LIBERTY, Mo. -- Former Liberty School Superintendent Phil Wright issued a statement Wednesday morning in regards to the lawsuit he filed a week ago against the Liberty Board of Education.

Wright said a report that will be released Thursday will assess finances, activities and policies of the Liberty Public Schools Board of Education and vindicate him.

According to a press release released by Wright's spokesperson: "Wright's lawsuit clams that Board of Education members asked Wright to provide false documentation to the Public School Retirement System of Missouri to show that Wright's predecessor, former Liberty Schools Superintendent Scott Taveau, worked fewer than 550 hours during the school year and was paid no more than 50 percent of his pre-retirement compensation."

In his suit, Wright seeks losses of contract, retirement, and unspecified punitive damages "in an amount that will punish board members and deter them in the future from like conduct," according to the press release.

According to the press release, a Cole County judge ruled in May that Taveau improperly had collected retirement benefits and ordered him to repay PSRS $245,000.

Wright led the Liberty District in suburban Kansas City from July 1, 2007, through April 14, 2008.

Wright said he has provided extensive documentation to the state auditor's office during two meetings.

Wright is now the superintendent of the Crest Ridge School District in Centerview in mid-Missouri.

Wright's statement is:

"I look forward to the outcomes of the State Auditors study that will be reported on Thursday evening. I expect substantiation of my claims of Board and District manipulation of facts, as I know I did nothing criminal during my tenure as Libertys schools superintendent. While under the direction of the Liberty Public Schools Board, I may have followed board-directed procedures that perhaps were not ideal operationally as defined by the Auditor, they were - I repeat - at the direction of the Board and followed Board-mandated procedures.

"It is important to understand that a superintendent is hired by and takes direction from the Board and operates within the School Districts policies as adopted by the Board. Without a formal change in policy, the liability, for example, for bid procedures lies with the Board. Likewise, it is the Boards responsibility to ensure that District policies comply with state and federal law. I anticipate that I will be found innocent of any criminal action in the report released by State Auditor Susan Montee. While the report may express displeasure that bids were split during my brief tenure as Superintendent so that Liberty-based business people could compete and be awarded projects within their childrens school district, this was long-standing Board policy and I received Board approval for the bids that were awarded. I strictly followed Board direction in these actions.

"The Boards alleged lack of knowledge of a variety of issues, including construction of tennis courts with the City of Liberty, representation by a local company for property acquisition, property donations, and several other projects we were able to prove patently false. Some specific Board records were not provided to the Auditor by the Board. This was documentation that was part of the Boards public record. I provided this information to the Auditor, as well. My hope is that this process - the study by the State Auditor and my lawsuit against the Board - results in a more open and more legal operation for Liberty Public Schools so that the students who are our primary concern and responsibility continue to benefit from one of the best public school systems in the state of Missouri. I also hope that the Board learns from this process that they cannot operate arbitrarily, intimidate staff and faculty, and force people to resign if they refuse to commit fraud or substantiate falsehoods and lies to hide illegal activity by Board members. While this may be a learning process, it must be made clear that damaging a persons reputation or maligning his character in order to conduct business as usual will not be tolerated, especially when business as usual is illegal."