Several accusations were made against District 150’s director of technology and library media services Mary Ward and many other employees in her department. Interim superintendent Norm Durflinger took them seriously and conducted an investigation. Today, he announced the results of that investigation:

Interim Superintendent Norm Durflinger said 35 people in all were interviewed about 14 separate accusations ranging from employees giving away district-owned computer equipment or selling it on the Internet to viewing pornography or smoking marijuana while at work.

“We investigated all the accusations and could find no basis for any of them,” Durflinger said Tuesday, noting attorneys trained in such questioning performed the internal inquiry, which acted on claims that were made by people in the community as well as employees….

“There is a view by some in the community there is no credibility when it comes so some people in Peoria School District 150,” he said. “In this case, we had to prove whether there was any truth to the accusations or not. . . . There was not.”

So all the employees have been exonerated. Durflinger is personally apologizing to each person who was suspected of wrongdoing. I don’t blame Durflinger for feeling bad about the situation, but I still think he did the right thing. He’s exactly right — District 150 has a serious credibility problem. Exculpating these employees I believe gives Peorians more confidence in the District and will help quell unfounded rumors (although it certainly won’t eliminate them).

Even though the employees were absolved of any guilt, the district is going to enact some new internal controls, including tracking equipment worth less than $500. That’s a positive outcome as well.