School district business official resigns effective Dec. 25, will remain ‘reassigned at home’ with full pay and benefits until then

The Riverhead Board of Education is scheduled to vote tonight on a separation agreement between the school district and its business official that will see the apparently absent employee continue to be paid until he resigns on Dec. 25. 

Assistant Superintendent for Business Rodney Asse “will continue to be administratively reassigned at home with full pay and benefits” until Dec. 25, when his resignation will become effective, the separation agreement states. He will not be paid anything after his resignation, the agreement states. A copy of the agreement posted with the agenda shows it was signed by Asse on Dec. 7.

Asse said in a text message to a RiverheadLOCAL reporter on Oct. 24 that he was “leaving” the district. An email sent to his district email address that day bounced as “address not found.” Asse did not respond to a follow-up message asking why he was leaving. Asse’s message came the same day that Superintendent Augustine Tornatore resigned from the district after an extended leave of absence.

MORE COVERAGE: Turmoil in Riverhead schools administration continues: superintendent resigns and top business official says he’s ‘leaving’

Reached by text message for comment today, Asse replied, “I’m leaving the District. I wish everyone blessings and more. Please respect my privacy. Have a great day.”

School Board President Colin Palmer did not immediately return a call requesting comment.

Also on Oct. 24, the day Asse first told RiverheadLOCAL he was leaving the district, the school board hired an “acting” business official, Marianne Cartisano until the end of the school year at a rate of $1,200 per day. The board did take any action on Asse’s employment, other than removing him as the district’s deputy purchasing agent. School district officials have declined to comment on the status of Asse’s employement other than noting that he is still employed by the district. Asse has not attended any school board meetings since he said he was leaving.

Asse, who was hired in May 2022 and is paid $194,750 per year, was previously employed by the Liberty Central School District when former Riverhead Superintendent Augustine Tornatore was superintendent of the upstate district. 

Tornatore, who was hired to be superintendent in 2021, left the district in October pursuant to a separation agreement that saw him being paid the balance of his salary and other benefits. 

Asse led the development of the $192 million 2023-24 school district budget. Asse was also acting as the district’s business official when the school board adopted a tax levy with incorrect apportionments between the three towns within the district. The error was corrected late last month, after Cartisano was hired. 

Asse was hired after longtime former Deputy Superintendent Sam Scheider — who led the business office — was demoted, “reassigned” pending an investigation into unspecified allegations, and later exited the district pursuant to a settlement agreement that bought out his contract. Schneider was never charged and he was hired by the East Hampton Union Free School District shortly after his departure in March 2022.

In June 2022 a forensic audit of the last five years of the Riverhead Central School District’s business affairs found no evidence of fraud, embezzlement or malfeasance, but found the environment in the district’s business office was one of “conflict,” “seeming discontent,” and “disenchantment,” largely due to the overwhelming number of responsibilities assumed by Schneider. 

Before being hired by the school district, Asse was also the budget director in the Rochester City School District during a fiscal mismanagement scandal four years ago that left the district with a nearly $30 million budget deficit, even after drawing $15 million from its fund balance. A state comptroller’s audit report did not lay blame for the situation on any single official, including Asse. Asse said in an interview that he was not responsible for the budget failure.