Whistle-blower is put on panel to study waste

TAMPA -- The whistle-blower who claimed wasteful spending and employee wrongdoing within the Hillsborough school district's grounds and maintenance departments was reassigned Monday to study his own allegations.

Doug Erwin, a 33-year district employee and the district's director of operations, presented the School Board on Friday with more than 1,400 pages of maintenance requests, records and photographs that he said will prove his charges.

He estimated that the Hillsborough County School District has wasted $100-million, much of it in shoddy construction and renovation projects.

Erwin was "temporarily reassigned" to a newly organized task force, said school district spokesman Mark Hart. Erwin's new duties will include organizing and analyzing the hundreds of pages of documents he gave the board.

"This is his opportunity to substantiate $100-million of wasteful spending in the school district," said Hart. "He can devote his energies to this full time."

Hart said the district is also seeking volunteers from the business community to serve on the task force. The volunteers should have knowledge in finance, accounting, construction, architecture or design, he said. Anyone interested in serving on the task force should call the superintendent's office.

Erwin's analysis and the group's findings will be discussed at a School Board workshop in March.

Until then, Vince Sussman, the district's general director of resource management, and Anthony Satchel, the director of school services, will assume Erwin's responsibilities, Hart said.

In recent months, Erwin said he has become a scapegoat for problems his supervisors ignored. His accusations led to a November internal investigation that showed $560,000 might have been misappropriated in the grounds department.

Erwin declined to comment Monday on his reassignment.

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