Riverside County Unified School District Superintendents Strong Contracts Enhance Ethical Behavior

In their audit, FCMAT found that even though the CVUSD former Superintendent had a $700 a month allowance for automobile expenses, he used the district fuel card 777 times in just over a three year period. These transactions accounted for over 11,500 gallons of fuel valued at $39,156.45. It was discovered that the Superintendent was fueling multiple personal vehicles, sometimes several times a day, using these vehicles for family excursions and other personal uses. The auditors concluded that the lack of specificity in the 2011 contract as to what constituted personal matters or reasonable amounts, contributed to the abusive and unethical use of the fuel card by the Superintendent. Overlooked Evaluations

The former Superintendent’s contracts with CVUSD, 2011, 2014 and 2015, specify in Section 8 that the Board will provide the Superintendent with an annual evaluation no later than May 31st of each year. They shall meet quarterly to review and offer feedback as to progress in meeting mutually agreed upon goals. The Board and Superintendent were to reach an agreement as to the format of the evaluation. It is also stated that the Superintendent had the responsibility to place the subject of his evaluation on the Board’s agenda. Though he served for over five years, the Superintendent received only one evaluation and that encompassed the school year of 2011-2012. For the following five years, no formal evaluation occurred. When the Superintendent was asked by the FCMAT auditors as to why no evaluations were performed, he stated when he brought up the matter, the board president simply would say “forget about it, you are doing a great job.” In an interview, one board member stated that due to this failure, the Board essentially relinquished any oversight control over the Superintendent’s actions. Both the Board and the Superintendent failed to meet their contractual obligation regarding evaluations thus causing the entire system of internal controls to suffer. CVUSD Board Policy 2140 outlines the specific steps to be taken to complete an evaluation of the Superintendent, but fails to address when the evaluation is to take place and who has the obligation to put it on the Board’s agenda. 4