CMS: California weekend wasn't on taxpayer tab

A reader emailed to ask about a recent business trip Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools administrators made to California.  They left on Friday,  this reader said,  for meetings that started on Monday.  He wanted to know who was paying for the weekend.

The reader is mostly right.  Superintendent Heath Morrison,  Deputy Superintendent Ann Clark, School Performance Chief Kelly Gwaltney,  Learning Services Chief Valerie Truesdale and Central Learning Community Superintendent Kit Rea went to California on Friday,  June 28, to learn more about using technology to "design schools of choice,"  said CMS Communication Chief Kathryn Block. There was a meeting on Friday,  she said,  with most of the business done Monday and Tuesday.

The district spent $6,005 for airfare, car rental and lodgings,  Block said,  but over the weekend the administrators were on their own for lodging and meals.

The trip included meetings with IDEO,  a Silicon Valley consulting firm that has worked with San Francisco schools;  the superintendent and school board members in Napa Valley public schools;  and Apple,  which is heavily involved in digital education.  Block said one benefit of the trip is that Apple is sending staff to lead a  "transformation summit"  for CMS principals in August,  at company expense.