BUCKHANNON, W.Va. — There’s now a federal investigation underway in connection with alleged misspending of federal pandemic relief funds in the Upshur County school system.
“We are the lead on the investigation, and we have investigators who are going to review the situation,” U.S. Attorney for Northern West Virginia Bill Ihlenfeld told MetroNews Thursday. “We’re taking the lead on the investigation in Upshur County.”
Ihlenfeld said his office was contacted by the state Board of Education after a review of the spending by the state Department of Education.
“As soon as we learned about this proper external authorities were notified,” state BOE member Scott Rotruck said during an appearance on MetroNews “Talkline.” “This was the first actionable information we had as a board that our president (Paul Hardesty) demanded that we have for the meeting yesterday so we could look at it, see what was going on and take this action.”
State seizes control of school system
The state BOE voted Wednesday to seize control of the school system.
A special circumstances review is continuing, Rotruck said.
“One percent of the financial data has been looked at. There’s a lot of work ahead of us. That’s why it was important to take it over, get it secure and to make sure investigators could do their full job,” Rotruck said.
Upshur County Schools received $16.1 million in federal pandemic funds over three years.
Some of the money was spent on:
–Food and beverage charges for staff retreats at Stonewall Resort totaling $49,260.
–$21,834 for food and beverages for staff retreats at C.J. Maggies, a local restaurant in Buckhannon.
–$1,415 for overnight accommodations at a bed and breakfast just six miles from the county board office.
–$38,000 for school conferences.
–$75,000 for improper payments to staff that were not approved by the local board. Some employees received payments in addition to their regular salary. The audit found Superintendent Dr. Sara Lewis-Stankus received additional compensation, also not authorized by the board.
–The Office of Accountability and Assessment determined that “on June 28, 2022, the district provided additional compensation to the Superintendent (Lewis-Stankus) totaling $13,410.80. This compensation was described on the pay stub as 20 ‘OC Days’* at a daily rate of $670.54. The ‘OC Days’ description on the pay stub refers to out-of-calendar days to which the superintendent is not entitled.”
Roach’s decision to retire
Rotruck said state Deputy School Superintendent Michelle Blatt is now in Upshur County along with staff from the department’s financial office and Office of Accountability Director Jeff Kelley. The state Board has appointed former Preston County School Superintendent Stephen Wotring as superintendent in Upshur County.
The state BOE will choose a new state school superintendent in a special meeting set for Friday, June 23, after state School Superintendent David Roach told the BOE Wednesday of his plans to retire. The announcement came after the, at times, tense meeting on the Upshur County situation. Some board members expressed frustration with not being clued in earlier by Roach of the red flags in Upshur.
“We couldn’t understand either,” Rotruck said. “We’ve been hearing things but we had no actionable information. Our employee is the state Superintendent of Schools, that’s who we rely on.”
When asked Thursday if it’s a forced retirement, Rotruck wouldn’t say.
“I think he has a right to retire and he did, he is going to, he’s told us that he is going to retire,” Rotruck said.
Roach was hired as state superintendent last August after a long career in public education in West Virginia.
Roach hired Upshur County Superintendent Dr. Sara Lewis-Stankus as his deputy superintendent soon after he got the job.
State BOE President Hardesty made a point of the hire during Wednesday’s meeting.
“We cannot discount that the person at the epicenter of those findings was the deputy superintendent, the number-2 person in this department, who was our employee up until June, whatever date that was and the question was asked why was this brought to the board until May 27,” Hardesty said.
What’s the money supposed to be used for?
The group FutureEd said a federal analysis for fiscal year 2021, showed most covid education money was spent to help students with academic and social needs caused by the pandemic.
In a July 2021 MetroNews story, the state Department of Education was urging school districts to submit their plans for covid money. The state received $761 million overall.
Melanie Purkey, the executive director of the state Department of Education’s Office of Federal programs, said at the time most counties planned to use the money to hire more staff.
“Particularly more counselors, social workers and experts who can help students with social and emotional behaviors when they come back to school,” Purkey told MetroNews. “Secondly, more instructional support in the classroom, so more teachers or aides.”