Fraud and Coverup in Wayland

Ever wonder why Wayland taxes are high? Why town athletic facilities are poor? Why the athletic program is ranked as one of the worst in the state? [1a] It starts with the leaders of your schools, who used WHS to enrich themselves at the expense of students, WHS families, and taxpayers. I was the Wayland athletic director from 2013-15 who won a whistleblower lawsuit against Wayland. I saw it all first hand…and was fired for trying to stop it.

Here’s the story of how the families of Parseghian, Mizoguchi, and Gavron duped Wayland out of ~$750,000 through fraud, illegal hiring, theft, and other scams. [1b]

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MIZOGUCHI

Allyson Mizoguchi – Current WHS principal

$60,000 hiring own husband

At the end of the 2012-13 school year, WHS received a $60,000 refund for overpaying for some Apple computers. Budget cuts hit WHS the following year, with 10% cuts across all departments. Athletics had it worse with a 30% budget reduction. Despite the relief an extra $60k would have provided many departments, the money was never re-allocated. Instead, a special one-year job was created for Allyson’s husband in the IT department.

I was not aware of the shenanigans involved in his hiring until it was revealed to me by another WPS employee. One irony is that Allyson’s husband was hired without teaching credentials…that’s a theme you’ll read about below. [2]

Amusingly, the Wayland School Committee (WSC) was unaware the new position they approved had been filled by Allyson’s husband. Why? Because he had a different last name - Troy Lefebvre. The fact that the ‘computer guy’, as the WSC called him, was actually Allyson’s husband was not known by the WSC until it was accidentally revealed at the end of the 2013-14 school year.

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$125,000 in hiring boyfriend of her sister

Ice Hockey Coach (PB). In the mid-late 2000’s, WHS hired an individual to work as a teaching assistant. He had no teaching credentials (per DESE records). His only real credential for employment was that he was dating Allyson’s sister Traci. [3] He was eventually removed from his job as a result of “inappropriate behavior with a student”[4] There were also allegations [5] of sexting and sexual misconduct involving this same individual. [6] [7]

PARSEGHIAN

Scott Parseghian – WHS assistant principal and football coach

$350,000 hiring cousin without teaching credentials

In 2011, Wayland AD Justice Smith fired long-time baseball coach and WHS hall-of-fame member Bill Fulginite and replaced him with Joe Cincotta.

Why is this an issue? Joe Cincotta is Scott’ Parseghian’s cousin. [8]

In 2010, AD Martha Jamieson was fired and accused Parseghian of being the central figure in forcing her out of a job after 10 years. [9] Parseghian then hired his assistant football coach Justice Smith to serve as AD. This is central to the financial fraud of the next three years.

Cincotta served as varsity baseball coach and was also a WHS teacher. At first, he was a teaching assistant but later promoted to full-time wellness teacher. All this despite having no teaching credentials (per DESE and WHS Principal John Ritchie). He taught for almost 10 years with no certification…none.

In 2012, Cincotta was arrested in Wayland after a night out drinking with the other WHS football coaches (including Parseghian). He refused a breathalyzer and failed three field sobriety tests. [10] [11]

Despite this, Cincotta remained a WHS teacher and coach. He was eventually fired as baseball coach as a result of what was explained to me “as inappropriate texting with a student” by a former WHS athletic department employee. [12]

I had discussed the possibility of removing Cincotta as baseball coach with Mizoguchi because the team performed so poorly. She quickly dismissed my suggestion (during my two years as AD, I had no idea Cincotta and Parseghian were cousins).

Cincotta and WPS are currently named as defendants in an ongoing lawsuit (Discover Bank vs. Joseph Cincotta, Case #2549CV000217).

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$190,000 Parseghian conflict-of-interest [13]

Early in my tenure, I learned Parseghian had been covertly pushing school business to a company run by him and his father called A&S Services (it went by several other names including Hancock Furniture and Hancock Printing).[14] I reported this to two principals (Ritchie and Mizoguchi) and assistant principal Brad Crozier. They all chose to cover it up. [15]

One detail about Parseghian’s apparel business - from 2010-15, the WSC had a clear rule which prohibited team fundraising.[16] Despite this, Parseghian ran at least six fundraisers every year and used the money to purchase items from his own company.

Eventually, Parseghian was found guilty of violating state conflict-of-interest laws by the Massachusetts Ethics Commission.[17]

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$8,000 theft of athletic department funds

When I was hired as AD in 2013, I was required to cut the athletic department budget by 30% / $100,000. [18]

I have an MBA in finance and athletic administration and had done a full audit of the Ohio State University athletic department budget. I was more than qualified to take on WHS’ athletic budget issues. The first thing I did was review spending from the previous year. I found one troubling accounting entry – a $4,000 coach bus expense for a trip to Camp Caribou in Maine. Parseghian was pilfering funds from an athletic department account to secretly pay for travel to and from Maine.

This was my biggest issue. A school administrator submitting false documents to the school committee and covertly misappropriating funds. Use whatever term you want - embezzle, theft, pilfer, misappropriate…they all fit.

The funds taken were user fees which athletes of all teams paid to play sports. In order to access these funds, AD Justice Smith (also Parseghian’s assistant football coach) authored a purchase order. It was approved by business manager Geoff Macdonald, who was unaware that two senior WHS administrators were defrauding the school to pay for the football trip to Maine. This arrangement went on for three years before I arrived (Justice Smith’s tenure). When Parseghian requested I pay for the trip to Maine, I told him ‘no’. This did not go over well. Thus, in my first few weeks at WHS, a fellow administrator asked me to commit financial fraud on behalf of the football team.

This money did not go into Parseghian’s pocket directly. However, fundraising money and parent payments earmarked for the Camp Caribou trip could then be used to buy apparel from A&S Services. The money ended up in a Parseghian pocket eventually.

Had I committed financial fraud on behalf of the football team and ignored the A&S services conflict-of-interest scam, my job as Wayland AD would have been more secure. The WSC and superintendent talked a big game about fiscal responsibility, but when it came to dealing with fraud and corruption, people like Stein, Crozier, Grieco, Downs, Fletcher, Reichelt, and Steinberg chose coverup over ethics and integrity. [19]

GAVRON

David Gavron (husband of the current WPS Asst Superintendent)

$15,000 - $35,000 in missing fundraising money.

In the first few weeks of my first fall season at WHS (2013) at least a half dozen parents complained to me about the soccer program and coach. Some of it was sour grapes over the child being cut from the team, but most complaints shared a similar theme “what happened to all the money we’ve given over the years?”. As AD, it was my duty to investigate. I contacted the captains’ parents who estimated between $8,000 -12,000 was raised annually from a raffle and comedy night. I checked the soccer account. In 2013, only $1,870 had been deposited into the account.[20]

Similar discrepancies existed in previous years. There also should have been a check written to the raffle winner. No check was ever written. In the end, depending on which parent estimate was correct, $15,000 - $35,000 was missing from the boys’ soccer account, which I reported to principals John Ritchie and Allyson Mizoguchi. (In an interview with the Wayland PD, Gavron admitted that “he did not always keep the most detailed records”. Ironically, there were no records to keep - all that was required was that Gavron deposit the money into the soccer account. The Boosters treasurer and their Quickbooks account took care of the ‘record keeping’).

Based on information provided by parents and amounts contained in the soccer account, I have no doubt that large sums of money went missing and Gavron was the primary suspect.

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$2,000 credit card fraud

When David Gavron did something ‘generous’, it still reeked of self-serving fiscal impropriety. In 2014, Gavron made two $1,000 charitable donations on his credit card. Since it was parents who had donated the funds for this gift, Gavron needed permission from the Boosters Treasurer to get reimbursed. Gavron tried to take personal credit for money other people gifted (which would get him points on his credit card and allow him to claim an illegal tax deduction himself). [23] I also caught Gavron pilfering thousands of dollars of athletic department equipment.

*This is just a partial list of the fiscal issues in the boys’ soccer program and David Gavron. Most were brought to my attention by players’ parents.

IN CLOSING

In most towns or businesses, people who commit financial fraud lose their jobs. The people who uncover the problems are applauded. In Wayland it’s the exact opposite. In addition to fiscal fraud and illegal hiring, WPS has been a defendant in four legal actions resulting from the people listed above:

· AD Martha Jamieson v. WPS (which allowed Scott to hire his assistant football coach as AD)

· Baseball Coach Bill Fulginite v. WPS (which allowed Scott P. to hire his cousin as baseball coach)

· AD Stephen Cass v. WPS (Cass won a whistleblower lawsuit in Federal Court)

· Discover Bank v. Joseph Cincotta (with WPS also a party to the lawsuit)

Also, two of the people hired without credentials allegedly lost their job for inappropriate interactions with students.

Without assistant superintendent Brad Crozier’s complicity, none of this could have gone on. He was in charge of human resources for WPS and hired these people. He knew about the fiscal fraud and looked the other way. For violating hiring laws, ignoring conflict-of-interest scams, covering up fiscal fraud, etc., he was rewarded by being named superintendent of the Sudbury Public Schools. In addition, Crozier, Mizoguchi and Parseghian tried to illegally install an assistant football coach named Dana Sharry as Wayland AD in 2015 (they had covertly paid for Sharry to attend several ‘aspiring athletic director’ conferences in hopes of sneaking him into the AD position). They abandoned their plan after the invoices were discovered. ²⁴

The school could have used one of these positions to hire a qualified girls soccer coach. Funds pilfered by the football team could have gone to fund swimming, skiing, ice hockey or any other underfunded sport. The baseball team deserved an exceptional coach. None of this happened because three people put their own self-interest and personal finances ahead of the best interests of WHS students…and their fellow WPS administrators and the school committee covered it up.

[1a] Per Boston Globe rankings, the WHS athletic program has been ranked 30^th or lower out of 40 teams every year since 2021. Globe Scholastic standings - The Boston Globe, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Lu44wYJIktE_CVhqjY8wec59SbbAbXWb/view?usp=sharing

[1b] Some dollar figures are approximate due to the refusal of WPS administrators to honor public record requests.

[2] Per DESE records

[3] 2011 Deposition of Scott Parseghian re: Allyson’s sister

[4] Per 2011 Deposition of Scott Parseghian

[5] No charges were ever filed

[6] Per the 2011 depositions of former WHS teacher Sonia Fortin and WHS AD Martha Jamieson

[7] Rian Murray was later hired as hockey coach by WHS and did an exceptional job, leading WHS to a sectional title in 2014.

[8] Per 2011 Deposition of Scott Parseghian.

[9] Per 2011 Deposition of Martha Jamieson

[10] MWDN November 6 and 7, 2012

[11] There’s no public record available of the final disposition of his case.

[12] WPS has been unwilling to either confirm or deny this allegation

[13] Note: the MetroWest Daily News reported $170,000

[14] MetroWest Daily News, July 13, 2015 “Wayland school administrator's family was paid thousands for clothing orders”

[15] The coverup is supported by various documents provided to Mizoguchi and Crozier throughout the 2014-15 school year.

[16] WPS Policy KCD - All fundraising for schools shall, in all but the most unusual circumstances, be conducted by school support organizations such as the P.T.O., CAPA, Boosters, METCO Steering Committee and Wayland Public Schools Foundation. Any other fundraising must receive prior approval from the Superintendent and School Committee, and will be considered case by case based on the principles of need and equity set forth hereinabove.

[17] Per 2017 State Ethics Commission press release. Ethics Commission Issues Public Education Letter to Wayland High School Head Football Coach Scott Parseghian | Mass.gov

[18] 2012-13 athletic department budget spending was approx. $320,000. The 2013-14 budget was approx. $220,000.

[19] Despite my reporting these many issues to the school and school committee, to this day, no WPS leader has spoken to me about the allegations. The inspector general referred the Gavron / missing fundraising money matter back to the school committee to investigate. They did nothing.

[20] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tPmc5YP3BC4e8qJfJqnD4pKdoHV5Ema88xdsHSUOnlk/edit?usp=sharing

[21] Gavron pulled something similar the summer after I left WHS. Again he ordered new uniforms. Thus, the boys' varsity soccer team got uniforms every two years. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qfWDtPTrKpaB3nKz3lGka7-QAYOGJ3ba/view?usp=sharing

[22] There is no evidence to confirm or deny this other than the word of parents.

[23] https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eNuTFe9ADNiljv8aCBM98Mvt1uz7InP1/view?usp=sharing

[24] As reported by the MetroWest Daily News