Conniving school superintendent not so super

Activities at school districts typically generate local media coverage. In the case of the Simptomkin School District, the local newspaper ran an article about superintendent Smith's annual performance review. The article noted that during his tenure, Smith's scores on his reviews had steadily declined. The article also said that he'd been the subject of a police investigation resulting from his electronic communications with a female student.

Shortly after the newspaper published the article, the school board placed Smith on administrative leave and indicated the underlying cause was separate from the recent press attention but didn't disclose the reason publicly.

Unbeknown to the general public, the board had placed Smith on administrative leave following accusations of falsified receipts, errors in his expense reports and credit card misuse. The school board hired our firm to look into the accusations against Smith. (I've changed all names in this column.)