When it comes to submitting and verifying employee travel expense claims, it appears that the Recovery School District (RSD), in keeping with past performances as reflected in several state audits, is somewhat sloppy in approving what appear to be questionable travel expense reports by RSD employees.
Three unclassified RSD employees submitted itemized expense reports for travel in their personal vehicles covering a single month for one of the employees and multiple months for the remaining two. Though the reports covered at least five days of travel, each report summary sheet appeared to have been completed on a single day.
Even more curious was the uniformity in the case of each traveler’s giving the departure and return times for each trip.
James Delano Ford, Deputy Superintendent for the RSD and who is paid $145,000 per year, listed nine separate trips during April and May of this year. Seven of those trips were from New Orleans to Baton Rouge and one was from New Orleans to Claiborne Parish and the other from New Orleans to Caddo Parish. The latter two trips would involve round trip distances in excess of 600 miles but for all nine trips, Ford listed his departure time on his trip summary sheet as 6 a.m. and his arrival time back in New Orleans as 3 p.m. the same day.
On the individual travel expense statement form, however, he listed his departure time as 6 a.m. and his return time as 6:01 a.m. for each trip.
His trips to Baton Rouge were listed as having been taken on April 11, 16, 18, and 25 and on May 6, 9, and 13. The trip to Caddo Parish was given as April 26 and to Claiborne on April 29.
Tracy Guillory, RSD Executive Director of Achievement at $115,000 per year, claimed only five trips, all for the month of June. Three were to St. Helena Parish on June 11, 18 and 26, and two were to Shreveport on June 7 and 21. The two to Shreveport were to Lanier Academy, the same school visited by Ford in April.
His five individual travel expense statement forms each listed his time of departure as 6 a.m. and his return to New Orleans as 12 noon and his trip summary sheet listed the same departure and return times for the Shreveport trips, two of the St. Helena trips gave departure times as 6:30 a.m. and return times as 8:15 a.m. while the third gave a 6:45 a.m. departure time and a return time of 8:30 a.m.
Dana Peterson, Deputy Superintendent of External Affairs at $125,000 per year, was the busiest traveler, racking up 23 trips from Feb. 19 through June 8.
He is the husband of State Sen. Karen Carter Peterson (D-N.O.) who also is the State Democratic Party Chairperson.
His report included trips to St. Landry on Feb. 19 and March 18 and 21; Pointe Coupee on May 8 and 16, St. Helena on May 9 and Baton Rouge on March 22 and 25, April 1, 5, 9, 12, 16, 17, 18, 24, 25, and 29, May 1, 2, 20, and 21 and June 8.
June 8 was a Saturday.
And while he never bothered to list a departure and arrival time on his trip summary sheet, he, like the other two, was consistent in listing his departure times on each trip as 6 a.m. and his return time as 12 noon.
Eight of Ford’s nine individual trip reports were each computer dated May 21, 2013 with the lone exception being the May 2 date on his Claiborne Parish trip report. One of Tracy Guillory’s individual trip reports was dated July 22 and the other four July 24 while 22 of Peterson’s individual trip reports were stamped July 11. There was no individual trip report for the June 8 trip.
In each individual’s case, RSD Superintendent Patrick Dobard, whose $225,000 salary is second only to Superintendent of Education John White’s $275,000, by his signature, certified that the expense accounts were “just and true,” and each of the travel expense reports was audited by Administrative Business Official Shaundra D. Moore—on May 30 for Ford, July 11 for Peterson and July 29 for Guillory.
State regulations require that whenever a state vehicle is not available, “a rental vehicle should be used…for all travel over 99 miles.” The state’s contract for rental cars is with Enterprise Car Rentals and in an apparent effort to discourage the use of private vehicles, regulations stipulate that for trips of 100 miles or more in a private vehicle, “the traveler will reimbursed for mileage on the basis of 51 cents per mile only, not to exceed a maximum of 99 miles per round trip and/or day.”
Each of the 37 trips made by the three exceeded 100 miles and each charged for the maximum of 99 miles.
Guillory also made nine other trips in September but used a state vehicle for those trips.
With such lax procedures as allowing reports for several months to be compiled and submitted on a single day and with no real oversight in place (each of the travelers was in a senior management position with little or no real supervision), it would seem a simple matter to pad travel expense reports to make up for the 99-mile restriction—especially given the fact that some of these trips exceeded 600 miles round trip.
Why else, considering the cost of fuel these days, would an employee agree to use his or her own vehicle at a reimbursement rate of less than 20 percent of the mileage traveled on those trips to Caddo and Claiborne parishes? It simply does not make sense to do that unless…
And the uniformity of the departure and return times on each of the reports certainly raises additional questions as to their validity. There’s no way to possibly make a trip from New Orleans to Shreveport and back to New Orleans in six hours.
It’s a system that invites abuse.
We’re just sayin’…
This seems to be the standard M.O. for all things related to John White’s DOE. It’s not so much a system inviting abuse as it is a superintendent, Patrick Dobard, allowing the abuse. But then he’s just following the standards set by his predessesor who I believe was John White unless they’ve run a couple through the position since he left. Had a lower level employee acted and reported so irresponsibly they would be shown the exit to join our state’s rising unemployment rate.
Agree with Bob in BR. You wouldn’t get away with that at the large state institution where I work. People go over our travel with a fine toothed comb and the documentation requirements are rigid and over the top. The Enterprise Rental car rule is the biggest time suck and pain in the bottom for workers who regularly have to travel from Baton Rouge to New Orleans on behalf of the state. Find it hard to believe it’s cheaper than reimbursing people for the use of their cars. I think it’s in place to discourage travel regardless of whether or not it’s needed.
Someone had to sign off on those obviously fraudulent expense sheets. The cheating was approved. But it was the RSD. No accountability there–or education either.
RSD Superintendent Patrick Dobard signed off on all three.
It is very apparent that the entire RSD is a system designed to invite abuse. Unfortunately, the Jindal administration won’t do anything about it because it is also a system designed for abuse.
Besides someone has to be leader in all the accomplishments of rocket science of which they commute, what better teacher(s) than Jindal and White to follow in their daily work ethics and commuting skills. (Finer leaders cannot be found anywhere and being on the same page as Jindal & White they also have a “Do bar” to enforce the rules and raise the bar.)
Interesting that this article does not confirm whether the individuals ACTUALLY did their jobs and drove to the places that the paperwork says they drove. Lets say that IN FACT, these individuals DID NOT LIE and they DID drive to the designated locations, which I have no reason to think that they did not, what is the point of the story? That people are actually working at the RSD? Maybe your point is that Mr. Ford is actually owed more in gas and mileage than what he actually put down; which will then make him NOT A FRAUD but a good steward over the State’s money. Once again, we tend to believe the bad in people rather than the good. I would be interested to see some of your records to see who YOU have cheated!
The point of the story, if you’d bothered to read it closely, is that first, it is not customary to “save up” trip reports over multiple months and then fill out a your trip summary on a single day. Trip reports are supposed to be filled out and turned in for payment the day of or day following the actual trip. This did not occur with either of the three employees.
Second, the departure and return times on the individual travel expense statement forms do not match up with the departure and return times on the trip summary sheets. Moreover, it seems rather odd that trips to Caddo and Claiborne Parish and back—some 600 miles roundtrip—could be completed in nine hours (including time for conducting business at the destination).
Third, had these discrepancies simply been clerical errors, they should have been caught by Patrick Dobard, returned to the employee, and corrected. That they were not simply adds to the cloud of doubt as to the veracity of the expense reports.
Finally, I find it interesting, given your last name, that you chose to defend only one of the three about whom I wrote.
And by the way, which of my records would you like to see? I file a short form on my income tax, so I probably miss some legitimate deductions. This blog, LouisianaVoice, would not qualify for deductions because it is considered a hobby since I do not receive a dime for my writing but do incur significant expenses (gasoline, payment for documents, etc.) chasing down public records and stories. My book royalties are reported to the IRS by my publisher, so I can’t cheat on my taxes there. I passed up one good opportunity to cheat once when I found a brand new Visa card in the parking lot outside an Office Depot and called the owner and returned it. Sometimes I will even stop to pet a kitty. (Sorry to disappoint you in your effort to shoot the messenger.)
Business as usual under the corrupt leadership of John (not so lily) White.