A trip to New Orleans by School Board of Trustees Chairwoman Annie McDaniel and a credit card with a $10,000 credit limit, held by her for District business, drew the ire of Board members last week.

McDaniel attended a Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. - sponsored “National Education Symposium” held from Sept. 13 - 16 in New Orleans, Louisiana. At least some of the expenses for the trip were placed on the credit card. Some Board members have said that they were unaware of the trip until McDaniel thanked the Board for the opportunity to take the trip at its last regularly scheduled meeting. They also expressed surprise that McDaniel held a credit card for District business.

Board member Bob Drake said that he does not remember approving the New Orleans trip.

“We have not approved a credit card for the Board chair,” he said, adding that he did not have such a card, when he served as board chair.

According to a program from the Symposium, speakers were Dr. George J. McKenna, III and Dr. Adolph Brown, III.

McKenna holds a Doctor of

Education degree from Xavier University. He serves as a educational consultant providing professional development and support to school districts and community organizations. He currently is Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Schools in Pasadena, California, but he has served as a superintendent.

Since joining the psychology and psychology / education faculty at Hampton University, Brown has taught virtually every course in the psychology curriculum, ranging from statistics and research methods to the more clinically - focused and applied courses. He has served as assistant professor, interim chairperson, associate professor and presently as a tenured full professor and department chairman.

Conference Vision

According to information on the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. website, the vision for the conference was “to convene individuals with a vested interest in the education of African American students for designing replicable strategies for the empowerment of African American students, parents and community groups.”

E-mails

E-mails from School Board member Becky McSwain to McDaniel and copied to Board members Harold Heath, Bob Drake, Rickey Johnson, Catherine Kennedy and Henry Miller, as well as Superintendent of Education Dr. Samantha Ingram and Attorney Charles Boykin give some idea of the confusion surrounding the trip.

McSwain first e-mailed McDaniel stating in part, “At last night’s meeting (September 18), you mentioned a conference you recently attended and thanked the board for giving you the opportunity to go. I?had several calls about that today. Also, several fellow Board members, like me, didn’t remember having approved anything like that. They asked if there was something about it in the previous Board minutes. I?could not find anything. Please point me towards minutes or other info showing how we provided you the opportunity.”

McDaniel responded in part, “Ms. McSwain, my reference was to the fact that as the Board approves the budget, the Board in its budget approval authority allows all board and staff members the opportunity for professional development. I do indeed thank the board for approving the budget which includes funding for professional development.”

Finally McSwain responded in part, “By way of having the S.C. School Boards Association conferences listed in our board packages and talking publicly at board meetings about these, it is logical to assume that the Board has approved for all Board members to attend these conferences, if they so desire. Beyond that, I recall discussions in public session about which members wanted to attend National School Board Association conferences so we have had some degree of oversight, in public, of Board travel to those. Beyond those, I?see no way of justifying taxpayer dollars being spent on conferences unless specific requests come before the Board for approval. If a Board member wants to attend come conference, particularly one not open to all board members, we need a process whereby those requests come before the Board for specific approval. Then we are all accountable for the board’s decision and that expenditure.”

Board Travel Expenditures

For the 2005 - 2006 fiscal year, $23,000 was budgeted for Board travel. $28,395.50 was spend during the year and an additional $2,725 was encumbered and paid for during the following fiscal year.

Board travel per diem budgeted for ‘05 - ‘06 was $8,000 and $1,500 was spent.

During the 2006 - 2007 fiscal year board travel was initially budgeted at $19,000. At some point during the fiscal year, the line item was amended to $33,781.93; however, $42,783.84 was spent by the end of the fiscal year and an additional $1,640 was encumbered and paid for during the following fiscal year.

Board travel per diem was budgeted at $8,000 and $7,491.05 was spent.

For the 2007 - 2008 fiscal year, which began July 1, 2007, $32,000 was budgeted for Board travel and $5,057.65 has been spent. An additional $616.19 remained to be paid at the time a budget statement received by The Herald Independent was created.

For the same period, $8,842 was budgeted for Board travel per diem. To date, $1,331.32 has been spent. An additional $225 remained to be paid at the time the budget statement received by The Herald Independent was created.

Employee travel policy

Although there is no policy in place requiring approval of Board travel, policy DKC provides that employee travel with a cost exceeding $600 must be approved by the Board.

McSwain believes that the policy should also apply to Board members, despite the fact that it has traditionally not been done in Fairfield County.

No Board member has officially proposed such a change.