Red flags raised over trip to Spain

By Emily Richmond

Monday, July 9, 2007 | 7:11 a.m.

In May 2006 the Clark County School District, desperately on the hunt for more teachers, sent two recruiters to Spain. The coach-class, round-trip airfare cost $2,628.39.

So eyebrows were raised when, less than a year later, Lina Gutierrez, then executive director of licensed personnel, planned a similar recruiting trip to Spain for herself and two fellow administrators. The cost of their tickets: nearly $18,000.

She booked separate, one-way flights in upscale business class.

The day before the flight, Clark County Schools Superintendent Walt Rulffes canceled the trip, distressed by the cost. The next day, Gutierrez retired.

The airline has refunded $17,795.92 in credit card charges.

Rulffes says he would not have approved business-class seats for any district employee, including himself. He also questioned why one-way tickets had been purchased, rather than round-trip, which are typically more economical.

But because Gutierrez has left the district, those questions became moot, Rulffes says.

Another question remains unanswered, and it appears to be one that only the Sun has asked. Why were the one-way ticket purchases divided among three district credit cards?

"I haven't a clue why three credit cards were used," Rulffes said. "I suppose that just adds to the anomaly."

Each credit card had a transaction limit of $3,000 to $5,000, which would have made it impossible to buy a round-trip business-class ticket to Spain using just one card.

Two of the cards were issued to the licensed personnel department and the third card to grant development and administration.

The travel plans were approved on Feb. 23 by George Ann Rice, who was then associate superintendent of human resources, according to documents obtained by the Sun.

Gutierrez could not be reached for comment about the Spain trip.

Rice, who retired from the district March 8, declined to discuss the overseas recruiting trips.

"There are other people doing those jobs now," she said.

Rice's replacement, Martha Tittle, was off work last week and could not be reached for comment. She already had canceled two other recruiting trips - to Puerto Rico and Guam - that were to have occurred after the Spain trip.

Handwritten notes on the travel documents indicate the tickets for two administrators accompanying Gutierrez on the trip - the district's director of teacher recruiting and an elementary school principal - were downgraded to coach class the day before the scheduled trip. Gutierrez's seats apparently remained in business class.

Rulffes said the switch to coach class wasn't enough to satisfy him.

"There were too many questions. There was no way I could let the trip happen," Rulffes said. "It just didn't smell right."

A Sun review showed no other questionable travel expenses connected with the 11 overseas recruiting trips taken in 2005 and 2006. All airfare travel was coach class and accommodations were all standard hotel rooms. The volunteer recruiters, typically central office administrators and the occasional principal, were each allocated $27 per day for food.

Rulffes said that after learning from the Sun of the use of multiple credit cards to pay for the canceled Spain trip, he intends to reexamine the circumstances around it.

When the School District's finances are reviewed, auditors routinely look for instances of "split transactions," in which the price of an item is divided into two invoices to circumvent the district's spending limit for a single item.

Rulffes said he didn't think the one-way tickets were an example of split transactions. Teacher recruiting travel is often paid for with funds from more than one departmental budget or grant source, Rulffes said. In those situations, multiple credit cards might be warranted, he added.

"I'm planning to investigate all of these details," Rulffes said.

Neither state law nor district regulations require public employees to travel coach when flying at taxpayer expense. But common sense should dictate behavior, said Tami Miramontes, a certified public accountant with the Las Vegas firm of Kafoury and Armstrong.

Miramontes, who conducts the Clark County School District's annual independent audit, has not seen the documents related to international travel. She said she would likely consider business class reservations and one-way tickets red flags if she came across them during a review of a public entity's expenditures.

Emily Aguero, one of the two administrators who were going to accompany Gutierrez to Spain, said she was unaware of the cost of her tickets and did not know the flights were booked one-way.

"I'd never been on a district trip before . It was all new to me," Aguero said.

Rulffes said he now reviews and approves travel outside of the lower 48 states.

The Spanish Embassy had covered nearly all of the district's expenses on two prior trips to Madrid. Rulffes said he learned there would have been a "token reimbursement" by the Spanish government for the March trip that would have fallen far short of the costs.

The Spain trip was first called into question after Rulffes was alerted by human resources personnel that Gutierrez was expected to retire immediately after returning.

"I think she was going to clean out her desk, take the trip and then be done," Rulffes said. "It didn't seem in accord with good judgment to send someone (on a recruiting trip) who was not going to continue with the program."

Clark County School Board trustee Carolyn Edwards said she was satisfied with Rulffes' swift action after questions were raised about the Spain trip. She also encouraged a deeper investigation.

"Dr. Rulffes needs to look into whether everything was on the up and up," Edwards said.

"Even if people have retired or left, you can still make sure everyone knows the policy and that this won't be tolerated. It's the responsibility of the organization to stay on top of these things and catch them whenever possible. Otherwise, I don't see how you have credibility."