ST. LOUIS — Travel, food, and entertainment — all on St. Louis Public Schools' dime. Staffers spent hundreds of thousands of dollars under former superintendent Dr. Keisha Scarlett, according to credit card statements obtained by 5 On Your Side.
Now every district credit card is suspended, and the district is continuing its commitment to be transparent with the public and stepping up oversight.
The district was given 11 recommendations in an audit last week.
Interim Superintendent Dr. Millicent Borishade on Tuesday said the district has already followed through on some of those recommendations by hiring a new internal auditor and board secretary, as well as collecting and putting a hold on all district-issued credit cards.
"Our community, our staff, our students, everyone deserves the truth, right? Everyone deserves to understand there's recommendations and we're going to follow through with that," Borishade said.
Nearly $1.7 million was charged on district-issued credit cards. It was during Scarlett's one-year tenure that she and her staffers used 21 credit cards to buy things like lavish trips, flights, flight upgrades, hotels and meals.
"I just know that there was a lot of spending," Borishade remarked.
Among the charges were thousands spent on Doordash deliveries, and Uber and Lyft rides, multiple trips to Bath and Body Works, a trip to Massage Envy, nearly $700 spent at a Hooters in Columbia, Missouri, and $314 paid to a Los Angeles limousine company.
"We just need to do better. We absolutely need to do better," Borishade stated.
It was Borishade who put the freeze on all 21 credit cards, including her own.
"(I did it) just to get a handle on who has credit cards, why do they have credit cards and what is being spent using those credit cards. And now the goal is for me to look at all of the spending and to make sure that it is either approved or questioned in terms of why we are spending the way we're spending," she said.
On top of protocols and daily limits, staffers signing out a credit card will have to get it approved through the finance department and Borishade.
But before they get to that point, Borishade wants to make sure that it's "crystal clear" about how credit cards should be used.
"We will also share protocols and parameters on acceptable uses and purchases using those credit cards. I think that was something that was missing. We didn't have specific merchant credits or specific people that you could purchase from. I think you could purchase from anyone, and so going forward, when the cards are released, those are some of the safeguards that are going to be placed," Borishade said.
School board member Emily Hubbard is calling for a criminal investigation of credit card spending and wants the district to be reimbursed for the transactions that violate district policy.
"Educating children includes teaching them that actions have consequences. We cannot require less than that for the adults in the district," Hubbard said.
"So with more eyes on who is using the credit cards and what they're using them for, there's an opportunity for me to question the 'why' and for there to be a larger level of accountability. It seems like everyone wants to do what's right, and I support whatever it is that the collective board decides that they need to do. I am in full support of that," Borishade responded.
Borishade has been interim superintendent since Scarlett was fired in October.
As for the future, Borishade wants her role to become permanent and continue the district's progress.
"I can see myself as the Saint Louis Public School superintendent, Dr. Millicent Borishade. My team knows that I am action and solution-oriented. I'm looking forward to just continuing in the right direction for children," she said.
All the credit cards will stay suspended until the district has protocols in place.
Borishade said the school board will have a special closed meeting on Thursday morning to discuss their plan for credit card spending in the future.
The school board is set to meet again on Jan. 14.