CHASING THE PAPER TRAIL: BOARD OF KENTUCKY SUSPENDED DISTRICT'S USE OF CREDIT CARD

Copyright 1995

An American Express account Neyland Clark used while superintendent in Bullitt County, Ky., was suspended by the school board just prior to Clark's resignation in January 1991.

Clark said last week the board suspended the card to make him look bad.

"They conducted a 20-day investigation and found no allegations of wrongdoing," he said. "There was no wrongdoing on the card. They wanted to cast dispersions on me."

But Nick Raley, who was president of the Bullitt County school board at the time, said last week the American Express card was suspended because Kentucky law says school officials must be reimbursed for expenses after turning in receipts. The credit card wasn't really reimbursement.

"As far as I know everything he put on the bill was approved and appropriate," Raley said. "It was just something you couldn't control."

Another board member in Kentucky, Layne Abell, was elected on an anti-Clark platform. He said he objected to Clark's use of the American Express card. "He would run up huge amounts without any documentation."

John Hardwick, who was a Clark supporter on the Bullitt County board, thinks the decision to suspend Clark's credit card was, at least in part, politically inspired.

Hardwick said no wrongdoing was ever found. But he said the district attorney warned the board that an American Express card comes with a possibility for misuse.

The Bullitt County school district doesn't have an American Express account now.

George Valentine, who took over as superintendent in Bullitt County after Clark resigned, said board members asked if he wanted a credit card. "I just felt it's not a good practice to use a credit card. We cancelled it."

Valentine had been high school principal under Clark.

He said the credit card bill was considered a receipt, but Valentine wasn't comfortable with that situation.

In Kentucky, the state's education department and finance department don't recommend use of a credit card.

"It's too easily manipulated," Valentine said. "That's not to say Dr. Clark did. It's just that expenses weren't accounted for, so you didn't know."

Valentine is retiring in June, after 36 years in the county schools system.

Clark asked for an American Express card during negotiations to take the Cape Girardeau job.

Cape Girardeau board members Ed Thompson, who visited Kentucky before Clark was hired, said last week he didn't know of any issues concerning the American Express card in Kentucky. Board member Pat Ruopp, who also was on the board when Clark was hired, said he didn't know of any problems with the credit card either.

Three of the five members serving on the Kentucky school board when Clark resigned said no one from Cape Girardeau asked them about Clark, much less the credit card.

But at least two people from Cape Girardeau contacted former board member Linda DeVries.

DeVries served on the Bullitt County board from 1982 to 1990. She said Clark received positive evaluations while she served on the board.

"He had exceptional evaluations in 1990," she said. "But the board changed. There was a new board in 1991, and there were some hostilities with new board members."

DeVries and former board member Betty Porter served on the search committee that hired Clark for Bullitt County in 1987.

DeVries said, "We had a lot of accomplishments under Neyland's leadership."

The district started a comprehensive drug and alcohol abuse prevention program and developed an alternative school for students who had been in trouble with police.

"Neyland was hired for Bullitt County to make changes," she said. "Some people don't like changes. But if you're going to have growth, you have to have change. And someone will be upset with the changing."

DeVries said the board asked Clark to make changes in the central administration soon after he arrived.

As part of the change, Clark brought a college colleague, Jim King, to the district's central administration.

DeVries said King was unpopular among some district administrators but always did his job.

She said teachers wanted to form a union and negotiate a contract, which caused unrest in the district.

The district's financial officer Carol Richards was fired, upsetting some teachers.

Board member Abell said: "I felt his personal relationships with board members were not good. He was tied with certain factions."

Hardwick said Clark developed close personal friendships with some board members, but he didn't see any problem with that.

The Kentucky school board has five members. At one point all five supported Clark. Then the board changed, and four of the five supported Clark. After a board election in 1990, the board changed to three member who opposed Clark and two in support. Clark resigned 29 days after the new board members took office.

Porter said, "I regret the day we lost Neyland Clark for the kids of Bullitt County."

Raley said, "We worked out an agreement that was mutually beneficial. There was no bloodshed."

Members of the Bullitt County school board and its attorney said they couldn't discuss terms of Clark's settlement. which was part of the agreement.

But Raley said he thought Cape Girardeau school board members should have checked Clark's background more thoroughly.

Raley said no one from Cape Girardeau talked with him about Clark before he was hired. "He wasn't going to put me down as a reference, but I think board members have an obligation to check beyond references."