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Former GEAR UP Director’s Wife Cashed in on Mid-Central Job, Trip to San Francisco

A commenter notices that the FY2011 GEAR UP grant award that renewed South Dakota’s multi-million dollar grant to help American Indian kids prepare for college listed Roger Campbell as the state’s GEAR UP director and contact.

Roger Campbell was Daugaard’s first head of the Office of Indian Education, from March 9, 2011, until March 10, 2013. Education Secretary Melody Schopp decided at some point that he couldn’t direct OIE and GEAR UP, since OIE has no staff (and why is that, Governor Daugaard?). But when GEAR UP was renewed, there Campbell was at the top of the grant program.

Roger Campbell is married to Corrie Ann Campbell. Corrie Ann Campbell worked as a facilitator for Mid-Central Educational Cooperative. In July 2011, Mid-Central sent Corrie Ann Campbell to the national GEAR UP conference in San Francisco.

So the state’s top Indian education official directed a grant that funneled millions of dollars to his wife’s employer, which sent his wife on a nice trip to San Francisco. Shall we throw another conflict-of-interest flag?

To learn more about possible conflicts of interest, attend the December meetings of the Mid-Central Educational Cooperative. MCEC hosts a bonus meeting Monday, December 7, 2015, at HQ in Platte at 10:00 a.m., followed by its regular meeting Thursday, December 17, 2015, again in Platte at 10 a.m. No agenda for either meeting has been posted to MCEC’s website as of this morning’s writing.

27 Comments

  1. oldguy7850 2015-12-05 09:15

    FOLLOW the MONEY…. All the audit t did was to check and see if debit equal credits. As had been said by others they need a deeper audit one that digs inside the numbers. I would also check IRS returns for all involved.

  2. LK Burghardt 2015-12-05 10:31

    The initial audit didn’t show any major discrepancies, but it did NOT look into any conflicts of interest as to where the money was spent. It also didn’t look into whether or not goods were actually received when money was spent. Th BIGGEST mystery, though, is in the consultant fees. People were paid consultant fees, many of them exorbitant, without even having to submit logs of hours worked or prove any productivity. Let’s see an investigation into those fees and, if they can’t prove the hours worked, they should be required to repay the money. Unfortunately, those that received consultant fees have been considered “friends of education” for years in SD, but we now know better!

  3. jerry 2015-12-05 10:33

    The wallpaper that Daugaard and company used to cover this Gear up program is starting to tear at its weakness. Oldguy 7850 is correct about the IRS returns as well this runs deep and only skilled diligence will show where these crooks and liars hid their robbery.

  4. The King 2015-12-05 11:29

    “Shall we throw another conflict-of-interest flag?”

    In a football game if the referee throws a flag and if then sees another infraction he/she throws their hat. In the Gear Up case the referees would be completely naked from having to strip off all their clothing to identify the large number of COIs involved. Geez.

  5. 96Tears 2015-12-05 11:47

    Who controlled the timing of this shallow audit report? It seems conveniently timed to be released a week ahead of Daugaard’s annual budget address before the S.D. Legislature on Tuesday. As usual, Sanford Leader served up the desired page 1 headline declaring “Gear Up audit finds no malfeasance.” I’m sure that made Daugaard very, very happy. He’s probably also pleased to see zero follow up from the state’s largest 7-day weekly newspaper.

  6. leslie 2015-12-05 12:07

    i thought the timing too of mcconnell/thune announcement of anti-ACA bill was suspect given anti-gun sentiment after san bernadino.

  7. leslie 2015-12-05 12:10

    …and paris climate talks.

  8. Porter Lansing 2015-12-05 13:18

    What a stellar educational experience for SoDak young people (the future of our party, Lynn) to have a few busloads attend those meetings and then discuss ethics in politics, on the way home.

  9. mike from iowa 2015-12-05 15:01

    So you wait for 10 or 12 years of blue ribbon panels on corruption to decide they forgot what they were looking at. Like a kidney stone,this will not pass quietly.

  10. Clyde 2015-12-05 17:53

    New names seem to appear everyday but they are all linked to the corruption. Melmer, Oster, and Moore are probably happy that more names are appearing to take the focus off them!

  11. caheidelberger Post author | 2015-12-05 18:08

    But Clyde, when those other names come up and I can say, “Look! Here’s another person slurping up federal dollars, just like Rick Melmer,” that doesn’t really get him off the hook, does it? :-)

  12. Clyde 2015-12-05 20:02

    Absolutely not! Just want those names not to be forgotten! Great work and keep it rolling!!!

  13. Oldhag 2015-12-05 22:49

    So does anyone on this blog know Annalies Corbin who graduated 1993 Bachelor of Science, Anthropology, University of South Dakota, Vermillion. She is the Founder and CEO of PAST Foundation incorporated as a Foreign NonProfit Corporation in Ohio July 14, 2015? Her organization has received $487,466.55, but would have received a HUGE bundle of the Race to the Top award along with AIII.

    She moved it from Montana:https://app.mt.gov/cgi-bin/bes/besCertificate.cgi?action=detail&bessearch=D102119&trans_id=besa15339043933037b00
    Here are the Directors on the Corporation as listed in Montana:
    P.A.S.T. FOUNDATION BOZEMAN ACT

    Principal Information

    Position Name Address
    DIRECTOR PAUL REEDER 1003 KINNEAR RD COLUMBUS OH 432120000
    DIRECTOR DENNIS AIG 1003 KINNEAR RD COLUMBUS OH 43212
    DIRECTOR TERESA LISTON 1003KINNEAR RD COLUMBUS OH 43212
    DIRECTOR KEENE HAYWOOD 1003 KINNEAR RD COLUMBUS OH 432120000
    DIRECTOR ANN RALSTON 1003 KINNEAR RD COLUMBUS OH 432120000
    DIRECTOR J.W. (JOE) JOSEPH 1003 KINNEAR RD COLUMBUS OH 432120000
    PRESIDENT SANDRA STROOT 1003 KINNEAR RD COLUMBUS OH 43212
    VICE PRESIDENT RICHARD ROSEN 1003 KINNEAR RD COLUMBUS OH 432120000
    SECRETARY TERRI ERDMAN 1003 KINNEAR RD COLUMBUS OH 43212
    TREASURER MICHAEL O’SULLIVAN 1003 KINNEAR RD COLUMBUS OH 43212
    OTHER ANNALIES CORBIN 1003 KINNEAR RD COLUMBUS OH 43212

    BTW: I’m sure one of the reasons Roger is so silent and refusing to talk is due to all of the conflicts of interest and of course landed ok down south where he can continue whatever…don’t rock any boats sitting in that new job!

  14. Oldhag 2015-12-05 23:29

    From the Race to the Top application:”To achieve the goals of this application, the state and AIII have partnered with the PAST Foundation of Columbus, Ohio. The
    exceptional track record of students graduating from STEM schools tells the whole story, 100% college and workforce readiness.
    Therefore, PAST assists in the design of education platforms that encompass transdisciplinary teaching and learning. PAST utilizes
    ethnographic knowledge capture, innovative scientific bridge programs, project based learning, and emerging school culture to allow
    students to exceed their goals for the 21st century. By working with the PAST Foundation in developing a comprehensive
    ethnographic picture of the students and the communities from which they come, the unique AIII model will create a residential
    grades 9-14 STEM and Health academy for South Dakota’s largest group of consistently underachieving students and a professional
    development protocol that will push the change out across the state. The AIII and PAST leadership will work in tandem with the State
    Department of Education, the state’s institutions of higher education and partners from the private sector to build upon and further
    develop the relationship among stakeholders that will be necessary to carry out a program of this scope.”

  15. Oahe Bill 2015-12-06 06:26

    Where is the proof Roger Campbell “funneled millions” into Mid-Central? Show me how Corrie Campbell’s trip to San Francisco (not like she went to Tahiti) wasn’t part of her job? If Roger Campbell didn’t “rock the boat” way was he abruptly let go by Daugaard for questioning the way these programs were run? Greed, greed, greed. Government officials turned a good idea into a pork barrel. Some people have/will be thrown under the bus to save the top elected or appointed people. A fire destroys a safe but not a shotgun, ya right.

  16. caheidelberger Post author | 2015-12-06 07:25

    “Funneled millions into Mid-Central”—that’s the GEAR UP grant, up to four million dollars each year, directed to Mid-Central.

    Trip to San Francisco: Oh, yes, it was clearly related to GEAR UP work… work that she got because her husband directed the grant to her employer.

    Abruptly let go—if Campbell was a boat rocker, why did Daugaard bring him right back to head the Office of Indian Education and supervise this part of the pork barrel?

    The disintegrating safe is a mystery, but what bearing does it have on this aspect of the story?

  17. Wayne Gilbert 2015-12-06 13:44

    Apart from the rampant and disgusting cronyism, there is a real issue about the use of the grant monies to actually advance educational needs. Like education all over South Dakota, the top-heaviness prevents any meaningful advancement of on-the-ground educational goals. “Gents to the center–form a star. Gals alaman left.” The dancers are always the same, and in fact they are are nothing more than dancers in terms of their contributions to education in South Dakota. Interconnected government officials resign their positions to accept nicely salaried positions as “facilitators, consultants” and the like. Meanwhile, what’s going on in the trenches of education? Not much, but people who used to be government officials, and their spouses and their friends, are the ones getting the money as facilitators and consultants. And actually, there’s not a lot of difference between San Francisco and Tahiti to the young people that these programs are supposed to benefit. It definitely looks like these folks are far less interested in grants that will actually be used to improve education in low-income and rural areas than they are in making sure that they, their friends, and their spouses get nice do-nothing jobs. One of them–Rounds’ Secretary of Education (Melmer), said he worked about ten hours a week as a consultant, but there are really no records that he actually worked that much and certainly there are no records that he accomplished anything at all. He was paid over $50k a year, and has since “retroactively” recorded his time, claiming he didn’t know he should keep track of how he had earned a government freebie. This is an absolute joke, but scapegoats have conveniently killed themselves, so all the dancers shuffle off to Buffalo.

  18. leslie 2015-12-06 14:05

    Hi Wayne-agreed. what’s in Buff?

    see 7:06 wardrobe malfunction in Tahiti waves (just a short nap or movie from Honolulu for a lucky young, educated person of color [unlike do-nothing state “travelers” to the philippines on “business”]…which is just a nice meal and a nap from SF–the real SF!:) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLg6qxkQ94A

  19. Oldhag 2015-12-06 17:21

    Totally in agreement Wayne. Think about the message that is at the bottom line in the half million$$$ going out of state to Ohio to PAST Foundation funneled from SD DOE through MCEC. The message is that there is NO ONE in the State of SD that has the capacity to do what they do! Really??? Yet the President of the MCEC in response to the audit says, “see we care about the kids!!!” I do ask if anyone is paying attention? Think about what the issues are in education in SD and we send $$$ out of the state.

    I absolutely dare, double and even triple dog dare any of the teachers in the state of SD to tell me they are not worthy of getting a chance to prove they have the capacity and that those funds who have been far better utilized to build sustainable STEM educators in SD without sending it out of the state.
    The BOR must be asking themselves why or how it is that none of their regental institutions had the capacity that the anthropology dept in Ohio State University with one of their adjunct faculty their has????? I know the Anthropology Dept. at USD has some very fine faculty that could serve any Native student who might attend USD through the program….is that anything this CEO of PAST has done for any student?
    This is the biggest slap in the face any teacher/educator in SD could ever receive and by the way PAST is not in the GUSD grant application, so what the BLANK are they getting that huge portion of the funding for?

    I suggest we send all of these comments to the Via email and First Class U.S. Mail
    Mr. Craig Pooler
    GEAR UP
    Office of Postsecondary Education
    U.S. Department of Education
    1990 K Street, N.W., 7th Floor
    Mail Stop K-OPE-7-7100
    Washington, DC 20006
    Craig .Pooler@ed.gov

  20. Oldhag 2015-12-07 08:54

    So this PAST is a Trust in MT until July 2015 that is receiving half Million of funds for education in SD? Corbin pays herself over $177k. She is not quite as good as Melmer with his $182 only working 10 hours a week as Corbin identifies 40 hours a week.

    How much do our teachers who work 70 hours a week get paid?
    Don’t say it’s because she has a PhD, I have one of those also and many of us who have those don’t earn anywhere close to that unless we are in the business of laundry

  21. caheidelberger Post author | 2015-12-07 09:42

    Oldhag, interesting that Corbin is a USD graduate. Is she from SD originally? To whom is she related?

    From the 990 Michael W shares with us: $178K in annual salary for Corbin, $120K for Sheli Smith… it just goes to show that people like Corbin, Smith, Melmer, Oster, and a lot of MCEC staff have figured out there’s a lot more money to be made telling other people how to teach than there is to be made in teaching.

  22. Oldhag 2015-12-07 12:12

    If I follow your most recent article on virtue I wouldn’t be able to say …she is likely some sweet connection with Melmer, (since she did the budget on the Race to the Top) so I won’t.

    I don’t know where she grew up before she became the Chief Goddess and did her undergrad at USD, but you can find her CV online via google and might I say….BIG Deal! If the only publications you can add to your CV are co-authored by those who are your employees and are a couple of online courses on your own website not in peer review journals, it’s real telling of your caliber of professional work!!!!!

    I’m trying to be virtuous here, so I’m calibrating my discourse to be civil, but for some reason this woman has successfully gotten a HUGE bundle of cash that should of could of gone to SD teachers in the trenches! But Mr. Guericke and his loyal broads saw else-wise. Look through the rest of MCEC minutes for the $$$$ that went to the Innovation Lab as they are her also!

  23. Oldhag 2015-12-07 12:15

    Correction, Guericke’s loyal Boards….maybe I didn’t mean broads.
    I apologize baby Jesus, I’ll buy lottery tickets for all the kids in Tabor, so their teachers can get a raise

  24. Oldhag 2015-12-07 15:18

    https://pastinnovationlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/2014-annual-report-master-final-web.pdf

    I would venture a good guess that PAST pr Innovation Labs got a lot more $$$$ from MCEC than just through Gear-up as their brochure above states.
    In addition they identify AIII as one of their collaborators:Collaborations
    American Indian Institute for Innovation, Ballston Spa Central School District, Battelle Memorial Institute, Cleveland Heights City Schools, Columbus City Schools, Dayton Regional STEM School, Educational Service Center, Envision STEM, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, I KNOW I CAN, MediaFLOW, MC2 STEM High School, Metro Early College and Demonstration High School, Montana State University, Ohio STEM Learning Network, The Ohio State University, and The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio.
    https://tcfapp.org/PortraitView/PrintPortrait?portraitKey=3180

  25. SDRose 2015-12-19 12:04

    I agree with oahe bill. I don’t see Roger Campbell as a part of this corruption. I am waiting for the investigative reporting to look at TIE in Rapid City. They too get a significant amount of education dollars through BHEC, who gets it from the state. The TIE director is also a BOE member. Melody Schopp needs to go. She has manipulated education through the use of cronyism. Truly sickening and Lakota children suffer from their abuse.

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