Less than a week before he was set to retire, the highest paid superintendent in Illinois was terminated Friday for allegedly padding his own pay without authorization, destroying or altering documents involving when he worked and misrepresenting the district's financial status, documents show.
Troy Paraday, who made more than $430,000 this past year as Calumet City District 155 superintendent, was fired following a school board investigation into alleged misconduct, according to a board resolution authorizing his discharge.
An attorney for the district said the board turned its findings over to local police, but it wasn't immediately clear whether they had opened a criminal investigation into the longtime superintendent.
Paraday, 56, had been on paid leave since Oct. 6, pending the outcome of the board's investigation, records show.
A notice of discharge obtained by the Daily Southtown in response to a Freedom of Information Act request specifies 11 reasons for Paraday's dismissal.
Steven Glink, an attorney representing Paraday, said Tuesday that he and his client "completely disagree" with the board's decision and believe its accusations are without merit.
Glink said the board's decision to investigate and ultimately terminate Paraday came just weeks after a Fox 32 Chicago television news report revealed he was set to receive more than $762,000 in compensation for unused vacation and sick days upon his retirement at the end of the month.
"Once his contract came to light on television and they were criticized because they gave him a very good contract...they were embarrassed and now they tried to find what they think is a legal way out of paying him," said Glink, who referred to the board's recent actions as "a dog and pony show."
He said he didn't believe Paraday had done anything improper and claimed the board was simply firing him to save face after his lucrative contract was exposed.
The district's claims against Paraday include the alleged destruction and alteration of district records and documents; misrepresentations contained in the 2019 district budget presented to the board; the misrepresentation of facts to the board's attorney; improperly granting himself a 6 percent increase in his total creditable earnings for 2019; and implementing a "compensatory time scheme... to result in a sizable financial gain to only the superintendent following retirement," among other issues, documents show.
According to Paraday's own calculation of payment due after retirement _ which included three unused personal days, 532 unused sick days and 350 unused vacation days multiplied by his nearly $2,000 per diem rate _ the district owed him $1,757,229.45, documents show.
A board-approved resolution discharging Paraday states that "he is not entitled to any severance payment or any post-contractual or post-retirement benefits that may be provided for in his employment contract."
Glink said the discharged superintendent had not yet decided if he would file suit against the district over his termination.
District 155 attorney Catherine Locallo said the district had no comment on Paraday's termination and referred a reporter to his notice of discharge and a bill of particulars detailing the board's reasons for firing him.
The school board's bill of particulars includes the following findings:
Assistant superintendent Joseph Zotto has been acting as the district's superintendent since Paraday's ouster, board member Kathryne Stern said.
Stern, who had been critical of Paraday's tenure prior to the board's investigation of his alleged misconduct, said she wanted to remain positive in light of his recent termination.
"If there's any way we can move forward without paying all this money out and some of this money being redirected into the school, I would be more than elated," she said.
