School leaders’ Suncadia trip cost nearly twice the figure initially given, records show
Eight members of Tacoma Public Schools’ executive cabinet attended an overnight retreat at Cle Elum’s Suncadia resort in late June, The News Tribune previously reported. At the time, the district said the cost of the team-building trip was $4,608.
Subsequent reporting has revealed the actual total was nearly double that.
Suncadia is a resort with “more than 6,000 acres of forested mountain landscape, sun-dappled meadows and rushing rivers,” according to its website. The district’s agenda for the retreat listed activities such as a “bike ride scavenger hunt” and the “Annual Cabinet Cornhole Tournament™.”
Tacoma Public Schools spokesperson Tanisha Jumper, who went on the trip, told The News Tribune in early July that the excursion was necessary for district leaders to reflect on the past school year and prepare for the upcoming one.
Teachers who’d learned of the retreat argued that it was gratuitous. It came at a time when the district had eliminated positions and pursued other budget-cutting efforts.
Shortly after publishing the original article, The News Tribune asked the district for all receipts associated with the trip, including any reimbursements for individual meals and mileage.
Documents obtained in a records request denote a higher price tag: $8,807.63.
What did the Suncadia receipts show?
Six members of Tacoma Public Schools’ cabinet stayed one night at Suncadia at $378.58 each, including taxes and fees, according to documents. A couple of early-arriving admin — Chief Financial Officer Rosalind Medina and Deputy Superintendent Lisa Nolan — stayed two nights.
Lodging cost roughly $3,786 altogether, records show.
A separate invoice covering the meeting-room rental, food and beverage services and bicycle rental notes a subtotal of $5,021.83.
All told, the Suncadia trip cost $8,807.63, Jumper confirmed — roughly $1,101 per person.
What is Tacoma Public Schools’ response?
The discrepancy between the two totals — $4,608 versus $8,808 — effectively boils down to a miscalculation, Jumper said.
She explained that there were “two different reconciling processes” for the Suncadia stay. The district had not combined those two numbers when The News Tribune asked for comment about the trip in early July.
“It was a miscounting on our end,” Jumper said.
The newspaper asked Jumper this week whether the district reimbursed anyone for mileage or meals. There were not any receipts indicating as much in the documents received as part of the records request.
“I did not personally submit anything for mileage, and I know people rode together, so I don’t think there is,” she said.
Jumper added that the trip was paid for using admin professional-development dollars.
As for why two executives stayed more than one night?
The original contract — signed in 2023 — included 10 people, but the cabinet later shrank to eight, Jumper said. So, Medina and Nolan arrived earlier to use up those extra nights and prepare for the retreat.
“So when everybody else got there, the room was already set up, the stuff was already out,” Jumper said. “... We started at like 8 in the morning. So, they just stayed the night over so they could already be there and have the room already set up for us.”
Jumper explained in July that if the district had opted to cancel the trip, it would have lost a big chunk of change: up to about $3,550, per the records. Doing so, she added, would not have been “smart business.”
The Suncadia package also featured group food-and-drink service costs.
Records show that a full-day beverage service — which included coffee, tea, soft drinks and still and sparkling water bottles — rang in at $52 per person.
The “Pacific Rim Lunch Buffet” came to $60 each. The “Get Up and Get Out” breakfast buffet was $48 apiece and offered menu items such as granola bars, croissants, cinnamon rolls, yogurt and two egg-sandwich selections.
Bicycle rental cost $184.35, according to one invoice.
This story was originally published August 16, 2024 at 5:15 AM.
