Attorney General investigates Sullivan West

Van Swol ‘vindicated’

By FRITZ MAYER

JEFFERSONVILLE, NY — Noel van Swol is getting his wish. The New York State Attorney General’s (AG) office is investigating the Sullivan West Central School District. Specifically, the AG is reportedly investigating whether there was any fraud involved in the voting in 1999 that merged the three districts that now comprise the district: Delaware Valley, Jeff-Youngsville and Narrowsburg.

The office is also looking into the construction of the high school in Lake Huntington, which resulted in numerous cost overruns and lawsuits among the parties involved.

School board member van Swol first asked the board to write a letter to the AG in October 2007. That came in the aftermath of a discovery that a contractor might have used substandard materials, which resulted in cracks appearing in the floor of the high school.

The board voted not to ask the AG to investigate. But after two more attempts, van Swol convinced a majority of the board that an investigation might be warranted, and a letter was sent to the AG.

“I feel totally vindicated,” said van Swol, “I have been like a lone voice crying in the wilderness for years, pointing out the mismanagement of the district.”

According to a published report, an attorney and an investigator from the AG’s office met with the school superintendent Kenneth Hilton and other officials on January 8 for several hours. Hilton said most of the questions involved the vote regarding the merger.

The AG’s office is expected to put out a report detailing its findings at some point in the future. In 2006, the New York State Comptroller’s Office issued a report saying that the district wasted millions of dollars on construction of the new school at a time when the student population is declining. In November 2007, Hilton presented a report to district residents that projected student population declines into the foreseeable future.