Yesterday, Ohio Auditor of State Mary Taylor released special audits as part of an investigation into Daniel Burns, a former district administrator at the Toledo and Cleveland school districts who is accused of stealing $820,000 from the two districts over the course of eight years.
Articles today from the Toledo Blade and Cleveland Plain Dealer reveal that Burns also:
???????Ordered background checks on private citizens who were critical of the district superintendent,
???????Used private investigators to tail district employees to find out how they spent their workdays and whether they were feeding "inside information" to school board members, and
???????Hired a security firm to do a "sweep" of the superintendent's office and car, likely looking for listening devices.
Eugene Sanders, the superintendent of both districts during Burns' tenure, as well as spokespeople for each district say they had no knowledge of Burns' actions, and there is no evidence to the contrary. One can't help but wonder if there is a "Deep Throat" somewhere lurking in the shadows of Cleveland or Toledo waiting to tell all. If you are out there, Gadfly would love to hear from you.
-Emmy Partin
