LOGAN, W.Va. — The Board of Education president’s claims of questionable spending within the Logan County school system gained more traction after documents were obtained by MetroNews through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Paul Hardesty told MetroNews last week he was worried about the misuse of funds that spawned a state inquiry.
One document obtained by MetroNews is a purchase order signed by Phyllis Doty—the Logan County School superintendent at the time—which lists $1,844.46 worth of items ordered from Displays2Go, a Rhode Island company that sells trade show products. The board bought beverage dispensers, bread baskets, easels and markers. The bill came to $2,069.90 and on March 26, 2015, the board approved a check for that amount to Displays2Go.
A note on the purchase order indicated the items would be used for “math field day” and should be shipped to Ralph Willis Vocational School to the attention of Scott Justice, Logan County’s director of elementary curriculum who is in charge of math field day.
However, Justice told MetroNews, “They were not ordered or used for math field day.”
Hardesty, appearing Thursday on MetroNews “Talkline” with Hoppy Kercheval, supported Justice’s stance.
“Scott is our director of elementary education, does a good job, and has been in the system a long time,” Hardesty said. “If Scott Justice tells me he did not order that, then I believe Scott Justice did not order that.”
On May 14, 2015, the board issued another check to Displays2Go, this time for $2,318.27. That corresponds with another order by the Logan County Board of Education for a variety of things, including four flip cover domes used in food service, a cookie bin, serving tongs, display risers, black cloth napkins, and two luggage racks.
Again, the items were shipped to the Willis Vocational Center. Hardesty believed the orders were made by Doty.
“The requisition provided to me by the board office is in her handwriting, signed by her, and does say to code it to math field day,” said Hardesty. “I know of nothing on that list that would have any direct use in a math field day competition.”
Hardesty acknowledged at least some of the items could potentially be allocated at the vocational school for culinary programs, but there was no evidence they were ever used in such capacity.
“I asked if we had ever bought anything from this company in years prior through the school system and what I found out was alarming that to my knowledge these are the only two purchase orders ever issued to this company,” said Hardesty. “We usually have repetitive vendors in the school system. We buy from the same people for years and we buy the same products. It’s disheartening.”
The State Commission on Special Investigations started a probe last year into the Logan County School Board spending, and investigators have questioned several individuals. Hardesty is among those questioned, but said he is unaware of anyone else who has been questioned.
Hardesty served on the Logan County School Board in the late 1990s and decided to run again after a long absence. He said it’s a mess that is disrupting the educational process.
“I apologized to all 800 employees in the past week in the Board of Education. I feel like morale in this system is terrible. They feel like they’ve been treated poorly in the past. There have been cliques and factions. We’re trying to move past that,” he said.
“The board of education I serve on, we are here to steer policy. I wish we weren’t addressing this kind of garbage, but the hand has been dealt and we’ve go to play it. We’re trying to make the best of a bad situation and to improve the morale of our people. We started school back today and I think we got off to a pretty good start.”