ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The St. Louis Public School board is "licking its wounds" after the release of an internal audit that enlarges the faults of former Superintendent Keisha Scarlett.
On Tuesday morning, St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) released an internal audit indicating what the culture was like during the troubled administration of the former superintendent.
The internal 47-page audit revealed that under Scarlett's brief tenure as superintendent of SLPS, hiring and salary increases were made without board approval.
It also found that that 60% of more than $260,000 in credit card charges reviewed being deemed questionable, $34,000 in prohibited expenses for things like gifts and donations and $19,500 in non-reimbursable travel costs, unapproved first-class airfare and lodging that exceeded set limits.
"The superintendent wasn't bringing the board along with her decisions," said Board of Education of the City of St. Louis Vice President Matt Davis to KMOX News.
Davis says hiring a first time superintendent like Keisha Scarlett was a hard lesson learned.
"There was just too many things in there that were big important decisions that were made without board approval," said Davis. "Who's to say the board wouldn't have approved it? It's very possible. We gave her a lot of latitude to sort of implement her vision."
Davis says in Scarlett's original contract, which she was earning a yearly salary of $268,000, it stated "there needs to be honest communication and dialogue with the Board of Education" but admits "clearly" that didn't happen.
Davis says the audit's report on the culture created by Scarlett, with the audit stating the staff feared retaliation for resisting directives coming from her is "the thing that bothers me the most."
"It's very difficult, especially in today's environment, the city and all the scrutiny that we have on us," said Davis. "We need our superintendent and all our district leadership to really be leading and to be making sure that everybody is moving in the same direction."
"That culture that is described (in the audit) is not that."
The school district says it will be taking up the laundry list of recommendations at future board work sessions, which includes SLPS being recommended to update policies for credit card use, travel, and hiring.
Under Scarlett's brief leadership, SLPS went from a $17 million budget surplus to a $35 million deficit in just a year.
In addition, Scarlett faced criticism for hiring more than a dozen people, including the hiring of a communications person who planned to do the job from Houston.
Scarlett also faced criticism for the handling of a still-unresolved bus situation after Missouri Central Bus Company cut ties with the district earlier this year.
St. Louis Board of Education voted to fire Scarlett for cause in October months after she was placed on a "temporary leave of absence" in July just weeks before the start of the school year.