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Your shit be so fucked up, Linder be talking smack about you on goyfire

Authorities issue arrest warrants for Williams

State Auditor Susan Montte released her audit of Riverview Gardens School District Thursday night. Among dozens of pages of findings, the auditors found:

Superintendent misconduct

— $158,400 overpaid to Superintendent Henry Williams' annuity, life insurance policies, salary advances and car allowance, among other things.

— $1,180 for the superintendent's four subscriptions to a local theater company.

— $41,600 for software training to Williams' girlfriend without a written contract.Board member abuses

— $43,000 to a board member's father's moving company.

— Hiring of a board member's and administrator's relatives.

— $240,000 spent on the district's credit card over two years, with receipts missing in 42 of 48 examined months. — Board members and the superintendent did not account for cash advances and did not return or account for unused money.

— $4,900 for lodging, meals and refreshments for a two-day board retreat in Hermann.

General mismanagement

— More than $3 million in contracts lacking competitive bids, including to the company that employs Williams' daughter.

— No documentation of reasons for rejecting lowest bids.

— $865,780 spent in two school years on travel and conferences.

— Checks knowingly issued in excess of bank account balance.
— $7,000 for artwork and print framing in individual offices, including $5,253 for the superintendent's office.

Consequences

The board announced Thursday night it has put in place some of the audit's 80-plus recommendations:

— Williams has been stripped of his duties, and issued a notice of charges, the first step toward termination.

— The district is struggling to meet expenses this year and may be left with just $1 million in reserves by June 30.

— Administrators must revamp accounting, staffing and budget procedures; much has already been done.

UPDATE: 3:47 p.m.
The St. Louis County prosecutor charged Riverview Gardens School District Superintendent Henry Williams this afternoon with two counts of stealing and three counts of attempted state income tax evasion.
The charges are felonies that carry possible prison terms of seven and 15 years. Warrants have been issued for his arrest.

The charges detail a series of theft and deception. The prosecutor said Williams had the district pay interest on his personal loans against two life insurance policies and had the district pay travel expenses when he had already charged those same expenses to the district credit card. The prosecutor also said Williams told the school district to pay at least $60,000 into an annuity account in an attempt to evade paying income tax. Advertisement

Furthermore, he filed fraudulent Missouri income tax returns for 2003 through 2005, saying he made as much as $87,000 less in a given year than his actual income, the charges allege.

The charges follow the Missouri State Auditor's release of a report Thursday night detailing similar allegations.

From our earlier story:

The team appointed as interim leaders of the Riverview Gardens School District vowed today to work to restore trust and boost flagging morale in a district mired in financial scandal.
On Thursday, the school board named administrators Natalie Thomas, 50, and Rhonda Key, 41, to lead the district during the suspension of superintendent Henry Williams, 65. Williams was suspended after the Post-Dispatch published a story about how he diverted at least $85,000 extra to his retirement and insurance accounts in the five years he has led the district.

On Thursday, the news got worse for Williams and the district when a state audit revealed that Williams was overpaid by $158,400 during his tenure, and that the district had wastefully spent $12.4 million in the last three years. The crisis was chalked up to lack of oversight, improperly prepared budgets and lack of planning.

RELATED LINKS
Read the state audit
More woes for Riverview chief
Board weighs firing troubled schools chiefWilliams faces a disciplinary hearing April 18.

Thomas and Key said they had met with teachers early Friday and would continue to do so throughout the day.

"We want to get teachers to teach, and to feel good about teaching," said Key, who joined the district last year and has served as director of secondary education.

Thomas, who had been the district’s director for student support, promised to maintain an open-door policy.

"We want to be accessible and available to the entire community," she said.

Thomas sued the district last year, alleging that her bosses retaliated against her after she accused them of corruption.

But she and Key struck conciliatory notes on Williams’ behalf at Friday’s press conference.

"He (Williams) was a part of the good things that went on in the district," Key said.

Thomas echoed the remarks: "He made contributions to this district with instructional guides and working with students."

Our earlier story:

BELLEFONTAINE NEIGHBORS — A scathing state audit revealed Thursday that the leaders of Riverview Gardens schools have bilked the district for hundreds of thousands of dollars. They've sent contracts and jobs to friends and family, spent money on artwork and theater tickets and travel, and left district bank reserves almost entirely empty.

In the wake of such evidence, the board announced that it had stripped Superintendent Henry Williams of his duties, sent him home and started the process to fire him. His hearing will be April 18.

Missouri Auditor Susan Montee said her team found problems in every aspect of district finances.

"What astounded us was how fast they misspent money, rather than how much," Montee said. "We found that so disheartening."

She reeled off a litany of problems that caused the financial catastrophe: A lack of oversight. Improperly prepared budgets. No long-range planning.

"The district doesn't know what it has or where it is," she told the crowd packed into the Riverview Gardens High School auditorium.

Montee said the audit grew out of a groundswell of calls from district residents to Gov. Matt Blunt and to her predecessor, Sen. Claire McCaskill.

The audit team scoured district records for six months, double the time they normally spend on such tasks. The report released Thursday scolded the district for 57 pages. Again, double the norm. The auditors gave a copy to St. Louis County prosecutors on Thursday.

The findings read like verdicts at trial.

Riverview Gardens, Montee's audit team found, has overpaid Superintendent Williams by nearly $160,000. The district spent $865,780 in a two-year period for travel and conferences.

Board members and staff charged $240,000 on the district credit card for which the auditors found few receipts. District employees and officials took cash advances before trips but did not account for the money, nor turn in the change. Some employees and officials hired their relatives.

Williams spent more than $1,100 in district money on theater seats.

Parents and residents have been waiting so long for this, they said Thursday. They knew things weren't right in the district but didn't have proof.

Resident Donna Dowdy, 35, has two children in the district, including one with learning disabilities. "When I would call to ask why she could not get resource services the district told me, 'We can't afford that.' Now I know why," Dowdy said.

The district has disintegrated since hiring Williams at the start of the 2002-03 school year.

On last year's state annual performance report, Riverview passed just three of 14 categories. Over the past three years, the district has whittled reserves from $12.4 million to the $1.6 million anticipated at the end of this year.

Teachers have fled by the dozens. Homeowners have moved out. Administrators have filed lawsuits alleging retaliation.

On Monday, the Post-Dispatch reported that Williams requested extra payments to his accounts with the Guardian Life Insurance Co., allowed the district to pay interest on personal loans and converted vacation days into retirement account cash, according to district bills and employee interviews.

On Thursday, the state auditor confirmed the newspaper's findings and shed light on much more:

Williams charged the district for roughly $92,000 in vacation days and loans on his life insurance policies. But he also got 12 unathorized salary advances, $6,300 in unauthorized car allowance payments, an extra $15,000 annuity payment, and $42,500 more in insurance premiums than his contract allowed.

The audit hinted Williams may face tax trouble: "Untaxed contributions to the superintendent's tax sheltered annuities appear to exceed limits established by the IRS," the audit summary states.

Residents were galled by the mismanagement and misspending.

John Kirchhoefer, 37, of Glasgow Village, said the audit findings made him ashamed of his alma mater.

Of the more than $865,000 in travel expenses, he asked, "Do they expect us to believe that that somehow benefited the district? Sounds like a lot of free travel and relaxation on our money."

The district was prepared to address residents' concerns.

The state gave board members a copy of the audit a few weeks ago, and Thursday, board President Gilda Hester told the public how the district was fixing problems.

The audit recommended roughly 80 solutions. Hester said many of those steps had already been taken. Administrators have revamped accounting, staffing and budget procedures. They have ended the practice of giving cash advances and paying checks early. They stopped allowing board members to take trips without turning in receipts.

The district is cleaning up its act, board members said.

"We want to rebuild the trust and have the support of the community," said Hester. "Whatever it takes, that's what we are willing to do."

Her next step was to announce new leadership — an interim joint superintendency of two current administrators, Rhonda Key and Natalie Thomas. The audience loudly applauded the announcement.