BY AMELIA BISCARDI
Daily Post Staff Writer
Disneyland tickets, receipts from Fleming’s Steakhouse and stays at the Four Seasons in San Francisco hotel were found in the Las Lomitas School Districts’ credit card statements from a parent’s Public Records Request.
Susanna Chenette started looking into the district’s finances because of the 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 accepted a contract for a 16% raise over three years and fully-funded health insurance, following a three-day strike. The district says the new contract will cost at least $8.3 million. Under the new contract, the teachers will receive a 7% raise for the 2023-2024 school year, bringing their average pay to $143,208.
Polito submitted credit card statements for six three-day Disneyland tickets costing a total of $1,888.38 in January 2023. It was not immediately known who attended the trip or why district representatives were in Disneyland.
“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.
Board President Heather Hopkins said the board will discuss these concerns at the board meeting tomorrow (Nov. 6). An item was added to the agenda to 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. “All the audit will really do is confirm that expenses match receipts; it will not speak to whether this spending is proper or appropriate.”
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 part of her contract allows for $10,000 a year for “professional coaching and development.”
Polito spent $746.21 at Flemings Steakhouse in Palo Alto on December 23, 2023, a Saturday during the district’s winter break according to the academic calendar.
Assistant Superintendent Valerie Park spent a similar amount over a month earlier at the steakhouse for $700. Flemings charges over $60 for many of their classic cuts, according to their menu.
“When I travel, I typically book hotels that are much cheaper than the conference-sponsored hotel. I use Hotels.com and almost always get good rates when staying at a nice/safe hotel within walking distance of the conference,” Polito said.
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.
Polito also paid for stays at San Francisco’s Four Seasons hotel, one posted on Feb. 19, 2024, for $390.17 and another for $151.79 on March 24, 2023.
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, who made $315,362 in total pay in 2022, is retiring in August.
This is the second local school district in the past three months where parents have dived into the finances and questioned district spending habits.
Parents criticized former Mountain View Whisman District Superintendent Ayinde Rudolph after they looked at the district’s finances. Parents said Rudolph was spending too myuch on contract that don’t directly benefit students. He hired his former boss as his personal coach and brought in an “energy healer” to mediate with 159 employees for $121,150.
Ayinde had been on leave since Oct. 7, days after he announced the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team would be auditing the district for potential fraud.
The board appointed Kevin Skelly, 63, of San Mateo, as interim superintendent on Oct. 22.
Rudolph announced his resignation on Friday, saying that he wanted to focus on his family after a recent health scare. The district will pay Rudolph $98,259 to leave his position without suing.
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