Report on questionable spending at St. Louis Public Schools leaves out most of the credit cards

ST. LOUIS — The investigation of the former St. Louis Public Schools superintendent revealed $260,500 in credit card spending in one year — and that only covers about one-fifth of the cards issued by the district.

The four credit cards included in the investigation were issued to Keisha Scarlett and three other staffers who reported to the ex-superintendent.

But “there were at least 16 other district cards that were not within the scope of this review,” according to Armanino, an accounting, consulting and technology firm asked to do the investigation.

Issuing that many credit cards is a departure from the district’s practice, according to current and former elected leaders. Matt Davis, vice president of the SLPS board, said there were three district-issued credit cards prior to Scarlett’s arrival in July 2023.

It is unclear how the additional credit cards were approved or distributed. One of the 16 cards has been used by SLPS board President Antionette “Toni” Cousins, according to multiple sources in SLPS’ central office.

Former SLPS board presidents Joyce Roberts and Dorothy Rohde-Collins said Wednesday they were not provided credit cards during their terms between 2018 and 2022.

In her one-year tenure, Scarlett racked up more than $88,500 in questionable charges on food, gifts, personal care and travel on her designated credit card, the report states.

But Scarlett was spending tax dollars even before starting the job in July 2023, according to expense reports obtained by the Post-Dispatch through a public records request.

The district reimbursed Scarlett for a $160 business class train ticket between Washington and Philadelphia on April 10, 2022 — nine months before she was even named the school district’s next superintendent. The expense was authorized in May 2023 by Shameika Henry, secretary to the SLPS board, and Angie Banks, the chief financial officer.

Other reimbursements to Scarlett outlined in the expense reports include:

• A train ticket from Philadelphia to Washington in February 2023 for $85.
• A flight from Washington to Phoenix in March 2023 for $378.90.
• Two separate charges of $982.13 and $1,038.60 for hotel rooms in St. Louis from March 26 to March 31, 2023.
• A flight from Atlanta to Seattle in May 2023 for $278.90.
• A flight from San Antonio to Philadelphia with no date for $308.90.

The report also confirmed previous reporting from the Post-Dispatch that nine new administrators connected to Scarlett were awarded a total of $1.3 million in salaries that were above the district’s pay scale.

Most of the new hires left SLPS in the wake of Scarlett’s ouster, but the expense reports also shed light on the spending by her replacement, Interim Superintendent Millicent Borishade. Scarlett brought Borishade with her to SLPS in July 2023 from Seattle, bypassing the district’s hiring process.

In October 2023, Borishade approved her own expense report showing $11,540.43 on hotel rooms for 13 SLPS family and community specialists at a conference in Kansas City.

Borishade expensed $547.56 to attend a National Blue Ribbon Schools ceremony in Washington in November 2023.

In May, Borishade spent 15 days in Japan at a cost of $10,868 to attend a conference for the School Superintendents Association. The trip included school visits in Kyoto and Tokyo along with visits to a Zen Buddhist temple and the birthplace of instant noodles. Borishade spent one night at the Millennium Hilton in New York City on the way to Japan. The expense report was approved by Scarlett.

Scarlett’s chief of staff Manal Al-ansi also had access to a credit card and an expense account. In January, Al-ansi charged the district $1,073.40 for a payment to the Washington State Bar Association and $125.43 for a set of LSAT study books. Al-ansi was escorted out of the SLPS central office by security in July.