A Niagara Falls School District maintenance worker did private contracting work on the

home of the then-superintendent during a paid workday, according to a private investigators'

report and district attendance records.

Jeffrey B. Pasquantino, who resigned last January, was seen leaving the Cayuga Island home

of then-Superintendent Carmen A. Granto on June 7, 2004, according to the investigators'

report.

Investigators found Pasquantino's truck parked outside Granto's Hennepin Avenue home when

they arrived at 12:15 p.m. Pasquantino, who was on the clock for the district that day and was

wearing white shorts and work boots, left about a half-hour later, the report said.

Granto, who stepped down as head of the Falls district early last year after a scathing

state audit of the district's financial controls, told The Buffalo News last week that

Pasquantino had worked at his home only during days off or on vacation time.

"He could have been on lunch [or] picking up something here," Granto said Thursday. "... If

he broke the law or the rules, then it was dealt with, I assume effectively, by the new

superintendent and the [School] Board."



The News reported Sunday that Pasquantino was frequently found off school property during the

last few years he was employed by the district, including doing small contracting work at

private residences while on the clock for the district.

The News obtained an unredacted copy of the PROBE Services report from the school district

Thursday, a day after the School Board agreed to release it to the public. The newspaper

previously had received a copy from the Niagara County attorney's office with addresses of

where Pasquantino had worked blacked out.

In comparing the unredacted report with Pasquantino's attendance records, The News was able to determine Thursday that:



His vehicle was parked at the Cayuga Drive home of Falls teacher Judith A. Deull for

nearly 2 hours on the morning of May 18, 2006, while he was on the district clock.

Pasquantino was seen leaving the Lewiston Road home of Falls teacher Dianne L.

Havens on May 26, 2006, also a day he got paid by the district.

Pasquantino's truck was parked outside the home of Cataract Elementary School Principal Maria Chille-Zafuto on two workdays — for an hour on Oct. 5, 2004, and for  almost 2 hours on Dec. 9, 2005.

Pasquantino also worked at Granto's home July 8-9, 2004, but attendance records

indicate he had taken vacation days on those occasions.

Granto has said Pasquantino had done painting work, as well as staining an outdoor deck at

his home.

It was not immediately clear whether those who live at about a half-dozen other private

addresses in the report have any connection to the district.

Chille-Zafuto told The News last week that her name was among those of at least a dozen

school officials who came up in connection with Pasquantino's work, though she declined to

elaborate.

Neither Deull nor Havens could be reached to comment Thursday night.

School district officials, both now and at the time, said they looked into the matter  further and turned over all the information they had to the office of Niagara County District

Attorney Michael J. Violante.

Violante announced in January that his office would not pursue criminal charges against

Pasquantino.

Pasquantino, who worked for the district for 28 years, was followed by PROBE Services of Cheektowaga on at least 45 days from May 2004 to November 2006. He was found off school

property on all but six of those days. Those places included malls, gas stations, banks, restaurants, a barbershop, a car audio store and several Off-Track Betting parlors.

In addition to running errands, he also was found at home while on the clock.

Pasquantino, 49, was allowed to resign in January. He is the former president of Civil Service Employees Association Local 7696. His salary at the time of his resignation was $54,614.

In addition to being allowed to resign, Pasquantino was paid about $25,000 for unused sick

days and personal time after his resignation, school officials said.

The payment, known as "terminal pay," is available under the contract with the CSEA unit, officials said.

District officials, who received the investigators' report in May 2009, have said they allowed the resignation because they believed there was a risk Pasquantino could have survived the termination process and remained a district employee.

Last week, Granto told The News he had received photographs in the mail showing Pasquantino

was not at work when he was supposed to be for a total of about 45 minutes. Granto said he

reduced the suspension recommended by the human resources office from five days to two or

three for that situation, a time frame for which he could not provide.

After a month of unpaid leave from May 13, 2009, through June 11, 2009, Pasquantino was on

paid leave until he resigned. He remains eligible to collect his state pension.

Nicholas A. Pelosino Jr., an attorney hired by Pasquantino during the DA's probe, told The

News last week he wasn't sure how many school officials his client worked for, adding he would

not characterize his client's work as a side business.

"He would do some favors for people if they needed some work done," Pelosino said last week.

Angelo Massaro, attorney for the district, said James A. Schiro, the city resident who paid

for investigators to track Pasquantino, on Wednesday gave the district permission to release

it. Schiro has a relative in the Falls district.

The decision to release the report was made after Massaro and Superintendent Cynthia A.

Bianco, Granto's sister, who succeeded him in the district's top administrative post, consulted with the School Board on Wednesday evening.

Even though Schiro gave the district permission to release the report this week, Massaro said he didn't feel that the district had to release it.



There were still "confidentiality issues" to consider, Massaro said.

Robert J. Freeman, executive director of the state Committee on Open Government, told The News on Wednesday, a day before the newspaper obtained a full copy of the report, that he believes that revealing an address in this situation does not rise "to the level of an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."



Assuming the work was done at homes of school officials or employees, Freeman said, "it is clear, in my opinion, based upon direction provided by the Court of Appeals, that the public has the right to know."