Ackerman's expenses

Superintendent resists review of her spending, alleging harassment

By Tali Woodward

tali@sfbg.com

Outgoing school superintendent Arlene Ackerman is threatening to sue members of the Board of Education for discrimination and harassment.

What did the board do, exactly?

Well, it seems that one board member, Sarah Lipson, had the audacity to ask for a peek at Ackerman's expense reports — to see what she had billed to the San Francisco Unified School District during her years in charge.

Lipson says she made the official request for records Jan. 24, after district staff told her that Ackerman had run up some pretty substantial travel and dining bills.

In most public agencies, such spending is reviewed by a board or controller, but Ackerman's expenses seem to have escaped any scrutiny. While frivolous or extravagant expenditures can cause political embarrassment, gross misuse of public funds can also rise to the level of a criminal offense.

When Lipson hadn't gotten any documents days after making her request, she kept asking for them. And soon enough, all hell broke loose. A closed-door meeting was scheduled for Jan. 31, and when the board members assembled, Ackerman and her attorney, Waukeen McCoy, told them she was not happy with the plan for Deputy Superintendent Gwen Chan to take over "chief executive" functions from Ackerman the very next day.

Ackerman has been criticized for negotiating a $375,000 severance package and then invoking a "compatibility" clause in her contract that allows her to depart with the money. When Ackerman announced her resignation, back in September, she and the board began working on a plan for her departure. Some say Ackerman even proposed in writing that she transfer day-to-day management of the district over to Chan Feb. 1 but remain with the district as an advisor until June 30.

There is a dispute, however, about whether that plan was ever legally approved by the board. San Francisco Unified School District attorney David Campos thinks so, telling us the board has "complied with all of its obligations to Dr. Ackerman."

But McCoy says Ackerman "has not agreed to give up her responsibilities" and is still technically the superintendent. The board issued a statement Feb. 1 anyway, saying that Chan had taken over as interim superintendent.

McCoy indicated to the Guardian that no matter how Ackerman's contract is resolved, the departing chief may still have a discrimination case.

McCoy said he considered Lipson's request for expense information "partly harassment" but that it didn't trouble Ackerman at first. "It wasn't until the Examiner requested the documents that it became a real issue," he said. "There was a leak, and it could only be from a board member."

Characterizing Ackerman's expenses as "routine," McCoy said, "Obviously the public should be aware of what's being spent." But when asked why Ackerman didn't just release the records herself, he said it was not her place to do so.

"If she were not an African American female, this wouldn't be happening to her," he added, echoing a statement he had made to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Records of expenses incurred by government officials are without question public documents, often reviewed by board members, journalists, and the public in most government agencies. Plus, Ackerman's contract explicitly grants the board the right to review her charges.

Board members admit they've never reviewed Ackerman's expenses in the past, though she has always had at least one credit card account paid for by the SFUSD. But district officials recently warned at least two board members that Ackerman's expenses should be examined, and there's speculation she's been racking up more charges because she has been spending less time in the office and more time traveling. (It's no secret Ackerman withdrew herself from union negotiations and the school closure process and put Chan in charge of running many board meetings.)

School board member Jill Wynns, a strong Ackerman supporter, told us it "seems vicious and inappropriate" to bring up Ackerman's expenses when she's on her way out.

Lipson still hadn't gotten the expense records when we went to press Feb. 7. She said that although she is dismayed by the accusations of racism and harassment, she believes she did the right thing: "Staff came to me with concerns, and so I felt it was my responsibility to look into it. It'd be negligent not to."

SFBG