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Monday, July 8, 2013

Washington Post: Rock Terrace Program's Structure Ripe for Fraud and Abuse

Montgomery special-education program under investigation
by Lynh Bui July 7,2013

...According to current and former Rock Terrace employees who spoke to The Washington Post, the money students withdrew would be pooled to pay for weekly trips students took to the mall, grocery store, restaurants or other spots in the community. The outings are designed to teach skills such as comparison shopping, budgeting and navigating public transportation.
But parents said they sent their children off to school with cash to pay for community activities. If the money put into their children’s bank accounts was used for community outings, parents want to know why they also sent money each week and where that money went.
Despite its aims, the program’s structure is unusual and ripe for fraud and abuse, said Diane Smith Howard, the staff attorney for juvenile justice and education at the National Disability Rights Network.
“It sounds terribly well intentioned but tremendously poorly managed,” Smith Howard said...

To read the complete Washington Post article, CLICK HERE.

4 comments:

  1. When reading the Post’s article on the issues at Rock Terrace, I found myself intrigued by the concepts of “legality and ethics of the program, well-intentioned but poorly mismanaged, ripe for fraud and abuse, exploitation of a vulnerable population.” Although the article did not firmly state the added issue of the lack of transparency, the parents interviewed definitely felt betrayed and now are dealing with the impact. However, I also feel that the above concepts/style describe the manner that MCPS handles disputes when the parents of children with disabilities disagree with the MCPS plan. A change of culture at MCPS needs to be enacted.

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  2. What we know: It some cases, bank accounts were set up on behalf of children with severe disabilities WITHOUT the knowledge or permission of parents/guardians. Personal information provided by parents/guardians of children with severe disabilities was used WITHOUT the knowledge or permission of parents/guardians. The implied intent of the parents, when they supplied detailed information (social security numbers, etc.) about their children, was for internal MCPS use only (not for setting up clandestine financial vehicles). Money’s earned by said children were withdrawn from those accounts WITHOUT the knowledge or permission of parents/guardians. Moneys spent by MCPS officials (Rock Terrace administrators, etc.) was not accounted for internally (as far as we know) and not accounted for with the parents/guardians of children with severe disabilities. MCPS officials (Rock Terrace administrators, etc.) instructed banking officials (and one would assume, in writing) that children’s bank statements would be mailed directly to Rock Terrace, not parents/guardians. Subsequently, copies of those bank statements were not made available to the parents/guardians and were destroyed by MCPS officials (either intentionally or unintentionally). These activities were conducted over a period of approximately ten years and may have involved at least two dozen children with severe disabilities.

    What does all of this mean? 1.) MCPS may have violated Maryland Department of Education and IDEA Guidelines regarding informed consent. Clearly, securing bank accounts as part of a special education program to teach children with severe disabilities about “money management in a real-life setting,” is a special education “related service.” Due to the fact that there would be no way for a parent/guardian to be aware of this “related service” in advance, parents/guardians should have been informed and asked to provide their consent in writing, 2.) by instructing a banking institution to route children’s personal financial records to the Rock Terrace address, MCPS may be guilty of mail fraud under federal statutes, 3.) by using students’ personal information and subsequently making use of misappropriated funds (for whatever purpose), MCPS may be guilty of identity theft, which could be prosecuted under state or federal law 4.) by acting as the de facto power of attorney for these students regarding financial matters, MCPS may be legally responsible for not filing proper (or any) tax forms with the IRS or State of Maryland. Further, MCPS may be responsible for subsequent interest, fines and/or penalties.

    What we don’t know… a lot. How many students were violated in this scheme? How much money was involved? How and on whom was the money spent? Even if small amounts of student moneys were spent by MCPS employees for their own purposes, this would be theft. How deep does knowledge of this scheme go within MCPS (who knew what and when did they know it)?

    To have MCPS “investigate itself” is ludicrous (a virtual “foxes watching the henhouse” fiasco). The Montgomery County Inspector General and Maryland States Attorney must conduct immediate and exhaustive investigations of their own.

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    Replies
    1. Agreed. Except cross out the Montgomery County Inspector General. He only operates with the consent of the County Council.

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    2. Couldn't the Montgomery County Council direct the MC IG to investigate MCPS?

      Delete

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