Superintendent spent school funds on trips to Disneyland Resort and meals at Fleming’s

Superintendent Beth Polito. School district photo.

BY AMELIA BISCARDI
Daily Post Staff Writer

Las Lomitas Elementary School District Superintendent Beth Polito charged Disneyland Resort hotel stays, meals at Fleming’s Steakhouse and rooms at the Four Seasons hotel in San Francisco to the taxpayers, according to credit card receipts a parent obtained from the district through a California Public Records Act request.

Susanna Chenette started looking into the district’s finances because of a teacher strike, trying to figure out if the district’s claim that there wasn’t enough money to meet the teacher’s request of a 10% raise was true. Chenette began digging and found what she considers to be discrepancies.

The teachers union went out on strike for three days and won a 16% raise over three years and fully-funded health insurance. The district says the new contract will cost at least $8.3 million. The contract will raise the average teacher salary to $143,208.

2023 Disneyland trip
Superintendent Polito submitted credit card statements for hotel stays designated as “DLR Resort Res.” for a total of $1,888.38 in January 2023. “DLR Resort” is shorthand for the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim. Polito and other district employees were in Anaheim for a California Distinguished Schools gathering, according to school board President Heather Hopkins.

“I think this poor board has been taken for a ride by a very sophisticated and experienced superintendent who knew exactly what she could get away with,” Chenette said.

President Hopkins said the board will discuss these con- cerns and consider if a third-party audit over credit card charges was needed.

“I think the board will try to use the audit to show that it did nothing wrong,” Chenette said.

Polito said in an email to the Post that she often places group meals or group hotel stays on her card and that “total charges on my card often doesn’t reflect my personal consumption.”

She also added that her contract allows for $10,000 a year for “professional coaching and development.”

Dining, hotel charges

Polito spent $746.21 at Flemings Steakhouse in Palo Alto on December 23, 2023, a Saturday during the district’s winter break.

Assistant Superintendent Valerie Park spent a similar amount over a month earlier at the steakhouse for $700. Flemings, located in the Stanford Shopping Center, charges more than $60 for many of their classic cuts, according to their menu.

According to an invoice from the public records request, $2,355.18 was spent during a stay at the Monterey Plaza Hotel and Spa, located along Cannery Row.

The school district also paid for her stays at San Francisco’s Four Seasons hotel. Her stay on Feb. 19, 2024 cost $390.17 and another on March 24, 2023 cost $151.79.

Polito submitted an invoice for $1,686.02 at the Wallace Hotel in Manhattan, which calls itself a luxury hotel with an arrival date of Sept. 3. A room with a single queen bed there can range from $319-$719 a night.

Polito $315,362 in total pay in 2023, according to the government pay tracking site Transparent California. She is retiring in August.

1 Comment

  1. A few hundred dollars and only $10000 in leadership coaching? This is peanut as compared Mountain View Whisman school district’s Superintendent Ayinde Rudolph who spent close to a million in multiple leadership coaching, meditation, and PR contracts to boast his reputation. What a Superintendent can get away with when he has friends in the board. His friend Devon Conley did NOT put any CAP on coaching and professional improvement contracts.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.