Former BVA superintendent fined for ethics violations

By KRISTIE LINDEN

klinden@yourmvi.com

The former superintendent of Belle Vernon Area School District violated the state ethics act by taking district equipment home for his personal benefit — including a generator used during a Christmas party he held for some district employees and officials.

The Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission issued a ruling in late October that found Dr. John Wilkinson violated the ethics act in three ways and will pay $1,250 to the commission as a result.

First, the commission said Wilkinson used his authority to utilize district equipment for his private, financial benefit. The other two violations  are technical in nature and refer to filing deficient Statements of Financial Interests  between 2014 and 2018. In one violation, Wilkinson failed to report his income from BVA as a source of income for four separate years.

“Dr. Wilkinson resigned in May 2018 and that ended the employment aspect of this. From the district’s perspective, this case is closed as far as we’re concerned,” BVA Solicitor Ira Weiss said.

Wilkinson chose to resign from BVA in 2018 after six years on the job. According to a school board statement read at an October 2019 meeting, a majority of school board members at the time had indicated their intention to launch a private investigation and to suspend Wilkinson with pay. 

That month, state Auditor General Eugene A. DePasquale finished a performance audit of the district that covered a majority of Wilkinson’s tenure and reported the board was not reckless in its instigation of the investigations. 

“The State Ethics Commission findings, along with earlier findings by the office of State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, bring closure to the situation involving former Superintendent John Wilkinson,” school board President Joe Grata said in a statement Thursday. “The actions by the State Ethics Commission and Mr. DePasquale speak for themselves. On behalf of the board of education, I (we) thank them for their diligence in this matter.”

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