October 17, 2014

LOUISIANA ETHICS ADMINISTRATION PROGRAM

P.O. Box 4368
Baton Rouge, LA 70821

To whom it may concern,

Please accept this letter as a formal notification of potential ethical violations, specifically related to RS
42:1111, committed by employees with the Calcasieu Parish School Board. While I feel that the issues
noted in this letter are violations of the Ethical Standards for Public Servants, I would like to request
guidance and direction from the Board, in addition to satisfying our reporting requirement.
As a result of an internal investigation, the following items were noted:
1. A CPSB employee handled the funds of an external booster club. The Sulphur High School
head baseball coach, Jason Trahan, regularly collected funds from a concession stand, which was
stocked and funded by the external club, used a debit card accessing the external booster club
checking account and maintained influence over the clubs affairs with regards to expenditures
and club administration. It should be noted that the above was considered an acceptable
practice by the club and the coach. This was recently brought to the attention of the CPSB
Internal Auditing Department, which prompted the investigation.
a. The coach was not an authorized user of the club debit card, however the card was
provided to him to use for meals and other expenses while out of town for away games.
b. The coach was given the authority, by the club, to collect concession stand funds and
expend club funds at his discretion.
2. Evidence was provided to the CPSB Internal Auditing Department, both through inquiries and
supporting bank statement transactions, to substantiate coaches were paid for working a
mandatory summer baseball league.
a. Coach Jason Trahan received an undetermined amount of money from the club for
working the summer league.
b. Coach Blaine Wyninger received checks in the amount of $1,875 and $625.00 for salary
supplements on 4/14/14 and 5/12/14, respectively.
c. Coach Chad Hebert received two (2) salary supplement checks for $1,800.00, each on
4/4/14 and 5/14/14.
Building Foundations for the Future

d. Coach Blake Ellender stated, per inquiry, that he received $1,000.00 for coaching the
summer league team during the summer of 2013.
e. The Booster Club officer in charge of the baseball account, Samuel Breaux, documented
in an e-mail that $17,250.00 was spent by the booster club to supplement coaches
salaries. Due to the fact that the past practice was to pay the coaches cash, the exact
amounts and to whom they were submitted, could not be determined.
3. The external booster club paid the head coachs cell phone bill since 2011.
Additional items of note:
1. The external booster club has operated the concession stand at the Sulphur High School
baseball games over the last few years (or more), a practice that has since been discontinued.
2. It appears that those involved with the summer league did not understand that these events
would be considered school sponsored and the internal controls for fund accountability
should have been followed and the raised funds should have run through the schools
accounting system.
3. The head coachs cell phone bill that was paid monthly by the booster club included additional
charges for data plans for multiple I-pads. The Principal stated that the I-pads were used to
access Game Exchange, software utilized to track player statistics. Per inquiry, all of the devices
(phone and I-pads) were used by the coaches in the capacity of their jobs.

Please advise whether or not the above warrants further review by your office. I can provide you with
documentation, upon request, related to the internal investigation conducted by the CPSB Internal
Auditing Department. Also, if you have any questions or if I can assist in any way, please contact me at
(337) 217-4190 ext. 2601.

Regards,

Wayne Foster
Director of Internal Auditing
Calcasieu Parish School Board
Building Foundations for the Future