Germany trip catches attention of state auditors

State auditors conducting a forensic examination of the Joplin R-8 School Distriict have been closely examining a 2012 fact-finding trip to Germany taken by former Assistant Superintendent Angie Besendorfer and Executive Director of High School Instruction Jason Cravens, administration sources have told the Turner Report.

It already looked like a breach of ethics for furniture companies seeking to land contracts to equip the district's new schools to pay for district officials to come to their facilities, but even worse was when a company with a facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, decided to pay for Besendorfer and Cravens to come to its headquarters in Germany because it had a "bigger showroom" there, according to Besendorfer.

That company later received a single bid contract for furniture for East Middle School, Soaring Heights Elementary School, and Irving Elementary School.

As the Joplin Globe related in its Oct. 27, 2012, edition, the German manufacturer, VS Verenigt Spezialmobelfabriken, paid for Besendorfer and Cravens to come to Germany for two days at the beginning of October. The two took their spouses, according to the Globe article (the spouses paid their own way) and took a couple of vacation days sightseeing in Germany after seeing the furniture.

Plus, as Besendorfer noted, they had a chance to play with the furniture and jump on it, like schoolchildren might.

All of the school officials interviewed by the Globe said there was nothing wrong with allowing the company to pay for the administrators' trip and for whatever else was paid for while they were in Germany.

Board member Randy Steele, who was board president at the time, said the trips made no difference because "the bid comes to us, so we, as the board, make that decision, not the person who went on the trip."

Superintendent C. J. Huff told the Globe, "The district is obligated to accept the lowest qualified bid."

The board approved a contract for $59,107.07 to provide the furniture for the schools. The reason V/S was the only bidder- "V/S is a single source provider of furniture for some products that meet the needs of our learning spaces."

As Besendorfer told the Globe, "I'm confident we have done nothing inappropriate."

It will be interesting to see if the auditors agree.