Cost of Peebles' departure tops $250,000; A $61,000 legal bill is added to Minneapolis school district's tab for breaking ties with superintendent

Gymnasium, Milwaukee

     The tab for the departure of former Minneapolis  Superintendent Thandiwe Peebles has topped $250,000. 

      The latest bill is for almost $61,000 in legal fees from the law firm that investigated allegations against Peebles and then advised the school board in the run-up to her forced resignation. 

     That's atop the $179,500 the board agreed to pay Peebles to resign instead of being fired in January. The district is paying about $11,000 more to terminate the Cadillac lease it assumed from Peebles as part of the buyout.

      The board in July asked lawyer Dennis O'Brien of the Littler Mendelson firm to investigate two anonymous letters that alleged Peebles had used district staff and resources for personal chores and college work.

      As the investigation neared a conclusion last winter, O'Brien was a key behind-the-scenes player who advised the board on options and dealt with Peebles' attorney. But that racked up $26,000 in legal fees for January alone, when she resigned.

      "It's horrible. It's too bad we had to spend that money. But we had no choice," said board Chairman Joseph Erickson, who said the legal costs were necessary to protect district interests.

      Besides the cost of parting with Peebles, the district also paid $89,808, including expenses, to Hamilton Rabinovitz & Alschuler, the search firm that landed her. Another search firm that interviewed for the job, Milwaukee-based Proact Search, would have charged $11,500 less and would have guaranteed that if its superintendent didn't last a year, it would perform a new search for expenses only. That firm recently found new St. Paul Superintendent Meria Carstarphen.