The Marietta Daily Journal
Tuesday, November 30, 2004 9:04 PM EST

Oliver Halle of east Cobb is a retired FBI agent who was hired last summer by the county school system to conduct an investigation into overspending at Kell High School.

Many letters to the editor have been published by the Marietta Daily Journal, and a number of editorials have been written concerning Kell High School. Now that all administrative actions have been completed concerning the principal and coaches, I can respond to the mistakes, wrong inferences and incorrect assumptions in the editorials. I hope to also clear up some of the misunderstandings of the well-intentioned letter writers. I encourage any concerned parents, administrators or citizens to read the final report, which can be obtained under the Open Records Act.

I am a retired FBI Special Agent who served for 28 years. I am a lawyer by education and a member of the North Carolina Bar. My investigative background was primarily in organized crime in New York City and public corruption cases in the Atlanta area. The Cobb County school district hired me on contract to investigate how Kell High School got into the financial mess that was detailed in the internal auditor's report dated April 20, 2004. This audit covered the local school accounts, not SPLOST funds, which are controlled at the main office. The school district wanted someone who was independent and who could be fair and impartial. I met with the attorney for the school district and Frank Cyr, chief of human resources, in late April.

I had never met Mr. Cyr before. He provided me a copy of the audit, which very clearly revealed that rules, regulations, policies and procedures had been violated over an extended period of time, but the report did not reveal how it had happened. The school district wanted a report that would answer that question so that it could take corrective action to prevent a similar occurrence in the system.

Cobb School Superintendent Joe Redden and I met one time, for five minutes, on the first day of my investigation. He and I talked briefly about our Vietnam experiences. He then told me to go to it. We have not communicated with each other since.

The following are key points that the MDJ editorials and writers of letters to the editor did not understand:

• Principal John Flatt did ask for a bookkeeper prior to the first year that Kell opened, 2002-03. However, during that year it was SPLOST money that was spent in preparation of the school's opening. Flatt and his secretary both received training from the central office in SPLOST management. A bookkeeper is not budgeted for a new school until July 1 of the first school year.
   

• There was no local money for athletic equipment, uniforms, etc., before Kell opened because the booster clubs had not raised any and there were no gate receipts. Uniforms and equipment were ordered in early 2002, but the vendors knew that payment was not due until the fall when there would be money. There would have been no money for a bookkeeper to manage until after July 1, 2002.
   

• The central office can remotely monitor the local school accounts. If the rules had been followed, all of the athletic purchases would have been entered into the system and someone in finance would have immediately discovered that more money had been spent than was available. This would have been reported to the appropriate persons.
   

• In the spring of 2003, area superintendent Jill Kalina first heard that Kell was having difficulty paying its bills from the local account. She contacted Flatt, who assuaged her concerns by saying that money was coming in to cover it. This is documented.
   

• In November 2003, Kalina received a call from a vendor who had not been paid. When Kalina asked Flatt about it, he assured her that money would be available in December. In February the vendor called Kalina to say that they still had not been paid. It was at this point that Kalina requested the central office to conduct an audit.
   

• Redden's name did not come up one time during the lengthy interviews I conducted. Not a scintilla of evidence was adduced that Redden knew about this problem until the audit. The same can be said for school board member Laura Searcy, and neither of their names appears in my report in connection with the financial situation. Had their names come up suggesting that they had had knowledge, I would have asked both to submit to an interview. Had either individual declined, I would have made prominent mention of it in my report.
   

• The MDJ editorialized that a more impartial investigation could have been conducted by the school board with the taking of sworn testimony. I respectfully disagree. I informed each witness at the outset that this was an administrative inquiry, that each was required to answer my questions truthfully, and that failure to comply could result in administrative action against them by the district.
   

• Kell High head football Coach Greg Vandagriff is quoted in a MDJ story dated Oct. 8 that I told him he had followed purchasing procedures, and that this was in my report. That statement is false, it is not in my report and no reporter contacted me for comment.
   

• Cyr did not "mother-hen" the investigation, as one editorial claimed with no evidence. In fact his instructions were clear - to find out what happened, and he put no limitations on those instructions. Had he done so, I would have declined to conduct the investigation. He instructed me not to make any recommendations in my report. I would have been unqualified to do so, as I am not a school administrator.

The MDJ has fanned the flames with inflammatory words such as referring to Redden as "General Joe" and Cyr as an "aide de camp." These pejoratives have no place in a reputable newspaper, particularly when talking about dedicated public servants. Name-calling does not advance the quest for truth.

Good people were badly hurt by a variety of circumstances, mostly of their own choosing. I have three children at Wheeler High School. I care about the Cobb public schools. This investigation was conducted with those thoughts in mind.