LAUSD BOE Recognizes IG William Stern on Departure LAUSD BOE Recognizes IG William Stern on Departure Show Transcript um all right we'll keep the celebratory atmosphere going um the board would like to take a moment now to recognize William or Bill Stern our Inspector General who will be leaving the district at the end of this week Mr Stern has served as our watchdog for our school district and our community and we are so sorry to see him go um board members at this time um I will open it up to comments for Mr Stern and he is with us virtually also sporting his college gear hello board members uh please raise your hand if you want to share any um parting Thoughts with Mr CH this time go ahead Miss sketch yeah uh thank you Mr Stern for your work I just want to shout out the entire oig department we have seen change we appreciate the professionalism and we look forward it to continuing um continuing Bill uh much success to you and all you do next thank you thank you thank you Miss Garcia any others want to add on oh oh thank you for flagging too many places to look Dr McKenna go for it thank you uh Bill thank you for who you are what you've done what you've been to us what you will continue to do you did it with style you did it with integrity you did it with uh reliability and we were we appreciated that I certainly did and your trustworthy and you take that wherever you go you came to us that way you're leaving us that way I'm sorry to see you go uh you were among the best and I honestly appreciate what you've done and um you can be hard to replace but somebody will take your job and somebody will try to do it because it's a difficult position and difficult responsibility but thank you for all you've done I have to ride upon your word and your data and your analysis of everything that you've done so thank you again sir it was a pleasure a privilege take care thank you Dr McKenna uh Mr schwarzen and then Mr Melvin yes Mr Stern you you sacked behind me on the board so I really couldn't see you that much because you were behind me but I'm telling you you are a very serious hard-working fellow I mean I really appreciate what you've done uh nose to the grindstone getting the job done and uh No Nonsense so thank you so much Mr Stern we really really do appreciate you thank you thank you Mr Malloy thank you well you know I think the best Inspector General is the 1 you hear from the lease and so there's part of me that says I wish we heard from you more but really um you know you had uh came in to that department under difficult circumstances and you did a tremendous job I was privileged to be on the ad hoc board committee that hired you um and I remember when we first we actually zoomed I think before Zoom was a thing um before it was involved because you were in in Europe at the time and I was so grateful that you moved um that you and your family moved you know really across the world to help serve La I know where you have deep roots in um coming from a family of Educators uh in the LA area but really appreciate your service helped turn around to Department that serves such a critical function and I think it was the faith I know that a lot of folks and voters had and you and your department when we passed um historically measure RR largest school bond in the country with over 70% voter approval they had faith in in your department and your ability to make sure that that money is well spent I also just want to give you Kudos and appreciate your transition planning you know I think the true success of a of a leader is in looking at their Department after they have departed and I think you've set yourself in the district and the board up for success and really appreciate the thought that went into uh these next steps so best of luck in your next Endeavor um hope you will stay in touch and just really appreciate your service to the kids of LA thank you Mr Malloy Miss Goldberg we'll just go around the rest okay all right uh yes I too will say you will be missed uh Mr Stern um I uh came in and was looking at the number of cases that hadn't been resolved that hadn't been this and hadn't been that all those numbers have gone down dramatically under your leadership and we appreciate that but I think most of the public doesn't know that what the Inspector General does is to make sure that the purchases that are made are not corrupt that the policies of the district are followed as we said they would be as opposed to making it up as we go along that we don't discriminate against our employee all those kinds of things get referred to the Inspector General it's an important role because a district small medium or large it's easy for people not to pay attention always to all the things that should be done the way they should be done and An Inspector General is the biggest part not the only part but the biggest part of overseeing that we do not have Corrupt Practices and I know a lot of people think all government is corrupt but I don't and I don't because of people like William Stern who are inspector generals who look at things who have no skin in the game in terms of helping or hurting anyone but wanting to make sure that our district is run appropriately effectively that we spend wisely that we aren't corrupt that we don't make decisions based on discrimination or any other ridiculous reasons and so I just want to thank you for your role in all of that for your leadership and that for moving our district up in the eyes I believe of the public as a place that they consider does things fairly and does things appropriately and that is watching that's looking not waiting to see if it happens but looking to make sure that we do things as we're supposed to so I just want to thank you for your role in that for your leadership in that for closing so many cases that had been open for so long you did a great job and we're going to miss you Miss Ortiz Franklin I will reiterate the thanks and in my short 10 months of being on the board and getting to work alongside you I just want to thank you for your professionalism and for modeling 1 of my core values which is efficiency so thank you for being a key leader in you will be missed and you have big shoes to fill thanks so much Bill thank you board member kuga um I just want to say thank you for um the work that you've done and I really appreciate that you've maintained the Integrity of our district um and yeah you will definitely be missed thank you so much thank you um well Mr shearn I will Echo everything that's been said um throughout your time in the district you've been just such a steadfast public servant truly truly the definition of public service the results of your work really speak for themselves um and you really started a new chapter for the oig and I think that um that division which is incredibly important to the district is being left in a really capable hands and a really strong place um the public has also benefited from your thorough professional and important work that you and your team have led um and have been able to accomplish over the past several years so I definitely will miss working with you we will miss your presence here and I wish you all the best in your future Pursuits and um I hope you know um that your legacy will live on here in La unified um with that Mr Stern do you have any comments that you wanted to share members thank you so much for your kind words and for this uh opportunity to serve the district and our stakeholders over these past uh about 3 years I I really appreciate it it means quite a bit to me um I've posted a more comprehensive uh uh Fair well on the LAUSD oig website but just allow me to say that the your office of Inspector General uh Stands Strong to make sure District monies are spent appropriately and that our trusted employees act dutifully in uh carrying on the important mission of the district um well I'm sorry that you can't be here in person with us bill but we uh we do have a resolution in your honor and also the uh inFAMOUS or famous Bell um for you so I'll go ahead and read the certificate which I will hold up and you can see in a moment um whereas William Stern is lifelong public servant and has served as student staff schools and taxpayers of the Los Angeles Unified School District well as Inspector General since January 2019 and whereas William Stern has shown continuous dedication and leadership in the field of professional investigations and audits um and whereas William Stern initiated Enterprise level work that led to the identification of the largest monetary benefit to the LAUSD in more than 10 years and 53 million in fiscal year 2021 alone and whereas William Stern supported La UniFi through the co 19 pandemic identifying issues related to bus contractors and unemployment claims and providing assurances that Co related expenditures were appropriate and whereas William Stern worked diligently to improve systems policies procedures and performance to promote efficient why accountability and stakeholder feedback and the identification of risks and opportunities and whereas William Stern has been a model of dedication professionalism and integrity and has served as a mentor and role model to countless number of his colleagues and peers where is William Stern will have a lasting impact on the office of Inspector General instilling in the team the commitment to quote challenging but attainable goals to maximize organizational performance and promote a culture of Excellence now therefore be resolved that the board education of the city of Los Angeles and the superintendent of schools expressed their sincere appreciation to William Stern for his nearly 3 years of outstanding service and dedication to the student staff schools and taxpayers and wishing him good health and prosperity and continued success as he continues his commitment to public service at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory um and I will just take off the little black curtain and I guess I'm gonna ring this for you Bill ah very nice beautiful thank you so much I think that's thank you so much Phil and um we will make sure you get this uh Before you depart us thank you again all right go Bears fight on and veritas no bears thank you so much
