No impropriety: School super cleared
“Waste, fraud and financial mismanagement” allegations made against Superintendent Nancy Graham in December were dismissed late last week, after a third party attorney found no evidence to support the complaints.
The School Board of Lee County then concluded that no further investigation is needed and no action needs to be taken on the findings during its Jan. 13 meeting.
Board Member Steve Teuber said Thomas Gonzalez, of Thompson, Sizemore, Gonzalez and Hearing, investigated the complaint against Graham very thoroughly.
The School District of Lee County received a letter from the Florida Department of Education Inspector General Office on Dec. 8, regarding allegations made in connection to Graham’s June 27, 2013 reorganization plan. Those allegations were made by former employee Alberto Rodriguez. The letter stated that the plan mislead the board by “embellishing the savings outlined in the plan,” as well as that Graham “obligated and expended Title I funds without prior approval.”
“We hired a third party,” Teuber said. “An unbiased attorney that was hired to do the investigation with no skin in the game and he did the right thing.”
Teuber said he called the complainant, Rodriguez, and refuted everything.
“There was nothing there again for the 11th time,” he said.
Teuber said every complaint has been investigated and that related public records requests from this particular individual have absorbed “80 percent” of district staff’s time dedicated to public records and requests.
“Public records are there to serve a public purpose,” Teuber said during the meeting. “But at some point you have to take into consideration the burden it has put on our taxpayers and the resources it has taken.”
According to Gonzalez’s Jan. 8 report, the evidence presented by Rodriguez does not “support the allegations that have been referred for investigation.”
His report stated that evidence clearly shows that shortly after Graham was named superintendent, she presented a plan for the organization of her administration. Gonzalez further stated that as part of Graham’s presentation, a document was shown of the costs, savings of her plan.
“The document was not intended to show that the plan had saved the district any particular amount nor was the organization plan driven by considerations of cost,” Gonzalez wrote in his investigation report.
His investigation revealed that Graham did not embellish or mislead the school board about savings from her organizational plan.
Rodriguez’s letter to the inspector general included a complaint that addressed Graham’s reorganization plan saving the district nearly $1 million. Those savings, according to Rodriguez, were the result of eliminating three zone managers from maintenance, three zone coordinators and seven zone teachers on assignment.
According to Gonzalez’s investigation, “the savings related to the zone manager, coordinator and teacher on assignment positions depicted on the costs (savings) document represented amounts that would have been spent in fiscal year 2014 had Dr. Graham adopted, and the school board approved, her predecessor’s plan to create 13 new positions as part of a reorganization of the zone management system.”
Dr. Joseph Burke was the superintendent until June 19, 2013 and Graham became the superintendent on June 20, 2013.
A preliminary meeting was held on June 18, 2013 that involved a PowerPoint presentation that included such new positions, as three zone managers, three zone coordinators and seven zone teachers on assignment, which did not exist before that date, according to Gonzalez’s report. The board did not take action on that presentation.
Rodriguez’s complaint also stated that 50 percent of the new position, director of Turn Around Schools, was charged to Federal Title I funds.
According to Gonzalez’s investigation, the funds became available through “Title 1, Part A: Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged 2013-2014” The Florida Department of Education approved the Title I funds on Aug. 21, 2013 for a “director of Turn Around Schools will be hired and funded from 50 percent Title I and 50 percent district funds.”
The board approved the position on June 27, 2013 and the position was filled on July 30, 2013.
The investigation report stated that the issue was the transfer of the Title I funds to a general account, rather than the creation of the position.
“As a matter of law, Dr. Graham could not ‘incur’ or ‘obligate’ Title I funds without authorization obtained as part of an approved application for funds,” Gonzalez wrote in the investigation report. “Neither the creation of a position, nor the appointment of a person to the position incurs or obligates Title I funds and those funds cannot be used to pay for the compensation to be paid to the person who fills that position.”
Teuber called Rodriguez a “disgruntled employee” and said he will want more information before approving any additional investigations.
“We are pretty much done with that, with those types of things unless something shows more proof than what we have been getting,” Teuber said.
He told the board members during the meeting that at some point he is going to bring forth a recommendation that would force Rodriguez to go to court to obtain additional information.
Rodriguez could not be reached for comment by press time.