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Dining at Michelin-starred restaurants. Stays at swanky hotels. Three-thousand dollar trips to eat out in downtown Menlo Park. Such spending has been highlighted in a community petition, which made multiple allegations of fiscal mismanagement by the Las Lomitas Elementary School District during recent labor negotiations with the teachers union. The school board is now considering a third-party audit of district spending.
This news organization reviewed over 600 transactions made by top administrators on district credit cards. The cards were meant for “emergency purchases or transactions which are not typically accepted by purchase orders, such as travel/conference related costs,” according to Lead Deputy County Attorney Gina Beltramo, who has responded to records requests on behalf of the district.
On Sunday, Nov. 10, the teachers union, Las Lomitas Education Association, took to its Facebook to post that district educators and community members “are feeling an urgent need for the board to take action in response to serious concerns regarding financial and ethical matters that have recently come to light regarding our superintendent.”
“We are calling for an immediate investigation into any potential misuse of public funds particularly in relation to the superintendent Beth Polito and our chief business officer,” the post states. “Given the apparent complicity in these issues, it is critical that we act swiftly to uphold transparency and accountability. Beth Polito must be removed from her position now.”
Polito did not respond to a request for comment on the call for her to resign. Polito did announce last month that she would retire in August 2025.
This news organization also reviewed some travel expenses and discovered administrators ate and stayed at luxury restaurants and hotels.
In a review of credit card statements from this calendar year, which includes transactions from Dec. 10, 2023 to Oct. 9, 2024, it appeared that district administrators spent taxpayer money routinely on catering and delivery from local restaurants.
In less than a year, district administrators ordered at least $38,879 in food and groceries, most from local restaurants or through DoorDash and ezCater.
District parent Susanna Chennete originally requested credit card statements and shared it with this news organization. This news organization verified the authenticity of the documents. She said she was prompted to request the credit card statements because the district claimed it could not afford to pay teachers more.
This news organization divided charges into categories — including food, groceries and Amazon purchases — based on the descriptions listed on the statements. Due to the limited information available on the statements, each category may not include a complete list of relevant charges.
The Almanac requested over 100 receipts, as well as the most recent credit card statement from Oct. 10 to Nov. 10, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
$2K on a lunch at Cafe Wisteria, frequent DoorDash orders
District administrators dined at local restaurants, spending $3,004.22 at Left Bank in Menlo Park on March 29, $2,094.27 at Cafe Wisteria on April 19, and $1,034.53 at Left Bank again on Feb. 23.
However, the bulk of spending consisted of smaller catering orders. Administrators ordered catering through ezCater at least 31 times and DoorDash at least 28 times.
This news organization asked Superintendent Beth Polito and board President Heather Hopkins if they thought this spending was appropriate and if there was a policy governing when administrators should order food on the taxpayer dime. Neither answered those questions. Polito said in a statement, “Outside auditors review our books three times a year to provide an annual report to the board of any mismanagement of resources. We have received no findings of any kind for many years.”
“The context behind each of these credit card charges is really important. For example, when staff travel together, they will often put multiple staff hotel stays and group meals on the corporate card. We also typically use cards to pay for local retirement parties and the like,” she added.
Every administrator that had food expenses in the past year, including Polito, was given a list of their credit card charges and an opportunity to provide context on their spending. Few did.
Las Lomitas Elementary School Administrative Assistance Deanna Celis said that the $213.18 trip to Dutch Goose was a holiday event for classified staff. The $258.51 Avanti’s Pizza order and $243.16 DoorDash order for LuLu’s Mexican restaurant were meeting lunches for teachers. She added that all three were approved by Las Lomitas Elementary School Principal Alain Camou.
“I can honestly state that all charges made to DoorDash, Starbucks and Woodside Bakery were for school-related events such as staff appreciation, lunch meetings with staff, and Principals’ Coffee. The latter is a parent facing event that happens every couple of months. Staff appreciation and lunch meetings happen throughout the course of the year,” Camou said separately via email.
The records obtained only include spending on district credit cards. District staff also purchased food using their personal accounts and submitted them for reimbursement from the district.
Travel expenses
In September, five district administrators and one teacher flew to New York to attend the Mossflower Think Tank. The administrators were Superintendent Polito, Principal Camou, La Entrada Middle School Principal Bjorn Wickstrom, Assistant Superintendent Valerie Park and Director of Student Services Marta Batlle.
While in New York, district administrators dined at two restaurants by Michelin-starred chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten: ABC Kitchen and ABC Cocina. Administrators also stayed in The Wallace, a four-star hotel on the Upper West Side.
This news organization requested all expenses related to the trip but has yet to receive them.
A credit card charge from Aug. 22 indicates that Polito upgraded to first or business class on a United Airlines flight.
This news organization also requested reimbursement requests relating to every taxpayer-funded trip in the past year. According to Beltramo, “The district does not maintain a running log of who submitted reimbursement requests, nor of the people who have engaged in an activity that may result in a travel reimbursement request.”
The district told The Almanac that it would allocate 30 minutes per week to search for reimbursement requests.
A review of older credit card statements showed that this behavior is nothing new.
Polito stayed at the San Francisco Four Seasons Hotel in 2023 at least twice, costing the district $861.09. In a phone interview, she said she was there to interview Loyola Marymount graduate students as part of their credentialing process. She defended the choice to stay at one of the most famous luxury hotels saying that she got a good deal through Hotels.com.
On an October 2022 trip to New York, Poltio ate at the two-Michelin-starred restaurant Jean-Georges which cost the district $218.91.
Board looking into third-party audit
During its Nov. 6 board meeting, the board discussed hiring an auditor to review spending on district credit cards and travel reimbursements.
Multiple trustees advocated against paying for a third-party audit due because they believed it would not provide new information.
“I don’t have a problem with a third-party audit except I don’t think we should be spending money on it. We aren’t going to get any real insight except for ‘yes these expenses occurred,’” said Trustee Paige Winikoff. “The broader issue is how we are spending money and any transparency we can provide would be helpful.”
Trustee Gautam Nadella said he would like to know a couple of facts first before making a decision like costs and what the firm would be doing.
“I think we need to dig into this sooner rather than later but right now I can’t ask we approve an audit without more details,” he said during the meeting.
The board discussed having the San Mateo County Office of Education audit district credit card spending at no cost to the district. During the meeting, members of the board stated they were unsure of what the process was and what the result would be. The board eventually directed the finance committee, consisting of Trustee Jason Morimoto and Nadella, to contact the Office of Education and start that process.
“The board has committed to a third-party audit of past credit-card charges to ensure alignment with district policy, and identify corrections, if needed. We will also reevaluate current district policies and practices related to credit-card expenditures and reimbursements to make sure they reflect best practices and the district’s current needs,” board President Heather Hopkins said in a statement to this news organization.
Hopkins said that Morimoto has reached out to the San Mateo County Office of Education to request a third-party audit but did not answer questions about how the audit would work or if the office has agreed to conduct it.
The Almanac asked Morimoto and County Superintendent of Schools Nancy Magee if either are considering an AB 139 Extraordinary Audit, which occurs when the county superintendent suspects “fraud, misappropriation of funds, or other illegal fiscal practices have occurred that merit examination.”
“The County Office is working with the district to understand their needs and how we can best support them,” Magee responded.
Do this for Sequoia Union High School district. You’ll find worse.
And these people ha be the gall to ask taxpayers for more money. Is it ever enough? Fire them all and start off again with half as many—no one will ever know the difference.
This same Board/Superintendent is proposing a parcel tax now to cover shortfalls.
Apparently Polito did the same thing at Woodside – underpay and divide teachers, cause labor negotiations, and the propose a parcel tax.
Sad to see so much waste going on with our public-school administration. Maybe if they didn’t waste so much of the money they already get from property taxes and other sources, they could maintain the school facilities without constantly asking taxpayers for more funding via Bond initiatives and parcel taxes.
I wouldn’t overreact to this just yet. More facts are needed. Looks like the biggest charges highlighted are a lot of group meals and group hotel charges. Many in the spreadsheet appear to be supplies. Much is charged to senior officials’ cards, as usually happens in office environments. The district likely has a policy that puts a cap on nightly hotel and meal charges, so let’s
see if those were exceeded on a per person basis. For instance, the Four Seasons stay – how many nights, at what rate versus the cap? What’s the policy for plane flights? etc. There’s definitely some things that need explaining and maybe some policies that need changing but let’s get all the facts before passing final judgment.
Unfortunately, at least for the superintendent, the facts we have demonstrate clear violations of District Policies and Polito’s contract.
The Board’s mandatory travel policies (Board Policy 3350 and Administrative Regulation 3350) prohibit flight upgrades. Polito repeatedly upgraded her flights to economy plus and even business class.
BP3350/AR3350 also dictate that “reimbursement for lodging shall not exceed the conference rate offered by the host hotel should the employee stay at another venue.” For a Monterey conference at the Portola Hotel, Polito stayed at the Monterrey Plaza, then did a $150/night room upgrade, and even stayed over on the Friday night when the conference ended at 10:30am on Friday – all paid-for by the District. For a recent two-day phonics workshop in NYC on 9/4-9/5, she arrived on 9/2 and stayed six total nights, at $799.33/night (the phonics workshop was just for us and could have been done virtually).
BP3350/AR3350 prohibit “[e]ntertainment not related to conference scope” and yet Polito has charges for the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and Disneyland park passes.
BP3350/AR3350 limit per diem reimbursement for meals to $75.00, which “does not accrue from day to day.” It also provides that “expenditures over the per diem rate will be the responsibility of the employee [and a]ll reimbursements need to be supported by an itemized receipt.” Here, Polito’s meal reimbursements far exceed this per diem limit and were not supported by itemized receipts.
Finally, Polito’s contract authorizes reimbursement “for all actual
and necessary expenses incurred by the Superintendent within the scope of employment in accordance with applicable District policy, not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500) per month without the written authorization of the Board President.” Polito’s expenses since 2022 total roughly 5k/month (10x what she’s authorized to spend), and to-date the Board has been unable to provide any written authorization for the additional expenditures. In fact, Board President Heather Hopkins insisted that, for example, the NYC workshop was four days (it was two, shown by District emails).
Polito’s Contract also requires her to have a “vehicle available at all times to perform the duties of superintendent,” and yet somehow she accrued $7.6k in Uber charges over 2.25 years?
There are also charges for a 21k two-day, one-night meeting at the Santa Cruz Dream Inn for admins/Board in August 2022. I personally would rather our school first have a full-time music and full-time art teacher before we spend on admin/Board retreats at that level.
I too hope we get more facts here. I also don’t think we should overreact. But this money is taxpayer money; its supposed to fund education and to support children.
Agree. Thanks for sharing the relevant policies.
Why are six of them even going to the Mossflower Think Tank? That group has been completely discredited for their ineffective method of teaching kids to read. Not to mention Mossflower’s very close affiliation and overlap with Columbia University which has been widely criticized for allowing rampant antisemitism.