Houston Public School Employee Needs Time Out After Prank on Co-Worker

A procurement manager in the Houston public school system is under fire after two internal investigations showed that he solicited a mail-order bride for a co-worker and performed another office prank while hundreds of thousands of dollars of supplies sat idle in warehouses.

The Houston Chronicle reports that twin investigations by the Houston Independent School District concluded that Stephen Pottinger harassed two of his employees and that the district had $800,000 worth of unused hand sanitizer, bought at the outset of the swine flu scare in 2009, that was about to expire, as well as vehicle parts worth more than $113,000 that hadn't been used since 2008.