FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF DUCATION ae EP Marva Johnson, hair Andy Tuck, Vice Chair Members Gary Chartrand Ben Gibson Tom Grady Rebecca Fshman ipsey ‘Michael Oleick Pam Stewart ‘Commissioner of Education July 24,2017 Jeff Eakins, Superintendent Hillsborough School District 901 Bast Kennedy Boulevard Tampa, Florida 33601 Dear Superintendent Eakins, On July 3, 2017, the Florida Department of Education (FDOE), Office of Inspector General (OIG) received a complaint alleging the improper handling of a bidding process in the Hillsborough County School District, Under s. 1001.20, F.S., if the Commissioner of Education determines that a district school board is “unwilling or unable to address substantiated allegations made by any person relating to waste, fraud, or financial mismanagement within the school district,” the Department’s Office of Inspector General shall conduct investigations into such allegations. I have determined the Hillsborough County School District is unable to address the allegation regarding the improper handling of a bidding process in the Hillsborough County School District. Accordingly, I have directed the Department’s OIG to investigate this matter. Inspector General Mike Blackburn, or his designee, will be in touch with you shortly to coordinate the review. I request that you and all members of the Hillsborough County School District cooperate fully in the Inspector General’s inquiries. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact our office at (850) 245-0403. Pam Stewart Commissioner of Education Cc: Mike Blackburn, Inspector General wonw fidoe.org 325 W, Gaines Street | Tallahassee, FL 37399-0400 | 850-245-0505State Board of Education ‘Marva Johnson, Chaie ‘Andy Tuck, Vice hair Members (Gary Chartrand Tom Grady Rebecca Fishman Upsey ‘Michael Olenick July 11,2017 Laurie Rodriguez 3623 Marco Drive Tampa, FL 33614-2746 Dear Ms. Rodriguez: ‘LORIDA LIRPAKIMENT OF Gy DL CATON Pam Stewart Commissioner of Education On July 3, 2017, the Office of the Chief Inspector General received your complaint, which was forwarded to the Florida Department of Education, Office of Inspector General for review. Based on the information provided, the Office of Inspector General will conduct an investigation. ‘Thank you for bringing this information to our attention. Should you have any questions, please contact this office at (850) 245-0403. Sincerely, of Investigations Inspector General Mike Blackburn ~wwwrfldoe.org 325 W. Gaines Street, Suite 1201 | Tallahassee, FL 32399-0400 | 850-245-0403 © 2014, Florida Department of Education. All Rights Reserved.OV General From: CGform@def tate lus Sent: ‘Saturday, July 01, 2017 9:39 PM To: FL_GOV Inspector Genersf Subject: Allegation of Wrongdoing From: trodi11764@gmail.com Referting Page: http://www floridaoig.com/reportfraud. htm Using: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) Apple Webkit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/58.0.3029.110 Safari/537.36 Name: Laurie Rodriguer ‘Address: 3623 Marco Dr City, St Zip: Tampa, FL 33614-2746 Phone: 8133746660 Employment Status: Current Agency: DOE Reporting Alledged Violation: No Details of Allegatin: Employee/agent name: Empioyee/agent title; Date of alledged Violation: Reporting Alédged Act: Yes Details of Allegation: Below you will find the transcript of two audio/videos segments that were recently posted on ‘sacial media. The School District was contacted and questioned by the local news media, but the incident was ‘Marginalized by the District's spokesperson and quickly forgotten. The district cited a 2-yr warranty as justification for ‘their action. The action, ! believe, being a violation af Florida Statute 287.057 Procurement of commodities oF contractual services (17) {b) 1, 2.2,,2.b. Its my understanding that when incidents such 2s this are made public, they are not invéstigated unless an official complaint is filed. Therefore, | have filed this complaint in the hopes that someone will see fit to investigate. This is just one of many such incidents that are rapidly becoming commonplace in ths district. 1