School staff get technology perks

SEATTLE – Administrators in some Washington school districts are allowed to use taxpayer dollars to buy personal technology such as computers and iPods.

This perk can help superintendents and central office staff keep up with technology and take advantage of equipment like digital camcorders to facilitate staff training and record student activities, explains Paul Rosier, executive director of the Washington Association of School Administrators.

But in school districts where there are few restrictions on what the technology money can be used for, purchases like big-screen TVs and home-theater equipment are becoming more common, the Seattle Times has learned.

Top managers and supervisors in Bothell’s Northshore School District are allowed to spend $1,800 over three years to purchase personal technology for home use and be reimbursed with district money. The purchases do not have to be job-related and prior approval isn’t required.

All but 13 of the eligible 93 administrators in Northshore have taken advantage of the benefit under the current contract, which runs through June 2009, spending a total of $119,000 to date, the Times found by requesting a copy of the reimbursement records from the district under the state’s public records law.

Some of the money was used to buy big-screen TVs, camcorders, home-theater equipment and iPods, and if the employees leave the district, they are allowed to keep the equipment.

“Having access to a technology fund for the kind of technology you need in this world today is not a bad thing,” Rosier said Wednesday, but he cautioned that this kind of perk can be abused if parameters and clear approval processes are not in place.

“You want to make sure that the technology is for the goals of the school district,” Rosier added.

A technology fund may be the best way to make sure administrators have access to new technology, Rosier said: “One of the problems with technology is it’s almost obsolete at the time you buy it.”

He did not know how common these funds are among Washington school districts. Each district has a separate contract or agreement with its administrators. Rosier was aware of a few that have technology funds, but handle their administration differently.

Seattle, Bellevue and Lake Washington school districts all have agreements with their administrators that allow for the purchase of personal technology. But those districts limit purchases to job-related items and specify that the equipment belongs to the district.

The practice in Northshore came to light at a school board hearing on proposed budget cuts. Tim Brittell, president of the Northshore teachers union, asked how administrators could justify buying expensive electronics at the same time they were trying to cut costs.

“This is unacceptable, and this practice must stop now,” Brittell told the board, which approves all labor contracts. He said union members’ complaints about the use of the benefit led the union to request a copy of the district’s reimbursement records.

Northshore School Board President Cathy Swanson said she was unaware of what had been purchased under the benefit until she was briefed by the teachers union last week. The benefit isn’t unreasonable, she said, but the district needs to clarify the language to ensure that purchases are job-related.

“Does it look bad? Yes,” she said.

Dick Anastasi, the Northshore executive director of business services, and Laurie Ferwerda, executive director of human resources, both bought high-definition TVs with their allowances.

Anastasi said the monitor, for which he was reimbursed $1,800, can be hooked up to a computer and used for work.

“It’s part of our compensation package,” he said. “It was added to our contract as an incentive to keep employees current on technology.”

Ferwerda, who received a $1,438 reimbursement for a TV monitor she purchased from Costco, said she has used it to read work materials during labor contracts.

“We could have been given a raise instead of this benefit, and perhaps, in hindsight, we should have been,” she said.

Several administrators said they viewed the benefit as part of their salary.

Asked if she had any qualms about spending $500 in public money for a digital camera, Accounting Director Holly Burlingame said, “no more than someone who bought a case of wine with their salary.”