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By Matt Hrodey

Over the course of an 18-month period, the West Allis/West Milwaukee School District spent $204,398 in public funds on employee travel, including $1,976 for a “Deluxe Lunch Buffet Cruise” on Pewaukee Lake, a Frontpage Milwaukee investigation found.

The student investigators obtained copies of 54 files selected from district records on employee travel from July 2004 through December 2005. The investigation found that at the district’s expense, West Allis/West Milwaukee administrators:

• Spent thousands in August 2004 and August 2005 on buffets and a Lakeview Lanes cruise on Pewaukee Lake

• Lodged at premiere and resort hotels while attending professional conventions

• Ordered food that was delivered to management, administration and board meetings

• Held breakfast and lunch meetings at local restaurants

• Charged various retail purchases to employee travel accounts

The expenses were incurred at a time the district was complaining about financial issues. In a March 21, 2005 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, then-board President Rita Kohls, an accountant who’s served the board for six years, said that recent revenue shortages will lead to spending cuts. She also said that cuts have already affected the swimming teams and library directors.

The district’s 2004-05 annual report, which covers July 1, 2004 through June 30, 2005, lists employee travel expenses totaling $156,362. During this period, the district spent less than $150,000 on textbooks, the gifted and talented program and transportation for student field trips and co-curricular activities.

“I think we do a good job,” said Superintendent Kurt Wachholz. “There could be an opportunity for even more employee travel.”

A large portion of the employee travel expenses examined covered registration fees for teachers and administrators to attend professional conventions in Wisconsin. In July of 2004, 31 employees attended math, science, reading and technology workshops at the West Bend and Waukesha Sally Ride Academies. Registration fees totaled $6,200.

According to Director of Instruction Christine Vento-Bente, education conventions give teachers the tools they need to meet No Child Left Behind requirements for state funding.

“It’s absolutely paramount that we stay current,” she said.

School officials also attended national conventions in Miami, Atlanta, San Diego, Chicago, Baltimore and Dallas. Chairwoman Jane Leto and three students attended a Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) National Leadership conference in June 2005 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville. The district paid $917.25 in hotel costs: Leto’s room plus half of the students’ bills.

To coordinate its agenda for the upcoming school year, the district typically holds two weeks of meetings in August. Most meetings, Superintendent Wachholz said, are held in the district offices or at schools, but some are held off-site.

On August 16, 2005, the district paid $1,976 to Lakeview Lanes Entertainment Center for a “Two Hour Deluxe Lunch Buffet Cruise” on Pewaukee Lake for 47 district officials.

“As part of the afternoon session, we went out on a boat on PewaukeeLake,” Wachholz said.

Lakeview Lanes charters a 57-foot, three-deck “luxury motor yacht” for large groups. Wachholz said the district’s group had lunch on the boat and held discussions, meetings and team-building activities.

The cost for the outing was appropriate since it promoted unity and provided an alternative environment for discussion, Wachholz said. “It accomplished really bringing our school district administrators together.”

On August 17, 2005 the district purchased a $3,235 buffet that concluded workshops held at the Brookfield Sheraton—a three star hotel. The previous August, officials spent $1,367 for a banquet after similar workshops at the Wauwatosa Radisson—another three star hotel.

Board of Education President Darlene Ziemendorf called the events at the Radisson and the Sheraton “board academies,” mandatory meetings for the board, administrators and principals to set district goals and conduct workshops.

The superintendent and the Board organized the yearly academies at rented facilities. “If you have something off-site, you can feel more relaxing,” she said.

Ziemendorf, who has served as Board President since May of 2005, defended the cost of the 2005 academy at the Sheraton. “It’s definitely worthwhile,” she said. “You need to be more relaxed. Otherwise, people would have had to arrange for all that stuff.”

Wachholz said of the Sheraton academy’s overall cost, “When you break that dollar amount down, it really becomes pretty workable.” He added, “No matter where you go, the costs are pretty similar.”

The Sheraton buffet included, in addition to entrees, a $195 cheese and sausage tray, a $150 deviled eggs tray, 62 gourmet bars, and four pounds of snack mix. Service charges for the event totaled $539.

Since overall charges for the Sheraton event reached $3,289, officials exceeded the credit limit of the US Bank Visa Business Card issued to Wachholz for district expenses. The balance, records indicate, was not paid until Sept. 13, 2005. By then, the district had exceeded the limit by $459 and had incurred fees and interest totaling $58.

Administrators, according to Wachholz and Assistant Superintendent Doug Linse, use district credit cards for various departmental needs that include ordering food for district meetings, securing hotel rooms and purchasing gas when officials travel on district business.

School administrators attending meetings and conventions during the 18 months investigated lodged at the Blue Harbor Resort in Sheboygan, the Kalahari resort in Wisconsin Dells, the RainTree Resort in Wisconsin Dells, the Osthoff Resort in Elkhart Lake, the Stone Harbor resort in Door County, the Heidel House Resort in Green Lake, the Madison Concourse in Madison, and the Hyatt Regency in Milwaukee—all of which are currently three to four star hotels.

Superintendent Wachholz attended a Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators (WASDA) meeting in Madison in December of 2005. He lodged at the Madison Concourse and charged $127 to his district credit card for a night in one of the “Governor’s Club Level” rooms, the hotel’s 100 most luxurious rooms.

Assistant Superintendent Linse spent $363 to lodge at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Milwaukee during a state convention in January 2005 since the commute from his home, he estimated, would take almost two hours.

According to Linse, school administrators get reduced rates for hotel rooms during professional conventions. Special Education Coordinator Kathi Shepardson spent a night at the Kalahari resort in October 2004 for $62, less than half the lowest standard rate for that night in 2006.

Human Resources Director Tina Dayne spent two nights at the Blue Harbor Resort in Sheboygan with her colleague Joanne Butler in April 2005. Lodging for two nights cost $516 while they attended a Wisconsin Association of School Personnel Administrators (WASPA) convention held in the hotel’s conference center.

Room reservations and conference registration fees are usually presented as package deals, Shepardson said. She was unsure if administrators or teachers could opt to lodge elsewhere.

Dayne stressed that networking is a central reason for attending education conventions, and staying on-site gives administrators more time to meet officials from other districts.

District records also demonstrate that administrators and board members, during the 18 months investigated, charged food expenses to employee travel accounts. West Allis restaurants included: Big Ebe’s Pizza, Filippo’s Italian Restaurant, Cousins Subs, Mamma Mia’s on Greenfield, Panera Bread, Krispy Kreme, Buffalo Wild Wings, Barbiere’s Italian Inn, Applebee’s, the Olive Garden and Pallas Family Restaurant.

The investigation found three occasions where the Board of Education ordered food delivered to a meeting. Costs totaled $290. Superintendent Wachholz said, “If we’re having a board workshop where we’re having a lunch because it’s an all-day workshop, that’s when we use the credit cards.”

Board President Ziemendorf said the expenses were appropriate. “You work better when you’ve got food in you,” she said. “It’s just normally subs or pizza.” Ziemendorf added that most board members arrive at meetings after a full workday.

During past negotiations with the teachers’ union, according to Superintendent Wachholz, administrators took turns with union officials in ordering lunch. When administrators ordered, they paid through employee travel accounts.

Wachholz was unsure where the union funds for lunch came from. “I would imagine their union accounts,” he said.

Receipts indicate that Wachholz held breakfast and lunch meetings at Applebee’s, Barbiere’s Italian Inn, the Olive Garden and Pallas Family Restaurant that cost the district a total of $162.

Receipts also indicate that Michael Mangan, energy educator for the district, visited the Milwaukee Ale House approximately two hours after he returned from a training seminar in Dallas on May 3, 2005. At 10:51 p.m., Mangan paid $8.42 in cash for “buffalo wings.”

He later entered this expense as lunch for that day on his Travel Expense Statement for the trip, and he was reimbursed for all listed expenses on May 31. Mangan was unavailable for contact during the investigation.

The investigation found that purchases of fruit and other snacks for meetings, a $99 “mini refrig” from Target, centerpieces, poinsettias and other items from Michael’s Arts & Crafts and an oscillating fan from Menards were charged to employee travel accounts. Assistant Superintendent Linse said, “These probably would have been supply items that were improperly coded.”

In its 2004-05 annual report, the district’s general fund shows employee travel expenditures of $124,298; the special education fund shows expenditures of $16,254; and the community service fund shows expenditures of $15,809.

$57,526 is attributed to “Instructional Staff Training,” and $40,661 is attributed to “General Administration.” In August 2005, officials purchased services at the Brookfield Sheraton, the Wauwatosa Radisson and Lakeview Lanes under “Employee Travel” for the “General Administration.”

Revenue for the general, special education and community service funds is $37.2 million in local property taxes, $43 million in state aid and $2.9 million in federal aid. The district’s total property tax levy on the West Allis/West Milwaukee area is $38.3 million.

A one-story, three bedroom house on W. Lincoln Ave. paid $1,012 to the district in 2006. The Cousins Subs at 9124 W Lincoln Ave. paid $3,335.

Between 1995 and 2003, the district passed $5 million, $3.5 million and $12 million referenda to improve facilities and create a “Debt Service Fund” that spent $1 million in local property taxes during the 2004-05 fiscal year and was budgeted to spend $1.7 million by July 2005. According to a district report, enrollment has fallen by approximately 400 students from 2002 to 2005.

The original open records request, dated April 6, 2005, asked to see all employee travel records and reimbursement forms and attached receipts from July 2004 through December 2005.

Assistant Superintendent Linse said to accommodate the request, “It is estimated that it would take approximately 40 man-hours at $36 per hour…The initial labor cost would amount to $1,440 paid in advance.”

An attorney from the State Programs, Administration and Revenue Unit of the Wisconsin Department of Justice in Madison contacted Linse and the West Allis district attorney during April to express her concern that the estimated costs were questionably high and possibly not in compliance with state open records law.

The district, on May 2, provided 360 copies from 54 files at no charge to the students.

The West Allis/West Milwaukee School District consists of the City of West Allis, the Village of West Milwaukee and parts of New Berlin and Greenfield. It has two high schools, two middle schools, twelve elementary schools and approximately 9,200 students enrolled in K-12. It is the 13th largest school district in the state.