Walter C. Lee

Walter Clyde Lee, Sr. (born October 5, 1934),^[1] is the longest-tenured member of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. From March 1991 until December 12, 2014, he represented the BESE Fourth District, which encompasses ten parishes in northwestern Louisiana.

Background

Lee is a former public school superintendent for both Caddo and DeSoto parishes. He is considered a non-traditional, innovative educational leader who had never taught in the classroom but used a businesslike approach in his jobs as superintendent.^[2] Lee implemented the first all-day pre-kindergarten program for at-risk four-year-olds in his state. In 1980, he established fifteen magnet schools in a system of seventy-six schools.^[3]

Lee holds undergraduate and master's degrees in business and has forty graduate credits in educational leadership. He is a former president of the Louisiana Association of School Business Officials, the Louisiana Superintendents Association, and the Louisiana Association of School Executives.^[4][5]

Lee and his wife, the former Connie Faye Terral (born December 3, 1941), have one son,^[4] Walter, Jr. (born 1964), of Conway, Arkansas.^[6]

Upon their deaths, Walter and Connie Lee will be interred at Prospect Cemetery in Florien in Sabine Parish.^[7]

Political life

Lee, who resides in Shreveport, won his seat on the BESE board in a special election on March 23, 1991, a contest called after the death in August 1990 of the Fourth District BESE member Dorothy Garrett Smith of Springhill in Webster Parish, who had also been the short-term BESE president. Lee won the seat outright with 15,161 votes (58.9 percent). Republican Sandra Worley Long trailed with 7,128 (27.7 percent), and a second Democrat, Eliot S. Knowles, Jr., held 3,460 votes (13.4 percent). Lee carried majorities or pluralities in all nine parishes. Later a tenth parish was added to the district.^[8] Lee was unopposed for his first full term on the BESE board in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 3, 1992^[9]

Once a contender for "National Superintendent of the Year", Lee was rarely opposed when he ran for reelection to the BESE board. On October 22, 2007, still a Democrat, Lee polled 81,025 votes (57.9 percent) to defeat his Republican opponent, Robert J. "Bob" Wynn, who received 58,980 votes (42.1 percent). Lee won nine of the ten parishes in the district, all except for Bossier though he barely prevailed in two others, Natchitoches and Winn.^[10] At some point after his 2007 reelection, Lee switched to the Republican Party, according to the office of Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler. His current BESE term expired on January 11, 2016, but he vacated the seat nearly thirteen months earlier.^[11]

Indictment and plea bargain

Lee was indicted on two counts of felony theft and one count each of public contract fraud and malfeasance in office as the DeSoto Parish school superintendent, a position which he vacated in 2012. On January 17, 2014, a DeSoto Parish grand jury returned the four true bills against Lee, all of which could have led to incarceration and heavy fines.^[12]

Lee was booked at the DeSoto Detention Center in the parish seat of Mansfield after having been informed that warrants had been signed by District Judge Charles Adams. Upon the posting of a $50,000 cash bond, Lee was freed. Auditors allege that from 2009 through 2012, then Superintendent Lee double-billed expenses to both the DeSoto Parish School Board and the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, of which he had remained an elected member, subject to removal only on conviction of a felony. Having obtained more than $13,000 in travel reimbursements from BESE, Lee also charged the hotel and fuel expenses to his school board credit card.^[12]

Auditors claim that Lee terminated his school system vehicle lease contract fourteen months prior to expiration. This cost the $10,653. He then purchased the vehicle himself at a price below market value. Legislative Auditor Daryl G. Purpera of Baton Rouge questioned whether pay increases given to Lee are consistent with his contract; his salary rose in five years from $70,822 to $240,912.^[13]

One count of felony theft stems from Lee's failure to reimburse the school system for $3,968 for fuel expenses; the other count is for $1,578, which he charged for meals and lodging. Lee faces arraignment in DeSoto District Court on February 5, 2014. District Attorney Richard Johnson described the charges as "particularly disturbing because they concern public corruption. Public officials are required to carry out their duties in a way that encourages the support and confidence of the community. That was not done here. We must take these acts seriously because to do otherwise would undermine the public's trust."^[12]

The legislative auditor said that BESE should seek recovery of the $13,073 in hotel and gasoline charges reimbursed to Lee. BESE President Chas Roemer of Baton Rouge sent a letter to Lee asking that the funds be repaid. Then in a second letter Roemer said that BESE would not reimburse Lee for any future expenses until the resolution of the dispute.^[13]

On March 5, 2014, Lee pleaded not guilty in state district court in Mansfield to two counts of felony theft and one charge each of malfeasance in office and public contract fraud. Pretrial proceedings began on April 22. Had been convicted of a felony, Lee would have been required to resign from the BESE board. Lee's attorney is the former State Representative Taylor Townsend of Natchitoches.^[14]

In a plea bargain announced on December 11, 2014, Lee agreed to step down from BESE the following day. He pleaded guilty before Judge Charles B. Adams to a misdemeanor count of unauthorized use of a moveable vehicle. His six-month parish jail term was suspended, and he was instead placed on unsupervised probation for that amount of time. Richard Johnson, the outgoing DeSoto Parish District Attorney, agreed to dismiss the other charges pending against Lee and delivered a personal check to the school board for $10,653 plus a $500 fine and court costs, the amount that the court determined that Lee owed. Taylor Townsend stressed that Lee did not violate any criminal laws and had served in the educational field "with honor" and "worked hard" during his time at BESE and as the Desoto superintendent. The plea, Townsend noted, would allow Lee to move on beyond the controversy to the next stage of his life. Townsend also said that the media had "sullied" Lee's reputation "playing fast and loose with the truth." Lee had already paid the school board $13,083 in September.^[15]

The Louisiana Board of Ethics in June 2014 filed its own charges against Lee; he could still face separate civil fines.^[15]

Lee will be succeeded on an interim basis on the BESE board by Mary Johnson Harris (born December 1948), a Republican and the principal of South Highlands Elementary Magnet School in Shreveport. She was appointed by then Governor Bobby Jindal.^[16]

In the nonpartisan blanket primary for the remainder of Lee's term, held on October 24, 2015, Harris led two other Republican candidates, Tony Davis of Natchitoches and Glynis Johnston of Shreveport. No Democrat contested the position.^[17] Harris received 47,834 votes (43.2 percent) and faces a runoff election on November 21 with Tony Davis, who polled 40,895 votes (36.9 percent). Johnston held the remaining but critical 22,107 votes (20 percent).^[18]

References