Haha, so, funny story…
Remember Paula Gastenveld? The woman who was screwed by KCTCS and Steve Beshear’s folks like Helen Mountjoy?
Here’s a quick refresher:
- AG: KCTCS Must Turn Over Records [October 28, 2009]
- Does This Have Something to Do With Mountjoy? [October 28, 2009]
- KCTCS Is Wasting Your Tax Dollars [November 3, 2009]
- Beshear Vision For Higher Education: Do The Right Thing And Get Fired, Trashed All Over The Place [July 19, 2010]
- Mountjoy-Gastenveld OCTCS Mess Gets Messier [August 20, 2010]
- Gastenveld-Mountjoy-OCTC Scandal Update [August 24, 2010]
- Another Reason Education Lags In Kentucky [August 26, 2010]
- Real Reason Education In Kentucky Is Awful [January 25, 2011]
- Miss Helen Mountjoy & The Never-Ending Scandal [May 31, 2011]
- OCTC Scandal Gets Worse, Big Media Ignores It [June 20, 2011]
- The Gastenveld-OCTC-Mountjoy Scandal Thickens [July 13, 2011]
Now that that’s out of the way, check out the latest. KCTCS has settled the case and refuses to tell us, the taxpayers, how much WE are paying! From the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer:
Gastenveld has settled all claims with all other defendants in the case, according to the case file in Woodford Circuit Court and confirmed by her attorney, Chris Miller of Lexington.
-SNIP-
Claims were settled Oct. 1 with Michael McCall, president of the Kentucky Community & Technical College System, as well as Kevin Beardmore and Cindy Fiorella, vice presidents at OCTC, and Michael and Vicki Boyd, faculty and staff members at the college.
-SNIP-
McCall removed her from the college’s top post May 29, 2009, and transferred her to the KCTCS central office in Versailles to serve the remainder of her contract.
In August 2009, she sued 10 individual defendants and KCTCS in Woodford Circuit Court claiming they played roles in defaming her, interfering with her contract and engaging in what amounted to a civil conspiracy to have her removed from office.
-SNIP-
So far, the amounts of the KCTCS/OCTC employees’ settlements are unknown.
Attorneys for McCall and the Boyds as well as attorneys for Beardmore and Fiorella, have not yet responded to the newspa- per’s email requests for the settlement amounts and for any comments on behalf of their clients.
-SNIP-
An agreed order releasing KCTCS from the lawsuit is not in the case file yet, but Miller said the claim against the college also has been settled.
Isn’t that just glorious? Beyond the defense cost to us and the secret settlement amounts, everybody has also forgotten about keeping Gastenveld on the payroll while hiring an interim president at a cost of at least another $100,000. The taxpayers literally got taken for a ride and Frankfort is sweeping this under the rug.
Meanwhile, the mainstream media across the state is continuing to ignore the scandal.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Robbie // Oct 27, 2011 at 7:05 pm
well I hope Mountjoy had to pony up some BIG bucks out of her personal account
2 Joey Wilson // Oct 27, 2011 at 9:02 pm
Gastenveld was a sad excuse for a college president. She got hosed by some Owensboro leaders but she should have never been hired.
3 jake // Oct 28, 2011 at 6:50 am
You may think she’s awful. She may have been a bitch to you.
But that doesn’t make bad behavior and lawbreaking by state government employees okay. And WE, the taxpayers, are paying for those wrongs.
4 Mark Wilburn // Oct 29, 2011 at 9:28 am
Thanks, Jake, for continuing to bring attention to the extremely poor leadership of the KCTCS at taxpayers’ expense. The mixture of stupidity and arrogance coming from Versailles is truly astounding. Remember, about two years ago all 16 KCTCS colleges cast overwhelming votes of no confidence in President McCall and the KCTCS Board of Regents. With regard to these lawsuits, this has happened many times before–the KCTCS is sued for legitimate reasons, it drags it out in court as long as possible, then settles out of court but all sides must not reveal the terms of the settlement. Thousands of dollars at our expense. Just incredible stupidity and arrogance. Thanks again for not ignoring an important public issue story that the other media, for some reason, will not touch.
5 David Cooper // Oct 30, 2011 at 3:28 pm
Mark is right. This is taxpayer money being wasted. Unfortunately, there has been no audit. I say bring in Crit Luallen and let her audit KCTCS. Look at the posh central office at Versailles. Are these shades of Louis XIV?
6 jake // Oct 30, 2011 at 5:00 pm
Crit’s been telling folks one of her biggest regrets is not being able to spend the time to audit education in Kentucky before leaving office.
But from what I hear, Adam Edelen has a serious interest. He apparently turned down a spot on the UofL Foundation board because of his desire to start an audit once in office. Remains to be seen if that’ll happen – but it could.
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