Crystal Gilbert-Mosley, superintendent of City Day Community School, reimbursed the Dayton charter school last year for money paid to her daughter. The payment was part of a settlement agreement between Gilbert-Mosley and the Ohio Ethics Commission obtained by the Dayton Daily News.
In the October settlement agreement, Gilbert-Mosley admitted that she violated ethics laws by authorizing employment contracts with her daughter and mother. She accepted a public reprimand, agreed to pay back the $713 her daughter earned as a substitute teacher, and will take part in ethics training.
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In an interview this week, Gilbert-Mosley said her mother was never actually hired by the school. The charter school’s board approved everything she did, Gilbert-Mosley said, until she started having disagreements with the former board chairman.
“When I was hired, the board approved my request,” she said. “I didn’t intentionally do anything wrong.”
The ethics settlement says Gilbert-Mosley was hired as superintendent of City Day in July 2017. It says the board asked her “what she brings to the table” when she was being interviewed, and she responded she wanted to bring on staff her mother and daughter, who were teachers.
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When she was hired, Gilbert-Mosley approved employing both of them as subs, although her mother never worked there, the settlement agreement says. Gilbert-Mosley in October 2017 then recommended hiring her daughter as a fourth grade teacher for $39,000 a year, which was $5,000 more than the previous teacher.
The school board raised nepotism issues, the agreement says, but approved the hiring at the same rate as the former teacher and with the understanding that the principal would supervise her daughter. The offer was rescinded in November 2017 based on advice from the board’s attorney.
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“At their December 16, 2017, meeting, the board noted that they failed to see the ethics violation and agreed to participate in ethics training with their attorney,” the settlement says.
Gilbert-Mosley said she is not related to anyone currently working at the school and continues to serve as superintendent.
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