The Echo

School superintendent could be ousted within a week over spending scandal


Confronted with new findings of top-level mismanagement, Seattle School Board members moved quickly Friday to quell the damage over misuse of public money and strongly suggested Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson may be fired.

By Steve Miletich and Linda Shaw
Seattle Times staff reporters
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014330280_eakes26m.html

Confronted with new findings of top-level mismanagement, Seattle School Board members moved quickly Friday to quell the damage over misuse of public money and strongly suggested Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson may be fired.

The findings, by Seattle attorney Patricia Eakes, stated Goodloe-Johnson should have known about losses of up to $1.8 million, mostly for contracts that had questionable, if any, public benefit.

Goodloe-Johnson told Eakes during her inquiry the district's troubled small-business program was "too far down" in her organization for her to keep track of how it operated.

Eakes' findings, released Friday, "certainly undermine my confidence in the effectiveness of the management," School Board President Steve Sundquist said.

"All options are on the table," he said in a meeting with The Seattle Times editorial board, capping a tumultuous week for the district.

Citing the need to restore public trust, Sundquist and School Board member Michael DeBell expressed outrage over what DeBell called "cronyist" dealings in the small-business program, which was run by Silas Potter Jr., 59, who investigators have been unable to locate since he resigned in June.

MORE HERE:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014330280_eakes26m.html