(Sage Smiley / KSTK)
Wrangell’s school board says it’s working to officially reprimand its superintendent over her decision to charter a plane and book passage on a private ferry for herself and three other district employees to buy supplies in Juneau.
Travel and lodging expenses made up around 40% of the expenses on the trip, according to a purchase list obtained through a public records request.
The total trip cost was $6,262 dollars, almost $500 more than was initially reported to the school board on August 24. It also violated a moratorium on travel by public employees.
Superintendent Debbe Lancaster sent a mass-email entitled “Rumor” last Friday (August 28) calling attention to the fact that two Wrangell police officers were attending training in Ketchikan in an apparent violation of the city’s travel ban.
City officials responded that the trip had been approved and authorized in advance.
School board member Dave Wilson introduced a motion at Monday’s meeting calling for what the board called “a formal reprimand” that apparently referenced both her unauthorized travel and her recent mass-email.
Wilson’s motion reads in full: “I move that the Wrangell school board issue a formal reprimand to Superintendent Lancaster for her recent misconduct involving the staff trip to Juneau and communications with the borough and the media concerning borough travel policies and that the board president worked with the school district’s attorney to prepare the said formal reprimand and a plan of improvement to correct the superintendent’s misconduct.”
That motion had followed a closed door session with the school district’s attorney on Monday evening (August 31).
No other details were offered or made available to the public.
The junket led to the Wrangell assembly to rescind a quarter of a million dollars in federal pandemic aid until the district brings in tighter financial controls.
Lancaster has been instructed to repay her portion of travel and lodging expenses and penned a letter of apology to the Wrangell business community.
But questions remain over whether the three school district employees were required to repay the district for their portion of the trip’s expenses. Or why the superintendent found it necessary to take a four-person delegation to shop for supplies in Juneau.
At Monday’s meeting, School Board President Aaron Angerman repeatedly told community members they would not be taking comments on the superintendent’s actions.
“I would like to, again state that please no discussion about personnel doings discussing personnel could cause you to forfeit your time here on the floor,” Angerman reiterated before one of the persons to be heard.
Neither the superintendent nor school board president have agreed to comment about the August 20-21 trip or its aftermath.
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