Expense Reports Cause 1 Ohio H.S. A.D. To Resign, Another Reprimanded

April 27, 2012 /
The Columbus Dispatch, Charlie Boss

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/04/27/one-athletic-director-quits-one-reprimanded.html

An Olentangy schools athletic director has resigned, and another has been reprimanded after they failed to document $11,000 in expenses from a tournament account.

The school board accepted the resignation of Tom Gerhardt, the athletic director for Olentangy Liberty High School, at a meeting last night. It is effective at the end of the school year.

A state audit found that Gerhardt failed to document $7,300 in purchases between 2008 and 2011. In the same period at Olentangy High School, athletic director Jay Wolfe made $4,000 in purchases that he didn’t document, the audit said.

Through an internal investigation, district officials found that Wolfe had made purchases for student athletes and related activities. At least two of the expenses for Gerhardt’s account — a gym membership and gift cards — were for personal use, the district said.

Gerhardt, who also was reprimanded by the district, admitted that he erred in handling the account.

“Did I make mistakes? Yes, but nothing was intentional,” he said when reached on his cellphone last night.

Gerhardt said he had his gym membership fee withdrawn from the tournament account because the gym would not take a credit card when he joined, and he only had the account check with him. He would replenish the account as monthly membership fees were withdrawn. He missed covering a couple of monthly payments while caring for ailing relatives, he said.

The gift cards were thank-yous for secretaries or volunteers, a purchase he usually made out of his personal account, he said.

The tournament account was mostly used to pay for a hospitality room for visiting officials and news media during regional tournament games.

Gerhardt said his decision to resign was not solely based on the audit. This year, he also was responsible for athletic programs for two middle schools in addition to Liberty — about 100 teams among the three buildings.

“With everything going on, I just can’t continue to do the program the way I want to do it,” said Gerhardt, 56. He has worked for Olentangy for 14 years, serving as a teacher, dean of students and athletic director.

District officials initially had asked state auditors in September to review gate receipts for the district’s athletic program. They told officials in October they were more concerned about the lack of receipts for personal accounts used by all three athletic directors for Ohio High School Athletic Association tournaments.

When Olentangy learned of state Auditor Dave Yost’s findings, the district closed the tournament accounts, and Wolfe and Gerhardt repaid the money. Officials forwarded the report to the Ohio Department of Education’s office of professional conduct, which interviewed both men. District leaders expect to hear by summer whether the office plans to take action against the men.

School board member Adam White filed a theft report with the Delaware County sheriff’s office on March 30 naming Wolfe and Gerhardt as suspects and the district as the victim. Superintendent Wade Lucas said the district has not heard from the sheriff’s office or the county prosecutor about whether they are investigating.


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