Thousands of dollars in illegal payments were apparently given to employees of the Broken Arrow school district in recent years, state Rep. Mike Reynolds, member of the House Government Oversight Committee, said today.
“It is my understanding that as much as $242,000 in illegal payments for unused sick leave has been given to employees of the Broken Arrow school district,” said Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City. “That is an enormous sum of money diverted from the classroom.”
Reynolds said he has received information showing Broken Arrow school employees were paid for unused sick leave from 2000 to 2003 in violation of state law. That information was later independently confirmed by a school employee.
Reynolds said the information he received indicates that, among others, Interim Superintendent Gary Gerber and current school board candidate Cheryl Kelly are among those who allegedly received the improper payments.
“It is very disturbing to learn that school leaders may have personally benefited from this illegal activity,” Reynolds said. “The school board must publicly address this issue.”
The Broken Arrow School Board unanimously authorized a special audit Monday to look into Air Assurance invoices as well as the district’s competitive-bidding practices, contracts signed by suspended Superintendent Jim Sisney, and the district’s athletic funds.
Business practices between the school district and Air Assurance, which had provided heating and air-conditioning services for the district, were questioned by Sisney this summer.
They are at the heart of a defamation lawsuit he filed against Mike and Narissa Rampey, owners of the company; Douglas Hudkins, a Broken Arrow optometrist; school board members Maryanne Flippo, Sharon Whelpley and Shari Wilkins; and attorney Doug Mann.
Sisney claims in the lawsuit that the defendants defamed him by accusing him of wrongdoing after he brought accounting irregularities to the board’s attention.
The lawsuit says the district has paid Air Assurance — a major contributor to the schools — $3.1 million since July 2002.
Sisney’s lawsuit also alleges that Air Assurance performed work at Hudkins’ office that was billed to Broken Arrow Public Schools.
Sisney says in the lawsuit that he felt pressured by certain board members to apologize to the Rampeys for inquiring into their business practices.
According to the lawsuit, Sisney was told in mid-August that Hudkins was openly accusing the superintendent of stealing from the district and blaming it on the Rampeys.
The school board voted 3-2 last week to suspend Sisney and send him written notification of the reasons for his possible termination. Neither that letter nor the reasons for the actions have been made public.
The three board members who are defendants in the lawsuit voted for Sisney’s suspension.
Also at Monday’s meeting, the board voted 3-2 to remove two agenda items dealing with legal representation.
One item was a request that Mann recuse himself and that his law firm, Rosenstein, Fist and Ringold, appoint another attorney to represent the district. The other was a discussion of fees to the firm. Both measures had been put on the agenda by board member Stephanie Updike.
Thousands of dollars in illegal payments were apparently given to employees of the Broken Arrow school district in recent years, state Rep. Mike Reynolds, member of the House Government Oversight Committee, said today.
