Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Chief resigns from agency linked to Cho
The New River Valley Community Services board said the move was unrelated to Tech.
The executive director of New River Valley Community Services, one of several mental health agencies linked to the case of Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho, has resigned, agency officials confirmed Monday.
Les Saltzberg, a mental health services veteran who had been director for a year, resigned following a board meeting Thursday. His resignation, which was effective immediately, came as the board was to consider renewing his one-year contract.
It also came amid widespread media coverage of NRV Community Services' role in the treatment of Cho, who in April shot 32 people on Virginia Tech's campus before killing himself.
Reached at home, Saltzberg declined to say anything about his departure or what he intended to do next. Community services board members said the resignation was unrelated to Cho but would not say more.
In December 2005, Cho, a student at Tech, was the subject of a commitment hearing in which a special justice determined he was mentally ill and a danger to himself and ordered him to undergo outpatient treatment.
Though Virginia law says community service boards, which coordinate a variety of mental health programs, "shall recommend a specific course of treatment" for such patients, NRV Community Services did not do this with Cho. The reason, Saltzberg has said, was that the agency had stopped sending representatives to every commitment hearing and did not know treatment had been ordered for Cho.
Instead, a Carilion St. Albans Behavioral Health worker helped Cho, a student at Tech, make an appointment with the university's counseling center.
Community services board member John Muffo said Saltzberg's resignation "has nothing to do with the Tech situation."
Fallout from the April shootings "kind of got dumped in his lap here unfortunately," board member Jerry Boothe added, noting that Saltzberg was not with the agency during Cho's commitment hearing.
Board member Bill Greenberg said the board has not faulted the agency's actions, or lack of action, in Cho's case. Greenberg said his understanding is that Cho apparently did keep his appointment at Tech.
Saltzberg said in May that his agency would resume staffing commitment hearings.
Boothe, who was not at last week's board meeting, said he had heard no complaints about the director and had received praise for his performance from other agencies that interact with NRV Community Services.
Katie Smith, the board's clerk, said a statement will be issued soon about the director's departure.
Deborah Whitten-Williams, NRV Community Services' finance director, and Harvey Barker, the agency's director of access, have been named co-interim directors.
