Gorman and School Board Flying High
Last October, Gorman nearly outdid himself when a flurry activity sent him to the Broad Institute’s Superintendents Visit in Atlanta for two days; a one-day layover with the U.S. Department of Education; and a three-day powwow with the Council of Great City Schools Conference in Portland.
Gorman, though, wasn’t the only CMS honcho flying across the country. School board members gave him a run for the money, with former chairman and current board member Joe White leading the pack.
The school board chairman is allotted $6,150 per year for travel, while board members have to scrape by with $4,100. If board members exceed their allotments, they are penalized $1,000 and flogged with a wet noodle. OK, that’s a lie; they simply snag the money from another board member’s travel account and keep flying. Like many things with the CMS Board of Education; travel money is fungible.
Because White didn’t serve a whole term as board chair last year, his allotment was prorated at $5,125 for a half-year term. White overshot that amount by nearly two grand, blowing through just over $7,000. His travels took him to the Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE) Annual Conference in Las Vegas; a North Carolina School Boards Association (NCSBA) conference in Greensboro; the National School Boards Association (NSBA) Federal Relations Network Conference in Washington, DC; and the NSBA Annual Conference in San Diego.
A former school board member and current county commissioner, Vilma Leake received a prorated travel allotment of $2,050 last year. Similar to White, she also ran in the red, leaving office with a negative balance of $471. Leake spent $2,521 on trips to Las Vegas for the CUBE Conference, to Miami for a CUBE Issues Seminar, and to Alexandria, Virginia, for yet another CUBE conference.
Other board members with prorated allotments for half-year terms were a bit more frugal. Out of her $5,125 travel kitty, former board member Molly Griffin salvaged a $2,000 balance, transferred nearly $2,000 to another board member, and spent just over a grand for a trip to Albemarle for a district NCSBA meeting and a journey to Raleigh for the NCSBA President’s Invitational Conference.
Before jumping from the school board to the board of county commissioners, George Dunlap spent about $1,700 to attend the CUBE convention in Las Vegas and left $315 on the table – back home, that is, on the CMS table and not in Vegas on the craps one.
Board member Kim Mitchell-Walker was down right frugal by comparison, spending $364 for a trip to a NCSBA meeting in Raleigh and leaving a $1,666 balance from her original $2,050 allotment. Ditto for board member James Ross, except he shelled out $550 for the NCSBA meeting in Raleigh. Board member Tom Tate spent $892 to attend the NCSBA Annual Conference in Greensboro, leaving him with a balance of $3,200 from his $4,100 allotment. Trips to Raleigh for a state legislators meeting and to Braselton, Georgia, for a Broad training seminar depleted just over $1,000 from board member Trent Merchant’s allotment.
Rounding out the board’s travel itinerary, Kaye McGarry barely squeaked by with an ending balance of $992, after blowing through $3,100 for trips to San Diego to attend a NSBA conference and to Las Vegas for a Center for Reform of School Systems conference. Flying to Vegas on the taxpayers’ dime apparently being one way to reform school systems.
Gauvreau’s travel was limited. He left the board with a balance of $4,100 from his allotment of $4,100.
“It’s just wrong,” he said, “to be flying all over the country for a bunch of feel-good conferences and photo opportunities.”
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