No funds 'misuse' at Arbor Heights
Wed, 10/12/2005
Allegations of "potential misappropriation of funds" at Arbor Heights Elementary School have been investigated by the Seattle School District and "no misuse of funds" was found, Stephen Nielsen, financial and business services manager told the School Board last week.
A group of 13 parents and "certain staff" questioned whether a "potential misappropriation of funds" occurred during the past four years. The questions focused on Dr. Carol Corum, Arbor Heights principal, who takes occasional time off during the school year to judge international track and field events.
At the board meeting last week, Nielsen said Corum and all district principals are full-time employees and may take vacation any time of the year.
"Two internal investigations are complete," said Nielsen, "one was done by the Seattle Education Association and one by the education director of Arbor Heights, Pat Sander. Both investigations found no misuse of funds.
"Following a letter sent to the state attorney general, a third investigation is revisiting the same issue," he said. "The third investigation is handled jointly by the Washington State Auditor's office in cooperation with Seattle Public Schools budget staff. Findings of that investigation will be summarized by the auditor's office," but no report by the auditor means nothing was found since that office only comments when something amiss is discovered.
Nielsen said the completed local investigations have found "no evidence that the Arbor Heights budget was overspent."
Corum had no direct comment, noting only that her efforts are "all about this school year, making it a quality one."
In other actions last week, the school board issued an assessment of the performance of Superintendent Raj Manhas even though his contract does not expire until August 31, 2007.
The board approved the assessment 4 to 0, with three directors abstaining. The abstentions were not because of unhappiness with Manhas' work, but because they object to having interim evaluations.
Irene Stewart, West Seattle school board director, said she did not think the evaluation was redundant and noted the hours that went into the assessment effort.
The board said Manhas in the past year has "made a number of significant improvements" to the district but that he has not met its expectations in five areas, including putting together and implementing a strategic plan, stimulating instructional effectiveness, creating a stable and positive climate for student learning in all schools, ensuring there is student and staff disciplinary rules in place and that they are uniformly observed, and the achievement gap is reduced.
The board also said Manhas "did not meet the board's expectations for progress this year" in three areas. He is expected to make district communications "timely, substantive, concise and well formatted;" he is to be committed to "authentic family and community involvement in planning and problem solving" and keeping the board informed on issues, operations and needs "before decisions are due."
In response to the board assessment, Manhas said he "remains focused on serving our students and schools."
"I am particularly proud of our closing the achievement gap in reading, stabilizing school leadership, implementing cultural competency training and increasing outreach efforts to families and bilingual communities."
But he admitted there were many challenges ahead.
Despite the positive steps, there "is much work ahead to improve academic achievement in the particularly challenging environment of limited resources."
Jack Mayne can be reached at jmayne@robinsonnews.com or 932.0300.