Detroit voters to decide whether to allow board to subpoena during investigations
Detroit voters will decide this month whether to allow the school board to subpoena school officials and pertinent documents when investigating possible fraud and corruption. The proposal would permit the Board of Education to subpoena witnesses, take testimony and demand files. Board members could be subpoenaed as well. The appropriate court would enforce any subpoenas. Outgoing board member Jonathan Kinloch wrote the ballot proposal and successfully pushed for the district to hire an inspector general to investigate allegations of malfeasance. He said internal and FBI investigations into $46 million in wire transfers to contractors from the DPS Office of Risk Management, which handles insurance and workers compensation, prompted the proposal. The board voted in August to turn over its findings to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office for possible prosecution.
“People who were employed and had contractual relationships with the district risk management department and finance office were less than cooperative,” Kinloch said. “They didn't want to answer questions. They didn't feel like they had to, and when they did it was incomplete.” Ida Byrd-Hill, who is a former principal of one of the contract high schools closed this year, said she doesn't think subpoena authority will get to the bottom of corruption. “Do you really need subpoena power if you have done proper collection of information all along?” she asked. If the ballot proposal passes, the board will develop due-process policies and hold two public meetings before using the subpoena power, Kinloch said.
Detroit Free Press By Chastity Pratt Dawsey