Richland 1 auditor says he was told to not issue written reports. District leaders deny it
Richland District 1’s internal auditor says Superintendent Craig Witherspoon and a former board chair told him to stop issuing written reports, according to a memo.
But Witherspoon “strongly disagreed” with that claim during a school board committee meeting on Monday. The auditor’s claim sparked an exchange among Witherspoon and board members Jamie Devine and Robert Lominack, who thought he was being accused of racism.
The dispute comes as Richland 1 is under scrutiny by two state agencies. The district has been under fiscal watch by the South Carolina Department of Education for a year and a half. In January, the state Inspector General began an investigation into Richland 1 at the request of state Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver, after the district was accused of not obtaining the proper permitting to begin construction on a $31 million early learning center in Lower Richland.
A memo written by Richland 1’s internal auditor, Kelvin Washington, was posted on social media this week. In the memo, which explained the lack of a formal distribution of a Columbia High School audit, Washington noted that the superintendent and a former board chair had an ongoing request asking that he not issue any written reports. But he did not note in the memo why the request was made.
The State has reached out to Washington about the memo.
The memo, which was written on Feb. 21, was brought up by Lominack at the board’s committee meeting on Monday. During the meeting, board members discussed the district’s budget and a request to Richland County Council for a tax increase.
“That destroys our credibility,” Lominack said about the memo at the meeting. “It destroys our chances at getting more money.”
Richland 1 administrators boast that the district is one of the few in South Carolina with its own internal auditor. Witherspoon said that the district has had clean audits for the last 36 years. But at Monday’s meeting, Lominack alleged that the board rarely listens to the auditor. Lominack cited concerns the auditor raised about the district’s use of procurement cards, or “p-cards,” for making purchases, as well as contracts Richland 1 has with some companies.
Lominack said the board hadn’t received a report from the auditor in over a year.
Witherspoon defended the administration. “The whole internal audit process has turned into some kind of negative and ‘I got you,’” he said.
“It appears you have asked him not to provide anything in writing,” Lominack said.
“I would strongly disagree with that statement,” Witherspoon replied. “I have not said to an internal auditor not to report. ... This district has continued and always been transparent.”
Witherspoon repeatedly said he “strongly disagreed” with the assertion that he asked the auditor to cease written reports.
Board member Jamie Devine interrupted Lominack, saying he was “one person, one opinion,” and accused Lominack of trying to make the district look bad by “surprising” the board with the auditor’s memo.
“This is 2024, this is not back in the 1950s and 1960s, where you can disparage a certain group of people,” Devine, who is Black, said. “I’m not going to stand for it. ... This happens when folks don’t like certain people doing certain things.”
Lominack, who is white, said that it was a “veiled, not so veiled” accusation that he was upset about the memo because Witherspoon is Black.
“The district provided this memo, but apparently doesn’t know about it,” Lominack said. “So don’t blame me for some kind of surprise.”
Devine took issue with Lominack’s reference to race.
“I did not say that,” Devine replied. “If that’s how you feel, that’s how you feel.”
In a statement sent to The State, Witherspoon said he had not seen the memo before it was brought to his attention on Monday. He and former board chair Cheryl Harris denied that they instructed the auditor to cease written reports.
“In regards to the specific matter addressed in the memo, the internal auditor was asked to provide an update in person to the entire Board and answer any questions that might arise,” Harris said in the statement.
Lominack declined to comment further on the record. Devine could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.
Richland 1 was put on fiscal watch in December 2022 after former state Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman raised concerns over “significant deficiencies and material weaknesses” in a p-card audit that she said could affect the financial well-being of the district. The district tried to appeal, but it was denied.
The state Inspector General has been investigating Richland 1 since January, after Richland County issued a stop work order for construction on the Vince Ford Early Learning Center. The district has been accused of beginning construction before going through the proper channels of approval and not obtaining the proper permitting after the state Department of Education told them it couldn’t be considered a public school building.
The State reported that as of May 3, the paused construction has cost the district $813,000 for site security, inspections and stabilization.
This story was originally published June 5, 2024 at 11:43 AM.
