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Drue Miles: Realtor & Telephone man out the door?
5thEstate.com Exclusive! This is a follow-up story to the cell phone usage and the part-time Principal Bernard James.

June 14, 2004

Well now we know why assistant superintendent, Drue Miles has turned a blind eye to School District of Lancaster's (SDoL) Bernard James' part-time work. But James might have more issues now that his "blind's eye" boss is trying to escape the district!

Apparently James' boss isn't making enough as an SDoL employee. 5thEstate.com has uncovered that Drue has a real estate license! Did we say Drue? Our mistake, Jeffrey Miles is the one with the license. That's right, even though Miles is known as Drue in his deeds, at school and everywhere else, for some reason, he has an AKA to sell real estate! Wonder why?

Century 21 on Colombia Ave. has Miles and his former secretary and current SDoL employee Kathy Tobias BOTH listed as working out of that office as Realtors. (click here to view listing) Miles was the principal of Fulton elementary until December of 2002 and was working along side Tobias when they each got their license in the summer of 2000.

It was during this time of working together that the familiar gold Century 21 jackets showed up to talk to Miles at his Fulton elementary office!

But what about now? We are not sure. 5thEstate.com examined taxpayer funded cell phone bills for both Miles and Tobias, we discovered some interesting information. Just like James, in March 2004 Miles got called on the carpet by SDoL's finance head Eleanor Bosserman for having a high cell phone bill. And just like James, Miles had to reach into his wallet to pay for his PERSONAL calls made on his SDoL cell.

And even though they have not worked together at SDoL since Miles was the principal at Fulton, let's just say that he and Tobias, according to cell bills have kept up!

In 157 days of cell phone records we obtained, Miles and Tobias - one or the other - called the other one a total of 350 times! (that's 2.3 times a day INCLUDING weekends and holidays!) Considering that Miles is in "operations" and Tobias in the Office of Teaching and Learning, we were not sure what official business they would be contacting each other about so we looked close @ the records.

Take last Christmas holiday. Miles called Tobias a total of 19 times over the holiday, including 3 times on Christmas eve and 4 times on Christmas day! Weekends are another favorite time for the two to exchange conversation on the school's cell phones (or Miles calls Tobias' home). Five times over the weekend of April 3. Four times the weekend of April 18, 2004. October 19, Miles REALLY wanted to talked to Tobias. He called her 19 times in a desperate attempt to get her. (from the 1 minute long, 1 minute apart phone calls we figure he got voice mail.) Finally at 12:11 PM they talked for 18 minutes and 47 seconds. That night he called her @ 11:29 PM and they spoke almost into the next day on their 26 minute call. (see how much this is costing taxpayers by viewing smoking gun)

And the hours these two keep? On April 15 they talked for 10 minutes @ 1:12 AM! On March 29, 2004 they talked at 11:33 PM for 11 minutes and were on the phone the next morning @ 7:46 AM.

So are they talking about school business on these phones YOU are paying for? Don't look for anyone on the school board to ask questions…they just want you to pay the bill!

But how long will Lancaster's taxpayers pay for the lifestyle that Miles is accustom? 5thEstate.com has learned that Miles is a candidate for Superintendent of Schools in Cornwall Central School district in New York. Miles earns $115,696 at SdoL, while the new job, when factored for extra living expenses in the new area, would basically be a wash financially. But is Miles going there? Miles was particularly close to the former Superientendant Vicki Phillips who is leaving the state to go to Portland Oregon. 5thEstate.com heard several weeks ago that Miles' family was telling friends that they were leaving to go to Oregon.

How about New York? We have learned that his employment is contingent on a site visit to Lancaster sometime in June.

Stay tuned to 5thEstate.com - where the media gets their news!