State authorities are investigating allegations that former Logan County Schools Superintendent Phyllis Doty used $4,800 in school funds to buy decorations for her son's wedding.
Earlier this week, Logan County Board of Education President Paul Hardesty revealed that the state Legislature's Commission on Special Investigations has started a probe into the school system's finances.
The Logan Banner reported Friday that in 2015, a former board office employee ordered wedding decorations - a half-oval colonnade, pedestal columns and floor urns - from a company called Column Warehouse, according to a receipt of the purchases from the Logan County Board of Education.
The employee forwarded the shipping confirmation order to Doty. The decorations were to be sent to the music department at Chapmanville Middle School. But photographs of the same items were later posted to Facebook by Doty, the Banner reported.
"I do not know what the investigation holds," Hardesty said, according to a transcript from a school board meeting this week. "I can tell you from what we are learning on a daily basis, it is not good."
On Friday, Hardesty confirmed to the Gazette-Mail that the investigation was over Doty's alleged purchasing improprieties, but said the purchases were made with a state-issued purchasing card rather than by money order, as reported in the Banner.
Authorities familiar with the state investigation also confirmed to the Gazette-Mail that it includes the alleged wedding purchases.
Logan school board members bought out Doty's contract at a meeting Wednesday. Her last day was July 31. She was being paid $115,000 a year, and had recently agreed to a four-year contract extension.