Investigate that credit card

PEORIA -- Activist Terry Knapp called for an outside investigation into the Peoria School District 150 Superintendent's Credit Card, during public comments at the School Board meeting Sept. 9.

The card has thousands of dollars of purchases on it, for supplies, meals, hotels and other items including Apple iTunes. 

Activist Sharon Crews filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get the details of what has been purchased on the card. She has been analysing the details, with some posted to the Emerge Peoria blog.

Sharon's comments to the board will be posted below, soon.

The card records show District 150 paying sales taxes on items which should have been tax exempt, and buying very high end, expensive beauty products from a California store.  Are these to be used in the vocational program at Woodruff Vocational Center, the place where Supt. Grenita Lathan brags about getting her hair done? Just asking.

Most of these purchases should have gone through the District 150 purchasing department. Some likely should have been bid, but were apparently not bid.And why on earth did the District pay over $1,000 in sales taxes when it is a tax exempt organization?

Knapp noted that a District 150 principal a few years ago was charged with 16 felonies for misusing a credit card, after an independent investigation by police and the Peoria County State's Attorney's office.

Then there's the issue of the Parent University, which this year has been closed to the public and open only to parents of District 150 students.  That's right -- taxpayers can't attend. Is this even legal?

Knapp also criticized the District for having its lawyer write a letter to a taxpayer in the district who wanted to attend the meetings -- a taxpayer whose child now is in a non-public school. 

Is this the way to recruit students? Is this the way to waste taxpayer money, paying a lawyer to write a letter the superintendent could have written?

Before the comments began, Lathan addressed the Parent University issue, saying people at the event were concerned about the "negative publicity" on the district, and vowed to "push back."

"We do make mistakes," Lathan said. "We work on improving that."

In her later response to the public comments Lathan ignored the serious credit card issues, and said only that the card is used for all types of school programs. No mention of the sales tax issue, the no-bid issue, or the weird items on the card.

Hers is reportedly not the only District 150 credit card out there -- other administrators also are said to have them. 

Here is a recording of the public comments. 

 -- Elaine Hopkins

Dist 150 Sept 9

 

 Here are the remarks of Sharon Crews:

The November 22, 2010, board minutes state that contracts over $25,000 should be posted on the website.  The 2008-09 and 2009-10 contracts are posted. However, a notice on the site states “Last modified on November 7, 2010.  Why hasn’t information for the last three years been posted?  I should not have had to write a FOIA to acquire these lists. 

The 2010 minutes further state that web-posted records should include “A listing of contracts over $25,000 for the current fiscal year,” and that “contracts should be added to the list as they are awarded by the Board.” 

Therefore, shouldn’t the last three years of contracts be posted on the website along with a new list for this year, to which additions will be made after every board meeting?  There seems to be a desire to avoid transparency even when required by state code and District policies.

During the same 2010 board meeting the decision was made to end live broadcasts of board meetings.  Mrs. Wolfmeyer contended that $5,000 to replace old equipment was a deciding factor.  Amazingly enough, this year $6000 to purchase your new chairs was not a problem.  I’m sorry to keep bringing up your chairs, but that charge sparked my interest in the other purchases on Dr. Lathan’s card. 

So far I have discovered that Dr. Lathan spent $7,175 on beauty supplies and almost $50,000 on 60 retail purchases.  I am assuming that the beauty supplies are for Woodruff’s cosmetology class. 

Did board members know not only the purpose but also the need for these purchases?  Secondly, why was $237 in taxes paid for products purchased in Peoria?  Shouldn’t the District’s tax exemption have been used?  Thirdly, why is the superintendent buying supplies?  The beauty supplies are just the tip of this iceberg. 

It appears that some very expensive items are purchased with this charge card.  Why doesn’t the superintendent order supplies through the Purchasing Department?  For instance, how could you justify a $4,275 charge card purchase from Best Buy online on July 12, 2011?  Actually, the order consisted of five items at $855 each with a total tax charge of $275.

Have all the items purchased on the charge card for the last three years been inventoried? 

Among the many other curiosities, a charge of $15,740 to an online company called E-AI Education.com appears on the charge card statement.  Why is a $15,000 charge a legitimate use of the superintendent’s charge card?  And then, of course, I am curious as to why the District should pay $51 for Apple ITunes?  The lists given out tonight are about half the charges.  These two lists are posted on EmergePeoria.com or on Emerge Facebook.

Catered food, purchases relating to educational materials, and travel expenses are yet to be compiled.

Old board minutes are informative.  At the February 11, 2013 meeting, after I had learned of 33 reversals of retentions the previous summer, I asked:  Who has the right to overturn a teacher decision for retention? Dr. Lathan’s response to that question recorded on Elaine Hopkins’ PeoriaStory clearly was that the principal, an instructional improvement officer, and the superintendent have that right.

At the May 13, 2013, board meeting, I read the policy, which makes clear that the superintendent cannot change a teacher’s decision about grades or retentions.  The February 11 minutes quote Dr. Lathan as saying, “Building principals have the right to overturn a teacher decision as well as an Instructional Improvement Officer has the ability to override a principal’s decision.”  Her reference to her own right to change grades has been omitted.   So should the minutes state what the superintendent actually said or what she wished she had said? 

And I do want to thank all of you for putting public comments on the UStream. -30-

UPDATE, 9/10/13: Here's the PJS report on the meeting, which includes Board president Cloyd saying the credit card issue won't be investigated, and complaints about the Freedom of Information requests.

 

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