Charlene Hardin

It appears that Milwaukee taxpayers are being ripped off, again.

This latest story came to light in a column by Dan Bice.

Even with the district’s financial troubles, Milwaukee School Board member Charlene Hardin could probably justify taking a taxpayer-funded jaunt to a school safety conference in Philadelphia last month.

Violence in Milwaukee Public Schools has been on the rise, and she might learn something at the conference.

But for that to have happened, she would have had to actually attend the event while in the City of Brotherly Love.

She didn’t.

Officials with the National Association of School Safety & Law Enforcement Officers say Hardin, a three-term board member, and Lolita Pearson, a data processing secretary at the Milwaukee High School of the Arts, were MIA during the three-day gathering on July 14-16.

“I didn’t see her (Hardin) at all,” said Peter Pochowski, the executive director of the national school safety group who used to work for MPS and knows Hardin.

...Joe Ricci, a Philadelphia school administrator who helped plan the event, was at the registration table when Hardin and Pearson arrived on the final day of the conference.

At first, Hardin complained loudly that the staff had run out of conference bags, which contained zoo passes, city information and discounts for various items, Ricci said.

“Then she proceeded to go into the vendors’ area, get some plastic bags from them, help herself to a ton of food and cookies and candy and all that stuff from the snack tray, and proceeded to walk out the door again, making another big stink about the thing, and left,” Ricci said, estimating that the pair were there for all of five minutes.

“She never checked in . . . or showed up at any conference functions at all, her or her assistant.”

...Officials with MPS’ Office of Board Governance initially were unaware of the trip and required the paper to submit an open records request for the numbers. They did not respond to the request by Friday.

As it turns out, the money didn’t come from the travel budget for the board members. Instead, the Milwaukee High School of the Arts underwrote the trip.

“It’s not inappropriate,” Principal Barry Applewhite said when asked about this use of his school budget, which he approved.

TMJ4's Tom Murray interviewed Hardin.

Hardin told TODAY’S TMJ4’s Tom Murray she was at the Philadelphia convention…so he asked her what she learned.

Murray: “What were some of the sessions? Who were some of the speakers?”

“Well...I don't even remember that,” Hardin said.

Organizer Pete Pochowski says Hardin doesn't remember because she never attended any of the sessions.

“I thought it would have been great for her to be there. So I’m disappointed, disappointed and angry as a taxpayer,” Pochowski said.

...Murray: “The executive director says you took a bag, filled it with muffins, donuts and candy, and then stormed out of there.”

“No, I did not,” Hardin said.

Murray: “Why would they make that up?”

“I don’t know,” Hardin said.

This story isn't going away.

There will be a day of reckoning on this one.

Hardin had no legitimate answers to Murray's questions.

She took a trip to Philadelphia at taxpayers' expense without doing the work expected of her by the taxpayers.

It's not very reassuring that someone like Hardin is a Milwaukee School Board member.

What's disturbing is that this matter goes beyond Hardin.

It's very strange for Milwaukee High School of the Arts Principal Barry Applewhite to send a data processing secretary, Lolita Pearson, to attend the conference in his stead.

What was he thinking?

Applewhite wanted to attend the conference but had other commitments. He claims that Pearson told him that she attended the conference sessions.

OK.

1. If that's true, then what did Pearson learn?

2. What did Applewhite learn from her?

3. What benefit was the $2,400 trip to Milwaukee taxpayers?

Answers:

1. NOTHING

2. NOTHING

3. NOTHING
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The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editorial Board weighs in.
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620 WTMJ reports that Ald. Bob Donovan is calling for an investigation.