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Superintendent who misused funds will leave with $80,000
| Tuesday, Jan 15 2008 10:15 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Jan 16 2008 8:50 AM
The Edison Elementary School District superintendent will walk away with about $80,000 following an investigation that found she mishandled district funds.
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Superintendent Cheri Sanders charged nearly $16,000 on supplies, travel and alcohol with a district credit card, according to findings from an inquiry that began last fall.
She resigned effective June 30 when her contract expires.
"Based on discussions with the superintendent, the board concluded that accepting the superintendent's resignation was in the best interests of our students, staff and community," board president Allison Kitchen said in a statement.
A settlement allows Sanders to receive her salary estimated at about $9,000 a month, and benefits of about $1,000 a month, interim superintendent Mike Butcher said.
THE INVESTIGATION
The Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, which helps California's school districts meet financial and management responsibilities, began a review into Sanders after someone complained to Edison's board president, Butcher said.
FCMAT's report dated Jan. 12 dissected credit card statements from July, when the district began using cards, through November and showed Sanders made questionable decisions.
"This is a nice lady that just made some mistakes," Butcher said, adding he did not know her personally. "They were far, far, far from being criminal mistakes. I don't think that she intentionally tried to defraud the school."
Sanders had receipts for nearly all district purchases, the report showed. While some items she bought were in the district or at schools, other items were still in her possession. She said district programs would have used the items had she stayed there, the FCMAT report said.
ALCOHOL AND OTHER ISSUES
In October, Sanders charged 13 drinks totaling about $100 at a conference dinner where she, a district employee and "a group of administrators from the Bakersfield area" met up.
Sanders received money to cover the drinks, according to the unnamed employee, although that person was not actually in the room to see it, the report said.
Money for the drinks never made it back to the district. Sanders gave investigators several reasons: she had not been given enough money to cover the drinks, she thought she used her personal card, the drinks were not itemized on the bill.
"Public money cannot be used to purchase alcohol under any circumstances," the report said.
* Sanders paid nearly $1,000 for ink cartridges for a district-owned printer at her house. She said her daughter, an after-school photography instructor, used it to print students' pictures.
*An employee wrote Sanders a check to cover $80 in personal items from their trip to IKEA. Sanders kept the check. She said she thought she'd used her personal card, the report said. The entire $200 purchase that day was personal, she told FCMAT.
* In November, Sanders had handed over a computer to Butcher but the serial number did not match district records. The computer she returned was not the one bought by the district. Sanders said two family members owned the same model and a switch must have happened, the report said.
REPAYING THE DISTRICT
Sanders has since turned over all equipment at her home, Butcher said. She wrote a check for a couple hundred dollars to the district to cover disputed expenses.
Sanders commented in a statement sent by the Kern County Superintendent of Schools office saying in part: "I do regret that my first experience as a school district superintendent included actions that, if I could repeat, I would do differently. I am glad that these differences have now been resolved. ... I look forward to putting this behind me and moving on with my career."
HER CONTRACT
Sanders was paid $106,000 plus a $3,000 car allowance, her contract shows. Although she will no longer lead the district, Sanders will be paid around $80,000 from the time she was placed on leave in November through the expiration of her contract in June.
Buyouts are common, according to previous reports.
In 2001, Belridge School District Superintendent Steve Wentland left the district with $130,000 in pay and benefits. California law says if a contract is ended, employees may receive their monthly salary through the end of the contract, up to 18 months.
Sanders' contract states she cannot seek legal action against the district if she is paid through the end of her contract should the board decide "it is in the best interest of the district" to replace her.
INVESTIGATION
The district’s Orangewood Elementary School principal, Mark Holmes, is on paid administrative leave. His case is still under review, interim superintendent Mike Butcher said, but he could not comment on the nature of the investigation.
But Schools Legal Service General Counsel Grant Herndon said Holmes’ case was not related to Sanders’. A call for comment placed to a Mark Holmes listed in a directory was not returned.
RIPPLE EFFECTS
Trustees Thursday will announce an interim superintendent. Mike Butcher, who has run the district in Cheri Sanders’ absence, has other commitments. He has filled in as interim superintendent for several districts since he retired as superintendent of Belridge Elementary School District in 1994, he said.
Sanders told investigators that other employees had used their cards in questionable ways. But Butcher said he conducted an in-house investigation that turned up nothing. He will ask the county to take a look for good measure.
The district does not have a policy addressing credit card use, Butcher said, but one is being written for the board’s review.
Sanders was formerly an administrator at Tehachapi Unified School District. Its current superintendent, Richard Swanson, said he will review the FCMAT report and determine if the district needs to review Sanders’ financial history during her time there.
“We just see this as an issue at Edison at this point,” said Swanson, who was not in Tehachapi when Sanders was there. “Our books have been audited. We don’t have any evidence here at all of any issues.”
Key findings
An investigation into Cheri Sanders:
* She used the district credit card to pay for alcohol.
* She used the card for personal purchases without reimbursing the district.
* She didn’t reimburse the district when cash was received from another employee for a personal purchase.
SOURCE: Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team
About the Edison district
* Edison is about 10 miles east of Bakersfield.
* It serves about 1,100 students in two schools, Orangewood Elementary and Edison Middle School.
* In 2007, about 800 students whose test scores contributed to the district’s Academic Performance Index, the district’s progress on statewide assessments, showed 80 percent were socioeconomically disadvantaged and 45 percent were English learners, according to California Department of Education data.