News Bulletin

B.A.C. Press Release

August 7, 2006 - Bethel Action Committee has completed a thorough analysis of travel expenses from 2002 to 2006 and has revealed outlandish spending by school administrators, including limousine rides to and from the airport, hotels costing $299 a night, and a trip to the United Kingdom by the former Director of Fiscal Services. All of this taxpayer-funded spending came at a time when parents were being asked to pay for their children to play sports. Click here to read the entire press release...

Bethel Taxpayers Finance Extravagant Travel For School Administrators

From 2002 to 2006, while Bethel students were forced to pay in order to play scholastic sports, educational programs were being cut and staff were being eliminated, many school administrators were living the high life with our taxpayer dollars.

Available here on our Web site for public review are various expense reports and receipts for recent travel and entertainment dollars spent by administrators, both former and present, in the Bethel Public Schools. What you will see below will shock and amaze you.

Limousine rides to the airport, flights to the United Kingdom, and hotel rooms at $299 per night are just a few of the creative ways the school administration, overseen by the Bethel Board of Education, has chosen to spend the dollars given to them each year by taxpayers.

Even worse, in two cases the Assistant Superintendent not only submitted a request for reimbursement for travel expenses, but then went on to be the sole approver and authorizer for her own expense reports – one for $473.42, one for $910.96, and one for $$159.00.

How can a $34 million school system allow a process like this with no checks and balances?

Click here to view the Request for Reimbursements that were submitted and approved by the same school administrator.

A Few Examples Of How Bethel School Administrators Are Spending Your Hard-earned Taxpayer Dollars (Click underlined text below to view receipts!)

$299 per night hotel room for 4 nights at the 5-star Westin Hotel in Chicago by Associate Superintendent

$699 for airfare to London, England on British Airways by Director of Fiscal Services

$299 per night for a hotel room at the 5-star Delamar in Greenwich, CT by Assistant Superintendent

$179 lunch at Tonelli's Restaurant, Bethel, CT on April 13, 2006 by Bethel High School Principal

$645 hotel bill for three nights at Hotel Viking, Newport, RI by Director of Fiscal Services

$503 hotel bill for three nights at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC by Assistant Superintendent

$418 for dinner at The Capital Grille, Washington, DC by Assistant Superintendent

$269 and $367 in receipts for dinners at New Orleans, LA restaurants Nola, and Arnaud's Restaurant by Assistant Superintendent and guests

$432 hotel bill for two nights at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC by Director of Special Education

$155 limo ride to LaGuardia Airport for Assistant Superintendent

$333 for two nights at the Hyatt Regency Dallas, TX by Assistant Superintendent

$445 hotel bill for three nights at the Hilton in Mystic, CT by Director of Fiscal Services

$256 hotel bill for one night at the Mystic Marriott Hotel and Spa by Director of Fiscal Services

All of the documents on this Web site were obtained through requests made under the Freedom of Information Act and are available to the public. So, the next time you are told that budgets need to be passed “for the children,” ask yourself if the taxpayer-funded extravagances highlighted here are “for the children” or for the school administrators’ enjoyment.