Washington Post: Starr proposes paying back Montgomery special education students
By Donna St. George, Updated: Friday, January 10, 12:01 AM
The Montgomery County schools chief has proposed making payments to more than 100 special education students whose work-study money was withdrawn from school-arranged bank accounts in recent years.
Superintendent Joshua P. Starr’s proposal comes as the Montgomery state’s attorney’s office investigates complaints alleging financial improprieties at Rock Terrace, a public school in Rockville for special education students.
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Nothing less than paying back students for every dollar that was stolen from them will suffice.
The way to account for those dollars is to hire an independent forensic auditor, who will contact affected families, help them obtain bank records, and fairly ascertain how much was removed from those accounts. While that process would not be cheap, it would be fair. If MCPS's stumbling block is the cost of an independent auditor, may I suggest they should have thought about that before they hastily allowed the principal to retire.
Paying the students back for money MCPS employees stole - for years - is the least of it. This sounds like embezzlement to me. I hope the parents have contacted the federal agencies in charge of managing credit unions, and asked them to investigate. And, MCPS receives huge amounts of dollars from the Federal government, from taxpayers nationwide. Where is the Federal oversight? Was Mr. Ponzi allowed to just 'pay back' the money? Not likely.
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