When Cecelia Yauger took the helm of Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV six years ago, she did so with a unanimous vote of the MIU’s board of directors and a ringing endorsement from the executive director whom Yauger had been hand-picked and groomed to succeed.

“I have known Cel on a professional and personal basis for many years,” said outgoing executive director Angelo Pezzuolo in an MIU IV news release issued in May 2007. “I have the utmost respect and confidence in her as an educational leader and as a genuine, sincere person. She epitomizes the concept of a gentlewoman and a scholar. Cel is keenly aware of everything that is happening at the IU and has made personal sacrifices to assure harmony and esprit de corps.”

Six years later, Pezzuolo has been called out of retirement to mop up a mess made by his protégé. Yauger resigned April 12 amid a forensic audit of a multitude of questionable charges to Yauger’s MIU IV credit card account. Just a sampling of the questionable charges includes: $116 spent on men’s neckties at a Bloomingdale’s in Mason, Ohio; $208 spent at a gift shop in Mesa, Ariz.; multiple charges to the Oriental Trading Company in Omaha, Neb., and the Wendell August Forge in Grove City; numerous meals at Grove City-area restaurants; and Redbox DVD rentals.

No criminal charges have been filed against Yauger, and the MIU’s audit is not yet completed. But in a termination agreement signed by Yauger, she has agreed to pay back all the personal expenses charged to her MIU credit account, once the audit determines how much she owes. Pezzuolo is to act as executive director while the board seeks a permanent replacement.

It’s difficult for taxpayers who bring home a fraction of Yauger’s $128,840 annual salary to muster any sympathy for a chief executive officer with a penchant for buying lavishly on their dime. Through callous, careless disregard, Yauger clearly brought this scandal upon herself.

But it’s not fair to isolate Yauger as one bad apple without a thorough look at the tree from which she sprang — and indeed, Yauger is a multiyear product of the Intermediate Unit, with connections dating back to 1979, when she worked as an MIU IV special education teacher fresh out of Slippery Rock University. She had served 12 years as Pezzuolo’s assistant executive director before assuming the top spot.

It’s only fair, while examining Yauger’s alleged sins, to also examine the MIU IV culture that failed to detect or report any wrongdoing for six years. For whatever reason, aides and underlings neglected to report any suspicions, and the board of directors seemed unaware.

Could it be an organization, with 70 annual budgets totaling $124 million, is too big and unwieldy to monitor? Or were its employees cowed into silent subordination by a heavy-handed administration? In light of the latter possibility, the quote from Pezzuolo at the beginning of this editorial is cause for concern.

For the sake of 27 school districts across three counties, the board of directors of the Midwestern Intermediate Unit must take command. The board must demand a thorough, open and candid investigation.