Charleston Co. School District Releases Insufficient Report on Investigation

Charleston Co. School District Releases Insufficient Report on Investigation

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Charleston County School District has released only a diminutive portion of the overall report regarding an internal investigation into allegations made by an employee about the district’s leadership and federal funding management. The released report constitutes less than a tenth of the total pages.

John Cobb, Charleston County School District Executive Director of Federal Programs, had made allegations about the district being a hostile work environment in a letter to the Board of Trustees on June 10. He accused district leaders of retaliation, intimidation, forcing an employee to forge a signature, and claimed that former Superintendent Don Kennedy was fast-tracking funding. The allegations also involved the district’s management and processing of federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds.

The Partial Release of Report

Keith Grybowski, Board Chairman, announced the results of the investigation at a specially called meeting on July 1. Grybowski stated that the impartial and detailed investigation conducted by external attorneys found no basis for Cobb’s claims against the superintendent and other district administrators. The full report, including exhibits and statements from approximately 30 witnesses, is over 300 pages long. However, the district has only made 22 of those pages public, most of which are redacted.

Significant Redactions

The pages that have been released from the report are mostly blacked out or redacted. The district stated the redactions were “currently attorney/client privileged” and to “preserve the confidentiality of ongoing personnel issues.” The district assured that portions of the unredacted report will be released at later stages.