Bruceville-Eddy was thrust into the spotlight in 2005 when Superintendent Dan Doyen was arrested for placing hidden cameras in a women’s bathroom. Richard Kilgore moved up from the high school to replace Doyen and said his time has been spent dealing with the fallout. The district has had to comply with multiple audits and investigations by the Texas Education Agency, which revealed the suspicious charge made by these former officials.
Payne spent 26 years as superintendent in Bruceville-Eddy before retiring in 2002. Ms. Emery was in Bruceville-Eddy from 1995 to 2002 until she took the job as the business manager of the Bosqueville school district.
A Waco newspaper obtained a copy of the report from the TEA investigation into the illicit spending. TEA officials raised their eyebrows at items like $174 for jewelry purchased at James Avery and Sears; $110 spent on Body Solutions diet supplement; and hundreds of dollars spent on clothing and dry cleaning. Payne had $12,109 in questionable charges and Ms. Emery has $27,273.
No formal allegations have been filed, said Mike Dixon, Bruceville-Eddy school district attorney, but he will be conducting meetings with these two individuals and their attorneys to see if legal action is necessary.
“The first step is to verify whether or not there was an actual school business reason for the transactions,” said Dixon. “Those that can’t be related or can’t be verified as school-related, we will definitely seek recovery on them. It’s their responsibility to show me information to get me to where I can make that determination. From then on they can either pay it or we can sue them for it.”
Rita Chase, director of the TEA’s financial audits division, said the problems stemmed from the district’s former “loose” policies on credit cards. She said there was no oversight and the district did not keep track of receipts to see which expenses were school-related and which ones were personal. Kilgore said there used to be a credit card for every department and little to no regulation as to when or where they were used.
Kilgore said despite it all, this problem has led to a much-needed overhaul of many district financial policies. The credit card system has been retooled so there is only one card available at each campus. A checkout system is now in place so the assistant business manager knows who has the cards at all times and if there is a discrepancy Kilgore said it is handled immediately. Any personal expenditures will be reimbursed to the school district, and he said they have cracked down on people using school money to fill up personal vehicles. People now turn in their mileage on trips for reimbursement rather than charge the district directly for gas, and there are no more free meals on trips unless staying overnight.
“If there’s anything positive out of all this … we’re able to set our new policies the way they should be set and we’re able to address the faculty with these new changes and start from scratch,” Kilgore said. “You’re able to write down exactly how you want things done.“
Kilgore said he believes even with the controversies the community is still supportive of the school district.
“They realize these things are in the past and that we’ve addressed all the problems and have agreed to the fullest with every audit,” he said. “I think everybody realizes we are making the steps necessary to correct any problems that we have.”
Kilgore has just started his second year as superintendent and said he is looking forward to things getting back to normal.
“My first year unfortunately was spent with audits and investigations and I’m hoping things this year will come to rest and we can go about the business of just running a school and I can find out what a normal superintendent does during a normal school year,” he said.
kchandler@temple-telegram.com
