District News - A Statement from the UCSD Board of Education

To Our UCSD Community,

This morning, Utica City School District Superintendent Bruce Karam, who is currently on leave, was indicted by the Oneida County District Attorney on five counts, including Corruption of Government in the Third Degree, Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree, Public Corruption, as well as shared counts of Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree and Public Corruption with former Utica City School District Board of Education President Louis LaPolla.

While both Mr. Karam and Mr. LaPolla are entitled to their day in court, we recognize that the bond of trust between the Utica City School District and our community has been violated. We, the current UCSD Board of Education, deeply regret this breach and extend our sincere apologies to our students, staff, parents, and community. We continue to cooperate with the ongoing investigations into Mr. Karam and Mr. LaPolla, and we will defer to the District Attorney and law enforcement regarding the ongoing legal proceedings. We will provide timely updates to ensure our community remains informed.

We, the Board of Education, want to assure the Utica community that since Mr. Karam was placed on administrative leave by this board in October 2022, we have taken aggressive and proactive steps to overhaul our administrative operating structure, hire necessary staff, and overall, implement guardrails and protective measures to ensure the type of egregious and illegal misconduct outlined in the indictment doesn’t happen in our District in the future. 

In July of this year, we hired Acting Superintendent Dr. Kathleen Davis, who, with more than 41 years of experience in education, has provided essential guidance while examining our operating structure and has made decisive recommendations for improvements moving forward.

We have installed a new administrative leadership team in the Grants and Finance offices.

We’ve hired a new general counsel, Ferrara Fiorenza PC, out of East Syracuse, New York, and also hired a new public relations specialist to facilitate communications with the public and ensure transparency.

We have secured the Firm Mengel, Metzger, and Barr to conduct the internal audit and risk assessment. We continue to engage in a yearly external audit as required by law. 

We have restructured our internal auditing team to include a full-time claims auditor who will also oversee inventory control and updates to our databases. This shift will allow for an in-depth look at all claims, payroll, inventory, and compliance in adherence to our Board of Education policies.

We’ve hired a new accountant with 22 years of experience, including time in the state Comptroller’s office.

We are currently working with the New York Education Department on our regularly planned target monitoring of Consolidated Title Grants.  We also have a scheduled site visit with the State Education Department to review our COVID ESSER Funds.

We are in the process of hiring individuals with experience in federal funds management to ​​oversee, distribute, and ensure the appropriate use of funds provided by the federal government. 

Regarding Mr. Karam’s employment with the Utica City School District, from the moment he was placed on leave in October 2022, the Board of Education has worked with legal counsel and sought judicial intervention to resolve a dispute regarding the District’s ability to terminate its employment relationship with him. The District defeated Mr. Karam in his first lawsuit filed in state court and it was dismissed. The District is awaiting the court’s decision on the motion to dismiss Mr. Karam’s second lawsuit filed in federal court. The District filed its own lawsuit requesting that the court declare his purported employment contract void, which would confirm the Board’s ability to terminate his employment by a simple majority vote. The District’s leadership team will continue to carefully analyze appropriate options regarding Mr. Karam with due regard for developments in the pending litigation and the District’s operational needs and goals. We have notified Mr. Karam that we have called a special Board of Education meeting for Monday, November 27, 2023, to address his employment with the Utica City School District.

In our unwavering commitment to the education and development of our students, the Utica City School District Board of Education, along with our district leadership team,  also recognizes the immense fiduciary responsibility we owe to our taxpayers and community. The trust placed in us is both an honor and an obligation. As we navigate the challenges ahead, we pledge not only to uphold these dual commitments but also to continuously strive for improvement. We are deeply grateful for the community's support and patience during this evolving situation and are dedicated to ensuring that our actions reflect our commitment to do better going forward.

Again, we will continue to provide updates as this situation unfolds. We want to thank our many current and former staff members for their courage and commitment to our district with their participation in the ongoing investigations. We also want to thank law enforcement for their hard work, and we have the utmost confidence that these agencies will do their due diligence to get to the bottom of these various matters and that appropriate parties will be held fully accountable for their actions.

If you have any questions or would like to speak to someone about these charges, please reach out to Dr. Kathleen Davis’ office.

 

-Utica City School District Board of Education