LAKE COUNTY — The Lake County Office of Education (LCOE) responded Monday to the 2007-08 Grand Jury report. The Grand Jury report accused the office of fraud, exorbitant spending, employee abuse, wrongful dismissal, policy violations and negligence involving a student.
Lake County District Attorney Jon Hopkins said the Grand Jury does not make criminal indictments, and that he would not comment on whether the 2007-08 Grand Jury had made specific criminal allegations against the LCOE in its report.
“The whole idea of a Grand Jury is to bring to the public eye issues that they come across,” Hopkins said.
One of the Grand Jury”s findings was that a Lucerne Elementary student needing special education was inappropriately placed in a general education class at Clearlake Community School, which Lake County Superintendent of Schools Dave Geck said is an LCOE-run school for expelled, habitually truant, homeless and probation-referred children.
The findings go on to say that when the teacher reported the problem, the teacher was reprimanded, and reports about the student”s behavior were changed to “misrepresent the student”s academic achievements and behavior.”
The LCOE disagreed with the findings and said federal law prevented the office from giving specific information about a student.
The Grand Jury found that Geck signed a document falsely stating that an administrator had three years of full-time teaching experience necessary to enter a graduate program.
According to the LCOE response, Geck signed the document without knowing there was a discrepancy in the given dates of service. The response says the LCOE director of human resources will confirm and process such verifications in the future to avoid errors.
The Grand Jury said in its report that the LCOE created a position in 2007 for the same administrator without publicly advertising the position. According to the LCOE response, the administrator had held the position for six years until the title was changed “in response to changes in legislation.” The position was advertised internally, according to the response.
The LCOE also refuted the allegation that the administrator had received a $25,000 raise. The response said the administrator received $11,660 for health and welfare benefits.
The LCOE response said more than $9,000 spent in one year was for professional development activities in six programs that had more than 50 participants.
“The implication was that the expenses were meal and lodging expenses for one individual administrator. That was not true,” according to the response.
The LCOE disagreed with Grand Jury allegations of wrongful termination and verbal abuse.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com or call her direct at 263-5636 ext. 37.
