Todd Jackson

Archives Reprint

    The Roanoke school system's maintenance supervisor has been put on paid administrative leave just days before a new city audit of his department is to be reviewed by school board members.

    William Sharpe, director of the department since November 2002, was placed on leave Monday, said Richard Kelley, assistant superintendent for operations.

    Kelley said Monday that he is aware of the contents of the audit, but he chose not to comment on how it may have affected the decision regarding Sharpe.

    Kelley did acknowledge that there are "management issues" in Sharpe's department. After problems arose, Kelley said he knew he had to do something to address them.

    "I'm the one that's accountable here," said Kelley, who added that he was responsible for Sharpe's hiring in the first place.

    Sharpe did not return a phone message left with one of his relatives Monday.

    The new audit comes as Roanoke school officials are navigating one of the most tumultuous periods the system has faced in years.

    City Auditor Drew Harmon confirmed Monday that his office has completed the audit, which he said will be officially submitted to the School Board Audit Committee next week. Harmon also confirmed that the audit does include several findings, which he did not discuss specifically.

    The soon-to-be-released audit is a follow-up to one completed last year by Harmon's office.

    The first audit found that employees in the maintenance department were fabricating public bid information. As a result, the school administration put two former supervisors in the department, James Tyree and Rick Eakin, on paid leave. Both later retired.

    Harmon turned over the initial audit findings to the city commonwealth's attorney's office for its review. To date, that office has not disclosed whether it plans to pursue a case out of Harmon's findings.

    The maintenance audits are in addition to another in 2001 that found problems in the schools' human resources division, mainly pertaining to the hiring of employees with criminal records. Also, the school administration acknowledged this year that it underreported student violence data to the state. The acknowledgement helped touch off a citywide debate about school safety that's prompted the creation of separate community task forces.

    The problems pushed the Roanoke City Council to take an unusual public stand Nov. 21. In a meeting with the school board, a majority of council members confirmed that they've lost confidence in Superintendent Wayne Harris' ability to lead the school system.

    As a follow-up, the school board met with Harris behind closed doors for almost two hours Monday morning. Board members declined to comment on the meeting, other than to say it went well.

    Harris has been criticized and praised in recent days. He says the public should look past the division's recent problems and take note of the academic accomplishments that have been made, including rising test scores.

    At Monday's city council meeting, two dozen of Harris' backers turned out to support him.

    The Rev. William Lee of Loudon Avenue Christian Church called Harris a "visionary" whose leadership has turned the Roanoke school system into one of the best in the nation. He dismissed incidents of violence in city schools as nothing more than "a few fistfights and food fights."

    Lee urged the council to admit it had made a mistake in its no-confidence vote of Harris. Council members listened but took no action.

    Mayor Ralph Smith later said the school system is plagued by serious problems and that to ignore them would be "putting your head in the sand."

    John Cramer and Lisa Applegate

   contributed to this report.

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