Questions surround big raise given to Pontiac schools' security chief

PONTIAC, Mich. (WXYZ) - Why is a local school district that is deep in debt and laying off teachers giving its chief of security a more than 25 percent raise?

Could it be that he has relatives in high places?

The answer to that and other questions can be found in the Oakland County city of Pontiac where the chief of security for the school district is a former city cop with little or no management experience or education that qualifies him for the job.

Darryl Cosby has a checkered past, accused in law suits of assaulting citizens on the job. The alleged victim’s accusations are supported by credible witnesses - his former fellow officers who saw what happened.

The Pontiac school district is facing a projected deficit of nearly $25 million. Its seven member board of trustees just-approved a deficit elimination plan that will lay off 36 teachers over three years and cut or freeze wages.

But last year, as the board realized tough times were ahead, they signed an employment contract with Cosby, the district’s security chief of clean and safe schools.

Despite years of district deficits, Cosby’s pay has grown - a lot!

Cosby was earning$77,000 - that is until last year when the board approved hisnew contract making his base salary$87,000. But with additional duties he now earns a whopping $104,500!

The average pay for a Pontiac teacher is about $50,000.

“They want to cut everybody else, and then turn around and give him a raise,” former school board trustee Robert Bass told 7 Action News. “I could not see it,” referring to his refusal to approve a pay increase for Cosby.

Bass says he and a fellow board member were the only two who voted “no” on hiring Cosby and giving him a pay hike.

That’s because Bass says he was powerless against board president Damon Dorkins, who is Cosby’s nephew. Dorkins recused himself from the vote, but inside sources say he lobbied heavily for his uncle’s selection.

The final vote was 4 to 2 in favor of Cosby’s hiring, and with Dorkins board control, the pay raise was a similar 4-3 vote.

Dorkins and Cosby did not return our calls for comment. Board members who voted in Cosby’s favor also failed to respond to our inquiry.

Pontiac’s interim School Superintendant Walter Burt, in a two-and-a-half page statement to 7 Action News, says Cosby is a former Pontiac police officer and supervisor with 23 years experience and is qualified for the job.

Read his full statement which follows this web report.

 So what does a job like Cosby’s typically pay?

First, Pontiac is the only district in all of Oakland counties 28 districts with a security chief, according to an Oakland schools spokesman.

In Wayne County’s Garden City schools, a district of similar size, the head of security has more duties, and holds a PhD in counseling, but earns $9,000 less than Cosby. 

Cosby’s critics say there’s a laundry list of other reasons Darryl Cosby wasn’t a good choice for district security chief, including that he is accused of assaulting citizens whenhe was employed as a Pontiac police officer.”

“See, really, if anybody would have exercised diligence, you might have found out information about investigations,” said attorney Cyril Hall who represents two men who have filed suit against Cosby and the city where he was a policeman for more than 20 years.

The victims say Cosby beat and kicked them when he was a Pontiac vice squad Sergeant in 2007 - less than a year before he got the school security job.

The victim’s statements are detailed in depositions taken from witnesses in their federal lawsuit. Pontiac Police officers also gave statements under oath that back the victims’ assault claims.

One officer, a sergeant, testified that he saw, “Sgt. Cosby swing his leg back and kick the handcuffed subject in the midsection, while he was lying on the floor.”

Another officer testified thatSgt. Cosby, “threw a plastic bottle of ketchup, striking the suspect in the side of the head,” and punched and kicked the same man in custody.

Attorney Hall’s conclusion? “It would constitute excessive force.”

A Pontiac School financial section supervisor also complained to the district’s human resources last year about Cosby allegedly calling her names and cussing at her, according to her written complaint.  

But perhaps the clearest evidence that Cosby may not have been the right choice for Pontiac’s Chief of Clean and Safe Schools -- or deserved a pay hike -- are the school buildings themselves.

Vandalism and the theft of copper pipes at the once proud, but now vacant Pontiac Central High School left the building flooded, and less valuable to potential buyers, according to former trustees. And sources tell 7 Action News this all happened during Cosby’s tenure as security chief.  

Even the administration building has been the target of copper theft and right across the parking lot, at the human recourse complex, a break-in saw thousands of dollars in district property disappear.

Not long after security cameras, flat screen TVs, and lap top computers were installed, all of those brand new items were stolen.

 “When you have someone to do a security job,” Bass added, “and all of your buildings have been ripped apart, everything stolen out of them, but yet, all of our assets are gone.”

After being on the board of trustees for four years, Bass, due to health challenges, decided not to seek reelection, and ended his service in December of last year. But he believes the best thing the Pontiac Schools can do is find someone else to handle security for the district.

Pontiac Schools Response