Forty individuals with ties to the Westbury School District, including past and present school boards members, former employees and former administrators -- as well as the school district itself -- are sued in New York State Supreme Court for matters relating to the employment of non-Civil Service certified individuals by the district over the past decade.

Named in the suit were Dr. Robert D. Pinckney, Dr. Charles Swensen, Francis K. Van Buran, the late Hugo DeCiutiis, James F. Kreider, Robert S. Gosden, Susan Serlin, Adelaide Brinson, Patricia Gordon, William Malone, Arthur Outram, Gerald P. Dougherty, Joseph Pascarella, Dr. Sheila Mayers Johnson, Lawrence Zaino, John Carl Smith, Leon Dodson, Robert Troiano, Jr., Henry A. Razzano, Athone Damianakis, Mohamed Ahmed, Raffaela D'Alessandro, Diane Mair, Walter M. Wenzel, James C. Wilson, Russell Deshield, Susan D'Alessandro, Carmina DeLucia, Joyce Dickerson, Guiseppe Lannotta, Arthur Lavery, Pepe Paul, Natalie Schwartz, Jeffrey Smith, Johnny Thomas, Bridget Zaino, Dorothy Holt, Neville Mullings, and Marivonne Meleance, and Gary R. Betts.

The suit was filed by the school district's insurer, the Home Insurance Company -- the district's liability insurer -- and summonses served over the past week. The defendants now have 20 days to respond.

In its lawsuit, the plaintiff, Home Insurance Company, lays out a scenario well-known to district residents and readers of The Westbury Times over the past several years.

According to the papers filed with the court by the Manhattan-based law firm of Ohrenstein and Brown, the defendants in this new case have been sued twice before in State Supreme Court, with both actions bearing the caption or title of Nassau County Civil Service Commission and the County of Nassau v. Westbury Union Free School district, et al.

Both lawsuits are now being used as exhibits in the new case, and what they both contend is that for years, the Westbury Schools were essentially a renegade district, hiring employees who neither passed the civil service examination, nor had been exempted from taking the exam.

In addition, those earlier suits pointed out, the payrolls used to reimburse these individuals were not certified by the Nassau County Civil Service Commission.

Adding fuel to the legal fire was the district's apparent slowness in rectifying civil service violations when notified of their existence. Failure to do so is a misdemeanor under the law.

The new lawsuit grows out of the old insofar as the Home Insurance Company is now refusing to pay the injunctive relief now being sought from the district as a result of those two earlier lawsuits.

Again, according to the papers filed with the court, "public policy prohibits insurance companies from indemnifying the assessment of any criminal fines or penalties."

In addition, the papers declare that if "any defendants are found liable for the improper employment and payment of certain employees -- a misdemeanor offense under the Civil Service law, Home [Insurance Company] cannot be found liable to pay those fines or penalties as a matter of public policy."

The insurance company contends that on January 9, 1995, it sent a letter to the school district informing the superintendent and school board that coverage was being disclaimed for the injunctive relief being sought by the Civil Service Commission.

Having taken that position, Home Insurance Company is asking the court to declare that it is neither obligated to indemnify nor defend the defendants in the first and/or second court action.

In addition, it is also seeking to have the court order the Westbury School to pay any costs or fees it has incurred as a result of filing this lawsuit.

Upon receiving his summons last Saturday, former school board president Joseph N. Pascarella fired a letter off to his successor, Robert Troiano, Jr., posing a series of questions.

First, he wanted to know whether the school district was going to hire a lawyer to represent him in the case. Secondly, he wanted to know who is representing him in the two original lawsuits filed by the Nassau County Civil Service Commission.

Thirdly, he asked the dollar amount of the damages being sought, and whether repaying them was going to cost him money out of his own pocket.

Lastly, Pascarella wanted to know whether he has any recourse against the superintendents "who got me into this mess."

A copy of the letter was then sent by the former school board president to the offices of The Westbury Times.

Contacted by this newspaper, Pascarella recalled how people thought his board was being overly alarmist about the civil service situation in the Westbury Schools.

"People thought we were either playing politics, kidding around or joking, but, you know, this is exactly what we were worried about." he said. "I had hoped that the whole thing had just gone away, but, of course, now we see it hasn't."

Almost mystifying to Pascarella is the breadth of the suits which cover several school boards over the years.

"It's almost as if, once you choose to serve on your local school board, the ramifications follow you through life. Look at Bill Malone. He's been off the board since 1984!

"The thing that kills me is, I know that as a board member and as school board president, I and my colleagues repeatedly told the superintendent to take care of this thing and rectify the situation... but evidently the belief was this would just disappear.

"As school board president, when we appointed Dr. Mariann Berliner, the first thing I told her was, 'take care of this situation with Civil Service.' But when she tried to, all hell broke lose. They blamed her, they blamed our school board attorney at the time, Anthony Mastroianni, but the truth is, she was acting under my direction."

Asked what he believes the ultimate outcome of the suit will be, Pascarella said he felt genuine uncertain about that.

"I mean, I don't foresee any of us going to jail ,but I do see the possibility of money coming out of my own pocket. I think everybody named in the lawsuit should be worried about that.

"The lesson in this, for present board members and future board members, is that you have to understand that when you pass a resolution, you have to be sure you are doing the right thing," Pascarella continued.

"School boards, by their very nature, are part-time commitments. You have to rely on the full-time superintendent to watch your back. There has to be trust between the superintendent and the school board. If not, this is just the kind of thing that can happen."

Of his own future, Pascarella said firmly, I do not plan to run for any office ever again, whether it be in the school district, in the village... on any level. Now, I'll still be involved with community organizations; I'll still hold offices in that respect. But I'm retired from electoral politics."