Nepotism, misuse of funds, unqualified teachers found in Wheaton audit

The petition audit of the Wheaton School District, posted today on the Missouri State Auditor's website indicates the district has had a number of problems recently. The audit covered the school year that ended in June 2005.
The audit uncovered instances of nepotism:

Various board members apparently violated the district's conflicts of interest policy. For example, a school board member approved payments totaling $1,387 to his wife's flower shop, another school board member approved $1,275 in additional compensation to his wife, another board member approved selling a district vehicle to his father, and another board member and the board president approved payments to themselves to serve as score keepers at ballgames.

Plus, cases of uncertified teachers and librarians:

The district has employed a librarian during the 2005-2006 and 2004-2005 school years and two teachers during the 2005-2006 school year that were not certified or appropriately certified by DESE.

And, they paid money to employees and former employees for grants and workshops without documenting that the work was actually done or the workshops actually attended:

Additional compensation totaling $31,400 was paid to 38 employees' for attending meetings and workshops, and for after school tutoring during the 2004-2005 school year. The district failed to enter into extra duty contracts or require the employees to document their time spent at these functions, and the additional compensation was not included on the employees' W-2 form nor subjected to payroll tax withholdings. In addition, the district paid monies to former employees for work on a grant, but had no extra duty contracts. Also, a former superintendent resigned in January 2003 and was paid $34,000 in severance pay; however, the superintendent's contract did not provide for severance pay and there was no documentation that the board obtained a legal opinion to support their decision.