Former St. Joseph School District Superintendent Dr. Fred Czerwonka has been hired by a small school district located in the bootheel of Missouri.

An administrative assistant with the Caruthersville School District #18 has confirmed that Czwerwonka has been hired as the Director of Student Services.  Further details were not readily available.  The St. Joseph Post is awaiting a call back from J.J. Bullington, Caruthersville Superintendent of Schools.

Czerwonka submitted his letter of resignation to the St. Joseph School Board last month after the board voted in February to initiate the process to terminate his employment with the district.  The move came after the release of a state audit report that uncovered a staggering $25 million in stipends were paid over the last eight years that were “either unapproved, unauthorized or improper.” It was also estimated that total to be in excess of $40 million dating back to 2001.

Czerwonka was also one of three St. Joseph School District officials named in a lawsuit filed by Chief Financial Officer Beau Musser in which Musser claimed to have been placed on leave for continuing to question the practice of handing out stipends to administrators without the knowledge or approval of the school board.  That lawsuit ended up in a settlement of $450,000 in April.

In March federal investigators served a subpoena on Czerwonka and former SJSD Acting Superintendent Dr. Jake Long’s former employer, the West Plains Missouri R-7 School District for personnel records relating to an FBI investigation into the St. Joseph School District.