November 5, 2009
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News: Jefferson County School Admin; CC misuse
Another one of our nation's school districts is suffering from a growing phenomenon of credit card abuse within our government agencies. Jefferson County Public Schools located in the Louisville, Kentucky area is a fairly large district with nearly 100,000 and 16,000 employees. WHAS11 out of Louisville, Kentucky, wanted to know what kind of job Jefferson County Public Schools were doing to assure that administrators were not abusing the district's credit cards and misusing taxpayer's money. To get the answer they inquired about Dr. Sheldon Berman's credit card statements. Upon examination, the news team discovered several questionable transactions involving high priced dinners at a number of exclusive restaurants in the Louisville area.
During these difficult times, most organizations and government agencies have had to trim down the budgets resorting to massive lay-offs and millions of individuals standing in the unemployment line. Many more have taken steps to eliminate district issued credit cards to employees in order to hold them more accountable to spending guidelines. Jefferson County School District has not been an exception. Word has it that the school district has contributed to the growth of the unemployment lines. If true, could at least one of these jobs been salvaged had someone not gotten fat off these careless credit card expenses?
According to WHAS11's report, Dr. Berman's credit card statement resembled that of a CEO of a large corporation. Although Dr. Berman said that there were very few incidents of $200 and $300 dinners, the news team found over $1,400 in expensive dinners along with a $300 a night hotel room. That amount could buy a lot of pencils. Dr. Berman defended the charges saying that the meals were used as rewards and to influence interviewees of some of the district's top jobs with "a nice place" that they may "feel at home." When questioned about the expenses, some members of the school board indicated that they were not aware of the expensive dinners or hotel stays. Oops! Who's been watching over that porridge?