Former Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson, who was fired by the Seattle School Board last week after an independent investigation revealed that she failed to provide sufficient oversight over a district small business contractual program that resulted in a loss of $1.8 million, has released a statement apologizing that the fraudulent activity happened under her watch.

KING 5 and KIRO reported her statement, which has been posted in full on their website. The following is an excerpt:

In the case of the small business program, I am angry that any school district employee would abuse a program and taxpayer funds in this way. I had absolutely no involvement in this appalling abuse of the public's trust. Neither the state auditor's investigation nor the independent counsel investigation authorized by the school board found that I was in any way involved in these actions.

Regardless, this situation happened on my watch as superintendent. For that, I am deeply sorry, and I certainly accept and understand the school board's decision to make a change in the leadership of the district.

I leave Seattle with tremendous respect for all those wonderful public servants I was privileged to work alongside of these past few years as we took strong action to improve our public schools and the lives of the children we served. Those exemplary teachers, administrators, staff members and other public servants remain at the school district today doing what they do every day - making the future brighter for our kids. I feel tremendously blessed and honored to have been their colleague.

Goodloe-Johnson gets a severance package of $264,000 and $9,800 in estimated benefits.