The Dallas Independent School District has launched an internal investigation into what happened to nearly a half-million dollars worth of portable air conditioning equipment.
The district learned that 123 “spot coolers” were missing after a WFAA investigation raised questions in November about whether the district’s heating and cooling division, known as the HVAC department, overpaid for the units and other services.
After News 8’s report late last year, the district began an audit into mismanagement in the HVAC department. During that inquiry, the district discovered that the spot coolers were missing.
“At this time, HVAC is unable to locate 123 of 184 spot coolers purchased in the November 2014 through February 2016 timeframe,” the district’s January internal audit states.
The district paid about $3,500 each for the units, bringing the total cost of the lost equipment to approximately $430,500.
“It’s troubling to me,” said DISD trustee Joyce Foreman, who has called for a separate inquiry into what happened to the spot coolers.
“I'm a firm believer that the taxpayers trust us and entrust us with their tax dollars to spend them the best possible way that we can,” she said. “Any dollars that we misspend, to me, that's dollars that's taken out of the classrooms that could educate our kids. And so that's a problem for me.”
Board president Dan Micciche said a new investigation will be launched into what happened to the spot coolers, but stopped short of referring the matter to the DISD police department, which investigates criminal matters.
"The administration is currently conducting an audit of the spot coolers,” Micciche said in an email to News 8. “Once the audit is complete, the board and Internal Audit will analyze the findings and make a determination on next steps."
DISD superintendent Dr. Michael Hinojosa declined to talk on camera, but issued a statement to WFAA.
“In all of our activities and initiatives, Dallas ISD strives to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars and to be fiscally responsible,” his statement said.
He said the district’s initial audit of the HVAC problems focused on a particular DISD employee who no longer works for the district, and was not tasked specifically with locating the spot coolers. That has changed, he said. “…We are conducting an audit to identify where the spot coolers are located. In the spirit of transparency, we will report to taxpayers our ultimate findings.”
Late Friday, DISD spokeswoman Robyn Harris said that the district believes it may have found some of the missing coolers, but could not say how many or where they were located. "We anticipate having that by end of next week as we’re checking serial numbers," she said.
Email investigates@wfaa.com