Posted 2:40PM, February 8, 2006

Ackerman's hefty expense account

Outgoing schools chief spent $45K on meals and travel in 2005

By Tali Woodward

tali@sfbg.com

Records at the heart of Arlene Ackerman's most recent dispute with
members of the San Francisco Board of Education show that the outgoing
superintendent racked up more than $45,000 in expenses on a single
Diner's Club corporate account during 2005. The charges include plane
tickets, dozens upon dozens of meals, and a least nine stays in luxury
hotels.

Several thousand dollars have been repaid to the district by nonprofit
entities or by Ackerman herself, the records show, but the school
district has picked up the vast majority of charges, totaling about
$38,000, a preliminary analysis of roughly 250 pages of records shows.
Ackerman has hired an attorney who specializes employment
discrimination and is threatening to sue board members for
"harassment," in part because of requests for these documents made
late last month.

Copies of the Diner's Club statements and back-up receipts were
delivered to board members on the afternoon of Feb 7.
The heftiest charges include $1223.44 for a two-night stay at a
Marriott Hotel in San Diego during a National School Board Association
event last April, and more than $5,000 in expenses charged during a
group trip to Washington, D.C. last September.
According to the records, Ackerman has charged at least six meals at
The French restaurant Jardiniere, totaling more than $1,000. She has used
district plastic to pay for expensive meals at several outposts of
Morton's Steakhouse, charging $351 at a Missouri restaurant last
August and another $193 the following month at the local Morton's on
Post Street. She also signed the tab for a $789 dinner last Sept. 18
at the Morton's in downtown Washingtion, D.C., where she and several
other district officials had traveled for the annual awards ceremony
put on by the Broad Foundation, which had named the SFUSD an award
finalist.

In fact, many of most extravagant expenses recorded are connected to
that Washington trip. They include hotel charges of more than $3,500,
another $559 meal, $144 for airport parking, and – you guessed it –
another trip to Morton's (this one costing only $277).
It does not appear from the records that the Broad Foundation covered
any of these expenses, though it is noted that the foundation paid for
Ackerman's own room at the Mandarin Oriential Hotel.
Ackerman also routinely charges her "working lunches," where she often
dines with fellow district officials, school board member Jill Wynns,
or other powerful local figures. According to the records, Ackerman
has paid for lunches at the Hayes Street Grill with
producer/philanthropist Carole Shorenstein-Hayes, San Francisco
Chamber of Commerce president Lee Blitch, and San Francisco Chronicle
education reporter Heather Knight.

Many of the meal and hotel charges recorded in these documents are
fairly conservative: a $50 lunch here, a $140 hotel room there. The
records also say that plane tickets for other district officials were
also charged to this account on at least three occasions.
But the statements and receipts indicate a general tendency to
expense even lavish dining costs and to change travel arrangements at
the last minute, resulting in substantial added charges. They also
show $800 in charges posted over just three days last spring for
Ackerman's memberships in the premium travel clubs run by American and United Airlines.

Non-profits including the American Enterprise Institute, Harvard
University, and The Council for a Better Nevada have reimbursed some
travel expenses incurred by Ackerman. She has also written personal
checks to the SFUSD on at least five occasions, reimbursing the
district for charges that were either personal or recouped elsewhere.
The most recent reimbursement check, for $1,512, is dated Jan. 31,
2006. According to a hand-written memo that follows, that amount
covers eight separate charges dating back to February of 2005.
Ackerman's expense records were officially requested by board member
Sarah Lipson on Jan. 24, after district staffers suggested to Lipson
that they warranted scrutiny. The Bay Guardian and at least one other
news organization have since filed similar requests with the SFUSD. We
have yet to receive any records from the district.

Expense reports filed by government employees are almost always considered public, and are also among the most commonly sought
government records. Gross misuse of public funds can be prosecuted as
a criminal offense, but it's more common for extravagant expenditures
to cause frustration or anger.

The cover letter provided with this set of documents indicates that it
only includes charges made to the Diner's Club account. It is unclear
if Ackerman has had access to any other district-paid credit cards or
made other requests for reimbursement that are not referenced in this
bound document.

District staffers confided in Lipson and at least one other board
member that they had concerns about Ackerman's expenses only as her
scheduled departure from the district drew near. According to board
members the inquiry infuriated Ackerman, who quickly threatened to
hire a lawyer to defend her against supposed harassment. She also said
she would scour expense reports for each of the board members. (The
Bay Guardian has also requested those documents.)

When a Special closed meeting of the school board was convened Jan.
31, Ackerman brought along discrimination attorney Waukeen McCoy. He
told the board that Ackerman felt she was being harassed and
discriminated against and that the school board was illegally trying
to force her from power.

Multiple board members have told us the board agreed that Ackerman's
deputy, Gwen Chan, would take over as Interim Superintendent on Feb. 1
only after they received a Dec. 13 letter laying out that plan. The
letter, which was written on Ackerman's letterhead, bears her
signature as well as Chan's.

Also, at the board's regularly scheduled meeting, on Jan. 24, Ackerman
mentioned that Chan would be taking over as "chief executive" on Feb.
1. But McCoy, Ackerman's lawyer, now says that the board hasn't followed
correct procedure. "They have to pass a resolution in order for
anything to be effective," he told us, adding that the transfer of
power to Chan could be "can be construed as a termination" and might
jeopardize Ackerman's severance package of $375,000. McCoy also
suggested that even if the contract dispute is resolved, Ackerman may
still have a discrimination case. "If she were not an African American female, this wouldn't be happening to her," he added.

In a written response to McCoy dated Feb. 6, SFUSD General Counsel
David Campos asked for more information about these allegations. He
also wrote that "insofar as Dr. Ackerman's allegation of harassment
and discrimination might relate to a Board member's request to see
copies of Dr. Ackerman's expense reports (for items paid for or
reimbursed by the District), it bears mention that such reports are
public documents, which are subject to review not just by the Board or
a Board member, but by any member of the public. You have yet to
explain how, as a matter of law, the fact that a Board member may seek
copies of public records would amount to harassment or
discrimination."