Lewd Photos, Harassment And Retaliation Allegations: Inside The Meltdown At LAUSD's Powerful Watchdog Agency
The Office of the Inspector General at the Los Angeles Unified School District is the type of government agency that any taxpayer — not just those with kids in school — would want working well.
Hunting for signs of waste, fraud and misconduct, the OIG monitors $9.6 billion dollars in spending by the nation's second-largest school system each year — roughly the amount of money the state pays into the California State University system every year.
For the last year, though, the office tasked with inspecting LAUSD's internal workings has been roiled by internal controversy of its own.
Last spring, the OIG's second-in-command resigned amid allegations of misconduct, and the boss lost his shot at renewal of his long-term contract. By late fall, a third high-ranking official who complained about them both was put on leave, charged with sexual harassment and ultimately fired.
Now, as the new boss settles in at the OIG, a KPCC/LAist investigation reveals new details about the turmoil that roiled the department over the last year, and raises the question: Who's holding whom accountable in the L.A. Unified School District?
THE ALLEGATIONS
Between late 2017 and mid-2018, at least four OIG employees filed formal complaints with either LAUSD's Equal Opportunity Section or with California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
Their complaints targeted either then-Inspector General Ken Bramlett or his top deputy, Frank Cabibi, alleging a hostile workplace culture, sexual harassment and racial discrimination; two of the employees who complained also requested whistleblower protection from LAUSD or a state agency.
KPCC/LAist has obtained copies of these four formal complaints against Cabibi and Bramlett, along with other government records that describe the allegations, including contemporaneous notes, memos and written statements submitted to higher authorities or district officials as part of the complaint process; these records add greater detail to the allegations employees leveled against Bramlett and Cabibi.
In addition to this trove of government records, some of the allegations are described in a wrongful termination lawsuit filed in December by Walt Finnigan, a former OIG investigator and supervisor, who also spoke to KPCC/LAist on the record. (The question of why he was fired is a story all its own, with its own ties back to Bramlett and Cabibi. We'll get to that later.)
Here are the claims:
- Two OIG employees' complaints alleged Cabibi — their direct boss, and the organization's second-in-command — made discriminatory remarks about Latinos and gays.
- Two complaints alleged that Cabibi told an OIG employee she "needed to get laid" to "knock the cobwebs out of there."
- According to Finnigan and memos by three other OIG employees, OIG investigator Donald "Rusty" McMillen allegedly showed lewd images from confiscated computers and cell phones not only to Cabibi, but to other investigators who had no work-related need to see them. One of the photos McMillen and Cabibi are alleged to have described was a sensitive image of another OIG employee.
Some complaints named Inspector General Bramlett (Cabibi's boss) as being at the root of a troubled working environment. According to the complaints and other records, some employees CONTINUE READING: Lewd Photos, Harassment And Retaliation Allegations: Inside The Meltdown At LAUSD's Powerful Watchdog Agency: LAist