A high-ranking Dallas ISD investigator who won praise for helping clean up district problems with federal technology funding was fired Thursday, the second top investigator to be let go in recent months.
Deputy Chief Internal Auditor Don Smith was notified Thursday morning of a leadership change in the Office of Internal Audit Investigations and told he had to leave the administration building by noon.
“I did nothing wrong,” Smith told The Dallas Morning News. “I was told I did nothing wrong. I was presented with no documentation. I was told nothing. I was doing my job and never told I did anything wrong.”
Chief Internal Auditor Mike Singleton, who is Smith’s boss, declined to comment. District spokesman André Riley said, “We appreciate Don Smith’s service to the district over the years and wish him nothing but the best.”
Smith’s firing comes a month after the dismissal of Jeremy Liebbe, who managed the district’s other investigative unit, the Professional Standards Office — and as Smith’s unit was looking into several high-profile cases, including some involving members of Superintendent Mike Miles’ Cabinet, according to three people familiar with the investigations.
The investigations include a probe into the district’s handling of the hiring of an executive human resources director who did not report a prior criminal offense on her job application, and allegations that district technology officers allowed payments to a telecommunications company even after the company’s contract was questioned.
The abrupt dismissal of Smith stunned some school trustees, who said they were not notified of the firing before it happened. The trustees oversee the internal audit department, but several said they were not aware of any planned reorganization.
Singleton, a former finance administrator in Rockwall ISD, met with other members of the investigative unit Thursday afternoon and assured them they would keep their jobs.
First investigative unit
Smith, 64, a former investigator at the Internal Revenue Service, started the district’s first investigative unit in 2007 under former Superintendent Michael Hinojosa.
Hinojosa and others lauded Smith’s work in uncovering fraud, waste and academic cheating, and Hinojosa defended the department when some trustees questioned whether the department was needed.
Last year, just a year after Miles joined the district, Smith investigated the superintendent’s handling and awarding of a district contract. The school board eventually handed that case over to an outside attorney to finish. Miles told Smith that his investigators bullied people, and Smith alleged that Miles tried to interfere with his investigation.
After that investigation wrapped up, school trustees merged the Office of Professional Responsibility into the internal audit department, saying they wanted to preserve the department’s independence from the administration. Smith applied for the chief internal auditor position but lost to Singleton. Smith was named the deputy.
While under the Office of Professional Responsibility, Smith helped restore some federal funding for the district’s technology program. The district had been locked out of the funds, known as E-rate monies, after a scandal a decade ago that sent former chief technology officer Ruben Bohuchot to federal prison.
Smith became the chief compliance officer and trained staff on handling E-Rate contracts. Under Smith’s guidance, the federal government reached a compliance agreement with the district and reimbursed DISD millions of dollars for previous technology projects.
The latest investigations include a review into the hiring of Tonya Sadler Grayson. The News reported in July that Grayson had a misdemeanor trespassing charge in 1990, when she was 19, but didn’t disclose it on her job application. Personnel chief Carmen Darville and Grayson have said that Grayson properly disclosed the misdemeanor offense.
Also under investigation is whether chief technology officer Gray Salada and his assistant, Gary Schuman, allowed work to continue on a contract that may have been improperly awarded to a telecommunications company, The News has reported. District officials said the men have indicated they will cooperate with the investigation.
Smith’s office had also been investigating new issues involving contractors and the E-Rate funds, problems that could potentially jeopardize payment of millions in federal funds to the district, according to people familiar with the investigations.
In recent months, Smith’s unit uncovered questions about the district’s graduation rate and found that a former trustee helped a real estate agent land a lucrative broker deal with the district. The department is made up of eight investigators, including former IRS agents.
Liebbe’s firing
Liebbe was placed on administrative leave a day after he told Miles in July that he was reviewing whether Grayson, who was his boss, had failed to report her criminal background. He was fired in September following an outside investigation and is appealing his firing.
Liebbe had also led the district’s investigation into alleged sports recruiting violations.
Fifteen athletics employees were initially fired, but under a settlement agreement with the district, seven resigned and records related to the investigation were expunged from their personnel files.
Some of the others contested their dismissals, and at least one lawsuit has been filed.
School officials said Liebbe’s firing had nothing to do with the investigations. A DISD statement said a review found “multiple instances of poor behavior and decision-making, and violations of law and the Texas Education Code.” Liebbe’s attorneys have contested the allegations.
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