if Margaret Parker was 11 interviewed? 12 13 A. Yes, she was. Q. Were you present at Margaret Parker's
14 interview? 15 16 A. Yes, I was. Q. At the time that Margaret Parker was
17 interviewed, was she asked if she placed letters from 18 Attorney Donna Andrews to Dr. Hardwick or the Board in 19 a binder? 20 21 22 23 A. Yes, she was. Q. What was her response? A. She said, no, she did not do that. Q. Was she asked if she placed e-mails from
24 Attorney Donna Andrews to Dr. Hardwick or the Board 25 members in a binder? 9 1 2 3 A. Yes, she was. Q. What was her answer? A. She said, no, she never did anything like
4 that. 5 Q. Was she asked if she ever took letters from
6 Attorney Donna Andrews to Dr. Hardwick or the Board 7 outside of the central office?
8 9 10 11
A. Yes, she was. Q. What was her answer? A. Again, no. Q. Was she asked if she assisted Dr. Hardwick in
12 putting letters from Attorney Donna Andrews to 13 Dr. Hardwick or the Board into binders? 14 15 16 17 A. Yes, she was. Q. What was her answer? A. She said, no, she did not. Q. Was she asked if she ever assisted
18 Dr. Hardwick in putting e-mails from Attorney Donna 19 Andrews to Dr. Hardwick or to the Board into binders? 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. Yes, she was. Q. What was her answer? A. She said, no, she did not. --(District's Exhibit 3 was marked for identification purposes.) 10 1 ---
2 BY MR. TYLER: 3 Q. I'm going to show you what has been marked as
4 District's Exhibit Number 3, and if you would take a 5 look at that. Are you familiar with that document? 6 7 8 A. Yes, I am. Q. What is that document? A. This is the document that I delivered
9 personally to Ms. Peggy Parker on the 11th, and this 10 is putting her on administrative leave with pay 11 pending the investigation. 12 Q. In that letter did you instruct Ms. Margaret
13 Parker to turn in all district property, including all 14 keys? 15 16 17 A. Yes, I did. Q. On that day did Ms. Parker give you keys? A. She gave it to Russell White who is the
18 security officer. 19 Q. Did you assume that Peggy Parker gave you all
20 the keys? 21 A. Yes, I did. She gave Russell a key ring, so
22 that was the keys. 23 Q. Did you come to learn after she had left the
24 premises that she had not given you all the keys? 25 A. Yes, I did. 11 1 Q. How did you come to learn that Peggy Parker
2 did not give you all the keys? 3 A. It was a conversation between Dr. Hardwick
4 and Peggy Parker that occurred later that day in the 5 presence of Dr. Tim Pingle where it was stated that 6 she did not turn in two keys. 7 8 9 --(District's Exhibit 2 was marked for identification purposes.)
10
---
11 BY MR. TYLER: 12 Q. I'm going to show you what has been marked as
13 District's Exhibit Number 2. I would like you to take 14 a look at that exhibit. Are you familiar with that 15 exhibit? 16 17 18 A. Yes, I am. Q. Can you identify that exhibit? A. This is a statement made by John Garibotti,
19 who is our head custodian person. It is his notation 20 that he gave Peggy Parker, under the direction of 21 Dr. Hardwick, two keys to the district; one being a 22 central key that's good on all our doors, and he 23 called it the "B" key, whatever that is, and the other 24 is an internal master key to the district. 25 Q. On October 11, 2011, did Peggy Parker give 12 1 you those keys as John Garibotti said he gave her 2 under Dr. Linda Hardwick's instruction? 3 4 5 6 7 A. No, she did not. --(District's Exhibit 6 was marked for identification purposes.) ---
8 BY MR. TYLER: 9 Q. I'm going to give you what has been marked as
10 District's Exhibit Number 6. Would you take a look at

11 that exhibit. Are you familiar with that exhibit? 12 13 14 A. Yes, I am. Q. What is that Exhibit Number 6? A. This is an e-mail that I wrote to
15 Dr. Hardwick pertaining to Peggy. She was supposed to 16 accompany Dr. Hardwick on a workshop. I believe it 17 was the 7th, 8th and 9th of October. I had canceled 18 all of her reservations, notified her that she could 19 not attend, and as her supervisor I was denying her 20 permission to go to the workshop. I went so far as to 21 call the agency that she had registered and I canceled 22 her reservation. I called the hotel and canceled her 23 reservation. I notified her that all of her 24 reservations were cancelled, that this was being made 25 by myself and the Board President. She was being 13 1 directed that she could not attend. 2 Q. Did you ever have any personal communication
3 with Margaret Parker about her not attending that 4 conference in Columbus, Ohio? 5 A. Yes, I did. We had a personal conversation
6 in my office. 7 Q. What did she communicate with you in that
8 personal conversation? 9 10 A. She understood that she was not going. Q. Margaret Parker did indeed attend that
11 conference in Columbus, Ohio?

12 13
A. Yes, she did. Q. While she was attending that conference, did
14 anything happen? Did you receive a call from any 15 employees at that time? 16 A. I didn't receive any calls that she wouldn't
17 be in the office. No call-in sick. No call-in 18 personal leave. No calls. 19 Q. Did you receive a call from an employee who
20 received a call from Peggy Parker from Columbus? 21 22 A. Yes, I did. Q. What did that employee indicate that Peggy
23 had said to her when she called from Columbus? 24 A. She said she was in Columbus attending a
25 workshop with Dr. Hardwick in the conversation and 14 1 just checking in wanting to make sure she was on the 2 same page. 3 Q. As Peggy's supervisor, have you ever given
4 her access to any legal documents from Board counsel? 5 6 A. No, I have not. Q. It's your testimony that you sat in with
7 Peggy during her interview and she denied ever putting 8 letters from Board counsel, or e-mails, in a binder? 9 10 A. Yes, she did. Q. And she denied during her interview that she
11 never took any letters from Board counsel or e-mails 12 outside of central office?
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
A. Correct. She denied it. MR. TYLER: Nothing further. MR. BELKIN: I know I'm going to mispronounce your last name. THE WITNESS: That's all right. --CROSS-EXAMINATION OF BRENDA BRCAK
20 BY MR. BELKIN: 21 22 23 24 25 Q. Were you Peggy's only supervisor? A. No. She had a dual contract. Q. Who is her other supervisor? A. Dr. Linda Hardwick. Q. And who does Dr. Linda Hardwick answer to? 15 1 2 3 4 A. The Board of Education. Q. Does she answer to you as treasurer? A. No, she does not. Q. Mr. Tyler just asked you some questions about
5 a binder. 6 7 A. Uh-huh. Q. Did you see Peggy Parker put anything in a
8 binder? 9 10 A. No. Q. Did you ever see her take any documents
11 outside of the school offices? 12 13 A. Yes. Q. When did you see that?
14 15
A. She's taken work home in her car. Q. Did you ever see -- he asked you specifically
16 about taking confidential documents. Did you ever see 17 her take confidential documents or -18 19 20 21 A. No. Q. -- that Mr. Tyler's referring to? A. No. Q. We had this question about this October 5th
22 through the 7th when Ms. Parker went to Columbus. Do 23 you know at whose direction she went to Columbus 24 under? 25 A. I believe, under Dr. Hardwick's. 16 1 Q. And Dr. Hardwick, as you testified, is one of
2 her supervisors? 3 4 A. That is correct. Q. You did testify on this Exhibit 6 that you
5 specifically sent on October 4th an e-mail, correct? 6 I think it's right on top there. 7 8 A. That is correct. Q. Also on page 3 -- actually, it starts at the
9 bottom of page 2, there's an e-mail from Joshua Kaye. 10 Who is Joshua Kaye? 11 12 13 14 A. He is the Board President. Q. He's sitting over here now, right? A. Yes. Q. He sent an e-mail on September 29, 2011
15 addressed to Ms. Parker, correct? It starts on the 16 bottom of page 2. Do you see at the bottom? There's 17 a heading that says -18 19 A. Oh, yes. I do. Q. That continues on to the top of page 3,
20 correct? 21 22 A. Correct. Q. In that it says specifically, this is the
23 first full paragraph, the third line up from the 24 bottom. Excuse me. It says at the fifth line up, 25 Mr. Kaye says, "I will not sign off and hereby revoke 17 1 any Board approval for your travels to the CCIP 2 training until such time that you complete an 3 interview with Board counsel Charles Tyler." 4 5 6 Do you see where I mean? A. Yes, I do. Q. That indicated that, at least the way I read
7 it, and let me know what your understanding is, that 8 Mr. Kaye wasn't going to sign off until Ms. Parker met 9 with Mr. Tyler? 10 A. The way I read that, I don't read that as
11 contingent like, once you do this, I'm going to 12 approve it. As of the 29th of September, she was 13 being denied the access to go to that meeting pending 14 her interview. 15 Q. Do you see any commas or punctuation there?
16 17
A. No. Q. Why would you feel that if he said, "I would
18 not sign off until you meet with Board counsel," would 19 mean anything other than he would not sign off until 20 she meets with Board counsel? 21 A. To me, I took that to be pending. There
22 would be a decision made after that meeting. Not that 23 it was a definite. 24 Q. When did Ms. Parker meet -- this meeting that
25 you attended, when did Ms. Parker meet with Mr. Tyler? 18 1 A. The first day she did not, which was the
2 19th. The next meeting time she called in sick. The 3 third meeting time there was a family issue going on 4 the next day. I want to say it was the fourth 5 interview. 6 7 Q. The question is: What date? A. I want to say that was probably the 5th of
8 October. 9 Q. Didn't you say she wasn't in the school
10 district because she was in Columbus? 11 12 13 14 A. I'm trying -Q. I was at that meeting, wasn't I? A. Yes, you were. Q. If my understanding is it occurred on October
15 4, 2011, would you have any reason to doubt that? 16 A. No.
17
Q. She met on October 4, 2011 with Mr. Tyler,
18 correct? 19 20 A. Uh-huh. Q. That would have been sometime before she went
21 to Columbus, correct? 22 23 A. Correct. Q. She went to Columbus on the direction of
24 Dr. Hardwick, correct? 25 A. Yes, she did. 19 1 2 3 Q. And Dr. Hardwick is one of her supervisors? A. She is one. She has two supervisors. Q. How long has Ms. Parker worked for the
4 Richmond Heights Board of Education? 5 6 7 8 A. In her current capacity? Q. Just in general. A. Two or two and a half years. Q. If I told you four years, would you have any
9 reason to doubt it? 10 11 12 13 A. No. Q. How long have you been with the Board? A. Four and a half. Q. During that time how long were you
14 Ms. Parker's supervisor? 15 16 A. Almost since February of 2010. Q. Approximately a year and a half, would you
17 say? February of 2010, correct?

18 19 20 21
A. Uh-huh. Q. So about a year and a half? A. Thereabouts. Q. During that time were you a co-supervisor
22 with Dr. Hardwick? 23 24 A. Yes. Q. During that year and a half did you have any
25 disagreement about how Peggy should use her time? 20 1 A. No. We worked it out between both -- most of
2 the things that I gave Peggy to do didn't have the 3 urgency that Dr. Hardwick did. So, I guess, I took 4 the back seat. 5 Q. If there ever was a dispute, generally, she
6 would follow Dr. Hardwick? 7 8 A. Yes. Q. Come this meeting in Columbus now, we've got
9 a disagreement between you and Dr. Hardwick as to what 10 Peggy should do with her time, correct? 11 12 A. Correct. Q. Dr. Hardwick specifically told her to go to
13 this in Columbus, correct? 14 A. I don't know. I was not part of any
15 conversation on that. 16 17 Q. So you don't know really what went on? A. No. The last I knew I had told her she
18 couldn't attend. Then she didn't show up. No phone

19 calls. No nothing. 20 Q. If Dr. Hardwick gave direct orders that she
21 could go to Columbus, who is she supposed to pay 22 attention to? 23 A. She has two supervisors. She should have
24 worked it out with me, too. 25 Q. She still was following the direction of one 21 1 of her supervisors? 2 A. I could see where you could say that.
3 According to my perspective as a supervisor, she was 4 out of the office without an excusable absence. 5 Q. Even though her supervisor, Dr. Hardwick,
6 told her? 7 8 A. I didn't know that. Q. You also testified about some employee
9 calling you? 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 A. Correct. Q. Who was that employee? A. Do I have to answer that? MR. TYLER: Uh-huh. A. Madeline DiCillo. Q. Who is Madeline DiCillo? A. She's a secretary. She does attendance in
17 the high school and sub secretary in the office. 18 Q. When did she call you about Ms. Parker being
19 in Columbus?
20
A. It was that Thursday evening, probably about
21 4:30, 5:00ish. She had gotten the voice mail and she 22 was very upset. She came in to see me that evening. 23 Q. You said she said something to the affect of
24 "you were on the same page"? 25 A. Yeah. 22 1 2 Q. What did you understand that to mean? A. I really didn't know at that point. She
3 said, "Dr. Hardwick really appreciates everything 4 you're doing for her. So do I. We just want to make 5 sure we're on the sage page." 6 Q. Dr. Hardwick appreciates everything you are
7 doing, or Peggy is doing? 8 9 10 11 A. Madeline. Q. The person who gave you the statement? A. Uh-huh. Q. You also testified from Exhibit 1, there's a
12 reference to confidential documents which were stolen 13 from the central office? 14 15 A. Correct. Q. Without going into the specifics of those
16 documents, do you know what those documents are? 17 18 A. I do now. Q. What are those documents? Meaning, I don't
19 want you to tell me what's in the documents. I want 20 to know if they are letters, e-mails; what are we
21 talking about? 22 A. Some of them are letters and some of them are
23 e-mails. 24 Q. Do you know how those documents were removed
25 from the central office? 23 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 A. I really have no idea. Q. Do you know who took those out of the office? A. At the time that it happened, or now? Q. Tell me at the time it happened. A. At the time, no. Q. Do you know now? A. Yes, I do. Q. Who took them? A. It was a combination of three people. Q. Who are the three people? A. Dr. Hardwick, Peggy Parker and Madeline
12 DiCillo. 13 14 Q. What do you base that on? A. Interviews that happened that I sat through
15 as the Board's representative. 16 17 18 19 Q. Who were these interviews with? A. Madeline DiCillo. Q. What did Madeline DiCillo tell you? A. Madeline was a sub working for Phyllis Sargi
20 while Phyllis was on vacation. She had absolutely no 21 idea what she was being given to do. She just did
22 it. 23 There was a series of documents she was working on
24 with Peggy and Dr. Hardwick behind closed doors in 25 Dr. Hardwick's office trying to put in some sort of 24 1 order. There were e-mails. There were letters. 2 There were duplicates of items. She was being told to 3 put them in an order. Madeline was told they were for 4 an attorney. They were putting them into a dark 5 binder and three hole punching them. 6 They didn't get it all done that evening. So
7 Madeline took them to her home to finish them and 8 Dr. Hardwick picked them up. 9 Q. Peggy Parker didn't take them out of the
10 building? 11 A. I don't believe so. She was working in the
12 building with Madeline. 13 Q. With Madeline and one of her supervisors? Do
14 you know what, if anything, was taken? 15 16 A. I don't know. Q. You're giving a hearsay answer to a question
17 about what happened. So you personally have no 18 knowledge? 19 20 A. I personally did not witness it, no. Q. You also testified that in September -- at
21 one point on September 19th, Peggy Parker refused to 22 meet with Mr. Tyler, correct?
23 24 25
A. That's correct. Q. That's not accurate, is it? A. Yes, it is. 25
1 2
Q. Didn't she, in fact, meet with Mr. Tyler? A. On the 19th, she did not. She sat for two
3 minutes and kept saying Mr. Tyler was harassing her 4 and bullying her, and she would not meet without her 5 attorney present, and that she was going to call the 6 police. At that point she picked up the phone and 7 started dialing. 8 9 10 11 Q. Were you present when all of this happened? A. Uh-huh. Q. Did she actually call somebody? A. No. Dr. Hardwick told her to put the phone
12 down. 13 14 15 16 Q. Did Peggy file an incident report? A. She did. Q. Who did she submit it to? A. I believe she gave a copy to Dr. Hardwick and
17 one to me much later in the day. 18 Q. What's the procedure if you feel you're being
19 threatened? 20 A. Dr. Hardwick was the compliance officer at
21 that point. 22 23 Q. Okay. A. Up until last week.
24
Q. Did somebody respond to her about this
25 complaint? 26 1 2 A. I have no idea. Q. Did you send an e-mail in response to this
3 complaint? 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 A. I did my own documentation of what happened. Q. Did you receive the incident record report? A. Yes, I did. Q. How did you respond? A. I received it by an e-mail. Q. Then what did you do? A. I really didn't do anything, sir. I did
11 approach Peggy and she talked with Mr. Pearce Larry, 12 it wasn't you, and she knows that I know who Pearce 13 is. Pearce told her she should meet with Mr. Tyler 14 and have me present. He used to be my boss, and that 15 I was fair and unethical -- not unethical -- ethical, 16 and I would make sure she got a fair shake. 17 At that point she agreed to meet with Mr. Tyler if
18 I was present. 19 Q. Didn't you, in fact, send a response to this
20 incident report that she sent you concerning 21 Mr. Tyler? 22 23 24 A. I don't recall. --(Parker's Exhibit A was marked for
25
identification purposes.) 27
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2 BY MR. BELKIN: 3 4 5 6 7 Q. I'm going to hand you Parker Exhibit A. A. Yes, I did do this. You're correct. Q. You recall sending this now? A. Uh-huh. Q. Did you do any type of investigation before
8 you sent that e-mail? 9 A. Yes, I did. I received statements from the
10 other witnesses in the office that witnessed what 11 happened. 12 13 Q. Which witnesses did you talk to? A. I talked to Phyllis Sargi -- no, I didn't. I
14 talked to Janice Cook and Therese. They were both in 15 the office and they were visibly shaken. 16 17 18 19 20 Q. Who was visibly shaken? A. Therese -Q. Your two witnesses? A. Therese Humanchuk. Q. Did you talk to Mr. Tyler about what
21 happened? 22 A. Uh-huh. Actually, it was at his
23 recommendation that I got them to write out their 24 witness statements at the same time. 25 Q. Do you still have those?
28 1 2 A. Yes, I do. Q. You didn't initially recall sending that
3 e-mail? 4 A. I sent a number of e-mails. I just got back
5 from vacation today. So this whole investigation 6 isn't the prime of my forefront. 7 Q. Well, it's the prime of her forefront. You
8 should be coming prepared. You want us to believe 9 what you remember about what happened. But you don't 10 remember what happened, do you? 11 12 13 A. I do remember what happened. Q. You don't remember this e-mail? A. I remember getting her response. I remember
14 documenting everything that happened and getting 15 proper documentation from her. I do remember that. 16 Yes, I did say I felt she was disrespectful towards 17 the other employees in the office. 18 19 Q. Where was this meeting held? A. The interviews were held in here. The
20 confrontation with Mr. Tyler happened in the central 21 office right between Therese Humanchuk's and Phyllis 22 Sargi's desks in the general area. 23 24 25 MR. BELKIN: Thank you. I have nothing further. Thank you. MR. TYLER: Thank you. 29
1 2
--REDIRECT EXAMINATION OF BRENDA BRCAK
3 BY MR. TYLER: 4 Q. You understand that we are here about taking
5 documents out of the central office and 6 insubordination? 7 8 A. Correct. Q. I want to draw your attention back to
9 District's Exhibit Number 6, and refer you back to 10 page number 3, and in that statement where Joshua 11 Kaye, the Board President, says, "I will not sign off 12 and hereby revoke." 13 To your knowledge, to this very date, has the
14 Board President signed off? 15 16 A. No, he has not. Q. I would also like for you to read the last
17 sentence just before "Regards, Josh" for the record. 18 A. "If you have any questions, you may address
19 them with your Supervisor, Ms. Brenda Brcak, who has 20 been informed of need to provide safety to our 21 documentation." 22 Q. Did the Board President ever say to Peggy
23 Parker, if you have any questions about this e-mail, 24 see your Supervisor Linda Hardwick? 25 A. No. 30 1 Q. He was very clear and said to Margaret
2 Parker, if you have any questions, you may address 3 them with your supervisor, Ms. Brenda Brcak? 4 5 A. That is correct. Q. And, of course, Mr. Joshua Kaye is aware that
6 Peggy had two supervisors in the district? 7 8 A. Yes. Q. If she had questions, she was to address them
9 with you? 10 11 A. That is correct. Q. And you did address those concerns that Peggy
12 had, correct? 13 14 A. I did. Q. And as her supervisor you told her she was
15 not to go to Columbus? 16 17 A. Correct. Q. And even though you told her that, she went
18 to Columbus? 19 20 21 22 A. Correct. MR. TYLER: Nothing further. --RECROSS-EXAMINATION OF BRENDA BRCAK
23 BY MR. BELKIN: 24 25 Q. What's the date on this e-mail? A. Tuesday, October 4th at 2:52 p.m. 31 1 Q. The e-mail that was just referred to you
2 by Mr. Kaye.
A. The e-mail from Mr. Kaye is dated
4 Thursday, September 29th at 4:32 p.m. 5 6 Q. When did Ms. Parker go to Columbus? A. She left, I believe, the 4th in the
7 evening. 8 Q. She was here. On October 4th,
9 Dr. Hardwick was still her supervisor? 10 11 A. Yes, she was. Q. And she still reported to you and
12 Dr. Hardwick at that time? 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 A. Yes, she did. MR. BELKIN: Nothing further. Thank you. MR. TYLER: Thank you, Ms. Brcak. At this time the Board will call Madeline DiCillo. --Madeline DiCillo, of lawful age, a
20 witness herein, having been first duly sworn as 21 hereinafter certified, deposes and says as 22 follows: 23 24 EXAMINATION OF MADELINE DiCILLO
25 BY MR. TYLER: 32 1 Q. Would you please state your name for the
2 record? 3 A. Madeline DiCillo.
Q. Would you spell your last name for the
5 record? 6 7 A. D-i, capital C-i-l-l-o. Q. Are you employed as a substitute in the
8 Richmond Heights Public School District? 9 10 A. Yes, I am. Q. Do you recall being called by the school
11 district on August 15, 2011? 12 13 A. Yes. Q. On August 15, 2011, did you come to work for
14 the Richmond Heights Local School District? 15 16 A. Yes. Q. When you came to work for the district, where
17 were you assigned to work that day? 18 19 20 A. For Phyllis Sargi. Q. What location is that? A. That's reporting to Dr. Hardwick as her
21 assistant. 22 Q. What happened that day? What did you do for
23 Dr. Hardwick? 24 A. I came in. Dr. Hardwick said she had
25 something to get done and she gave -- she had a big 33 1 stack of papers in her office. Some were in plastic 2 page protectors and some were loose. She wanted them 3 all put in order by date. 4 Q. Do you recall if any of those documents were
5 letters from Attorney Donna Andrews to Dr. Hardwick or 6 to the Board? 7 A. There was e-mails that said from Donna
8 Andrews. I remember that because it was letters in a 9 meeting and there was a lot of e-mails attached to 10 e-mails to responses. So I had to try to go through 11 them. 12 13 Q. They were from Attorney Donna Andrews? A. I think that was, "RE: A letter and a
14 meeting." I don't know if there were any others. 15 Q. Let me ask you: Were there any other
16 employees in the district assisting you with those 17 documents? 18 A. For a brief time Peggy and I were trying to
19 assemble them. It was at the end of the day, maybe we 20 started at 3:00, and it was just so much that we 21 couldn't finish it. 22 23 Q. What happened when you couldn't finish it? A. I actually said, "When do you need it done?"
24 And Dr. Hardwick said, "Yesterday." 25 Q. What happened after that? 34 1 A. I said I could take it home and do it. They
2 both kind of said, I don't know. It was decided that 3 I would take it home, and I finished at home. 4 5 Q. How did the documents get to your car? A. They brought them out to me.
Q. When you say, "They brought them out to me,"
7 who were "they"? 8 9 A. Peggy and Dr. Hardwick. Q. So Peggy and Dr. Hardwick took those e-mails
10 out of the central office and took them to your car in 11 the parking lot? 12 A. It was more than just that. It was a lot of
13 different stuff. 14 Q. They took them out of the central office to
15 your car? 16 17 18 A. Yes. Q. What did you put those documents in? A. My instructions were to do one right away,
19 like get it all together, do an exact duplicate, and 20 then another one with all the extras. 21 Q. What did you do? Did you put together a book
22 or a binder? 23 24 A. It was a binder. Q. After you put the binders together, what
25 happened next? 35 1 A. I called Dr. Hardwick and said they were
2 done. 3 4 5 6 Q. Then what did she do after that? A. She said, "I'll come and get them." Q. Did she come to your house and pick them up? A. Uh-huh.
7 8 9
Q. Did you ever hear from Peggy Parker again? A. Not specifically regarding that. Q. But did you ever hear from Peggy Parker
10 again? 11 A. I did get a voice mail from Peggy when she
12 was in Columbus. 13 14 15 16 --(District's Exhibit 7 was marked for identification purposes.) ---
17 BY MR. TYLER: 18 Q. I'm going to play for you what's going to be
19 marked as Exhibit 7. 20 21 22 23 24 25 AUDIO: "Check this message when you get a chance. Can you give me a call on my cell? This is Peggy. (216) 235-1023. I'm in Columbus and I need to ask you something to make sure we're on the same page. Okay? Thanks. Hope you have a good day, and I 36 1 2 3 4 appreciate all the help that you gave Dr. Hardwick. She appreciates it, too. Talk to you soon. Bye." Q. Is that the voice mail that Peggy left you
5 when she was in Columbus with Dr. Hardwick? 6 7 A. Yes. Q. When you got that e-mail -- that voice mail,
8 what did you think? 9 A. First I tried -- I missed the call and I ran
10 down and saw it was from Peggy, and I tried to call 11 her back and she didn't answer. Then I played the 12 voice mail and I thought it was weird. 13 14 Q. Why did you think it was weird? A. I didn't know what we would be on the same
15 page with. Then I started thinking about all of what 16 was happening, and then I thought it just didn't seem 17 right to me. It just seemed odd. I was doing what I 18 was told and if something was -- I didn't want to be 19 brought into something that I didn't. 20 Q. When you thought about what was happening,
21 what was happening? 22 A. What do you mean, "We're on the same page"?
23 It didn't make any sense to me. 24 Q. Other than working with Dr. Hardwick and
25 Peggy with these binders that included the e-mails 37 1 with Donna Andrews, did you ever work on any other 2 project with her, other than that project? 3 4 5 A. Yes. A lot. Q. What other project? A. The calendar for the Board of Education. We
6 had to do a whole year of -- what do you want me to 7 say -- due dates, and tasks and an agenda. 8 Q. Did you do that at Dr. Hardwick's office or
9 Phyllis Sargi's desk? 10 A. I did it every day. I worked at Phyllis's
11 desk, Peggy's desk; anywhere I could have access to 12 Outlook. 13 Q. Is that the first time Dr. Hardwick said you
14 had to do a project in her office? 15 A. Yeah. That made perfect sense to me. I saw
16 it was confidential information and I wouldn't spread 17 it all over the boardroom table. 18 Q. That same confidential information that you
19 saw, Peggy and Dr. Hardwick assisted you in taking it 20 out of the Board office to your car? 21 22 A. Uh-huh. Q. And when you finished, Dr. Linda Hardwick,
23 the Superintendent of the school district, came to 24 your house and picked those documents up? 25 A. Yes. 38 1 Q. You were sworn in to tell the truth and
2 you're telling the truth tonight that Margaret Parker 3 assisted you in putting those binders together in 4 Dr. Hardwick's office? 5 A. We started, but it was just too much. It was
6 too many pages, and Dr. Hardwick makes 30 copies of 7 everything and at all different times. It was a lot 8 to try to assemble in a logical manner. It was a lot. 9 Q. When you say that Peggy was one of the people
10 who helped you take it to your car, you're telling the 11 truth? 12 13 14 15 16 A. Yeah. MR. TYLER: Okay. She's yours, Keith. MR. BELKIN: Thank you. --CROSS-EXAMINATION OF MADELINE DiCILLO
17 BY MR. BELKIN: 18 Q. Ms. DiCillo, when did Dr. Hardwick have you
19 assemble these documents; do you remember the date? 20 21 22 23 24 A. August 15th. Q. August 15, 2011? A. Uh-huh. Q. Did you read any of these documents? A. Some of them I had to look through to
25 determine what time it was. 39 1 Q. What time of day did Dr. Hardwick have you
2 start on this project? 3 4 A. It was later. Q. Let's back up. What time did you start
5 working that day? 6 A. Probably 7:15. I may even have what time I
7 came in. 8 9 10 Q. Just approximate. I don't need to know. A. At the very latest, I was here at 8:00. Q. Did you have a lunch break that day? I'm
11 just trying to get a time frame. Was this before or 12 after lunch when Dr. Hardwick called you to work on 13 these documents? 14 A. I think she came in and said, we have
15 something we've got to do today, but I don't know. 16 17 18 Q. Was it before noon or after? A. I don't remember. Q. When you started working on this project was
19 anybody working on it with you? 20 A. I started and Peggy came in to try to help me
21 get it done. 22 Q. How long after you started this project did
23 Peggy come in? 24 25 A. Not too long. Q. You testified earlier that you started by 40 1 sorting these documents by chronological order, 2 correct? 3 4 5 A. Uh-huh. Q. Did Peggy sort these by chronological order? A. We were doing like, do you have this one:
6 Notification of Central Office Interview? What do you 7 have? I'm on September 19th; do you have anything 8 before that? 9 10 Q. She was helping you with these documents? A. Yes, going through a stack. It was a lot of
11 going through paper.

12
Q. How long did you work on it with Peggy before
13 you decided to take these home? 14 15 A. Probably 5:00. Q. You said she came in at 3:00. So maybe two
16 hours? 17 A. We started it at a time that we couldn't
18 finish it. 19 20 Q. You offered to take these documents home? A. I did. In my mind she had a sense of urgency
21 that she had to get it completed. 22 Q. When you took the documents were they in
23 binders at the time, or were they still in boxes? 24 A. They were loose. Some were in boxes. Some
25 had been started in binders. We had to pull apart and 41 1 sort them all out and then put them in plastic pages 2 and put them together. 3 Q. How did these documents get from
4 Dr. Hardwick's office to your car? 5 6 7 A. They brought them to my car. Q. Were they in boxes? A. I think we had a box. Maybe it was like the
8 top of a paper box and then the binders on top. 9 10 11 12 Q. How many boxes did you carry out? A. Probably one. Q. You needed three people to carry out one box? A. It was loose and binders.
13
Q. That's my question. What state were they in
14 when they went from Dr. Hardwick's office? 15 A. Some were started to be bound, some were
16 already in a binder and some were loose. 17 18 19 20 Q. What was in the box? A. Stuff. Q. Loose papers? Binders? A. You take a box and put a binder and loose
21 papers and another binder so you can carry it. 22 23 24 25 Q. How many boxes did you carry out to your car? A. I think one and extra supplies. Q. Who carried the box? A. Who carried the box with the binders? 42 1 2 3 Q. You just told me there was only one box. A. I don't remember. Q. Take a minute to recall what happened that
4 day because it's very important. How many boxes were 5 carried from Dr. Hardwick's office to your automobile? 6 A. I think that there was like the lid of a
7 paper box and extra stuff loose. 8 9 10 11 Q. Was there a box? A. I don't remember. Q. You don't remember how many people -A. I don't remember having two boxes in my house
12 is what I'm going back to. I remember having a tray 13 box and extra stuff.
14 15 16
Q. There's a tray box and extra stuff? A. Uh-huh. Q. You would carry these out at the direction of
17 Dr. Hardwick? 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. I didn't carry them out. Q. Who did? A. I don't remember. Q. Did Peggy? A. I don't remember. Q. What did Dr. Hardwick do? A. I don't remember. Q. Why didn't you carry the box? 43 1 2 3 4 5 A. They didn't want me to carry it. Q. Why not? Do you have a bad back? A. No. I didn't ask. Q. At the time -A. I did break my back once, but I can still
6 carry. 7 8 Q. How heavy was this one box? A. They could carry it. So it must not have
9 been unmanageable. 10 Q. Between Peggy, Dr. Hardwick and you, who's
11 the oldest? 12 13 A. I don't know. Q. Well, if I told you Peggy is 65, would she be
14 older than you?

15 16
A. Yes. Q. And if I told you she was 65, would she be
17 older than Dr. Hardwick? 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. I don't know how old Dr. Hardwick is. Q. You drove these boxes home, correct? A. Uh-huh. Q. How did you get them into your house? A. I carried them. Q. How heavy were they? A. I could manage them. Q. What did you do with them when you got home? 44 1 2 3 A. I put them on my kitchen counter. Q. Then what did you do with them? A. Then I laid them out and started working on
4 them. 5 Q. When you were done working on them what
6 condition were they in? 7 8 9 10 A. They were beautiful. Q. Were they then all in these binders? A. Yes. Everything was exactly as she wanted. Q. Did Peggy Parker help you put these in the
11 binders at your house? 12 13 A. No. Q. When you were all done you called
14 Dr. Hardwick? 15 A. Uh-huh.
16 17 18 19 20
Q. You didn't call Peggy Parker, did you? A. No. Q. Did Peggy Parker come pick these up? A. No. Q. Other than these two hours that Peggy worked
21 with you, what involvement did Peggy Parker have in 22 this process? 23 24 A. None. Q. She's not the one that gave you directions to
25 take these documents home? 45 1 2 A. No. Q. Are you aware that when you took the
3 confidential documents out of the office that you may 4 have been violating Board policy? 5 6 A. No. Q. Were you aware that that might also be an
7 offense that could lead you to be terminated? 8 9 10 11 A. No. Q. Dr. Hardwick didn't tell you that? A. No. Q. Do you know if Dr. Hardwick told Peggy Parker
12 that? 13 14 A. No. Q. You just thought you were helping
15 Dr. Hardwick out, correct? 16 A. I just wanted to do a good job, and I don't
17 have a problem taking work home. I took work home for 18 25 years. I'm sure you take work home, too. I'm 19 sorry. 20 Q. That's okay. It's not a problem. So does
21 Mr. Tyler, I'm sure. 22 23 A. I'm sure. My boss needed it done. Q. Your immediate supervisor needed something
24 done so you did it for her, correct? 25 A. Yes. 46 1 Q. From August 15, 2011, until you got that
2 voice mail, did you have any contact with Peggy 3 Parker? 4 5 6 A. Can I look in my book? Q. Sure. A. I was working around the district, but I
7 think that was right around the end. Let me go back. 8 No -- yes -- well. 9 Q. Yes, you were working for the district? Or
10 yes, you saw Peggy Parker? 11 A. I probably saw her because I was working the
12 buses. I was an aide on the school buses in the 13 morning, and she's in transportation in the morning. 14 15 16 17 Q. Do you remember seeing her that morning? A. What morning? Q. The morning you're talking about. A. I probably did because I would always come in
18 and say hello while we were getting ready to go. 19 20 21 Q. Do you recall seeing Peggy Parker? A. She was always at the desk. Q. That's not the question. Do you recall
22 seeing her? 23 A. Specifically on Thursday the 25th or on
24 Friday the 26th? 25 Q. Are we talking about August or September? 47 1 2 A. We're talking about August. Q. Assuming you saw and said hello to Peggy
3 Parker on August 25th or 26th of 2011, until you got 4 that voice mail, had you had any contact with Peggy 5 Parker? 6 7 8 A. No. Q. When did you get that voice mail? A. I don't know what day. I'm not totally
9 prepared. I have to dig for my cell phone. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Peggy, what's your number? Q. What was the question? A. What day I got the voice mail from Peggy. Q. 235-1023. A. I'm sorry. October 17th. Q. Are you sure? A. Uh-huh. Q. You got that voice mail on October 17, 2011? A. That's what my phone says.
19 20 21
Q. And it came in on that phone? A. Yeah. Q. Do you know when Peggy Parker was in
22 Columbus? 23 24 25 A. I did. Q. When was she in Columbus? A. I believe on this date. That's what I had 48 1 heard from working around that Peggy was in Columbus 2 with Dr. Hardwick. I wasn't informed via writing. 3 Q. According to your cell phone you got that
4 phone call on October 17, 2011? 5 6 7 A. Uh-huh. --REDIRECT EXAMINATION OF MADELINE DiCILLO
8 BY MR. TYLER: 9 Q. Let me ask you this: Did Peggy call you any
10 time since she was in Columbus? 11 12 A. Yes. Q. Could that be a time Peggy called you after
13 she returned from Columbus? 14 A. Maybe. The 17th was just last week. This
15 was just as far back as October 6th. 16 Q. If I tell you Peggy was in Columbus through
17 the 5th and the 7th, would this help you? 18 19 A. My records only go -- let me check. Q. I'll tell you what, we'll play the tape
20 again. 21 A. I have 10/5. You know, the recents go way.
22 I have 10/5. 23 24 25 Q. On 10/5 she called you from Columbus? A. 235-1023. Q. October 5, 2011? 49 1 2 A. Yes. Q. She called you on the 5th of October and then
3 the 17th in 2011? 4 5 6 7 A. Uh-huh. Q. Did you talk to Peggy personally? A. No. Q. I only have one other question for you. When
8 you were at central office on August 15, 2011, as far 9 as you know, you were being paid with district funds; 10 is that correct? You were being paid as a sub -11 12 A. Yes. Q. -- when you were working under on these
13 binders for Dr. Hardwick? You clocked in as a sub 14 that day? 15 16 17 A. Yes. --RECROSS-EXAMINATION OF MADELINE DiCILLO
18 BY MR. BELKIN: 19 20 Q. Did Peggy Parker pay you on August 15th? A. My check was signed by Brenda.
21
Q. And she's the treasurer of the Board of
22 Education? 23 24 A. Uh-huh. Q. Whose direction were you working on these
25 documents? 50 1 2 A. Dr. Hardwick. Q. Did Peggy Parker give you any
3 directions? 4 5 A. No. Q. Is she a supervisor in any way, shape or
6 form? 7 A. No. This is the assignment. Just to
8 help you along. 9 10 11 12 13 14 MR. BELKIN: Okay. Thanks. MR. TYLER: Thank you, Madeline. At this time the Board will call Dr. Timothy Pingle. --Dr. Timothy Pingle, of lawful age, a
15 witness herein, having been first duly sworn as 16 hereinafter certified, deposes and says as 17 follows: 18 EXAMINATION OF DR. TIMOTHY PINGLE
19 BY MR. TYLER: 20 Q. Would you please state your name for the
21 record?
22 23
A. Timothy Lee Pingle. Q. Dr. Pingle, are you employed with the
24 Richmond Heights Board of Education? 25 A. Yes, sir. 51 1 Q. Have you ever had the opportunity to work
2 with Margaret Parker? 3 4 5 6 A. Yes, sir. Q. Also known as Peggy Parker? A. Yes, sir. Q. Did you have the opportunity to come into
7 contact with Margaret Parker on October 11, 2011? 8 9 A. Yes, sir. Q. How did you come into contact with Margaret
10 Parker on October 11, 2011? 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 A. At Subway restaurant. Q. How did you get to Subway? A. I drove there. Q. Did you go to Subway by yourself? A. No, sir. Q. Who went to Subway with you? A. Dr. Linda Hardwick. Q. Did you just go there for lunch? A. No, sir. Q. Why did you go to Subway with Dr. Hardwick? A. To meet Peggy. Q. Did you volunteer to take Dr. Hardwick to
23 meet Peggy? 24 25 A. I was asked to take her. Q. Where were you when you were asked to take 52 1 Dr. Hardwick to meet Peggy? 2 3 4 5 6 A. In the parking lot in front of the Board. Q. Did Peggy call Dr. Hardwick? A. Yes, sir. Q. When you went to Subway what happened? A. Peggy got into my car and showed Dr. Hardwick
7 letters that she received from Brenda saying that she 8 was placed on leave and not to be on campus. 9 10 Q. What happened after that? A. Dr. Hardwick commenced to tell her this is
11 not right, that she needs to go back to work, that 12 Brenda had no right to do this and the Board shouldn't 13 have done this. She told her to go back to work with 14 her. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Q. Did Peggy go back to work? A. No, sir. Q. What happened after that, Dr. Pingle? A. Dr. Hardwick called Linda Pliodzinskas. Q. Is that Linda on the Board? A. Yes, sir. Q. What happened when she called Linda
22 Pliodzinskas? 23 A. She just told her what happened and it wasn't
24 right. I wasn't privy to what Linda Pliodzinskas 25 said. She just said, "It's not right. Their doing 53 1 this just isn't because of discrimination and 2 retaliation. They're going after Peggy, but they 3 really want me." 4 5 Q. What happened next? A. She talked to Linda for awhile and said, "I'm
6 going to call the State Board of Education." I think 7 she called the State Board of Education. 8 9 Q. Did she call anybody else? A. She called some lady from State Board of
10 Education and told her that this is a hostile work 11 environment, etc. And after she got done talking to 12 her, I believe, she called Mr. Bobby Jordan. 13 14 Q. What happened after that? A. I believe she talked to Bobby and said the
15 same thing. After that she had me drive her to FedEx. 16 17 Q. What happened when you got to FedEx? A. She wanted to have Peggy copy the letter for
18 her. 19 20 21 Q. What was Peggy doing during this whole time? A. Crying. Q. It's your testimony that Peggy gave copies of
22 the letter to Dr. Hardwick -23 24 A. Yes, sir. Q. -- who was the Superintendent of the
25 district? 54 1 2 A. Yes, sir. Q. And Peggy discussed her being suspended in
3 your presence? 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 A. Yes, sir. Q. And you're also an employee of the district? A. Yes, sir. Q. Did Peggy make any phone calls? A. I believe Peggy made a phone call. Yes, sir. Q. Who did Peggy call? A. I believe she called the Plain Dealer. Q. Did she call anybody else? A. I can't recall. Q. Did anything else happen that day? A. As far as? Q. Did you want to be at Subway? A. I got uncomfortable pretty quick. I thought
17 this was wrong, and I was put into a situation that I 18 shouldn't be in. I was very uncomfortable and worried 19 about my security and my job. 20 21 22 23 Q. All of this took place in your car? A. Yes, sir. Q. At Subway? A. We went to FedEx and we also went to Linda
24 Hardwick's house. 25 Q. Was Peggy in your car when you went to
55 1 Subway? 2 3 4 5 A. Yes, sir. Q. When you went to FedEx, who was in your car? A. Peggy and Linda Hardwick. Q. When you went to Linda Hardwick's house, who
6 was in your car? 7 8 9 10 11 12 A. Same. Q. You're the high school principal? A. Yes, sir. Q. Dr. Hardwick is the Superintendent? A. Yes, sir. Q. Who was in charge of the district when you
13 were at the Subway? 14 A. I don't know who was in charge of the
15 district. Mr. Booker, who had to leave for his wife. 16 He's my assistant principal. 17 18 19 Q. Was there anybody in charge of the district? A. No, sir. Q. You were out of the district. The
20 Superintendent required you to take her to Subway? 21 22 23 24 25 A. Yes, sir. Q. And then to FedEx? A. Yes, sir. Q. And then to her house? A. Yes, sir. 56
1 2 3
MR. TYLER: Nothing further. --CROSS-EXAMINATION OF DR. TIMOTHY PINGLE
4 BY MR. BELKIN: 5 6 7 8 9 Q. Who directed you to drive to Subway? A. Dr. Hardwick. Q. Who directed you to drive to FedEx? A. Dr. Hardwick. Q. Who directed you to drive to Dr. Hardwick's
10 house? 11 12 A. Dr. Hardwick. Q. These telephone calls that were made to Linda
13 Pliodzinskas, who made that phone call? 14 15 16 17 18 19 A. Dr. Hardwick. Q. Who called Mr. Jordan? A. Dr. Hardwick. Q. Did Peggy call these people? A. Not that I can recall. Q. She basically made one call to the Plain
20 Dealer? 21 22 23 A. I believe. Q. Do you recall if she called me? A. She may have. I don't recall. I was in the
24 front seat and Dr. Hardwick was yelling very loud on 25 the phone. Peggy was in the back seat. For the most 57 1 part, she was crying.
2 3
Q. What type of car were you driving? A. At that particular time I had a rental. It
4 was a Hyundai. I'm telling you the truth. 5 Dr. Hardwick was yelling very loud. 6 7 Q. What was Peggy doing? A. For the most part, Peggy was upset. She may
8 have been on the phone with somebody. But it was so 9 overwhelming in the front seat with -10 Q. Doctor, we're here because of Peggy. You
11 laid out a nice case about Dr. Hardwick possibly 12 abusing her authority. But Peggy is not the one 13 that -14 15 16 17 18 19 20 A. I'm just telling the truth. Q. What did Peggy say to you that day? A. Peggy was upset. Q. Did Peggy say anything to you? A. Yes. Q. What did she say to you? A. She said she was going to get an attorney to
21 fight this. She had $10,000 in the bank. 22 Q. She didn't do any of this driving. How did
23 Dr. Hardwick flag you down? 24 A. She was up in my office area with Diane
25 Saddler. We were talking about the credit recovery, 58 1 and then we were walking back down, still talking 2 about credit recovery, and the phone call came from
3 Peggy as we were walking. We got clear out there in 4 the parking lot and she got a call from Peggy. She 5 said, "Peggy is crying. Peggy just got terminated." 6 Q. Does Dr. Hardwick own an automobile to your
7 knowledge? 8 9 10 11 12 13 A. Yes. Q. Does she know how to drive? A. Yes, sir. Q. Why did you take her? A. I don't know. She asked me to take her. Q. Mr. Tyler asked you several questions about
14 who was in charge of the district. Was Peggy Parker 15 ever in charge of the district? 16 17 A. No. Q. The fact that Peggy Parker wasn't on campus
18 didn't affect who was in charge of the district, 19 though? 20 21 A. No. Q. You also made a statement, quote, "You
22 thought this was wrong." What do you mean, "You 23 thought this was wrong"? 24 A. I believe that when they were reading the
25 letter it said you're not to talk about this with 59 1 anyone or something like that. I think I remember 2 that. So I became uncomfortable because I was putting 3 myself in a precarious position. So that was wrong.
Q. Peggy Parker is not the one that put you in
5 that position? 6 7 A. No, but she gave the letters. Q. She's not the one that had you drive to
8 Subway and start this whole process, was she? 9 10 11 12 13 14 A. No. Q. She was mostly crying at that time? A. A lot of the time. MR. BELKIN: I have nothing further. --REDIRECT EXAMINATION OF DR. TIMOTHY PINGLE
15 BY MR. TYLER: 16 Q. You witnessed Peggy calling Dr. Hardwick, you
17 were there when Peggy gave Dr. Hardwick the letter and 18 you heard him say that Peggy was not to share this 19 with any district staff employees? 20 21 A. I remember that. Q. You heard Peggy read the letter to
22 Dr. Hardwick, who is a district employee, and 23 yourself, a district employee, and you became 24 uncomfortable because you heard him say she was not to 25 discuss it with district employees? 60 1 2 3 4 MR. BELKIN: Who's testifying here? A. That's correct, sir. MR. TYLER: Okay. Nothing further. Thank you, Dr. Pingle. It's your defense.
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
MR. BELKIN: Okay. We'll just do closing arguments because we don't think you met your burden. MR. TYLER: Okay. Go ahead. MR. BELKIN: You want me to go first? I would be happy to go first. We started with the charges that Peggy misappropriated confidential information, that she didn't testify truthfully, that she interfered with the investigation, that she was insubordinate by going to Columbus on October 5th through October 7th, and then she didn't turn in all her keys. Basically, it's based on the testimony of Brenda Brcak and Margaret DiCillo. Starting backwards from Columbus, the issue here is we have a situation where you have an employee with two supervisors and she followed the direction of one of two supervisors. There was a difference, obviously, in her authority as it relates 61
1 2 3 4 5
to what Mr. Kaye said. Obviously, Mr. Kaye is on the Board so he can discuss it with you guys later. The way that Peggy Parker understood it is, if she met with Mr. Tyler, then she
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
was entitled to go to Columbus. Plus, she had a direct order from her supervisor, Dr. Hardwick, who said that she could go to Columbus with her. It was really based on testimony of Brenda Brcak who said, this is the first time we really had a serious disagreement about what Peggy should be doing. Other times they had always resolved the disagreements amicably through a discussion between Dr. Hardwick and Ms. Brcak. But in this case, Ms. Brcak said she wasn't granted the courtesy of discussing it with her. Although, again, you have one employee serving two supervisors and she followed one supervisor and the other supervisor feels she is insubordinate because she followed the other supervisor. Peggy had been set up. At some point this was going to happen and she can't be 62
1 2 3 4 5 6
punished for following one supervisor's direction. As it relates to interfering for the investigation, there's been no testimony of her interfering. She may not have immediately talked with Mr. Tyler the first
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
two times, but that's not interfering. That's her decision. She wanted to see an attorney, wanted to have an attorney with her. Ultimately, when it was agreed she could have an attorney, she sat down with Mr. Tyler. There's been testimony from Ms. Brcak that Mr. Tyler asked Ms. Parker if she ever put these documents in binders. She said, "No." There's been no testimony because Ms. Brcak didn't see her put it in binders. In fact, Ms. DiCillo says that she is the one that put everything into binders. There's a question of whether or not -- Mr. Tyler asked Ms. Parker if she ever delivered these binders to anybody else. The testimony has all been that she didn't get those binders. Those binders were picked up by Dr. Hardwick. 63
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Dr. Hardwick did whatever Dr. Hardwick did with them; not what Peggy Parker did with them. If you really pay attention to what happened, it's really been more about Dr. Hardwick. Particularly, according to Dr. Pingle, where everything is about
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Dr. Hardwick. All Peggy Parker did was make one phone call supposedly -- cried a lot and made one phone call supposedly to the Plain Dealer and may have made one phone call to me. Everything else that Dr. Pingle said related to Dr. Hardwick. That's not really the issue here. The issue is Ms. Parker continuing employment. The issue of whether or not she removed confidential documents from the Board office, that is really a red herring as best to be described. Her only involvement was she was brought into a situation with Ms. DiCillo to sort out these documents, put them in binders. She helped out. At the point where Ms. DiCillo said on her own volition says, "I'm going to take these home and finish for you." 64
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I'm not even sure how credible Ms. DiCillo is because she couldn't read her phone probably; she couldn't remember if it was one box, two boxes, whether they were loose. Basically she said, we had one box, maybe some other papers, I didn't carry them out, but Peggy and Dr. Hardwick carried them out. But it was at the
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
direction of Dr. Hardwick at the offer of Ms. DiCillo. That was her only involvement supposedly of removing these documents. Finally, a question of whether or not she turned in all her keys. There's one written statement that's basically hearsay that says, "I made two other keys." We don't indicate what other keys were actually turned in when Ms. Parker left the building with Mr. White that day. Where is the statement from Mr. White about what keys were delivered? Basically, Ms. Parker has been charged with listening to Dr. Hardwick and not listening to Ms. Brcak, taking out documents, which she might have done. We're not sure about that because of one 65
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box and three people carrying it out. One may have taken documents from Dr. Hardwick's office to the trunk of Ms. DiCillo's car, and Ms. DiCillo took them to her house and then Dr. Hardwick picked them up; not Ms. Parker. Ms. Parker's involvement with those documents was only to help out with Ms. DiCillo and to help Ms. DiCillo carry
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them out to the car. We just know there's a statement from somebody, but there's no statement what was turned in. She allegedly interfered with an investigation, which she didn't do because she ultimately spoke with Mr. Tyler. There were some concerns about what happened and the incident the first time that Mr. Tyler and Ms. Parker spoke, and Ms. Brcak didn't completely recall what happened that day. She wasn't clear. I had to remind her from an e-mail to the way she responded to an incident report that was filed by Ms. Parker in accordance with the Board policies. I believe that the Board has not met 66
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its burden under Ohio Revised Code Section 3319.081 to establish any of these charges, and it would be improper and inappropriate for you to terminate Ms. Parker and I would ask you to vote accordingly. MR. TYLER: I would like to start with honesty and candor. Mr. Belkin is right, you have to consider that. What I want you to consider is that even though it is true that Dr. Hardwick and Brenda Brcak is Peggy
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Parker's supervisor, her lawyer has suggested that at least Peggy is 65 years of age and she knows the difference between right and wrong. The district spent hours in investigating and asking questions as to who knew what and who did what. As an adult, Peggy was given an opportunity to say, yes, I had some involvement in binders. I had some involvement with e-mails with Board counsel. I had some involvement with some letters with Board counsel. But instead, Peggy Parker sat right there on October 4th and when I asked her the questions, she said, "No." 67
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When you bring Madeline DiCillo in here to testify of actually what happened, now Peggy wants you to believe, I was just following the direction of my boss. It is not illegal to follow the direction of your boss. If that was the case on October 4th, all Peggy had to do is what Madeline DiCillo did on that exact same day and testify in her interview, "I followed the direction of my boss." Peggy, there was testimony given here
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today that under the direction of Dr. Hardwick, John Garibotti gave Peggy two extra keys. I specifically asked Brenda Brcak, "Did Peggy turn these two extra keys in?" And Brenda Brcak said, "No." She's somebody who recognized those two extra keys because only the administratives at the central office have those two extra keys. Nobody else has those extra keys. So she would be able to testify that when Peggy gave those two specific keys that open the outer door to central office and the inner door to central office. The letter that Peggy 68
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signed on the 11th of October specifically said, "Turn in all district property, including keys to the building." Peggy did not turn in the keys. That is insubordination. Further, the testimony of Madeline DiCillo clearly states that it was Peggy and Dr. Hardwick who tote the documents outside of central office. It is true that it was Dr. Hardwick who picked the documents up from Madeline's house. As it relates to taking them out of central
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
office, the testimony is clear and unrefuted that it was Dr. Hardwick and Peggy Parker who took those documents out of this central office. Peggy is entitled to present a defense tonight. Peggy opted not to give a defense. Peggy could have testified on her own behalf and said that Madeline is not telling the truth, but the record is without any testimony that would suggest that Madeline lied when she said that Peggy and Dr. Hardwick took those confidential documents out of this central office. Only 69
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the Board could've waived that privilege with the communications between the Board and its attorney. The Board did not waive that privilege. So Peggy Parker has no right taking those documents outside of the central office. Peggy Parker has misappropriated district property. Furthermore, Peggy Parker was charged with dishonesty of her testimony and communication during the investigation of central office staff. Again, when she was asked on the 4th of October, she denied knowing anything about binders, anything
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about any communication from the Board's attorneys, and tonight it is very clear that she was not honest in her testimony. She was changed with interfering with a district investigation. We're concerned about the time Peggy Parker called a potential witness from Columbus, Ohio, Board Exhibit Number 7, the voice of Peggy Parker saying to Madeline DiCillo, "We want to make sure we're on the same page." That's interfering with an investigation. Not only on October 15th, but again on 70
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October 17th. Madeline refused to take Peggy's calls. On October 5th through the 7th, it's plain insubordination. It's true she had two supervisors. The communication from the Board President says, "I will not sign off." Brenda Brcak was asked under oath, "Has the Board President signed off?" Her testimony was, "No." The second thing Brenda was asked to read into the record, what the last sentence of that communication that says to Peggy Parker, If you have any questions about this situation, you are to see your
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supervisor, Brenda Brcak." It does not say to see your supervisor, Dr. Hardwick. If Peggy had any concerns, the appropriate supervisor in this matter would have been Brenda Brcak. Brenda testified that under oath that she indicated to Peggy, "You are not to go." Peggy indicated to Brenda, "I'm not going." Even after that conversation, Peggy did not show up to work and Peggy went to Columbus, Ohio, October 5th through 71
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the 7th. The Board has met its burden. The recommendation from the treasurer, who is one of Peggy Parker's supervisors is a right and correct recommendation, and it is the opinion of this counsel that the Board should vote accordingly to terminate Peggy Parker as an employee of the Richmond Heights Local Board of Education. Ladies and gentlemen of the Board, thank you for your time. It is now time for your deliberations, and we as counsel excuse ourselves. Thank you. --(Hearing concluded at 9:28 p.m.) ---
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 72
The State of Ohio, ) ) SS: COUNTY OF CUYAHOGA. ) I, Kimberly Perhacs, a Stenographic Reporter and Notary Public within and for the State of Ohio, duly commissioned and qualified, do hereby certify that the foregoing testimony was taken by me and reduced to stenotypy in the presence of said witness, afterwards transcribed on a computer/printer, and that the foregoing is a true and correct transcript of the testimony so given by the witness as aforesaid. I do further certify that this deposition was taken at the time and place in the foregoing caption. I do further certify that I am not a relative, counsel or attorney for either party, or otherwise interested in the event of this action; that I am not, nor is the
court reporting firm with which I am affiliated, under a contract as defined in Civil Rule 28(D).
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal of office at Cleveland, Ohio, this 3rd day of November, 2011. ______________________________ Kimberly Perhacs, Notary Public My commission expires 11-30-2015

Transcript of Termination Proceeding Held Before Richmond Heights School Board

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Transcript of Termination Proceeding Held Before Richmond Heights School Board

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1 1 2 3 MS. MARGARET PARKER, ) ) 4 and ) ) 5 RICHMOND HEIGHTS ) LOCAL SCHOOLS, ) 6 ) Employer.

) 7 8 9 10 Transcript of a termination proceeding held ---

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MR. TYLER: Yes.

4 any employees? 5 6 A. Yes. Q. Did Board counsel interview Margaret Parker

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14 interview? 15 16 A. Yes, I was. Q. At the time that Margaret Parker was

4 that. 5 Q. Was she asked if she ever took letters from

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20 the keys? 21 A. Yes, I did. She gave Russell a key ring, so

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10 District's Exhibit Number 6. Would you take a look at

6 in my office. 7 Q. What did she communicate with you in that

11 conference in Columbus, Ohio?

5 a binder. 6 7 A. Uh-huh. Q. Did you see Peggy Parker put anything in a

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20 correct? 21 22 A. Correct. Q. In that it says specifically, this is the

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A. No. Q. Why would you feel that if he said, "I would

8 October. 9 Q. Didn't you say she wasn't in the school

15 4, 2011, would you have any reason to doubt that? 16 A. No.

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Q. She met on October 4, 2011 with Mr. Tyler,

21 to Columbus, correct? 22 23 A. Correct. Q. She went to Columbus on the direction of

17 say? February of 2010, correct?

13 this in Columbus, correct? 14 A. I don't know. I was not part of any

18 couldn't attend. Then she didn't show up. No phone

19 calls. No nothing. 20 Q. If Dr. Hardwick gave direct orders that she

A. It was that Thursday evening, probably about

23 e-mails. 24 Q. Do you know how those documents were removed

22 it. 23 There was a series of documents she was working on

10 building? 11 A. I don't believe so. She was working in the

12 building with Madeline. 13 Q. With Madeline and one of her supervisors? Do

A. That's correct. Q. That's not accurate, is it? A. Yes, it is. 25

19 threatened? 20 A. Dr. Hardwick was the compliance officer at

21 that point. 22 23 Q. Okay. A. Up until last week.

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Q. Did somebody respond to her about this

25 complaint? 26 1 2 A. I have no idea. Q. Did you send an e-mail in response to this

18 I was present. 19 Q. Didn't you, in fact, send a response to this

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21 happened? 22 A. Uh-huh. Actually, it was at his

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28 1 2 A. Yes, I do. Q. You didn't initially recall sending that

3 e-mail? 4 A. I sent a number of e-mails. I just got back

--REDIRECT EXAMINATION OF BRENDA BRCAK

3 BY MR. TYLER: 4 Q. You understand that we are here about taking

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18 to Columbus? 19 20 21 22 A. Correct. MR. TYLER: Nothing further. --RECROSS-EXAMINATION OF BRENDA BRCAK

A. The e-mail from Mr. Kaye is dated

7 evening. 8 Q. She was here. On October 4th,

2 record? 3 A. Madeline DiCillo.

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Q. Would you spell your last name for the

5 record? 6 7 A. D-i, capital C-i-l-l-o. Q. Are you employed as a substitute in the

21 assistant. 22 Q. What happened that day? What did you do for

23 Dr. Hardwick? 24 A. I came in. Dr. Hardwick said she had