A private investigator hired by the Seattle School Board to investigate who should be held accountable for problems in the district's small-business contracting program released her final report Friday, which clears one district attorney but raises concerns about the former general counsel.
A Seattle attorney hired to investigate who should be held accountable for problems in Seattle Public Schools’ small-business contracting program released her final report Friday, which clears one of the district’s attorneys but raises concerns about its former general counsel.
Patricia Eakes, a former King County prosecutor, concluded Ron English, the district’s business lawyer, acted appropriately when he learned about problems in the small-business program, notifying former executive director of facilities Fred Stephens and English’s boss, Gary Ikeda, who also was the district’s ethics officer.
Eakes concluded English had a reasonable fear of being fired if he had gone to the school board.
But Eakes criticized Ikeda, saying he “essentially prevented English from alerting the Board to important information about the program and its claimed successes.”
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She also said a number of employees reported they felt Ikeda “didn’t want to know about problems,” and that perception “likely contributed to the general atmosphere of intimidation and fear in the facilities department.”
English, who had asked Eakes look into allegations he played a role in the small-business problems, said Friday he was pleased with the report’s conclusions.
“This has been a very long episode for me,” he said. “I’m glad it’s over.”
Ikeda said he was surprised English felt his job would be at risk.
“If Ron had asked me for permission to go to the board to inform them of this matter, I would have supported that,” Ikeda said. “It was my practice with that office that all the lawyers had responsibilities to the Seattle school district, and I respected their views as to what they should do as part of their responsibilities.”
The district said this is its final investigation related to the small-business program.
State auditors released a report in February that questioned $1.8 million in expenses from that program, which the district since has closed.
A previous report done by Eakes led to the dismissal of former Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson and one of her top deputies, Chief Financial and Operations Officer Don Kennedy.
In that report, Eakes said she found no evidence Goodloe-Johnson or Kennedy directly participated in any wrongdoing, but they knew enough that they should have done more sooner to stop it.
She also said the same about Stephens, who left the district last summer for a job at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C.
The King County Prosecutor’s Office continues to look into whether any criminal charges should be filed.
Susan Enfield, the district’s interim superintendent, said Friday she is “grateful that this portion of the investigation has been put to rest.”
She said she was pleased concerns raised about English had no merit.
She declined to comment about Ikeda, saying, “I’m not as worried about someone who is no longer employed here.”
Ikeda, who joined the state Attorney General’s Office in November and serves as that office’s chief legal adviser to the University of Washington, initially refused to talk to Eakes about his knowledge of problems in the small-business program, then changed his mind.
Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359 or lshaw@seattletimes.com and Susan Kelleher: 206-464-2508 or skelleher@seattletimes.com.