More of mr. both
LETTER FROM MR. BOTH
June 28, 2006
To the Katonah-Lewisboro Community, my colleagues and especially my students,
I have written to you much over my years of service to this educational community but this letter is the most difficult of my career. Not in my worst nightmare would I have thought that I would find myself in this position. This morning I had the most horrifying, humiliating, and humbling experience of my life. I pleaded guilty in a local court to the charge of “attempting to defraud the government.” As a result, I owe you my deepest apology for bringing negative attention to a community and a profession that I love and have been committed to for over 29 years. The opportunity and honor to serve the students, parents and staff of the Katonah-Lewisboro Educational Community for these many years has provided me with so much personal and professional joy, satisfaction and reward that I feel I owe you an explanation. It seems tragically ironic that I find myself in this position when I have dedicated my life to helping young people understand the importance of doing the right thing, ethically and morally.
The Individual Benefits Fund is a part of the administrative contract that was negotiated many years ago to compensate administrators and other district office employees beyond their regular salary. It provides these employees with an amount of money in the budget to be used for such expenses as life insurance, professional dues, tuition for continuing education, physicals and wellness.
One of the common past practices with the fund was to submit some kind of documentation for the above services with a copy of a check, receive payment and then pay for the service. It was a way of not having to put out money in advance of reimbursement which could take some time to be processed. I took advantage of this practice to pay professional association dues and health club memberships. While the professional association sent me an invoice that could be used as a receipt in advance of payment, the health club did not.
A number of years ago, after being told that a copy of a check alone was not sufficient for reimbursement; I made the mistake of making up a receipt and submitting it so that I wouldn’t have to put out money and then wait for reimbursement. Unfortunately, after doing so, I began to have serious back problems and ended up not joining the gym. However, I did end up incurring other wellness expenses which would have been reimbursable had I submitted them.
For the next several years, I ended up going through the same process. Each new year I thought that I was going to be physically able to take advantage of a health club. Each year my back problems got worse. I rationalized keeping the compensation each of those years because once again I ended up spending the reimbursement amount (in some years, even more than the amount) for legitimate “wellness” expenses - monthly nutritional supplements, exercise equipment, an inversion table, an acupuncturist, and naturopathic and osteopathic physicians. While I was ultimately able to document or justify the expenses, in the final analysis, the way I went about seeking that compensation was wrong.
Consequently, if I had not exercised bad judgment in doing what I did, I could have been legitimately entitled to receive, in some years, even more compensation than I actually received. The sad truth, however, is that for the sake of my own convenience, I did something stupid, and wrong. I embarrassed myself and brought disrepute to the community and profession I worked so hard to serve.
I do not want you to think that anything I have said here in any way justifies what I did. What I did was the most stupid mistake of my life. It was wrong and I am going to be paying serious personal, professional and financial consequences for that mistake the rest of my life. The most difficult penalty, however, is the loss of your confidence and trust.
I made this terrible mistake and it cannot be undone. From my horrific experience, I offer my students the following lessons: follow the letter of the law; do not take short cuts; do things the right way because in the real world sometimes you don’t get a second chance; to “cast stones” is a sad part of human nature; and most tragically, it takes years to earn a positive reputation and only a second to destroy it.
I again offer you my most sincere apology. Thank you for the privilege of serving this very special community and all of you for so many wonderful years.
Sincerely,
Douglas Both
June 28, 2006
To the Katonah-Lewisboro Community, my colleagues and especially my students,
I have written to you much over my years of service to this educational community but this letter is the most difficult of my career. Not in my worst nightmare would I have thought that I would find myself in this position. This morning I had the most horrifying, humiliating, and humbling experience of my life. I pleaded guilty in a local court to the charge of “attempting to defraud the government.” As a result, I owe you my deepest apology for bringing negative attention to a community and a profession that I love and have been committed to for over 29 years. The opportunity and honor to serve the students, parents and staff of the Katonah-Lewisboro Educational Community for these many years has provided me with so much personal and professional joy, satisfaction and reward that I feel I owe you an explanation. It seems tragically ironic that I find myself in this position when I have dedicated my life to helping young people understand the importance of doing the right thing, ethically and morally.
The Individual Benefits Fund is a part of the administrative contract that was negotiated many years ago to compensate administrators and other district office employees beyond their regular salary. It provides these employees with an amount of money in the budget to be used for such expenses as life insurance, professional dues, tuition for continuing education, physicals and wellness.
One of the common past practices with the fund was to submit some kind of documentation for the above services with a copy of a check, receive payment and then pay for the service. It was a way of not having to put out money in advance of reimbursement which could take some time to be processed. I took advantage of this practice to pay professional association dues and health club memberships. While the professional association sent me an invoice that could be used as a receipt in advance of payment, the health club did not.
A number of years ago, after being told that a copy of a check alone was not sufficient for reimbursement; I made the mistake of making up a receipt and submitting it so that I wouldn’t have to put out money and then wait for reimbursement. Unfortunately, after doing so, I began to have serious back problems and ended up not joining the gym. However, I did end up incurring other wellness expenses which would have been reimbursable had I submitted them.
For the next several years, I ended up going through the same process. Each new year I thought that I was going to be physically able to take advantage of a health club. Each year my back problems got worse. I rationalized keeping the compensation each of those years because once again I ended up spending the reimbursement amount (in some years, even more than the amount) for legitimate “wellness” expenses - monthly nutritional supplements, exercise equipment, an inversion table, an acupuncturist, and naturopathic and osteopathic physicians. While I was ultimately able to document or justify the expenses, in the final analysis, the way I went about seeking that compensation was wrong.
Consequently, if I had not exercised bad judgment in doing what I did, I could have been legitimately entitled to receive, in some years, even more compensation than I actually received. The sad truth, however, is that for the sake of my own convenience, I did something stupid, and wrong. I embarrassed myself and brought disrepute to the community and profession I worked so hard to serve.
I do not want you to think that anything I have said here in any way justifies what I did. What I did was the most stupid mistake of my life. It was wrong and I am going to be paying serious personal, professional and financial consequences for that mistake the rest of my life. The most difficult penalty, however, is the loss of your confidence and trust.
I made this terrible mistake and it cannot be undone. From my horrific experience, I offer my students the following lessons: follow the letter of the law; do not take short cuts; do things the right way because in the real world sometimes you don’t get a second chance; to “cast stones” is a sad part of human nature; and most tragically, it takes years to earn a positive reputation and only a second to destroy it.
I again offer you my most sincere apology. Thank you for the privilege of serving this very special community and all of you for so many wonderful years.
Sincerely,
Douglas Both