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 School
Bosses in Oakland Wine, Dine and Live it up on Taxpayers' Dime
Policies
violated as board members and administrators traveled the world.
by L. L.
Brasier, Detroit Free Press, August 22, 2003
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DiAnne Cagle Leitermann represented the Oakland Schools in
typical style when she attended a wintertime seminar in San
Diego.
She took her husband.
She stayed five nights in a five-star Marriott -- for a 3-day
conference.
And she signed up for two short workshops: Stress Management and
Internet Made Easy.
The cost to taxpayers?
$3,295.
For the Oakland Intermediate School District, the 2001 trip by
the board member was nothing unusual. A Free Press review of
expense records found a freewheeling environment with few
controls over spending on travel, meals and gifts in a district
that serves special education and vocational students.
While school officials spent freely, some special-needs students
were put on waiting lists for services.
The district admits the spending was excessive. Spokeswoman
Shelley Rose blamed former Superintendent James Redmond. She
said he fostered a "culture of, 'If it feels good, do it.' "
But Redmond said, "For the time that we were there, we tried to
push equity and excellence and now they're turning toward blame
and shame."
Some school board members and employees bought sweaters,
handheld organizers, pillows, wallets, beach chairs, candy, silk
flowers, plants, potpourri, candles, a vacuum, crystal, jewelry
and movie videos, often listing the purchases as training or
school improvement supplies.
Records obtained by the Free Press show district officials also
traveled widely in the last five years -- to Germany, France,
Poland, India, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, always saying
they were on official business. They attended conferences in San
Francisco, Las Vegas, Florida, New Orleans, Arizona and Atlanta.
They took sight-seeing tours and played golf on the public dime.
The spending excesses violated district policy, which prohibits
extravagances that some people routinely indulged in, such as
valet parking and limousines. The policy forbids reimbursement
for alcohol and sets a $40 daily meal limit. It also does not
allow for spouses to be in rooms.
Leitermann defended her trip to San Diego and said she and her
husband paid his airfare. "Those two workshops were the very
best I went to," she said.
She said she took a third Internet workshop that does not show
up in the records because it was free, and might have taken
others.
"I'm a very conscientious board member," she said. "Anybody who
knows me will tell you that."
But Tom Watkins, the state superintendent of schools, said some
of the spending was "unconscionable." He said he would ask
Attorney General Mike Cox to investigate.
"The inappropriate and potentially illegal use of taxpayers'
dollars is something we need to take very seriously," Watkins
said. "It appears that Dr. Redmond either did a very good job of
hiding this, or there was a lack of appropriate oversight up and
down the line."
Redmond defended his administration, saying, "In the eight years
we were there, with all the things that went on, I can't answer
for every single expense. I didn't sign off on everything."
State Rep. Ruth Johnson, R-Holly, who sits on the Legislature's
Education Committee, plans to subpoena those in charge of the
district for an explanation of the spending. The hearings will
likely be held this fall.
"It appears they've been pickpocketing the taxpayers and robbing
our children, the children who need it the most," she said. "My
message to them today is this -- the free-for-all is over."
C. Danford Austin, the district's interim superintendent and
former assistant superintendent, said: "I totally support
accountability. . . . Ruth's not going to get a lot of argument
out of me."
Austin, who took the post after Redmond was fired in January
amid allegations of misconduct, said he was unaware of the
extent of the spending until recently.
"There are areas where we haven't fulfilled our organization's
fiduciary responsibility," he said.
Redmond, who is suing the district for breach of contract, said,
"Austin signed off on some of it, which is why I find this kind
of perplexing."
Austin promised change.
"We're going to be open," he said. "We want to clean the mess
up. The public, the Legislature, has a legitimate policy need to
know what the hell went on in the second-largest ISD in the
state."
Parting jaunt
Rebecca Rankin, an assistant superintendent of research, was two
weeks shy of resigning from her $119,000-a-year job when she
took a tour of Poland in 2001 at district expense.
There was no school conference or seminar. Rather, the trip was
described as an educational tour, offered through St. Mary's
College in Orchard Lake.
The itinerary for the 18-day trip, which began June 14, included
tours of a 13th-Century castle, a church, several villages and a
monastery. The trip also included a walking tour along Lake
Mouskie, a rafting excursion down the Dunajec Gorge and a picnic
in Lublin featuring roasted sausage, salad, wine and beer -- and
a strolling accordionist.
Rankin billed the district $1,330 for the trip, which cost
$2,660. It is unclear who picked up the other $1,330. Rankin was
out of town and unavailable for comment.
During the summer of 2001, Redmond took a 10-day trip to Germany
and France with his wife and two district employees. The
foursome visited Paris, Hamburg and Frankfurt.
The trip was to set up an exchange program for teachers and
students. It was also partially reimbursed, Redmond said, by the
U.S. consulate in Germany, where he gave a speech. He said the
program was never completed due to the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
District records for the trip were incomplete. They included a
handful of credit card receipts for hotels and taxis. The only
other records showed Redmond spent $3,548 in airfare for himself
and his wife. District officials said Redmond reimbursed the
district $1,750.92 for his wife's tickets.
In another case, federal taxpayers paid most of the bill for Guy
Blackburn, a district analyst, to visit India, Slovakia and the
Czech Republic as part of an international exchange program.
The district covered some expenses, however, including $107 for
a visa application fee, and also paid his salary while he
traveled. The U.S. Department of Education covered most of the
expenses. A trip total was not available.
Blackburn, who is paid $95,000 a year, said through the district
that the trips allowed him to make educational videos of those
regions, which are now available to local school districts.
Making the rounds
Even golf wasn't off limits to some district employees.
Brian Whiston, the district's lobbyist, spent $166.50 for two,
18-hole rounds, including a cart, when he attended a legislative
conference in Palm Springs, Calif., in February 2002.
When he submitted his expenses, he listed the golf rounds as a
meal.
"It was my mistake, and I take full responsibility," he said in
an interview earlier this month.
On the same trip, he bought four tickets to take a group of
legislators and lobbyists on a tram ride through a picturesque
canyon in a mountain range. He later listed the $83 expense as a
meal and was reimbursed.
"I made an error, and I have no idea why I did that," Whiston
said.
He rented a Chrysler Sebring convertible for three days, at a
cost of $278, and split the expense with another conference-goer.
Such expenses are typical for lobbyists, he said, who often need
to woo legislators.
"The public might not like an $80 tram ride, but you have to
look at it as an investment in bringing the money back into the
district," said Whiston, who is paid about $92,000 a year. "I've
always said this will never look good on the front page, but I'm
hoping that they'll look at the total picture. It's a very
competitive business."
Austin, the interim superintendent, said such charges are not
acceptable.
Whiston's spending on meals also appears to violate the
district's travel policies.
On a trip to Washington in February 2001, he entertained 10
school board members from Oakland County -- including OIS board
members -- at a $50-a-plate Sunday brunch at the Hay-Adams
Hotel. Later, the group ran up a $1,022 dinner bill at the 1789
Restaurant, an upscale D.C. eatery, with the meals averaging
about $100. Dining costs to taxpayers that day: $1,600.
"I do think we went overboard being a good host that year," said
Tony Rothschild, a board member who was there for the meals.
"There was some discussion that we were too generous and board
members could have been reimbursed by their own districts."
Whiston turned in three receipts from Washington eateries to the
Waterford School District, where he is board president, after
OIS determined they were not reimbursable. Waterford reimbursed
him $75.
He said he couldn't recall why he submitted the receipts to the
Waterford School District. When asked if the receipts included
alcohol, he said, "Sure, that's possible, but I don't know if
that's what was done here."
The OIS's policy prohibits reimbursement for alcohol, but
Whiston acknowledged that some receipts he turned in included
alcohol. He was reimbursed.
Everybody's welcome
Board members and administrators not only traveled in style,
they sometimes went en masse.
In November 2000, all five board members -- Carol Borich, Janet
Thomas, Rothschild, Helen Prutow and Leitermann -- attended a
4-day conference in Las Vegas with their spouses, Redmond and
several administrators.
They stayed at the Venetian, a 4,000-room hotel on the Vegas
strip, known for its marble bathrooms, expansive rooms and
gondolas that glide through indoor canals. The resort has 70
boutiques, 16 restaurants and 2,500 slot machines.
Many of the receipts were missing, but partial records show
$2,232 in airfare and $1,636 in hotel rooms.
Close to home, Redmond liked to treat board members to expensive
meals and to overnight retreats, or "special work sessions," at
area hotels.
On Nov. 18, 2001, all five board members joined Redmond for a
special work session at the St. Clair Inn, a historic hotel on
the St. Clair River near Port Huron. The inn is known for its
quaint decor and roaring fireplaces. Several administrators also
attended.
It was the district's second visit to the inn that year. Board
members had been there four months earlier, also for an
overnight stay, at a cost of $1,168.
The November stay was more costly. The group stayed in 13 rooms
at $110 apiece. Their dinner included escargot, stuffed
portabello mushrooms, poached salmon, prime rib and veal. They
drank vodka, whiskey, gin, Irish coffee and three bottles of
wine. Redmond put the $545 meal on his district credit card.
One of the least-traveled board members, Janet Thomas, said,
"Everybody was unaware that anyone was paying for alcohol with
school money."
She also defended retreats, saying, "There's always an agenda.
There's always a notebook of things that get done."
In all, the 48-hour St. Clair Inn retreat cost taxpayers $2,775.
A few weeks later, board member Leitermann told the audience at
a board meeting how much she and her colleagues enjoyed "the
time well-spent getting to know each other."
In September 2000, Redmond took the five board members for a
night's stay at the Omni Detroit Hotel River Place, paying $130
a room for six rooms. He bought a $220 meal for them at Baron's
on the River, the hotel restaurant. Cost to the taxpayers for
the night: $1,000.
Board members routinely traveled out of state, usually to warm
places during Michigan winters.
Rothschild, the board secretary, has made 14 out-of-state trips
on district business over the past five years, frequently taking
his wife, Mona Scott. Records show she paid her own airfare on
trips. The destinations included Los Angeles, Atlanta, San
Diego, Phoenix, Marco Island, Fla., Washington, D.C., and Las
Vegas. The couple typically rented a car.
"These are working trips," said Rothschild, a past member of the
Lake Orion Community School District. "We don't do it for fun."
The conferences, he said, allow him to stay on top of national
education issues and legislation.
"They tend to be in nice places, but you're in workshops all
day," he said. "And when I go, I use my vacation time from work
to go, so it's costing me money."
Board president Borich traveled with her husband, Donald, to
Florida and Las Vegas on school business, and defended the local
retreats and frequent out-of-state travel.
"Education now is not just in a school building," Borich said.
"You need to know what's going on across the country. I bring a
lot of information back to the district I would not otherwise
have.
"The value of a retreat is to take a large block of time and to
be able to sit down and discuss not only the things that are
happening but to hear a lot of what's happening informally. The
reason you go away is to get out of your normal environment and
talk in-depth where you don't have that opportunity otherwise."
In a giving mood
When the gift-giving mood struck, taxpayers paid.
Rankin, the now-retired assistant superintendent, bought nearly
$300 in gifts in March 2000 from Karagosian's Jewelers, an
upscale store on Orchard Lake Road in Keego Harbor.
Using district money, she bought a $72 Waterford crystal notepad
holder as a gift for a Southfield Schools employee. She bought
an engraved Seiko clock for $156 and a $50 Marquis vase as gifts
for two members of the Oakland County Superintendent's
Association.
Larry Thomas, director of school quality, purchased four movies
on videotape for "professional development." They were "Mr.
Bean's Best Bits," "Young Frankenstein," "Witness" and
"Hoosiers." Cost to taxpayers: $77.
Thomas, who makes $85,000 a year, said through a school
spokesperson that he showed portions of the movies to teachers,
using drama and comedy to help train them in teaching
techniques.
Mary Kay Aukee, director of career focused education, who makes
$112,000 a year, bought four beach chairs from Bed, Bath &
Beyond in the summer of 2001. Aukee, through the school
district, said the chairs were needed for vocational education
students attending a racing competition featuring electric cars
manufactured in one of the district's programs.
Her prepared statement said, "The students need a place to sit
during the competition."
Jan Van Dam, who left her $114,000 a-year-job as assistant
superintendent of technology services in June, made several
purchases with her district credit card she says she can no
longer recall.
She bought almost $400 in goods from Levenger, a catalog company
that specializes in leather and travel goods. She bought three
travel cases, a laptop cargo case, an accordion writer's pouch,
a $90 wallet and red leather checkbook cover. She said the
wallet was an organizer she needed for her job, but she could
not recall buying the checkbook cover.
Nor could she recall spending $279 with a company called
Mountain View Gifts in April 2000. "I just don't remember." But
district records show that she purchased fruit baskets.
Rose, the district's public relations specialist, bought two
Palm handheld organizers for $730, a $100 leather Palm case and
$405 in custom-wrapped candy bars for employees. She charged the
purchases to the district.
She said the Palms were to help keep her and her office
organized. The candy purchase, she admitted, "looks bad."
Chris Scharrer, who makes $101,000 a year as the district's
director of organizational services, bought butterfly
decorations, flowers and plants with district money. Throw
pillows, too. And candles and candy.
While shopping in August 2001, she bought house plants, candles,
wicker, pottery and a $50 English topiary at Bordine's Nursery
in Clarkston. She bought $259 in butterfly plaques at Frederik
Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, and $174 in silk flowers from
the Silk Warehouse in Rochester.
In April 2002, she had her district charge card out at Target,
picking up three throw pillows for a total of $29.97, and was
back a few months later to buy $21 in miniature roses and candy.
She bought $89 in rainbow and butterfly stickers from Michael's,
a craft store, and ordered a $24 paperweight online. It
resembled a caterpillar and turned into a butterfly with the
flick of a wrist. She bought $134 in craft supplies and herbs
from San Francisco Herb Company in California.
The purchases, the school district said, were used to decorate a
corporate training room for workers"based on brain research and
adult learning styles. These purchases were made to incorporate
this information into an effective learning environment."
Off the compass
Charitable causes -- like gifts for friends -- also brought out
the giving mood in district officials.
The board approved giving $50,000 to the City of Detroit for its
300th birthday bash in 2001.
Lobbyist Whiston bought four $85 tickets to the Clinton River
Watershed Council Preservation Celebration for "cocktails and a
private auction." He billed the district for the tickets.
And Rankin wrote out a $100 check to the Kayla Rolland
Foundation, a memorial fund for a child shot to death in a
Flint-area elementary school. Rankin submitted the contribution
as an expense and was reimbursed.
Austin said such contributions were "not in keeping with our
policy."
"We know that the biggest issue we face is the perception that
we waste money," he said. And the district, he said, lost sight
of its mission to educate children.
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