Ronald “Bobby” Hathaway, the former director of facilities for Richmond Public Schools, was accused of enlisting subordinates to help him disable security cameras to return a zero-turn lawn mower to the facilities site undetected, according to an internal investigation a city judge recently released to The Richmonder under the state’s Freedom of Information Act. 

Hathaway denied ever doing such to investigators despite the two subordinates – a supervisor and technician – confirming the incident taking place.

“Mr. Hathaway’s claims are demonstrably false,” investigators wrote. “He utilized his position to coerce subordinates into committing a security breach for his personal benefit. This constitutes a gross abuse of authority.”

Investigators recommended an immediate termination of his employment, while demoting the supervisor from their role and issuing a letter of reprimand – last chance – to the technician. According to a source familiar with the matter, the two employees are no longer working for the district.

Instead, Hathaway submitted a letter of resignation on April 23, two days after the investigators’ recommendation. 

“I want to express my sincere appreciation not only for your personal support and guidance, but also for the support I have received from Richmond Public Schools as a whole,” he wrote in an email to Sandra Lee, director of employee and labor relations.

The documents also detail another investigation conducted into Hathaway’s misappropriation of RPS funds and abuse of authority. A whistleblower alleged that the former director spent $86,000 in purchases that weren’t used in schools. It is unclear from the report if purchases were confirmed as appropriate. Investigators identified about $5,000 in potential purchases Hathaway made that did not have a rationale for purchasing.

However, the full extent of his alleged embezzling is unclear, as the report does not contain a full accounting of the dollar value of the theft conducted. Investigators also noted that the audit into items bought was limited in scope because Hathaway did not link invoices to work orders, a protocol that employees are supposed to follow.

“The Director of Finance stated the effort to link the information was like ‘looking for a needle in the haystack,’” investigators wrote.

As a result, the investigation has been referred to the Richmond Police Department for a more in-depth forensic investigation. Spokespeople from RPS and the department confirmed that the division filed a police report this past May and that the investigation is ongoing.

“Any restitution would follow their investigation,” said Alyssa Schwenk, RPS director of communications. 

Investigators also looked into allegations of a hostile work environment, where staff members accused Hathaway of exhibiting “bullying tendencies.” While investigators could not substantiate the claims because there was no corroborating evidence, they noted that multiple detailed accounts suggested a culture of “bullying and disparate treatment based on race and personal vulnerability.”

The report overall points to an issue of “significant systemic vulnerabilities,” lack of processes, procedures and oversight within the facilities department that allowed Hathaway to conduct his alleged acts, which “posed a high risk to Richmond Public Schools.”

When asked why certain systems were not in place, Schwenk said that the division’s needs around infrastructure and internal systems “have long outstripped our means.” The division has been long plagued with old school buildings – averaging 80 years old – that teachers previously said have had exposed asbestos, mold and faulty HVAC units to regulate temperature.

“We work carefully to extend their lifespan while investing in upgrades,” she said.

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She pointed to an internal audit conducted last year that found several weaknesses in the division’s procurement card process, specifically that staff were not properly logging their purchases to either avoid going over budget or hide unauthorized purchases. 

“We’ve implemented new processes to our p-card and purchasing systems, increasing oversight and transparency,” she said. “As soon as we were alerted to possible misconduct earlier this year, we took immediate action and began an investigation.”

The findings of Hathaway’s financial misconduct come at a time when school leaders are making cuts to the division’s budget – including the recent last minute cut to teacher stipends – saying that RPS is strapped for resources. The division initially redacted the investigation heavily when The Richmonder requested the document through a Freedom of Information Act. The Richmonder sued, and the division had to turn over and completely unredact the report following a court order. 

Hathaway previously was critiqued for his role leading up to a 2022 fire at Fox Elementary School. In the months before the fire, a Richmond Fire Department official accused him of “extreme neglect” over annual inspections of the district’s schools.

‘The cameras needed to go down’

Two investigations were conducted into Hathaway, including a review of a security breach he allegedly facilitated on February 4 this year, the same day administrators, including Superintendent Jason Kamras, learned of an anonymous complaint regarding Hathaway’s conduct.

Hathaway, who was already under investigation before the incident, tapped on the technician and supervisor to conduct the breach, telling the supervisor that “he needed to return the lawnmower and that ‘the cameras needed to go down.’” Investigators said Hathaway was informed to not make contact with any RPS employee or go to any RPS facility other than the Norrell School building.

Both Hathaway and the supervisor were at the facilities services site that evening, while the technician reported to the supervisor over the phone. 

The technician initially claimed to investigators that they were accessing previous camera footage in search of a missing green ladder. John Beazley, the division’s director of security and safety and one of the investigators on the case, confirmed that the technician was viewing live footage rather than old. The technician owned up to it, and said that they were instructing the supervisor on how to disconnect the camera cables and confirming if the cameras were indeed off when the supervisor pulled the cables. 

“[Technician] claimed [they] did not question the instructions to disable security because [supervisor] was a supervisor and Mr. Hathaway was the director,” investigators wrote.

The investigation also uncovered a second security breach two days later, where the technician assisted with shutting off the cameras for the supervisor to “hide the removal of scaffolding.”

The supervisor, after first claiming he was at the site to retrieve a brush spinner and was not waiting for anyone, corroborated the claims.

But Hathaway denied them repeatedly, saying that he did not meet with anyone and went to the facilities services site to retrieve his wallet. Investigators noted that a camera from RPD tracked him sitting outside of the facilities services location for thirty minutes before returning the equipment. Hathaway said he was talking to his daughter, which investigators found to be “demonstratively false.”

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Purchases made without documentation of school use

Internal investigators also issued a report following a second investigation into Hathaway’s alleged misconduct following a whistleblower’s complaint alleging that he misused funds on equipment not used in schools.

Investigators found that Hathaway’s ability to purchase items and approve invoices “presented a gross conflict of interest that was exploited on numerous occasions.” The items he bought that investigators reviewed either had no rationale for purchasing, no use in schools or were not found on site with no account of their storage or use. 

The documents included two sets of various purchases Hathaway made between 2023 to 2026. 

The first set contains items Hathaway bought between October 2025 and January 2026, mostly coming from Southern Refrigeration Corporation. These were purchases the whistleblower alleged were not used for school facilities.

These purchases cost the division $86,018, with a majority coming from a December 2025 invoice. It was an invoice that totaled $77,165 from Trane Technologies, an HVAC equipment supplier based in Hanover County. The invoice does not specify what item was purchased. 

It is unclear if these purchases were deemed appropriate for use in schools.

Investigators randomly selected about 53 items purchased at Lowe’s and Southern Refrigeration Corporation from a range of invoices in the second set. Almost all purchases – varying from a deck stain, nail guns, home thermostat and a lock box used to secure a home door – were tied to a location code for an RPS school or facility, rather than a work order. About 33 of the items – costing nearly $5,000 – were not linked to an RPS work order to support the purchase or were not used at all in schools. 

Those purchases were also made with funds from the federal Carl Perkins grant, an annual grant intended to develop and improve career and technical education for students. 

Investigators noted that many of the purchases also remain unaccounted for, as the lack of an attached work order rendered them “untraceable.” 

The most expensive purchase noted in this set was “pressure treated lumber,” which can be used for outdoor projects like decks, gazebos, ramps, costing the division $2,119.04. There was no work order to support the purchase and the location code attached to the purchase was “48,” an invalid code, investigators noted.   

‘Bullying tendencies’

The whistleblower also alleged that Hathaway “exhibited bullying tendencies and fostered a hostile work environment,” which investigators could not substantiate. But investigators acknowledged that the various accounts suggest a culture of bullying and unfair treatment. 

Multiple department staff members interviewed for the investigation said that Hathaway displayed racial and cultural bias, resulting in “good men” leaving RPS due to his behavior. He was accused of targeting employees of color, specifically Black employees, speaking brazenly towards them and giving more work to them, though the report did not confirm those allegations. 

For example, “during the most recent storm, witnesses noted that all Black men recruited for snow removal were assigned manual (shoveling) duties, while the four available plow trucks were assigned exclusively to white recruits,” investigators wrote. The allegation was deemed unfounded.

The whistleblower also claimed that employees were allowed to make comments about Latino workers in the custodial department, adding that there was also a comment made about the superintendent using his position to speak out against ICE. Those comments also could not be verified.

A systemic breakdown

Investigators highlighted multiple systems that failed to be in place while Hathaway conducted his activity. 

“The Facilities Department has no formalized process for receiving any deliveries, verifying the necessity of purchased items, managing inventory delivery/storage or confirming that purchased materials were used for intended work orders,” investigators wrote. 

The department operated on an “honor system” when using RPS property, which investigators said allowed unchecked access and borrowing of that property. Hathaway was accused of using RPS equipment for personal and business use, which he denied. But investigators could not verify the claim since the department does not track its inventory. 

Investigators learned that the p-card “lacks the necessary oversight to prevent unauthorized or undocumented spending,” investigators said. It was also easily accessible to anyone, as the report noted it was stored in a staff member’s office, which was concerning to investigators.  

Hathaway was also the hiring manager for employees within the department, and the whistleblower alleged that he hired individuals who worked at his personal business. Investigators said the allegation was unfounded. But they also revealed that the division’s Talent Acquisition Department, which helps recruit and hire employees, did not maintain recruitment information to determine if the qualified personnel were being hired. All of those records were kept with Hathaway and “without administrative oversight.”

Officials appeared to have previously stepped in to install systems to easily track the department’s activities, specifically former Chief Operating Officer Dana Fox who implemented a work order system two years ago. But investigators noted that the system was neglected and ignored.

Investigators have recommended multiple systematic changes to the department, with the most immediate being establishing internal controls and oversight on purchasing and managing the department’s tools and assets. 

Schwenk, the communications director for the division, said the division has been working on updating internal processes within the department “to ensure multiple eyes on purchases, explicit systems for tracking stock items and guidelines for how and when to bring in external contractors.”

The Richmond School Board’s internal auditor will also conduct a review of the department’s processes, and the auditor’s plan will be presented in the upcoming Board meeting this July. 

“We're always working to improve our processes, striving to be better and careful stewards of taxpayer funds,” she said. 

Contact Reporter Victoria A. Ifatusin at vifatusin@richmonder.org