Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Investigation Report Narratives of the Critchlow Case

At the bottom of this post is a link to a copy of the complete Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Investigation Report in PDF format for downloading and reviewing.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) investigation was a result of the findings released in 2016 by the Missouri State Auditor from a state audit of the Fox C-6 School District which took roughly 18 months to complete.

The State Auditor’s findings raised a lot of questions but didn’t provide a lot of details. You can view the State Audit using the link below:

https://app.auditor.mo.gov/Repository/Press/2016031684913.pdf

The district informed the community in a June 2016 document that they were currently working on recovering funds from the Critchlow's and Mark McCutchen for excessive compensation as well as misuse of school district credit cards. As far as I know those funds still haven't been recovered.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office investigation's Incident Report provides a little more insight than the state audit report

The Incident Report from JCSO does not contain any interviews with former Fox C-6 superintendent Dianne Critchlow, her husband Jamie Critchlow or Mark McCutchen (Fox’s former CFO).

In fact, reading the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Incident Report raises even more questions.

As I reviewed the JCSO’s Incident Report several times over the past couple of days, I started highlighting portions of the report that stood out to me. I had been requesting for years in emails and at school board meetings that the district be more transparent.

Because of the lack of transparency, the community didn't really know that there were any issues or problems.

And, because of the toxic office environment, people were afraid to question things that didn't seem right.

Critchlow Had The Board Sign Off On Things

Dianne Critchlow had the board sign off on things. However, it appears that she didn’t always provide the information that they needed in order to perform proper oversight. Like, not providing the board with credit card statements each month in their board packets. Not even the accounts payable person was provided a copy according to the Incident Report.

There’s really so much that could be written about the report after reading it, but it would take hours and hours. I’ve already written numerous times about the issues dealing with the credit card misuse and the difficulties that I had in getting copies of the school district's credit card statements.

I went to board meeting after board meeting requesting that documents get posted to the district website so the public could review them like they do in other districts. That fell upon deaf ears until right before the “retirement” of former Fox C-6 superintendent Dianne Critchlow.

Check Out Page 32 of the Incident Report

Check out page 32 of the Incident Report because it documents how Dianne Critchlow reimbursed “numerous individuals” with “Holiday Days” as a reimbursement for them giving back their raises to the district. It was a good PR piece for the district, but it just doesn’t feel the same after reading the report.

Below are links to a copy of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Incident Report related to the investigation of the Fox C-6 State Audit Findings and Dianne Critchlow. I removed 3 pages from the original Incident Report that I was provided from JCSO. The 3 pages removed were the Persons portion of the report. Those pages did not contain any narrative. The Persons pages only contained information such as name, address, SSN (redacted by JCSO), DOB (redacted by JCSO), age, gender, telephone # (redacted by JCSO), weight, height, hair color, eye color and drivers license number.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Incident Report is part of what the prosecuting attorneys reviewed when deciding whether or not any criminal charges should be filed in the case.

Highlighted Version of 

Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Incident Report

Have you asked Fox C-6's Board of Educations what their plans are to recover Public Funds?

I've been a bit behind on posting some of the items that I've posted on the Fox C-6 Watchdogs Facebook page.

On June 5, 2017, I wrote the following post on Facebook for the community. I wrote it because it had been more than a year since the Missouri State Auditor publicly released their audit findings of the Fox C-6 School District. And after a year, there still hasn't been any further recovery of public fund.

On June 2, 2016, the LEADER's Patrick Martin presented some really good questions after the release of the 2016 Missouri Auditor's report in his Editor's Opinion article below: The title of his article was "Latest Taxpayer Horror Movie Unfolds within Fox Audit".

Latest Taxpayer Horror Movie Unfolds within Fox Audit

Below is what I originally posted on Facebook on June 5, 2017 along with a few additional details I've added regarding Dianne Critchlow's July 2014 Settlement and Release Agreement.

From Fox C-6 Watchdogs Facebook Post - June 5, 2017:

Has anyone else asked our school board or superintendent what the district plans to do about recovering the funds that were identified in the May 2016 Missouri State Auditor's report?

Last week I met with Dr. Wipke and Fox's school board president to discuss what the district planned to do about recovering the taxpayer dollars that were identified in the 2016 State Auditor's report.

If you think pursuing recovery of funds is important to our students and our taxpayers, I highly recommend contacting our school board members.

Currently, it doesn't appear that the district believes it can recover the funds for a variety of reasons.

Some of those reasons are:

• There was never an admission of wrongdoing.
• It doesn't appear that there was criminal intent to misuse taxpayer funds.
• No criminal charges were filed by the prosecuting attorneys.
• Since no criminal charges were filed, it makes it difficult to claim a "criminal loss" with the school district's insurance company.
• The district could spend more money in legal fees than they recover.
• Everything was approved by the board or signed off by the board president.
• People's memories of what occurred may have faded.
• Bringing up the past brings negative energy to the district.

You can find a lot of cases across the country where school districts recovered funds for their students and taxpayers after scathing audits. Typically school districts filed civil suits to recover the funds. In other cases, the school district's Errors and Omissions Insurance covered the loss and the insurance company then pursued the funds from the individuals that misused them.

Reading through years of articles, it's easy to see that a few people in the district didn't want the public to know what was going on.

As far as school board approval goes, at the June 25, 2013 school board meeting, the district submitted their request to the board to approve credit card usage according to school board policies. The district touted to the board that they now had "tighter controls" over their credit card usage.

So, who's to blame for the individuals like Dianne Critchlow for not following school board policies?

Was it the school board's fault that Critchlow did not follow school district policy when she used her school district credit card to purchase personal items and meals?

Critchlow had a very good reason as to why she didn't want me to get copies of the school district credit card statements in February 2014. You can also figure out why the district didn't provide me copies of the credit card statements for nearly 6 months after my original request.

Why It Took So Long to Get Credit Card Statements
(August 11, 2014)

June 2013 - Fox's Board of Education was told that Credit Cards Now had Tighter Controls
(August 24, 2014)

I was also wondering if former superintendent Dianne Critchlow's 2014 Settlement and Release Agreement has been keeping the district from pursuing misused funds. I was provided the separation agreements from a Sunshine Request made in July 2014 and posted it on August 5, 2014. There were two very notable items in the separation agreement.

The first notable item that was written into the separation agreement was the fact that the district allowed Critchlow to file a claim using the school district's insurance policy that was paid for with public funds for "defense and indemnification”. This would most likely pay for any legal fees as well. It appears in paragraph 3(e) of her Settlement and Release Agreement as follows:

“Critchlow does not waive and hereby expressly reserves her rights and abilities, if any, to file a claim for defense and indemnification under any policy of insurance that may apply in any case, including but not limited to any policy of insurance purchased or retained by the District.”

Perhaps this part of the Settlement and Release Agreement is why the district hasn't filed a claim with the district's insurance carrier.

There’s also another sentence in her Settlement and Release Agreement that states that she cannot file a lawsuit against the district:

“Critchlow understands that the provisions of this Paragraph and Paragraph 3 mean that she cannot file a lawsuit against the District.”

You can read about Dianne Critchlow's July 2014 Release and Separation Agreement and read a copy of the agreement as well as view some of the district's Credit Card Statements I finally received in 2014 in the following article I wrote on August 5, 2014:

Fox C-6 Provides Documents From Sunshine Request For FREE!
(August 5, 2014)

A year ago on June 2, 2016, the LEADER's Patrick Martin presented some really good questions after the release of the 2016 Missouri Auditor's report in his Editor's Opinion article below: The title of his article was "Latest Taxpayer Horror Movie Unfolds within Fox Audit".

Latest Taxpayer Horror Movie Unfolds within Fox Audit
(Arnold-Imperial Leader - June 2, 2016)

Fox C-6 Auditee's Response Highlights from the May 2016 Missouri State Auditor's Report

It's been nearly a year since the scathing results of the Fox C-6 School District audit by Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway were released to the public.

So far, no criminal charges have been filed and it appears that no taxpayer dollars have been recovered since the audit was released on May 25, 2016.

The Fox C-6 School District website has a webpage dedicated to the 2016 Missouri State Audit. It contains a link to the 2016 Missouri State Audit and a short timeline of what's happened since a state audit was requested in August 2014.

The webpage includes a link to a letter from Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Forrest Wegge to the school board on June 2, 2016 informing the school board that he requested a "complete criminal investigation into the various allegations contained within said audit".

The webpage also includes a link to Forrest Wegge's July 14, 2016 press release stating that he was referring the investigation to the United States Attorney's Office for further investigation.

You can view the district's State Audit webpage here:
https://www.fox.k12.mo.us/about_us/state_audit


Auditee Responses
The State Audit Report includes Auditee's Responses from the Fox C-6 Board of Education and District Administration in response to the State Auditor's Recommendations.

Below are only a few highlights from the District's Auditee's Responses as found in the 2016 State Auditor's report:

"The Fox C-6 Board of Education and District Administration agree with this recommendation. Implementation of new procedures to accurately determine the rate of compensation for the Superintendent and properly adopt a Superintendent contract were in place by December 2014. These new procedures comply with the recommendation. 

The audit findings are critical of the $260,598 salary paid to Dianne Critchlow and other administrators during 2013-2014, including that Critchlow's salary was substantial when compared to Superintendents of other districts and was not properly documented. By comparison, the 2015-2016 salary for Dr. Jim Wipke of $175,000 is competitive for a district the size and complexity of Fox C-6 Schools and is properly documented.

The District believes that most of the irregularities regarding former Superintendent Dianne Critchlow's contracts identified by the audit findings resulted primarily from acts of Dianne Critchlow and acts or omissions of persons holding the post of Chief Financial Officer, namely James Berblinger, or his successor Mark McCutchen. Fox C-6 Board of Education expects staff to properly implement all Board decisions. The Board of Education disapproves both the acts or omissions that (1) increased Critchlow's compensation without Board action and (2) compensated Dianne Critchlow greater than provided within her approved contracts Critchlow, Berblinger and McCutchen are no longer employed by Fox C-6 Schools.

The Board of Education intends to consider the following actions:
(1) seek recovery of the unauthorized compensation paid to Dianne Critchlow, (2) notify the Public School Retirement System (PSRS) about the unauthorized compensation to determine whether correction or forfeiture of pension benefits being paid to Dianne Critchlow is warranted, and (3) submit the record of unauthorized compensation to the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to determine whether prosecution is warranted. 

The District is committed to maintaining full compliance with the recommendation."

...

"As teaching jobs continue to be scarce, and as Fox C-6 budgets continue to be strained, the school board has an even greater responsibility to make sure the most highly qualified people land the few jobs available. School board members and the Superintendent doing the hiring have a fiduciary responsibility to the community to hire the best talent for the money. Under these circumstances, it is completely justified for the District to maintain its new hiring practices and strong anti-nepotism policy, which exceeds the provisions of the Missouri Constitution.

The audit criticizes the District for failing to follow proper protocols in the hiring process and in sections 1.3 and 1.4 focuses on unauthorized and unwarranted job promotions by the former superintendent, Dianne Critchlow, of her husband Jamie Critchlow. These job promotions and rates of compensation were without Board approval according to the audit. The reported findings indicate $88,751 in excess compensation paid to Jamie Critchlow. After fringe costs are added, the cost to the District rises to approximately $102,900.

The Board of Education disapproves of both (1) Dianne Critchlow's apparent disregard of Board procedures and authority; and (2) enrichment of Dianne Critchlow's husband with District financial resources. Jamie Critchlow and Dianne Critchlow are no longer employed by Fox C-6 Schools.

The Board of Education intends to consider the following actions:

(1) seek recovery of the unauthorized compensation paid to Jamie Critchlow, (2) notify the PSRS about the unauthorized compensation to determine whether correction of pension benefits relating to Jamie Critchlow is warranted, and (3) submit the record of unauthorized compensation to the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to determine whether prosecution is warranted."

...

"The audit criticizes the District for failing to follow proper procedures and focuses on unwarranted job promotions for Mark McCutchen, Jamie Critchlow, and others. These job promotions were not approved by the Board and were often accompanied by unauthorized increased rates of compensation. The reported findings indicate $49,162 in excess compensation paid to Mark McCutchen. After fringe costs are added, the cost to the District rises to approximately $57,000. The Board of Education disapproves of: (1) Dianne Critchlow's apparent disregard for Board authority and (2) acts that compensated Mark McCutchen greater than provided within his contracts. Critchlow and McCutchen are no longer employed by Fox C-6 Schools.

The Board of Education intends to consider the following actions:(1) seek recovery of the unauthorized compensation paid to Mark McCutchen, (2) notify the PSRS about the unauthorized compensation to determine whether correction or forfeiture of pension benefits relating to Mark McCutchen is warranted, and (3) submit the record of unauthorized compensation to the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to determine whether prosecution is warranted.

Subject to the clarifications presented, the District is committed to full compliance with the recommendation."

...

"The audit findings indicate charges made to credit cards held by former Superintendent Dianne Critchlow and her administrative assistant appear to be questionable or improper use of District financial. The Board of Education disapproves of these questionable and improper purchases totaling $96,743 as a misuse of taxpayer funds. This constitutes a violation of the public trust. The District has previously demanded repayment from Dianne Critchlow for many questionable and improper credit card charge that constitute personal purposes, excessive expenditures, gifts of public property, and payments in violation of Missouri laws relating to conflicts of interest. Dianne Critchlow has failed to respond to District demands for repayment.

The Board of Education intends to consider the following actions:(1) seek recovery of the unauthorized improper and/or questionable charges made to credit cards assigned to Dianne Critchlow and her administrative assistant, (2) submit the record of improper and/or questionable credit card charges to the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to determine whether prosecution is warranted, and (3) in the event of a prosecution, notify the Public School Retirement System (PSRS), and/or the Public Educational Employees Retirement System (PEERS) about the potential need for correction or forfeiture of pension benefits."

...

"Dianne Critchlow and Jamie Critchlow appeared to have used taxpayer money for purposes that did not benefit the school district; made expenditures that were not properly documented, or constituted excessive expenditures, or gifts of public property; or in violation of Missouri laws relating to conflicts of interest. The Board of Education disapproves of any and all misuse of taxpayer funds.

The District is committed to full compliance with the recommendation."

What Was In The Jefferson County Sheriff's Report Related to the Fox C-6 Audit?

Is anyone interested in reading the report prepared by Jefferson County Sheriff's Office related to the findings of the May 2016 Missouri State Auditor's report?

Obtaining a copy of that report has proven to be a bit of a challenge.

I thought the community might find it interesting as to what it takes to obtain copies of public records such as the Jefferson County Sheriff's Report. My initial requests were made at the end of January, 2017 with exchanges going through mid February, 2017.

Probably the most interesting thing you may discover in reading this article, is the fact that Jefferson County informed me that they no longer have a copy of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office report. The reactions I receive when I tell people about the county's response regarding my Sunshine Law requests is priceless.

I made a Sunshine Law request to the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney's Office asking for a copy of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office report as well as a copy of the FBI report. My Sunshine Law requests to both the Jefferson County and St. Charles County offices asked that the fees be waived for the reports per Missouri Sunshine Law, since these reports were of public interest.

Since the reports generated during the investigation of the 2016 Missouri State Auditor's findings were created with taxpayer dollars, you may find it interesting that my request to waive fees for the reports were denied. Charging to obtain copies of reports is a very simple way to keep the public from obtaining the information.

Wanting to charge me for the reports reminds me of the time when Fox C-6 asked me to pay $170 for copies of the credit card statements that should have been included in the school board meeting packets each month.

I also wonder why the local news media hasn't filed any Sunshine Law requests for these reports since the reports may help the community understand why no charges were filed after the release of the May 2016 Missouri State Auditor's report.

JEFFERSON COUNTY FIRST RESPONSE

From my initial Sunshine Law request I received the following response:

"I have received your Sunshine Law request in email format from our Prosecuting Attorney, Forrest Wegge.

Please consider this electronic e-mail our initial 3-day response as required under law to your Sunshine Law request dated February 6, 2017.

It is my understanding that the file your are requesting information from is not currently in the possession of Mr. Wegge, or his office here in Hillsboro, Missouri.

As you are probably aware, a special prosecutor was appointed to this case. I believe this case file is still in that individual's possession.

After I have made contact with the special prosecutor, I will further advise you regarding the anticipated time it will take to complete production as well as the costs or other issues prior to proceeding any further as you requested.

Jefferson County will not waive fees/costs in answering this request. Please be advised that there may be Federal Law protections that prohibit Jefferson County from disclosing any requested "FBI" reports.

I expect to have further response to you within the next 7 to 10 days."

JEFFERSON COUNTY SECOND RESPONSE

After making a Sunshine Law request to the St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney's Office I received the following response from a Jefferson County counselor:

"It has come to my attention, from speaking with an assistant county counselor of St. Charles County, that you have made a similar Sunshine Law request with the Prosecutor's Office of St. Charles County, Missouri.

I have been informed that they have provided you documents and responses to your requests for files that may be protected or be work product. 

I have reached out to the Jefferson County Prosecutor's Office and have been informed that it does not have any of the requested documentation that your are requesting in your Sunshine Law request - the entire file is in the possession of the St. Charles Prosecutor's Office. 

Therefore, Jefferson County does not have any documents to provide you pursuant to your Sunshine Law Request."

ST. CHARLES COUNTY RESPONSE

I also submitted a Sunshine Request to the St. Charles Prosecuting Attorney's Office. The Public Information Officer from the St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney's Office sent me the following response:

"Please be advised that the Federal Bureau of Investigation report, and pages from that report which are contained in the Jefferson County Sheriff’s report, are exempt from disclosure by Section 610.021(14), RSMo (Supp. 2014) (exempting “records which are protected from disclosure by law”), in conjunction with the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. Section 552(b)(7)(C). Furthermore, your request for disclosure of records which are the property of the Federal Bureau of Investigation must be directed to the United States Department of Justice pursuant to 28 C.F.R. Part 16, Subpart B, Sections 16.21, et seq.

  

Additionally, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s report contains social security numbers which are exempt from disclosure pursuant to Section 610.035, RSMo (2000). The social security numbers will therefore have to be redacted from the report. We estimate the staff time to redact social security numbers at 2 hours at $38.04 per hour.

  

We also estimate that the non-exempt documents will total approximately 3,850 pages, which can be provided at $0.10 per page plus staff time of 4 hours at $38.04 per hour, for a total of $537.16.

We presume, however, that like your previous request, you desire electronic copies of these documents. We can provide the non-exempt documents on CD-DVD at a cost of $10.00 for the medium as well as estimated staff time of 4 hours to transfer the documents to the medium at a cost of $38.04 per hour for a total of $162.16. 

We require payment of estimated costs prior to commencement of document copying. Please specify whether you desire paper copies at an estimated cost of $613.24 or electronic copies and the appropriate medium at an estimated cost of $238.24, and remit the corresponding amount to this Office. If actual costs exceed the estimate we shall invoice you for the difference. Conversely if actual costs are below the estimate we shall refund the difference."

Charging for reports that the public might be interested in reviewing is certainly a good way to keep those reports out of the public's view. It's similar to what I ran up against in February 2014 when I requested copies of the credit card statements from Fox C-6.

Below are links to a couple of articles I wrote in August 2014. The first article documented what Fox's school district policy was at the time when former superintendent Dianne Critchlow and others were using school district credit cards to make purchases.

The second article documented why it took so long to obtain the school district credit card statements to review after I had asked the Fox C-6 School Board if they had been receiving and reviewing the credit card statements in their board packets each month.

What Do Fox C-6 Policies Say About Using School District Credit Cards?

Below is the school district policy that was in place when former superintendent Critchlow and others were using school district credit cards as documented in the article above.

Policy 3125 – Credit Cards (05/97) 

School district credit cards will only be issued to employees upon the approval of the Board of Education. Use of the credit card will be limited to the purchase of instructional materials, items related to the improvement of instruction or materials related to capital improvements or supplies.

The next article documents the amount of push back I received in my efforts to obtain copies of the school district credit card statements after asking our school board members at the February 2014 school board meeting if they had been reviewing the credit card statements:

Why It Took So Long To Get Fox C-6's Credit Card Statements

The documentation above leads to the next link which was a letter to the Fox C-6 community from the school district dated May 25, 2016. It was provided to the community after the release of the May 2016 Missouri State Auditor's report which gave the district a rating of "POOR".

The following statement really stands out in the letter to the community:

"The District, and its current administration, wish to see full restitution for any resources that were misused under previous policies and regulations." 

It's been nearly a year since the district issued the statement above and it doesn't appear that there has been much, if any effort, into seeking "full restitution for any resources that were misused under previous policies and regulations".

School District Letter to Fox C-6 Community Regarding 2016 Missouri State Auditor's Report

In April, prior to the elections I emailed the Fox C-6 school board members asking them what their plans were in recovering taxpayer monies that were documented in the May 2016 Missouri State Auditor's report as being misused or improperly obtained. I didn't receive any written responses from the board in response to my questions.

The community is going to have to make a concerted effort to voice your concerns and frustration to the Fox C-6 school board in order to recover the taxpayer dollars that were referenced in the 2016 Missouri State Auditor's report.

Last month the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the Arnold-Imperial Leader published articles about the recent release of a Follow Up report from Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway. Both articles referenced many of the items documented in the original State Auditor's report.

The articles have everyone in the community and outside the community talking again ad asking why there weren't any charges filed in this case.

Asking why no charges were filed in this case is certainly a valid question and one that taxpayers should be allowed to ask without fear of retribution or fear of being sued by our former superintendent. A Google search will provide you with many articles documenting how other school districts across the country recovered taxpayer dollars when faced with similar circumstances.

Arnold-Imperial Leader Article on Missouri State Audit Follow Up Report

April 27, 2017

Fox Schools Praised By Auditor For Cleaning Up Finances
St. Louis Post Dispatch - April 19, 2017

Breaking News! Fox C-6 State Audit to be Reviewed at June 14, 2016 School Board Meeting

Breaking News!

Tuesday June 14, 2016 Fox C-6 School Board Meeting will include a Review of the

May 2016 State Audit Report

The Fox C-6 School Board Meeting agenda for Tuesday June 14, 2016 was updated today to include a review of the May 2016 State Audit Report. The links below go to the Fox C-6 School District BoardDocs pages for the agenda items.

Fox C-6 received a rating of "POOR" on the May 2016 State Audit Report which is the lowest rating given by the state auditor's office.

Fox C-6 State Audit Report Review Agenda Item

A draft budget for the 2016-2017 school year is also included on the agenda.

Public Comments

Anyone wishing to make a Public Comment at the June 14, 2016 meeting must submit an outline of your remarks on the Public Comments Information form by 6:45PM.

A link to the policy for making Public Comments can be found on the Patrons Comments Agenda Item below or download the Public Comments Information form directly using the second link:

Patrons Comments Agenda Item and Form

Download Public Comments Information Form

While You're Waiting for Fox's State Audit To Be Released!

While you're waiting for the Missouri State Auditor's office to release the results of the Fox C-6 audit, you may wish to read the state auditor's report of the Lee's Summit School District which was released in February 2014. The Lee's Summit state audit will give you an idea of what an audit report looks like. The last state audit of Fox C-6 was completed in 2002. I wrote about that audit back in 2013. The link to that audit on the Missouri State Auditor's website has been moved and is no longer valid.

Why check out the Lee's Summit school district audit?

Well, the Lee's Summit superintendent and school board president and several board members are currently under fire by the citizens of Lee's Summit. Citizens are upset after it was brought to their attention that the superintendent was dating one of the attorneys for the school district and the superintendent was given a new 3 year $400,000 a year contract.

2014 Lee's Summit School District Audit Report

Citizens Voice Their Concerns During Public Comments

The April 2016 Lee's Summit school board meeting was refreshing to watch as the community rallied and citizens came to the board meeting to voice their concerns. However, many of them were shutdown by a district attorney asked to attend the meeting by the school board president. You'll want to read about the attorney hired by the district in the online opinion article posted by a Lee's Summit school board member on the Lee's Summit Tribune website which I have linked to further down in this article about keeping the public informed.

The April 2016 Lee's Summit school board meeting was video recorded by a parent in the district and at least 3 news stations. The video recording of the board meeting is definitely worth watching. Members of the community were there to voice their concerns about what they believed to be a "conflict of interest" with the law firm since the principal attorney of the law firm and the superintendent were dating. The attorney had helped negotiate his contract for the 2015-2016 school year in which he received a significant salary increase.

Watch the community's reaction as a different Lee's Summit's attorney stopped the citizens from voicing their concerns about their superintendent's new 3 year $400,000 a year contract because, it wasn't on the agenda using the links below. The first video link was recorded by a Lee's Summit resident. The second video link was a news story posted by Kansas City KSHB 41 Action News.

Watch Citizens Voicing Concerns at Lee's Summit April 2016 School Board Meeting

Outrage at Lee's Summit School Board Meeting - 04/14/2016 (KHSB 41 News)

One of the interesting things about Dr. McGehee's salary was that he was receiving deferred payments which weren't openly reported in his salary disclosure to the community. He was being paid much more than the community thought he was being paid. Once the community found out about this and the relationship of the superintendent and the school district's attorney, they were very willing to voice their concerns to the Lee's Summit school board.

Read more about Dr. McGehee's contracts and deferred payments on the Lee's Summit Tribune website here:

Conflict Continues in Lee's Summit R-7 School Board and with Superintendent

Luckily, for the citizens of Lee's Summit, there has been a school board member who has been willing to stand up for the citizens who elected him rather than sit back and remaining silent. He was responsible for informing the citizens about concerns he had with what was going on in the Lee's Summit school district.

Lee's Summit Superintendent Placed on Paid Administrative Leave
According to an article in today's Kansas City Star newspaper, Dr. David McGehee has been place on "paid" administrative leave and Lee's Summit board president Terry Harmon has stepped down as the board president. Below are links to an article in the Kansas City Star and news reports from KHSB 41 Action News:

Lee's Summit school board puts superintendent on paid leave,

chooses new board president - (Kansas City Star) 

Angry Parents Rallying in Lee's Summit - 05/19/2016 (KHSB 41 News)

Lee's Summit Superintendent Put on Paid Leave - 05/19/2016 (KHSB 41 News) 

Remaining silent and allowing Fox's former superintendent to run the district is what led to the loss of respect of Fox's school board and administration under former superintendent Dianne Brown-Critchlow's reign. Concern after concern was brought to the attention Fox C-6 board members for years and nothing was done about them. Eventually, the community recognized that there was a problem and board members were voted out of office.

It appears that the same thing has been occurring in the Lee's Summit School District for some time, just like what had happened at Fox C-6. The school board was being told about all of the awards and accolades that the district was receiving and the board kept increasing Dr. McGehee's salary without looking at the numbers. Lee's Summit citizens who have pointed out MAP and ACT score results which don't appear to rank the district where their superintendent deserves to be the highest paid superintendent in the state of Missouri.

Former Fox C-6 superintendent Dianne Brown-Critchlow continuously tossed out similar statements about awards and accolades which weren't necessarily academically related. Fox's ACT scores and the number of students taking the ACT had Fox ranked in the bottom half of the state. Voicing my concerns in this area were always met with snide remarks from our former superintendent. When the facts aren't as impressive as they want the public to believe, some superintendents will deflect the criticism and make it appear as if those voicing the concern aren't properly informed. Anyone, including our former school board members could have verified the data themselves on Missouri DESE's website.

Keeping the Public Informed

The Lee's Summit Tribune has an open online Opinion/Letter to the Editor section on their website. This is where Lee's Summit school board member Bill Baird has been able to expose some of the issues occurring in their district to the public. I commend the Lee's Summit Tribune for allowing citizens in their community to voice their concerns in an open and professional and manner in as many words as are needed. That is something that is severely lacking in our community.

Lee's Summit Board Member's Letter to the Community on Atrocities

at the School Board Level

It's good for the public to hear about some of the things that go on behind the scenes in school districts in our state. There are some very close relationships between some school superintendents and some of the attorneys representing school districts in our state. It reminded me of the documentation written up by former assistant superintendents Tim Crutchley and Todd Scott regarding their meetings with former Fox C-6 superintendent Dianne Brown-Critchlow and her husband Jamie Critchlow on May 27, 2014. Dianne Critchlow had called a meeting with Mr. Crutchley and Mr. Scott after an article was published in the St. Louis Post Dispatch on May 23, 2014. Their notes documented that Dianne Critchlow knew that her husband Jamie Critchlow was posting on Topix but that she didn't say exactly what he was posting.

I found it interesting that Mr. Crutchley also documented that Dianne Critchlow contacted Tom Mickes of Fox's former law firm, Mickes Goldman O'Toole shortly after informing Mr. Crutchley and Mr. Scott about her husband's postings on Topix. A portion of Mr. Crutchley's documentation was redacted where he mentioned her phone call with attorney Tom Mickes.

While searching for the date that Fox's CFO John Brazeal requested an audit of the district, I came across the following article on The Missouri Volunteer Movement website. This article referenced several of my articles on this blog.

Missouri Volunteer Movement article: "Liar Liar"

In August 2013, I had voiced my concern about the lack of details in our school board meeting packets and the payments to credit cards without providing any credit card statements. In that article I linked to the 2002 state audit of the Fox C-6 School District conducted by State Auditor Claire McCaskill. Below is a link to the August 2013 article where I had been voicing my concerns about the board packets and getting access to them. It had taken nearly 3 years of making requests to get the board meeting packets posted onto Fox's website.

More Memory Holes In August 2013 Board Meeting Packet

It was February 20, 2014, when I wrote an article titled, "Why Does Fox C-6 Have a School Board?" in which I wrote, "Perhaps the community needs to request a state audit of the school district."

I'm glad that Mr. Brazeal requested an audit of the district. However, when audits take nearly 2 years to complete, memories begin to fade and people lose faith in the system. It's similar to waiting for nearly 7 years for the district to update and adopt a new set of school board policies and regulations. It was May 2009, when the district agreed in a Resolution Agreement with the U.S Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights to update their school board Policies and Regulations to comply with federal law. There were several years spent rewriting the old policies which was never completed before having to switch over to the Missouri School Board Association's set of Policies and Regulations. This was done after the district fired the Mickes Goldman O'Toole law firm which was responsible for drafting and updating our school district's previous Policies and Regulations. 

School district administrators and school board members should be accountable for their actions. School board policies and regulations document their responsibilities and ethical standards they are expected to uphold. Any perception of impropriety or conflict of interest should be avoided.

Continue to check the Missouri State Auditor's website for the status of the audit using the link below:

Missouri State Auditor's

Audits In Progress List

You can review the 2002 Missouri State Auditor's report of the Fox C-6 School District using the link below. The link has changed since posted a I link to the report in 2013:

2002 Missouri State Auditor's Report of the Fox C-6 School District

Sunshine Law Lessons From the 2015 State Audit of the St. Joseph School District

There are a lot of lessons to learn from the 2015 St. Joseph School District State Audit. One very important section of the state audit report is the Sunshine Law section.

Hopefully the Fox C-6 community and our Fox C-6 school board members and board candidates will read the Sunshine Law section of the St. Joseph School District state audit report very carefully because it's very educational. Of course, some of our district administrators didn't want the public to know what was going on in the district as documented in email responses to my questions regarding board meeting minutes and other issues.

The lack of transparency and intentional lack of details in school board meeting minutes allowed the malfeasant behavior of some of our district administrators to continue for years unchecked. Board members should have done their job but they were willfully blind as to what was going on.

When I spoke for the first time at a school board meeting in December 2010, it had been more than two and a half years of dealing with the district on Section 504 issues where the district had been found non-compliant with the law and had signed a Resolution Agreement with the U.S. Department of Educations's Office for Civil Rights (ED OCR). The Resolution Agreement was signed by Dan Baker on May 1, 2009 in which the district agreed to do things in order to become compliant with the law by certain dates. As of December 2014, the district still had not met the obligations of the agreement from May 1, 2009.

In March 2010, Fox C-6 was notified that the district would be undergoing a District Wide Compliance Review which was issued out of the Washington D.C. ED OCR Office. The District Wide Compliance Review has been an open investigation ever since and is still an open investigation. The public was never notified of the Resolution Agreement or the District Wide Compliance Review. Former superintendent Diane Brown-Critchlow as well as the district's former law firm addressed both the Resolution Agreement and the District Wide Compliance Review informing me at board meetings during Public Comment and in letters from their legal counsel that there was nothing to tell the public until the Resolution Agreement was closed or the District Wide Compliance Review investigation was completed and findings were issued.

How many years do you think it would take for a school district to fulfill the agreed upon items in a Resolution Agreement or for ED OCR to investigate and complete a District Wide Compliance Review?

At the December 2010 Fox C-6 board meeting I asked the Fox C-6 school board about the credentials and if background checks had been done and who approved the salary for Jamie Critchlow when he was hired by the district in September 2009 and promoted to the Director of the Bridges program in November 2009.

I also reminded the board that Dianne Brown had blocked me from speaking to the school board in September 2008 when she informed me that the school board had already decided not to speak with me after I had already been told by board president Wes Griffith that they would. Mrs. Brown told me that just as Wes Griffith and board secretary Debby Davis had already informed me that since Wes Griffith forgot to put me on that night's agenda that I would be able to speak at the next board meeting in Closed Session. Board members Dan Smith and Ruth Ann Newman and assistant superintendent Dan Baker were all sitting at the table as Mrs. Brown informed me that the board had decided not to speak with me.

At the December 2010 board meeting, I also asked the board if they were aware of the ED OCR District Wide Compliance Review since nothing had been documented in any of the board meeting minutes that the district was undergoing a District Wide Compliance Review. Dianne Brown asked me during my Public Comments if I was speaking about the ED OCR complaint to which I answered no. I was asking about the District Wide Compliance Review since Fox C-6 was one of only 2 school districts in the United States that were undergoing a District Wide Compliance Review to determine if the district was properly following the law and providing Section 504 plans for students that qualified for Section 504 for medical disabilities.

My questions at the December 2010 board meeting were documented in the board meeting minutes as "Concerns in the district." My "Concerns in the district" as documented in the board meeting minutes weren't very informative, therefore the public was kept in the dark as to matters that should have concerned the community.

I asked the board and board secretary to update the board meeting minutes with more details, I received a response from Dianne Brown informing me that the board meeting minutes properly followed the law and that the board secretary contacted the Missouri School Board Association's legal counsel regarding my concern about the board meeting minutes.

Had there been audio recordings of board meetings back then, the public would have been able to question the board much sooner as to why the district was undergoing a District Wide Compliance Review and why the district still hadn't fulfilled the agreed upon requirements of the May 2009 Resolution Agreement.

Not informing the public about District Wide Compliance Reviews and Resolution Agreements appears to be a common practice in our state. The lack of enforcement of the law from ED OCR and USDA OCR and the lack of transparency allows school districts to keep Resolution Agreements and District Wide Compliance Reviews open for years without consequence. In many cases students graduate before school districts properly meet the requirements of Section 504 law.

Listen to my December 2010 Fox C-6 Board Meeting Public Comments

Dave Palmer is the last of the long term board members who was sitting on the Fox C-6 school board in December 2010. Dave Palmer along with the other long term board members did nothing as they were provided documentation on Section 504 law and asked to attend Section 504 meetings to understand how the district was getting around the law. As we provided the school board documentation back then, they handed it over to Dianne Brown and to the attorneys which was used during the district's Due Process Hearing in 2010.

Mr. Palmer is well known for stating that he wasn't going to speak to the public because he doesn't want to get sued for saying something wrong or having what he said misquoted. Dave Palmer's running for the school board again this April. Mr. Palmer certainly does not need another term on our school board. I can't even guess what reason he has for wanting to be on the board again. Perhaps he feels the need to pay back the district for promoting his wife to a position she should not have been promoted to in 2006 as the Director of Nursing and was given a 75% pay increase for that promotion.

I believe if there had been audio recordings of Fox C-6 school board meetings posted online and board meeting packets had been made available to the public prior to board meetings 5 or 6 years ago like they are now, the community would have been aware of the problems going on in our district much sooner. Those who did know were too afraid to speak up and voice their concerns for fear of retaliation. Everyone knows what happened to those that did speak up.

You can read eventual email response I received from former superintendent Dianne Brown from May 2011 addressing my concerns from my December 2010 public comments in the following article:

Emailing Fox C-6 School Board President Results in Superintendent Response

I've given numerous examples of times when the board made decisions in Closed Session meetings that should have been made during Public Session just like those mentioned in the St. Joseph state audit report, The most blatant and well documented one was the violation of Sunshine law at the November 5, 2013 board workshop when an attorney from Fox's former law firm recommended taking a public discussion into Closed Session.

The Fox C-6 School Board Fails the Public Again!

Transparency is very important! The public needs to know what's going on in their school district and how their tax dollars are being spent. Since the school board represents the community, it's their responsibility to ensure that the public is kept informed by making sure that the board secretary properly and thoroughly documents their decisions and Public Comments from the community.

Having board members who are knowledgeable about Sunshine Law and are willing to stand up to district administrators and hold them accountable for their actions is vital to ensuring that our district properly follows the law and doesn't just pretend to be following the law.

Read what the state auditor's office had to say about Closed meeting minutes in the 2015 Missouri State Audit Report of the St. Joseph School District and why it's important that they are made publicly available just like the Public Session minutes are.

2015 Missouri State Audit Report of the St. Joseph School District

The following excerpt of information is from the Sunshine Law section of the 2015 Missouri State Audit Report of the St. Joseph School District

13.  Sunshine Law

The School Board did not always comply with the Sunshine Law and held numerous improper closed meetings.

13.1  Closed Meetings

The Board held approximately 40 closed meetings from January 2012 through June 2014, but did not always follow various requirements of Chapter 610, RSMo (the Sunshine Law).

• The Board approved a list of reasons for going into a closed session at an open meeting in several instances, but only discussed some of these topics in the closed meeting. For example, minutes of the February 10, 2014, open meeting indicated a closed meeting would be held to discuss legal; real state; hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting of employees; specifications for competitive bidding; sealed bids; individually identifiable personnel records, performance ratings or records pertaining to employees or applicants for employment; and, individually identifiable personnel records. However, the closed meeting minutes did not document any discussion of real estate, bidding, or sealed bids. In addition, the Board met on occasion in closed session and the only documented discussion was the approval of prior closed meeting minutes.

• The Board discussed some topics in closed meetings that are not allowable under the Sunshine Law. According to minutes of closed meetings, unallowable topics included scholarship awards, construction project updates, and department updates. The Board also discussed items in closed session that may be unallowable and did not maintain sufficient documentation to demonstrate how these issues were allowable under the Sunshine Law. Some of these issues included the creation of new or additional positions, lighting issues at an elementary school, the academic calendar, and block scheduling.

To ensure compliance with state law and the public is accurately informed, the Board should only cite reasons for going into closed session it plans to discuss, restrict discussion in closed meetings to the allowable topics listed in the Sunshine Law, and adequately demonstrate how topics comply with the Sunshine Law for discussion in closed session.

13.2   Public disclosure

The Board does not always make public the final disposition of legal matters or contracts discussed and approved in closed meetings. The Board approved the settlement of two lawsuits during the 2 school years ending June 30, 2014. The district's financial responsibility in one of these settlements, a terminated contract, was $87,500. The other resulted in a $100,000 settlement paid by the district's insurance provider to a former employee. In addition, the district agreed to pay family health insurance premiums of the former employee until she was Medicare eligible, which was approximately 17 years. The Board did not publicly disclose the final resolutions. 

The Board also voted on and approved some contracts in closed session and did not subsequently disclose those votes in an open meeting or by other means. For example, on December 21, 2012, the Board approved an amended and restated contract for the former Superintendent. Also, on February 10, 2014, the Board voted to ratify the additional duty stipends granted administrators in August 2013, and authorized the Superintendent to reissue extra duty contracts.  

Section 610.021, RSMo, requires any minutes, vote or settlement agreement relating to legal actions, causes of action or litigation involving the district or any agent or entity representing its interests or acting on its behalf or with its authority, including any insurance company acting on behalf of the district as its insured, be made public upon final disposition of the matter 

voted upon or upon the signing by the parties of the settlement agreement, including the terms of the settlements. The section also requires the Board to disclose in open session or by other means the approval of all contracts. 

Recommendations - The School Board:  

13.1  Cite specific reasons for going into closed meetings only for topics it plans to discuss, and ensure items discussed in closed meetings are allowable topics under state law and adequately demonstrated as such. 

13.2  Ensure the final disposition of legal matters discussed at closed meetings and all votes to approve contracts are made public as required by state law. 

State Auditor Tom Schweich's Victory Speech Talks About School District Corruption!

State Auditor Tom Schweich was just re-elected on Tuesday November 4, 2014 to serve the state of Missouri for another 4 years as state auditor.

Mr. Schweich gave an excellent victory speech. I found his speech on his Twitter account @AuditorSchweich. He is the taxpayer watchdog for the state of Missouri.

Mr. Schweich's office is currently auditing the Fox C-6 School District. His staff has their work cut out for them. You can read articles on this blog documenting some of what's been exposed and uncovered in the Fox C-6 School District so far in just the last several months.

Mr. Schweich's commitment towards uncovering and reporting on fraud, waste, abuse and corruption should be very encouraging to the taxpayers of the Fox C-6 School District.

Hopefully Mr. Schweich will be able to build an airtight case that documents all of the problems that have been occurring in the Fox C-6 School District during former superintendent Dianne Critchlow's tenure.

The Fox C-6 taxpayers deserve to recover every penny that was improperly spent on personal items and food by school district officials over the last 9+ years rather that should have been spent on educating our students and our teachers.

Mr. Schweich talks about his office being sued by special interest groups who don't want him to accurately report what's been going on in the state. This tactic sounds very similar to the Cease and Desist letters that were sent to myself and others in our district who were trying to expose the problems in our district for years.

Quotes from Tom Schweich's Victory Speech

"Let's remember we live in the greatest state in the union, the state of Missouri, and I'm so proud to represent the people of this state. But, even in that context of greatness there are challenges and I wanted to talk a little bit about that and what I plan to do about it going forward. 

I recently saw a survey that had us 45th in education across the state, Elementary and Secondary Education. We need some work there. I've audited a lot of schools. I've audited the 4 largest school districts in Missouri and many of the rural ones as well and there are significant challenges... I audited Rockwood School District, not too far from here and found conflicts of interest and double dealing. We've got problems with our education system and we need to work on it... 

First, I think there's a lack of leadership at the top. Second, I think there's political corruption plane and simple. Remember my job is to root out fraud, waste and abuse and corruption in state and local government..."

State Auditor Tom Schweich
What he plans to do going forward
(4min 53s)

"This is what I see everyday because of the nature of my job. Because I see corruption at all levels state, county, local. People who are serving themselves at the expense of the people...

I've audited School Officials and exposed massive conflicts of interest in Rockwood here and Hickman Mills School District near Kansas City, the Grandview School District. People getting free tickets. People getting paid off. I mean it does happen. These people are then serving themselves and not serving you."

State Auditor Tom Schweich
On Auditing School Officials
(6min 45s)

"I want you to know that as I take over in my second term as your state auditor, I am committed more than ever before to fighting all aspects of corruption in all aspects of state, local government in Jefferson City, in the counties, in the cities and in the school districts. I will continue to be your taxpayer Watchdog and I will never be bought by anyone. You have my word!"

State Auditor Tom Schweich
Committed to Fighting Corruption in School Districts
(9min 37s) 

A Look At Similar Problems Across the Country!

I thought it might be interesting to do some research to see if I could find any other school districts across the country that have had similar problems like we've been experiencing here in the Fox C-6 School District.

It turns out that there are quite a few school districts that have had the same if not similar problems with their administration and school boards. Many of them tend to have very similar themes. Also, many times the abuse of power and wrongdoing had been occurring for many years before the problems were discovered or brought to light.

Reviewing some of these cases will give you an idea of what they looked for and what they uncovered during state audits. It also gives you an idea as to how long it took before they filed charges if they found wrongdoing as well as what the charges were.

For several of the cases, it took between 6 months to a year before an indictment was issued after the findings of the state audit were released. That seems like an eternity knowing that the state audit of the Fox C-6 school district could take up to a year to complete.

One of the best reports I found was a March 2013 video and written audit report posted by the Kentucky state auditor's office of the Dayton Independent School District. The press conference video is an excellent presentation. The case bears many similarities to what's been uncovered so far in our district. I highly recommend watching the entire video. 

The Kentucky state auditor did an excellent job describing what they uncovered during their audit of the Dayton school district. The Dayton superintendent who had been in charge for nearly 15 years bullied and intimidated staff members responsible for issuing checks and reimbursements if they questioned him. The Kentucky state auditor noted during the press conference that there was culture of deceit and entitlement and a lack of transparency and disclosure to both the public and the board.

Listen to the March 7, 2013 Kentucky State Auditor's Report

of the Dayton Independent School District

Watch the March 7, 2013 Kentucky State Auditor's Report
of the Dayton Independent School District 

I certainly hope that Missouri State Auditor Tom Schweich and his audit team watch the press conference as well. Kentucky State Auditor Adam Edelen did an excellent job of informing the taxpayers of what he planned to recover and why it was so important to recover the funds. He stated that they worked with the FBI and forwarded their findings to the Kentucky State Teacher's Retirement System.

The Kentucky state auditor mentions the Hobbs Act which is a U.S. Federal Law enacted in 1946 and is frequently used in cases of public corruption. It's codified in 18 U.S.C. § 1951.

There had only been 139 views of the press conference when I found the video. The number of views will most likely increase as more people learn about it. 

Further down in this article I provide links to more news stories related to the Dayton Independent School District audit and the resulting indictment of the school Superintendent. I also posted links to a couple more cases from other school districts.

Some Common Problems Found In State Audits

Below is a list of some of the problems often discovered during state audits. Fairly often superintendents were found double dipping on mileage and filing false reimbursement requests. They were also found using district credit cards for personal purchases. Do any of those problems sound familiar?

• Lack of transparency and disclosure to both the public and the board
• Salary compensations not matching board approved contracts
• Sometimes there were cultures of deception that misled board and or finance department
• Intimidation or bullying staff members responsible for issuing checks and reimbursements
• Lack of oversight by the school board or finance departments
• District credit cards were used to purchase meals and items for personal use
• Lavish "Professional Development" trips
• Use of school funds / public money for personal use
• Fraudulent reimbursement requests made for purchases or expenses
• Requesting reimbursements for mileage and gas or double dipping
• School boards "rubber stamping" expenses and payments

Example Cases From Across the Country

Below are a few examples of cases found across the country using Google searching with the following keywords: superintendent indictment

Dayton Independent School District

A small school district in Kentucky near Cincinnati was audited and found to have problems. The results of the audit were turned over to the FBI as well as the Kentucky State Teachers Retirement System. It was the school district's new superintendent that appears to have reported the problem after finding financial irregularities when he took over after the former superintendent retired.

Kentucky State Auditor Adam Edelen said that the abuse was personally offensive to him and would offend every Kentuckian. He stated that there was a culture of deceit and entitlement. He said the rank and file staff at Dayton were frightened to do the right thing. It was a culture in which you could be punished for doing the right thing. (23:30)

The former Dayton superintendent received $224,000 in benefits and payments over an eight-year period that was not authorized by the school board or obtained from false reimbursements or fraud.

Plans To Recoup Taxpayer Dollars
Listen to what the Dayton school district plans to do to recoup taxpayer dollars at 27:15 in the video. Below is the 3 fold method that the Dayton school district planned to follow in order to recover their funds:

• Pursue a claim directly against the former superintendent.
• Pursue a claim against the independent auditor under their professional negligence.
• Pursue claims against the insurance company who insures the district against employee theft.

Listen to the last 10 seconds of the press conference to hear what the Kentucky State Auditor says about being a "taxpayer watchdog".

Listen to the March 7, 2013 Kentucky State Auditor's Report

of the Dayton Independent School District

Watch the March 7, 2013 Kentucky State Auditor's Report
of the Dayton Independent School District 

The state auditor commented that the former superintendent intimidated staff members responsible for issuing checks if they questioned him. The auditor stated that you cannot police power when you are subservient to those who have the power. The auditor stated that they never had a chance of meaningful oversight of the superintendent who was committed to enriching himself at public expense.

March 2013 Kentucky State Auditor's Written Report

In November 2013, a press release was issued for the Dayton Independent School District stating that $511,000 in taxpayer dollars would be recovered by the school district.

November 21, 2013 - WKRC News Report

Former School Superintendent Steals Hundreds of Thousands from District

November 21, 2013 - KY State Auditor's Press Release
announcing recovery of funds for
Dayton Independent School District

In December 2013, the former Dayton superintendent of schools pleaded guilty to embezzlement. on May 14, 2014 the former Dayton superintendent was sentenced to 2 years in federal prison.

December 2, 2013 - WCPO News Report

Former Superintendent of Dayton

Admits to Embezzlement

April 22, 2014 - WCPO News Report

Former Dayton Superintendent sentenced to two years

in Federal Prison for embezzlement

April 7, 2014 - Letter to Judge Bunning

from former Dayton Superintendent Jack Moreland

regarding indicted former Superintendent Gary Rye

May 14, 2014 - WKRC News Report

Former Dayton Superintendent sentenced

to two years for embezzlement

Mason County Kentucky

In Mason County Kentucky, their superintendent of schools was indicted following the release of an October 2012 state audit report of the school district. The findings released in the report resulted in the superintendent's retirement in October 2012. He had served the school district since 1997. The news story below reports that the abuse of the public trust in Kentucky is a class C felony, punishable by 5-10 years imprisonment if convicted.

The Mason County report found nearly $200,000 in expenditures made by the superintendent, six district employees and five board members that appeared to be excessive, lacked supporting documentation or had no clear business purpose or did not go through the district's approval process.

May 2013 - Former Mason County Superintendent Indicted

Cincinnati Superintendent and Treasurer Indicted

The Ohio state auditor started investigating the superintendent after an anonymous tip was sent to the state auditor's office in 2006 about credit card abuse. The tip lead to an investigation regarding non-school related expenses and employee compensations to see if they matched board approved amounts.

March 2013 Ohio State Auditor Press Release
of Cincinnati Charter School Investigation