Review of the Lompoc Unified School District (LUSD), conducted
by the Santa Barbara County Civil Grand Jury after complaints arose earlier
this year, has revealed both a lack of fiscal control and serious ethical
shortcomings surrounding the relationship between Board of Education member
Bill Christen and his spouse, Tina Christen, LUSD’s Director of
Special Education.
The official report, released by the Grand Jury in late June,
concluded that LUSD failed to uphold its self-professed mission to provide
“leadership and citizen oversight of the district,” based on decisions that
gave unfair benefit to Christen’s spouse and her department.
The jury conducted a series of staff interviews and a full
review of all fiscal documents dating back to 2012, the year Christen was
elected to the board. It was from these sources that the Grand Jury noted Bill
Christen’s dual vote — in January 2014 and May 2015 — to approve salary
increases that directly benefited his spouse. Complaints of department
favoritism were further sustained by $283,000 worth of invoice payments for
special education department books that circumvented all systems of approval by
the board.
Other findings revisited issues noted by independent audits of
years prior. In 2015, audit reports show lackadaisical internal financial
control over allocation and disbursement of funds. A discrepancy for travel
accommodations for spouses, a fee that should not have been covered by the
district, was also present in the Grand Jury’s findings.
In addition to a lack of financial integrity and transparency,
the Grand Jury also pointed to complaints of LUSD’s hostile work environment.
Employees who appealed to the Grand Jury feared retaliation, in the form of
hostility and/or termination, if remarks were made public.
In a list of recommendations intended to remedy both immediate
and structural issues, the Grand Jury’s suggestions included the reimbursement
of pay increases received by Tina Christen, as well as making ethics training a
district-wide requirement. LUSD administrators were not available to comment on
potential steps to move forward.
As the “public’s watchdog,” the Grand Jury defers all legal
judgments to District Attorney Joyce Dudley, who has yet to release a statement
on the matter. The district’s Board of Education has 90 days to respond to the
Jury’s findings and recommendations.
July 6, 2016
Santa Barbara Independent
By Maddie Lee
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