****UPDATE: Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools has announced Jonathan Scott will serve as the district’s interim Assistant Superintendent Business and Finance.****
The Assistant Superintendent of Business and Finance for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools has resigned, according to district officials.
Jennifer Bennett resigned on Monday, a district spokesperson told Chapelboro. The resignation is related to a $767,070 agreement the district had with the consulting company Education Elements, which violated school district policy.
The CHCCS school board shared Bennett’s resignation in a message sent to parents and staff Monday afternoon. The letter, which explains how the contract violated board policy 6420 by not coming before the board for approval, said the school board has been working daily to resolve the violations. The board members listed five ways the district plans to address the situation regarding its relationship with Education Elements. In addition to previously holding closed sessions to discuss the matter, issuing statements to the public and requiring reports from administration on the work with Education Elements, the district will now begin an investigation of contracts and consulting services used by CHCCS and initiate procedures for greater oversight of expenditures. According the message, the goal for all the steps are to improve financial oversight and transparency.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School District entered a partnership with Education Elements in 2019 so the consulting firm could help construct framework for the district to move toward a personalized learning model. A draft contract between Education Elements and CHCCS shows a $767,070 total, but correspondence obtained in a public records request shows the two organizations chose to deal with smaller, separate agreements.
Emails between Bennett and managing partner of Education Elements Jason Bedford revealed payments were specifically structured to keep the agreement away from a school board vote. School board policy requires any agreements for $90,000 or more be approved in a public vote by the school board. The district made at least three payments from June 2019 to December 2019 totaling $259,470, with all payments ranging between $82,800 and $89,300. Bennett had signed five additional service of work agreements with Education Elements all on June 28.
The CHCCS school board shared statements on December 5, 2019, saying the contract had been suspended for being “inconsistent with district policies.” At its meeting on February 13, 2020, leadership later clarified and said the contract violated board policy 6420. Superintendent Pam Baldwin said in a statement at the meeting various policy changes would be considered to improve transparency and ensure more contracts approved by the district leadership would be reviewed by the school board. She said the district had agreed to a settlement with Education Elements equal to the work the company was owed for December 2019, totaling $82,800.
In its message to parents and staff, the district also announced the school board will hold a special meeting on March 5 at 7 p.m. to provide opportunity for public comment related to the issue of the contract and partnership with Education Elements. In their message, board members said it will be a chance for the community to comment on school board’s contract authority and the new whistleblower policy it hopes to enact, which would protect those reporting information from retribution.
“It is clear to us that our policy required the Education Elements agreement to be submitted to the Board for approval and for comment by our community,” said the board’s letter. “We understand the importance of continuing to work on our Instructional Framework as outlined in the Strategic Plan with broad stakeholder involvement. We appreciate that each person who has written, asked questions, or voiced concern about this issue comes to this place with concern for our staff and students. Similarly, our Board is committed to each and every student in this district, and we will continue to work to ensure that our schools are places where our staff and our students can thrive.”
Bennett joined the school system in the CFO role in February 2019. Her resignation is effective April 30, 2020.
In the linked February 20, 2020 article, Superintendent Baldwin’s comments suggest that the failure to obtain Board of Education approval for the Educational Elements contract was due to an oversight when phased payments exceeded the $90,000 limit over time.
The February 20th article also makes clear, however, that Assistant Superintendent Bennett consciously sought to avoid the Board of Education’s review and approval of the contract by having Educational Elements divide the contract into eight separate contracts with phased payments. She also signed all eight agreements on the same day, making CHCCS subject to the aggregate amount.
It is highly unlikely that Ms. Bennett would have sought to evade Board review by such means on her own and without the Superintendent’s knowledge. It’s difficult to believe Ms. Bennett would have risked exposure and termination unless she knew she needn’t fear discovery of the ploy by the Superintendent.
At the Special Meeting March 5th, the Board should require Superintendent Baldwin to answer the Board’s questions in public and on the record.
The police need to investigate superintendent Baldwin.
Follow @backchccs on Twitter. Be a part of the conversation at a gross abuse of power.
Yes, did Ms. Bennett go rouge or did Superintendent Baldwin know? Let’s get some answers March 5th.
Nyah Hamlett isn’t any better, her racist hiring policies and discrimination against hiring white needs to be brought to the media’s attention.