Full El Tiempo interview with those being snooped on by former TPS manager Dan Burns

You can pick up and read the story in El Tiempo.
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El Tiempo Article Kevin Milliken

Former TPS Administrator Ordered Probes of Private Citizens Investigations Occurred at Taxpayer Expense

The former business manager at Toledo Public Schools hired a private investigation firm at taxpayer expense to look into the backgrounds of five people who were private citizens at the time, including three people who would eventually be elected to the TPS board of education.

According to a special state audit into the financial activities of then-business manager Dan Burns between 2001 and 2008, the former TPS administrator spent $1,571 of public money to hire Corporate Intelligence Consultants of Perrysburg to perform background investigations of the five private citizens.

TPS used the Perrysburg private investigation firm to investigate workers' compensation claims and other routine matters. But the state audit called the background investigations of the five private citizens “services that were not for District purposes.”

The state audit issued a finding for recovery for the money to be returned to the TPS general fund, but Burns won’t have to repay the taxpayer funds. His bonding company, Cincinnati Insurance Company, is on the hook instead.

Audit-related documents released by the Ohio auditor’s office show that the individuals are Robert Torres, Steve Steel, and Darlene Fisher, who eventually became TPS school board members, as well as Dr. Francis Dumbaya and Steven Flagg, who have ties to the Urban Coalition, a watchdog group that has openly questioned TPS operations and policies for years.

Torres, who was elected to the school board in 2005, would neither confirm nor deny he was the target of such an investigation and declined any comment “at this time.” Torres resigned his school board seat in 2008 when he moved to Canton, Ohio, to become that city’s economic development director.

Steel has stated publicly he was unaware until now of the investigations and was not sure of their purpose.

“I’m not surprised, but appalled at the fact public dollars were used to investigate me and others,” Flagg said. “I think that has a chilling effect on the political process. I believe that there are more than just the five of us, I’ve been told there are more.”

However, Flagg refused to elaborate further.

“The part that is difficult to understand is why Toledo Public Schools officials would use public dollars, dollars that could have been used for the children, to secretly investigate law-abiding citizens who want nothing but the best in public education,” said Dr. Dumbaya. “Why would they conduct secret investigations on anyone, period? I’m appalled, I’m outraged.”

“I think citizens should be outraged that this type of activity has occurred,” said Ms. Fisher.
“I have to ask myself why? Why would someone want to investigate three new board members? We were going to be voting on some important upcoming issues—Eugene Sanders’ severance package and a new superintendent.”

Were district administrators trying to influence the votes of school board members?
“I think that was a possibility,” admitted Ms. Fisher. “Had they found anything on us, that could be a possibility.”

“Why else would they do it?” asked Flagg.

“I hope the media starts to look deeper into the dealings of TPS,” said Ms. Fisher, who lost a recent bid for re-election as an independent candidate. “I think this is just the tip of the iceberg.”

Flagg and Ms. Fisher both believe TPS administrators were “trying to protect their fiefdoms” by ordering the background investigations.

“They didn’t want someone like me peeling back the layers of the onion on how the district really operates and create transparency for the citizens,” she said. “That’s what I was about.”

Ms. Fisher and Dr. Dumbaya stated their hope that the Lucas County prosecutor follows through with a criminal investigation of Burns and anyone else who may be involved.
“I think this audit report is just the beginning of revealing some institutional problems at TPS,” she said.

The first set of investigations occurred in 2005, right after the Nov. general election when Steel, Fisher, and Torres won races for the school board. Fisher and Torres ran as part of a three candidate, bipartisan coalition dubbed Three For Change, which was backed by the Urban Coalition. A case sheet released by the state auditor called for civil and criminal background checks of the trio, who had not taken office yet.

The public records released Monday shows Clinton Faulkner, a former TPS executive assistant for human resources, was the TPS contact person for the investigations.

Faulkner was later hired by Cleveland Public Schools, along with Burns and other former top TPS administrators. Faulkner has since retired from the Cleveland school system.

The investigations into Flagg and Dr. Dumbaya were ordered in March 2006. According to a second case sheet also released by the state auditor’s office, the men were described this way:

"These two individuals have been (publicly) extremely critical of TPS. Dan is under the impression that they may have some problems of their own & would like to know more about them."

The case sheet further states of Flagg: “rumor is he was a troublemaker.”

Then-TPS superintendent Eugene Sanders left for the Cleveland Public Schools a few months later. Burns retired from TPS in the summer of 2006, but was hired by Sanders in Cleveland as that district’s chief operating officer. Burns resigned from his Cleveland Public Schools job late in 2009, after allegations of fraud and misconduct surfaced there.
Dr. Dumbaya, who owns a day care center in the Old West End, was a finalist the following year for appointment to an open school board seat vacated by Deborah Barnett, who resigned. Former Toledo mayor Jack Ford was appointed to fill the seat.
“Our privacy was violated,” said Flagg. “This was a concerted effort to undermine the Urban Coalition.”

Flagg also believes background investigations of other individuals were commissioned by TPS and questions the recent public comments of Sanders that he “was unaware” of the situation.

“We know there is institutional knowledge of the investigations, because of Faulkner’s involvement,” said Flagg. “It is logical to conclude that (then-TPS superintendent) Eugene Sanders at least knew about it after-the-fact, which, to me, is as bad as ordering them himself because it implies a cover-up.”

Flagg firmly believes the former TPS superintendent has more culpability than he is admitting.

“I think it is a distinct possibility he realized he could not manipulate the situation to his liking, particularly where it involved Ms. Fisher—and as a consequence, felt that he could use the disarray that he created to cover his exit, and as an excuse for him leaving the district,” said Flagg. “I think he took the other administrators along to keep them quiet.”
“My question is—who else had access to the reports?” echoed Dr. Dumbaya.
“What did administrators do with the reports from the secret investigations? What was the intent? I’m sure the reason is not just for the heck of it. There has to be a reason for investigating me that thoroughly. They spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars investigating me and there is wrongdoing here. The whole idea behind the secret investigations was to destroy me. They were after character assassination.”
“Certainly, legal action is an option that we have,” said Flagg. “No decision has been made as to how we want to proceed.”

Word of the inappropriate investigations surfaced during a special state audit of TPS involving the financial activities of Burns. The audit found Burns and a business associate liable for more than $660,000 worth of equipment and contracts that either could not be located or justified.

Burns and John Briggle, owner of Superior Offset Supplies, have been indicted by a grand jury in Cleveland on charges of racketeering, theft in office, and tampering with records for a similar scheme they are accused of masterminding against the Cleveland Public Schools.

The alleged TPS fraud went unnoticed for years, because the state audit also found the school district lacked the proper financial checks and balances. As a result, Burns was the sole official responsible for ordering equipment, paying for it, and verifying it was received.

“I believe there was a culture of corruption at TPS—and that they believed the ends justified whatever means they chose to take,” said Flagg.

“What is happening at TPS is a microcosm of what’s happening in our community. These types of activities don’t draw the outrage it should, and by extension, seem to be condoned by the community-at-large and accepted by our daily local.”

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