Lane School Board accused of negligence

LANE About 50 concerned residents want to remove members of the Lane School Board.

They accuse the three-member school board of negligence in the way it handled one outgoing superintendent who left after questionable spending practices surfaced and for its hiring of another superintendent who faces four charges of embezzlement stemming from alleged wrongdoing at his previous job.

Twelve residents signed a letter asking state Attorney General Drew Edmondson to remove the board members. They said school board members failed to pay proper attention to critical state audit results of school Superintendent Tom Strickland.

Strickland, 46, was charged last week in Rogers County with four counts of embezzlement while he was superintendent at the Inola School District.

Georgia Yates, one of those who signed the letter, said residents tried to point out faults with Strickland before he was hired.

"We tried to explain to them that we didn't need this man. We just got rid of one like this. It just nearly broke the school, Yates said.

None of the school board members returned telephone calls seeking comment.

Yates said 18 applied for the Lane superintendent's job, many of whom had high marks.

"We tried to get them to hire one of those, and then this (Strickland) was the last man who put in, and they just fell in love with him, Yates said. "There's just something we don't know. It just doesn't make sense.

Strickland was hired in December with a contract that lasts until June 2004. Bryan Drummond, an attorney representing the Lane School District, said he doesn't expect the contract to be rescinded as one was in Perry.

Strickland was hired as the Perry School District's superintendent in February, but the board rescinded his contract in June when state auditors released their findings from the Inola School District audit.

Among other items, Strickland is accused of overpaying himself $9,459.72 in salary and more than $17,000 in "unsupported travel expenditures at his Inola job.

Strickland gave himself an unauthorized $1,000-per-month mileage allowance and provided his wife with a cell phone paid for by the school district, the audit found. He also hired a car dealer to inspect buildings and seed athletic fields, paying him nearly $3,000 for work that may not have been done, auditors said.

Despite the embezzlement charges, Strickland remains Lane's superintendent and is paid $55,777 a year, plus $684 for insurance, $3,904 in retirement compensation and other annual benefits.

Strickland and his wife, Tina, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy this week in Tulsa County, claiming $373,437 in assets and $497,311 in liabilities for themselves and their business, 2000 Consulting Inc.

Lane, a one-school district with 164 students, underwent its own state audit with its previous superintendent, Jack Humphrey.

Auditors found that Humphrey had obtained items donated to the school and used them as prizes for bingo games sponsored by the Lane volunteer fire department.

State auditors concluded Humphrey violated state and federal laws. He resigned, and was paid an additional year's salary of $55,777. The letter written to the attorney general claims the school board also approved reimbursing Humphrey $6,904 for legal expenses.

Humphrey also was allowed to transfer 158 of his sick days to his wife, a Lane teacher, which violates state statutes, the letter states.

With Humphrey collecting a year's salary and Strickland still on the payroll, Bryan Bledsoe of Lane said that "we're paying for two superintendents, which we can't afford.

Bledsoe said he and others pleaded with the board not to hire Strickland.

"You don't go out and hire a superintendent with this much in question, he said.

The attorney general's office acknowledged receiving the letter, but has taken no action, a spokesman said.

School board members are expected to discuss Strickland's fate at their next meeting Jan. 21.

Archive ID: 1104069