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State officials this week released the results of a much-anticipated audit of the Mountain View Whisman School District, which found that there was not sufficient evidence to suggest that fraud had occurred in the district.
Following heated public debate over district spending decisions, including six-figure contracts for meditation services and leadership coaching, the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team agreed in November to conduct an “extraordinary audit” of Mountain View Whisman. This is a type of review that is meant to investigate potential fraud, misappropriation of funds or other illegal fiscal activity.
After reviewing documents and transactions, as well as interviewing district officials, FCMAT concluded “that insufficient evidence exists to indicate that fraud, misappropriation of funds and/or assets, or other illegal fiscal practices may have occurred,” according to the Aug. 11 audit report.
FCMAT’s audit, which covered the period from July 1, 2022 through Oct. 7, 2024, looked at areas including contracts and vendor selection, travel expenses, expenditure reimbursements and credit card charges.
The audit was specifically looking into transactions tied to former Superintendent Ayindé Rudolph, who took a leave of absence on Oct. 7, before resigning on Nov. 1.
Current Superintendent Jeff Baier said in a statement on Friday that the district was pleased with the results of the audit.
“While we are encouraged by this outcome, the work doesn’t stop here,” Baier wrote in an email to the community. “As a district committed to continuous improvement, we see this audit as a valuable opportunity to strengthen our systems and enhance how we serve our students, staff, and community.”
When the Voice reached Rudolph for comment on Friday, the former superintendent said that his only comment was Psalm 37:6-9. The first part reads, “He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.”
The Santa Clara County Office of Education did not respond to a request for comment before the Voice’s deadline on Friday. The county’s superintendent of schools at the time had initially called for the FCMAT audit last fall, shortly before Rudolph went on leave.
Parents and community members had raised concerns about various areas of district spending, including the decision to hire a “certified master energy healer” to run guided meditation sessions and to hire an associate of Rudolph’s as his leadership coach. Concerns were later also raised about Rudolph’s spending on his work credit card and requests for reimbursement.
In FCMAT’s audit report, the state agency found that while meditation sessions “are an unusual employee benefit for a school district,” they could conceivably help with addressing employee stress and morale issues.
“Although somewhat unconventional, the retention of meditation services can best be classified as a local decision, subject to review and approval by the district’s governing board but not otherwise specifically prohibited,” the audit found.
As for hiring the search firm that selected Rudolph to provide coaching and mentoring, FCMAT said that “it is not uncommon for search firms to offer mentoring services to the candidates they have placed in various positions.”
When it came to Rudolph’s travel spending, FCMAT did not find any trips during the period reviewed “for which an educational purpose could not be determined.” FCMAT noted that once the auditors verified an educational purpose, they did not further assess the value of the trip for the school district.
The audit details two trips in particular where staff members stayed at luxury hotels. In one case, the audit states that because the hotel was near Central Park in Manhattan, the nightly rates (ranging from $455-$709) were similar to other large, nearby hotels. In the other case, the audit reports that Rudolph said that the primary conference hotel in San Francisco had been sold out.
As for expense reimbursements and credit card charges, FCMAT did not find any charges that lacked an educational purpose. However, the report did note that Rudolph charged the district roughly $290 per month for home internet, which was allowable, but that because of the way Xfinity invoices are set up, FCMAT couldn’t determine whether the charges included other services “such as cable television or home security monitoring.”
FCMAT also noted that once an educational purpose had been examined, the agency “did not otherwise assess the educational value and necessity of each expenditure.”
Santa Clara County Superintendent of Schools David Toston and county Assistant Superintendent Stephanie Gomez are expected to come to a Mountain View Whisman board meeting to present the audit results on Thursday, Aug. 21. According to Baier, the county officials may also offer recommendations to the board.
Baier noted that the district has also already put additional processes in place, including a procurement checklist for vendor and contract approvals and more restrictive policies on credit card use.
Gather ’round, children, and hear the tale of the great Mountain View audit! A brave band of parents, armed with pitchforks and misplaced outrage, demanded a state investigation into what they were sure was a vast web of corruption. They pointed to the ‘luxury’ hotel stays and the ‘unusual’ meditation services, certain they had found the smoking gun. But alas, after a thorough review, the audit returned with a shocking revelation: the district was guilty of… making ‘local decisions.’ The moral of the story? Maybe next time, just sign up for a yoga class instead of a witch hunt.
To Rudolph: Micah 6:8 – “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Leadership requires humility and accountability, not self-vindication.
Proverbs 6: v16, v19…fits right about here.
It’s easier to pick and choose the scriptures to fuel one’s ego.
For me fraud wasnt the issue, but common sense. Who builds on property they dont own or have a contract to use the land? I’m not a real estate expert but…..
Clearly…
Exactly! What public school district with failing academic metrics spends money on luxury hotels, cigars, expensive lunches and travel, nepo hires, yoga and meditations for employees instead of spending it on students? That’s the fraud – may not be financial but is on ethical terms!
Of course there wasn’t any fraud. This has been one of the best run districts in the Bay Area for almost a decade and it’s interesting that an attempt to take care of teachers and staff was what prompted an audit. The Psalm quote was mint. Thanks for the wonderful years of service.
MVWSD board caught not paying attention to its own superintendent. Fraud would imply that Rudolph misled them. No, they knew what they were signing off on.
All the FCMAT audit determined is that what happened at MVWSD does not meet the narrow technical definition of “fraud.” That doesn’t mean the spending under Rudolph – approved by Conley and others – was reasonable or appropriate.
Decide for yourself whether the following expenses are a reasonable and appropriate use of taxpayer money – money that should be for our kids’ education:
– $315,000 for “guided meditation” sessions with a “sacred energy healer,” specifically for the Superintendent and his leadership team (at a rate of $1200 per session)
– 9 years of professional coaching for Superintendent Rudolph at $40,000 per year
– Over $1,000,000 in “executive coaching” for the district leadership team (with Rudolph’s former colleagues)
– $384,000 for “public relations” to boost the reputation of Rudolph and district leadership
– $2,700,000 to renovate the District Office – which is only around 6 years old
– $3000 for Rudolph to stay at the 5-star St. Regis hotel in SF for a conference
– and much more
Conley (and the others) rubber-stamped these expenses without asking a single question – until parents started speaking up. Once Skelly became superintendent, he cancelled many of these contracts – an explicit acknowledgement that they were frivolous to begin with.
Meanwhile, teachers are asking for donations of art supplies, snacks, laundry services, and other basic items. And we can’t even afford to have full time music and art instruction, because our board has never made it a priority.
It may not be fraud, because the “board approved it.” But is this how our kid’s money should be spent? Decide for yourself.
https://recalldevonconley.org/why-recall
This! Thank you for laying it all out so clearly. May not be financial fraud but is ethical fraud for sure!
It’s laughable that people complain about these expenses while working at companies that have all these expenses. I love how folks like to misrepresent the heavily subscribed meditation sessions the teachers asked for, and how no one seems to know what a hotel room in San Francisco or New York costs. A simple examination of expenses across the district reveal that they’re all paying about the same amount for the same lines in the budgets…because that’s what it costs. Most companies in this area use coaching and mentoring. The State calls that out as a normal business expense. Funny how we don’t want leaders that endeavor to continue learning to be better….that somehow that’s just too much money to spend. It’s all good. Many of us benefited from almost 10 years of great leadership from the board and the former superintendent. We saw it and benefitted from it first hand.
1. The teachers were NOT the recepient of the meditation sessions. Only the top admninistrators were. According to the report: “Meditation services were ofered to various employees and administrators at the schools and the district ofce, though some staf members indicated they did not participate or did not see the value of such a service.” And no, “employees at the schools” did not include teachers.
2. People like to villify the tech workers because of the benefits they supposedly get. The VAST majority of tech workers (i.e. the taxpayers funding the school district) do not get to stay at a hotel (let alone a luxurious one) in SF that is < 50 miles away. Reimbursement for Caltrain tickets, yes. Perhaps even an uber/lyft, which will cost MUCH LESS than a St. Regis nightly rate. An uber ride will take you from MV to SF in about half an hour in the early morning, if that's his "real" reason for staying at St. Regis.
Also, staying at a Marriott central park hotel to visit one charter school in Newark, NJ was quite a stretch, nevermind his reason that "its proximity to various cultural venues that could enhance the educational purpose of the trip. ”". I'd like to remind everybody here that this supposed research was for the Castro school. How was this supposed to benefit the students of the Castro school???
You also seem to forget that a TAXPAYER-FUNDED school district cannot be compared with billion/trillion dollar tech companies.
3. Please show us your metrics for "10 years of great leadership from the board and the former superintendent". Simple queries to ChatGPT (the ex-supt's favorite tool) would say there have been continued declines since the pandemic (where some neighboring districts have been able to recover from) and worse: strong disparaties among racial/ethnical groups in both ELA and Math.
Need I remind you that we're talking about a school district here, so statements on "great leadership" need to align with the charter of the organization, which is to educate our children.
People who work in the private sectors are CONSTANTLY reviewed on their performance based on their results. Why can't we use the same standards to our public school district?
I agree with Mohan G.
While not meeting the technical definition of fraud, my interpretation of this is that it represents poor decision making and inefficient use of funds.
It seems the schools are always asking for more money.
I think they should spend the money they are allocated efficiently.
They should also be mindful of Mission Creep. This means spending money on things outside the Education Mission. They always come up with a beautiful narrative on why we should pay more taxes. Well, I think the era of piling more taxes upon more taxes (think about all the various types of taxes we pay, and they all want more) should be over. I will vote against increasing revenues for the this school district if they keep spending money like this.