Dispute over minority contracts in Cincinnati district leads to reassignment of administrator

FromThe Cincinnati Enquirer: Responding to criticism over minority contracting practices, Cincinnati School Superintendent Mary Ronan has reassigned a top official overseeing supplier diversity to a less influential position. Pam Mullins, who has been manager of supplier diversity, now will have a job in the district’s purchasing department. The changes come less than two weeks after the district admitted that it had been significantly overstating its success in steering construction contracts to minority-owned firms. The district later disavowed the accuracy of any statistics compiled by Mullins’ office. Researchers from the NAACP discovered that nearly $9 million contracted to a white-owned firm had been improperly included in a list of minority companies.