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The following press release, issued today by the Klamath Trinity Teachers Association, announces a succession of “no confidence” votes recently cast against the chief financial officer of the Klamath-Trinity Joint Unified School District.

In an accompanying email, KTTA Co-President Robert Anderson alleges that fiscal reporting mistakes and abusive behavior from the CFO have increased over the past year.

“At the same time,” he continues, “the political rhetoric coming out of Washington DC has made it clear that our district is about to face incredibly painful cuts to our funding. As a district serving tribal lands that states may not tax, our district receives federal impact aid which in addition to the Title 1 funding amounts to over 60% of our annual funding. This promises to be worse for us than the Great Recession was.”

Hoopa Valley High School Principal David “Scotty” Appleford was cc’d on the email issuing the press release, and in a reply-all email of his own Appleford said, “This district has been in historical turmoil for many years as we struggle to serve our indigenous children.”

Though she is not identified in those emails or in the press release below, the CFO in question is Carmelita K. Hostler. The Outpost reached out to her via the district’s website to request a response to the allegations. We’ll update readers if and when she replies.

We also reached out to the Board of Trustees for the district to request a statement on the situation. 

Here’s the press release:

An overwhelming majority of principals, teachers, and support staff have all signed separate votes of no confidence in the district’s Chief Financial Officer, citing a pattern of abusive behavior to district employees, serious financial errors, and misrepresenting the fiscal state of the district. 

These three separate letters follow collective shock in March that the school board was proposing to lay off or eliminate the majority of special education aids, a special education teacher, and other student supports. The school board voted narrowly against most cuts only after a large community outpouring of support for special education programs.

Separate Freedom of Information requests of the district’s independent auditor uncovered budgeting errors approaching one million dollars for the last two consecutive years, as well as failure to disclose accurate financial information to the school board, and $1.2 million of unspent grant money for student services. 

Six of the seven principals employed by the district had filed the first vote of no confidence on April 8th, citing their concerns over financial mismanagement, audit violations, and non-payment of services that directly harmed services to the students, and unprofessional abusive behavior by the CFO. The also expressed concerns over a “disconnect between financial leadership and educational priorities”.  

The teachers’ union had lodged a vote of no confidence against the CFO four years ago citing a hostile work environment and retribution created by the CFO that has remained unresolved.

The teachers’ union followed the next day with their second vote of no confidence in the CFO. This echoed the concerns of apparent financial mismanagement, lack of transparency, and misinforming the school board. According to the union, student services have been directly harmed by mismanagement and misrepresentation of the district’s finances. “Good people can make bad policy if given bad information,” they noted in reference to their view [that] the proposed cuts in March were misguided and would have gutted services to vulnerable students. 

The local CSEA [California School Employees Association] unit 347 representing aides, office workers, and other vital services wrote: “These are not isolated concerns or interpersonal conflicts. They are systemic issues that undermine public trust and impact student outcomes, employee morale, and overall district operation.”

At this time, there has been no official response or reaction from the School Board. In the April Board meeting, it was revealed that the CFO had not included the full findings of the district’s independent auditor. Community members and staff asked for accountability for the unspent grant money intended for student services within the time of the grants. Over $1 million aimed at after school activities and other uses went unspent while the board had been informed that there was not enough money to fully staff those programs as needed.

The community and staff turned out in numbers again during a special meeting to discuss the hiring of a new superintendent and once more asked the board to recognize the votes of no confidence and investigate financial matters and unprofessional behaviors by the CFO. As dozens of people still showed up with their concerns to a procedural meeting and only a twenty-four-hour notice, it seems clear that this issue is not going away through inaction.

Many of these employees feel that they have stuck their necks out to make the district aware of critical problems in how its finances are being handled on the eve of a period of cutbacks for a district that relies on federal funding more than many others, in addition to a long history of poor communication and retaliation from the CFO.

We can only hope to see the board take some appropriate action for the next regular meeting planned for May 13th at the District Office in Hoopa. As the district relies on federal funding more than many other districts, cuts to education are already placing pressure on the district. This has increased the resolve of teachers and other staff to get our financial house in order by replacing the current CFO that has had to many issues and drawn so many complaints over the years when the fiscal situation was more stable.

[Signed]

Kimberly Moon
Robert Anderson

KTTA Presidents