St. Joseph School District settles Musser lawsuit
March 27, 2015
By Sam Zeff
In a sudden move, Missouri's St. Joseph School District Board of Education has voted unanimously to settle a slander lawsuit filed against the district by its Chief Financial Officer.
Details of the settlement with Beau Musser won't be released until both sides sign off on the deal. It appears there are still a few details to work out. "We are relieved that we are at this point," said board member Chris Danford.
The vote was 5-0 and taken in executive session on March 26, 2015.
Musser helped blow the whistle on $5,000 stipends secretly paid to 54 top administrators last year by former superintendent Fred Czerwonka. Czerwonka quickly picked up a nickname: The Candy Man.
It was the unearthing of the Candy Man stipends that led to the legal mess the district is now in.
According to Musser's lawsuit, when he brought his concerns about the unapproved payments and other financial irregularities to Czerwonka and Human Resources Director Doug Flowers, he wasn't met with praise but with charges of sexual misconduct and creating a hostile work environment.
Musser says his bosses tried to silence him by offering to buy out his contract and drop the misconduct charges.
Musser was so worried about what he uncovered as he dug into district finances that he began to use his mobile phone to secretly record conversations. The existence of those recordings came out as the slander lawsuit made its way through the legal process.
"When I was forced to blow the whistle I knew that retaliation was a possibility," says the 35-year-old Musser. "I wanted to make sure no one could dispute I was a whistleblower."
Court documents suggest Musser recorded Flowers, two school district lawyers and board member Dennis Snethen.
"I’m a volunteer. I just do this to help. I didn't do this to be in Watergate," Snethen said at a recent board meeting. "I thought he was my friend. I've known his family. He’s a good kid. I’m sorry all this happened. If there’s anything I can do to apologize or make it go away I certainly would do it."
Musser was eventually cleared of wrongdoing.
The Musser settlement appears to be part of the clean up pattern. But the district’s legal troubles are far from over.
There's the ongoing FBI investigation, and the district's liability insurance carrier is in federal court seeking to void its policy with the district.
Sam Zeff covers education for KCUR in Kansas City, Mo. He's won a National News Emmy for investigative reporting, four National Headliner Awards and four Edward R. Murrow awards. Zeff has managed newsrooms in Minneapolis, St. Louis and Kansas City. He was educated at the University of Kansas.
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