Jeff Moss publicly reprimanded, keeps educator license in new SC Board of Ed. ruling
Former Beaufort County schools superintendent Jeff Moss was publicly reprimanded Tuesday by the South Carolina State Board of Education for violating the state’s Ethics Act on economic interests and for receiving a nearly $7,000 “improper reimbursement” in his 2018 resignation package.
The State Board of Education ruling comes nine months after Moss was ordered by the S.C. State Ethics Commission to pay $6,659.72 back to Beaufort County School District, along with $500 to the commission. The ruling was first reported by FitsNews.
Moss waived his right to a hearing with the state board, which concluded that there was not enough evidence to suspend or revoke his South Carolina educator’s license.
Moss served as the district’s superintendent from July 2013 to 2018, when he resigned amid news of an ongoing FBI investigation into the district.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Moss has worked as an “independent consultant” for Coast of Carolina Consulting LLC since August 2018.
He and his wife, Darlene Moss, registered that company with the N.C. Secretary of State in August 2016 — the same month that Moss admitted to two ethics violations related to the hiring of his wife for a high-paid district administrative position.
In April, Moss was announced as one of three finalists for interim superintendent in Bamberg School District 1.
He previously told the Island Packet and the Beaufort Gazette that he withdrew from consideration in Bamberg County as soon as the finalists were announced, citing personal reasons and a proximity to family in North Carolina.
What happened?
Moss began working in 2014 as a consultant to the controversial Education Research and Development Institute, which charges vendors to meet with superintendents across the country.
In November, the S.C. State Ethics Commission charged Moss with one count of using his public employment to obtain other work with ERDI, a violation of the state Ethics Act.
The commission found probable cause for another charge of improperly accepting speaking fees from ERDI but agreed to dismiss the second charge in exchange for Moss’ acknowledgement of guilt in the first.
The commission found that Moss made $17,100 for participating in panels hosted by ERDI, an amount that includes travel reimbursements from the organization. The expenses were spread among eight events from February 2015 and July 2018, his last month with the district after the board accepted his resignation on May 15 of that year.
Over the course of those three years, Moss requested — and received — $618.23 in travel reimbursement from the district for ERDI events, including mileage, parking and per diem. For seven of the days he attended ERDI conferences, he did not use annual leave or any other leave. According to the hearing documents, Moss claimed he thought those seven days were approved as “professional development.”
Board member JoAnn Orischak filed the S.C. Ethics complaint against Moss in 2018. She said in November that she did so after noticing charges marked as “ERDI” on Moss’ district credit card reports from 2015 to 2018 and confirming with district chief financial officer Tonya Crosby that the superintendent had not reimbursed the district for these charges.
Moss’ unused annual leave days were included in his estimated $280,000 resignation package at a rate of $846.10 per day, with seven days totaling just under $6,000 of compensation.
According to the November consent order, Moss told the ethics commission that he got leave requests approved by the district, “causing him to believe he was authorized to attend the ERDI conference.” He said he worked for the district “around the clock,” even when he was taking leave, and that any violation of the Ethics act was “unintentional.”
He also said he thought “his leave could qualify as professional development,” but agreed it was his “ultimate responsibility to ensure leave was recorded properly,” the ruling says. Finally, Moss said that “during his tenure he had many administrative assistants who assisted in entering his leave and reimbursement requests” and was unaware some were incorrectly submitted.
In a November interview with the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette, Moss called the inclusion of annual leave “an unintentional whatever, slip with how it was coded in leave issues from years ago, which could have been easily corrected if it was brought to my attention or anyone else’s attention.”
“To be honest, the resignation package could have been easily remedied if it had been brought up before I departed in July,” Moss said.
He added that board members and auditors had the information presented to the ethics commission before his resignation and “had no problem with it.”
Board emails show that Orischak, who filed the ethics complaint on Oct. 3, 2018, messaged Moss regarding his ties to ERDI on May 28, 2018, saying she discovered he was a part of ERDI through his submitted expense reports.
Moss responded that day, saying he “gained permission from the board” to join ERDI. Orischak, who has been on the board since 2012, said in November that she did not remember approving Moss’ involvement with ERDI, according to the consent order.
Orischak said previously that the ruling suggests the board needs better guidelines for approving trips by the superintendent, since Moss’ response implies administrative assistants recorded and approved his leave.
“I can certainly understand why his assistants would not point that to his attention,” she said. “And I don’t think it’s their responsibility to do so.”
Other investigations by ethics commission, FBI
Moss’ tenure in Beaufort County was full of controversy, including a hiring scandal, multiple trips to the S.C. State Ethics Commission and an ongoing FBI investigation into the construction of May River High School and River Ridge Academy.
In 2016, he was found “unintentionally” guilty by the commission of two ethics violations because the district hired his wife for a district-level job paying $90,000 per year.
Moss acknowledged the violations in a deal with the commission to avoid an ethics hearing and a third charge over his removal of a portion of the district’s nepotism rule dealing with the hiring of the superintendent’s relatives.
Moss is still the subject of an ongoing investigation by the FBI, which the district was notified of two years ago.
Though not much is known about the investigation, the FBI appears to be looking into the procurement process used during the construction of May River High School and River Ridge Academy.
At least four subpoenas have been sent to the district or district officials since December 2017, including one focused on Moss’ five-year tenure with the district and his association with ERDI.
Moss previously told the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette he is “not aware” of any investigation into him by the FBI, and that he has not been contacted by the agency.