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Sheriff requests help from SBI for investigation of superintendent

By Jim Bradley
By Jim Bradley

UNION COUNTY, N.C. — UPDATE: Nov. 12-Union County Sheriff Eddie Cathey requested the assistance of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation with help investigating complaints filed by a member of the Union County Board of Education and Union County Board of Commissioners on Thursday.
 
The Incident Report, filed by a school board member, alleges that employees of the Union County Public Schools, along with another individual employed by a multinational computer technology company, formed a private consulting company that could possibly be profiting from sale of computer equipment.

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"I feel that the public's best interest would be served by having an independent law enforcement agency examine these allegations, as our contractual relationship with the school system might be construed as a conflict of interest in a full investigation," said Cathey.
 
The sale of equipment and technology is valued at several million dollars, and has been questioned by Board of Education and the Union County Commission as a possible conflict of interest.

"We will cooperate fully with the SBI as they proceed with this matter, and offer any additional assistance they might request in connection with this investigation," Cathey said.
 
In a Special Meeting of the Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday, in an open session, commissioners voted unanimously on a motion to ask the Sheriff's Office or the SBI to investigate the allegations against the individuals involved and the role of the corporation in the acquisition of the computer technology.

Cathey is requesting the SBI to perform the inquiry in the interest of full transparency, in that his office deals directly with the individuals involved and the Union County Public School System in contracting for and administering the county’s School Resource Officer program.

The Union County School Board held a closed-door session Tuesday to discuss ethical questions involving the superintendent’s outside business dealings.

The Union County School Board voted to ask the sheriff's office to investigate business dealings by the superintendent.

Channel 9 has learned that Superintendent Mary Ellis has formed a company with two other high-ranking school system employees as well as a man who works for the same company -- Lenovo -- who has sold millions of dollars’ worth of computers to the school system.

Educatrx is the name of the company that lists Ellis as president.

Eyewitness News anchor Liz Foster found out Tuesday that a contract between the school district and Lenovo clearly states that "no member of UCBOE or any of its employees or officers has a personal or financial interest or will benefit from the performance of the contract."

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Forms filed with the North Carolina Secretary of State’s Office list two other top UCPS administrators as leaders in Educatrx.

Tony Burrus, the school system’s chief technology officer, is vice president and Deputy Superintendent Mike Webb is listed as secretary of Educatrx.

The name that’s raising eyebrows is Educatrx treasurer Jason Mooneyham, who is also a sales executive with computer make Lenovo, which is in the middle of a contract selling thousands of laptops to Union County Schools worth millions of dollars.

Former teacher Dennis Rape said it has the appearance of a conflict of interest.

"If the superintendent is in business with another venture and is profiting from the association, that's a problem for me," Rape said.

School system sources said there’s no evidence that anyone from Educatrx has profited directly from the Lenovo computer deal.

But they understand why taxpayers may see a potential conflict of interest.

“There have been some rather serious allegations made. I think we owe it to the citizens of Union County to employ outside counsel and immediately investigate this,” board member Kevin Stewart said Monday.

Another LLC with the same four people as members and the same address as Educatrx was created in July. Foster showed the paperwork to board member Stewart before the private meeting Tuesday and he said he didn't know about the other company.

"I hope to call for an investigation both internally to examine policy issues if they exist and to ask law enforcement through the sheriff to intervene to answer any allegations of a criminal nature," he said.

Union County Schools released a statement Monday afternoon, saying that the school board “gave Dr. Mary Ellis permission to write, consult, teach and patent her intellectual property in March of 2014.”

That may help explain Ellis’ decision to start Educatrx, but her ongoing connection to a Lenovo sales executive still leaves Rape with questions.

“All I can say is it sure looks like it needs further eyes than the nine people with the board. They need to pull the bales back and allow transparency from an outside agency to look and see what’s going on,” Rape said.

The sheriff said once his office receives a formal complaint from the commission, they'll decide whether to hand the case over to the SBI.

Here is the statement from the Union County School Board:

<em>"The Board of Education gave Superintendent Dr. Mary Ellis permission to write, consult, teach and patent her intellectual property in March 2014. The situation in question is a confidential personnel matter and is being addressed accordingly."</em>

  • The Union County Board of Education approved a contract with Lenovo for $3 million in June 2012 for the 1:1 laptop initiative signed by then-Superintendent Dr. Ed Davis.
  • In May 2013, the Board of Education approved standardization of Lenovo for the 1:1 laptop initiative. All subsequent purchases for the 1:1 initiative have been related to standardizing hardware and/or upgrading or replacing equipment.
  • Click here to view the Lenovo contract.

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