Prince George’s County students challenge summer-school fees, fighting for free public education

When Laurie Tucker’s family moved during her son’s senior year of high school, she was sorry to hear the last two classes he needed weren’t offered at his new school during spring semester. Instead of graduating, he has to finish up in summer school.

An even worse surprise: The family will have to pay for those classes.

On Thursday, students sued the suburban Maryland school system where Tucker’s son attends class in a bid to lift summer-school fees.

Students shouldn’t be able to graduate only if they can afford to, said Tucker, whose son is one of the plaintiffs arguing the right to a free public education is guaranteed under the Maryland Constitution.

Tucker was shocked by the price for summer school in Prince George’s County: $225 per class, which will be a burden for her family. Her husband works as a driver delivering donations to nonprofit agencies, she said, to support their three children; she stopped working two years ago to care for their youngest child, who is 4 years old and has a disability.

Prince George’s schools spokeswoman Raven Hill said it is policy to not comment on pending litigation. But she confirmed the fees: $100 per half credit, with a $25 registration fee, for county students. Those who qualify for free- or reduced-price meals because of their families’ income levels are required to pay only half of those amounts.

Students from outside the county are charged more, $645 for a full credit plus the $25 registration fee. Hill said the fees are mainly to cover the cost of paying employees who don’t normally work over the summer...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/06/13/prince-georges-county-students-challenge-summer-school-fees-fighting-free-public-education/?utm_term=.0e2c402a5980

Principal charged with theft of school funds, withdrawing cash at casino

The former principal of an alternative high school in southeast Baltimore has been indicted on charges of stealing more than $13,000 from a school account — proceeds from the sales of school uniforms, class dues, graduation fees — and withdrawing the cash from an ATM at Maryland Live Casino, state prosecutors said.

The Office of the State Prosecutor announced Monday the indictments charging Leslie Lewis, 44, of Owings Mills, and her former colleague Albert Fluker, 45, of Randallstown. Lewis worked as principal of Baltimore Community High School near the Dundalk line. Fluker formerly worked as a teacher at the alternative high school. Lewis is charged with theft, misappropriation and conspiracy to commit theft; Fluker with theft and conspiracy...

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-principal-teacher-charged-20170320-story.html

Leggett not supportive of funding artificial turf fields. ICB drops oversight of MCPS spending of funds.

From the minutes of the March 2016, meeting of the Interagency Coordinating Board (ICB) the public learns that the ICB has a fund balance of an unknown amount, and that County Executive Ike Leggett was not supportive of spending any of that fund balance on artificial turf fields.

The public also learns that at this meeting the ICB decided to drop reviewing how MCPS spends ICB funds allocated to schools.  Instead, the ICB voted to transfer that oversight to the already overworked MCPS internal auditors.  The ICB decided that MCPS would now be on the "honor system" to spend ICB funds as per policy.  

   2.0 Final Minutes March 16 2016 Final Version by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland on Scribd

NBC4: Money Schools Earn From Student Portraits Varies Widely

The amounts of money local schools earn through the sale of student portraits varies widely, according to an investigation by the News4 I-Team.

Similar-sized schools, often within the same school district, are cutting demonstratively different contracts with photography vendors, causing disparities and potentially burdensome work for school principals.

The I-Team, through a review of school photography contacts in Virginia and Maryland, found some school principals cutting more lucrative deals than others. Some secured signing bonuses, while others negotiated more generous commissions. The I-Team found local school districts, which use school portraits as a fundraising tool for individual schools, allow individual school principals to make contract agreements with portrait photographers. Even within the same school district, those principals hire a series of a different photography companies, and are permitted to set their own prices for the pictures...

http://www.nbcwashington.com/investigations/Money-Schools-Earn-From-Student-Portraits-Varies-Widely-369744951.html

Frederick woman sentenced to 15 months in prison for stealing $150K from employer

Read more: http://thedailyrecord.com/2016/01/21/frederick-woman-sentenced-to-15-months-in-prison-for-stealing-150k-from-employer/#ixzz3y1KxIpso

But when students' funds are lost to MCPS administrators...nothing happens.

WTOP: Ex-employee charged with stealing from elementary school

ELKRIDGE, Md. (AP) — Howard County police have charged a former elementary school employee with stealing nearly $9,000 from the school.
Fifty-year-old Twyla Blackmon-Green of Elkridge was charged Monday in a criminal summons with 16 counts of theft, the department said Tuesday in a news release.
Officers say the Howard County Public School System notified the department about discrepancies in account ledgers. Authorities say Blackmon-Green, an officer worker at Ducketts Lane Elementary School in Elkridge, had access to the school’s accounts and cash.
Investigators say Blackmon-Green stole money that had been collected for field trips, book sales and in fundraisers.

 http://wtop.com/howard-county/2016/01/ex-employee-charged-with-stealing-from-elementary-school/

Principal Stole $50,000 from Student Funds

...From February 2011 to January of 2014, prosecutors said, Trusty used the account's debit card and checks to buy $25,000 worth of personal items and more to pay bills, personal legal fees and a 19-day hotel stay in New Jersey.
State Prosecutor Emmet C. Davitt asked for a nine-month sentence, calling the case "particularly egregious" because Trusty abused her position as principal, taking advantage of students she was supposed to serve. He added that Trusty's financial troubles were not an excuse, and noted her $126,000 annual salary...

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/blog/bs-md-ci-principal-sentencing-20151022-story.html

The conclusion of no criminal wrongdoing, he said, was from the state’s attorney’s office, not a grand jury.

What happened to the Grand Jury investigation into the Rock Terrace School missing student funds?

http://www.gazette.net/article/20150513/NEWS/150519765&template=gazette

Gazette: McCarthy said he thinks there is an assumption by some that the only money in the accounts was earned by students working in jobs.

Title quote is from this Gazette article: 
http://www.gazette.net/article/20150513/NEWS/150519765&template=gazette

Then why were bank accounts set up using the students' social security number and why were W-2's issued?
 
It seems that State's Attorney John McCarthy isn't following his own investigation. The Washington Post has already reported that these were work-study funds and W-2's were issued.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/prosecutors-find-no-criminal-activity-at-school-for-special-education-students/2015/05/06/20e5a2ee-f348-11e4-b2f3-af5479e6bbdd_story.html

State's Attorney: "answering the question of whether it’s student money or program money is not for us to resolve"

...The prosecutor’s office examined records from 2001 to 2013, tracking 7,039 transactions amounting to about $69,000. The average transaction was around $25.
The office also interviewed Rock Terrace staff. It didn’t talk directly to parents or students, but rather reviewed parent statements and other information the school system passed on from its investigation.
The Educational Systems Federal Credit Union provided records for 93 students, Roslund said.
The investigation uncovered multiple inconsistencies related to how staff managed the money and bank accounts. The “variances” point to a lack of supervision and oversight “within individual school years, individual student accounts and from year to year,” McCarthy said.
The investigation determined that money pulled from the accounts generally was put toward school programs, but there was no documentation of exactly how the money was spent...

 http://www.gazette.net/article/20150513/NEWS/150519765&template=gazette

Montgomery County State's Attorneys Office - Prosecution Units

Montgomery County State's Attorneys Office - Prosecution Units

Special Prosecution Unit

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The Special Prosecution Unit investigates and prosecutes a variety of crimes dealing with economic loss.   These crimes include:  violations of fiduciary responsibilities (misappropriation of funds), financial exploitation of the elderly, theft/embezzlement by employees, attorney misconduct (including unauthorized practice of law), fraud schemes involving investments, mortgages, identify theft, and internet scams, and matters dealing with misconduct in office by public officials.   The unit also reviews all incidents involving the use of deadly force by a police officer in the line of duty.  The unit manages a Senior Financial Exploitation Prevention Initiative designed to focus on the protection of seniors from financial exploitation.

School Employee Charged with Embezzlement

Only in Fairfax...

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/news-releases/2014/011314embezzlement.htm

Local School Cash

In Montgomery County, the 25 high schools collected $195,368 in parking fees last year. Each school retains its own revenue to use for athletics expenses, schools officials said.

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/parking-lots-an-example-of-fairfax-schools-economic-gap/2013/11/16/0362fc2e-3c21-11e3-b6a9-da62c264f40e_story_1.html

Middle school principal, high school administrative employee accused of embezzling money

When this happens in Fairfax County, this is the story:

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Sonya-Swansbrough-Bethany-Speed-Accused-of-Embezzling-Money-231502931.html

When it happens in MCPS?

Staff throws a farewell party for the administrators.

Schools using Student Funds to pay for Teacher Planning Time

Last we heard, parents and PTAs could not pay for classroom teachers at local schools.

Yet, the Report released by the teacher's union shows that MCPS elementary schools are currently using student funds to pay for substitute teachers so that classroom teachers can have additional planning time during the school day.

Where do student funds come from? They are payments by parents, guardians and students to the local school for tickets to plays, athletic events, yearbooks etc... The funds are put into the local schools Independent Activity Fund (IAF) account.

The use of student funds for substitute teachers was listed as a "creative strategy" in the Report.

Starr's American Express Bill Jumps to $6,969,342! Hey, big spender!

Superintendent Jerry Weast
FY 2010 American Express $ 5,257,632

FY 2011 American Express $ 5,571,127

Superintendent Joshua Starr

FY 2012 American Express $ 6,634,939

FY 2013 American Express $6,969,342

In Superintendent Jerry Weast's first year in MCPS the Board of Education (BOE) approved a contract with American Express to supply MCPS staff and BOE members with their own personal American Express cards, billable to you the taxpayer.  NO QUESTIONS ASKED. The American Express bills are paid out of the MCPS Operating Budget without MCPS staff turning in receipts! 

The list of 1,400 MCPS American Express card holders was made public for the first, and only, time in 2008 by an MCPS parent.  

The Parents' Coalition investigated some of the uses of these credit cards and discovered some disturbing trends in the accounting practices for these cards.  

In 2009, the Maryland State Office of Legislative Audits confirmed what the Parents' Coalition investigation had shown.

The Board of Education does not monitor the use of these personal credit cards, and does not monitor the number of credit cards that are in circulation in MCPS.  It is unknown how many MCPS American Express credit cards are issued to individual MCPS staff and BOE members as of today.  What is known is that the total, annual American Express bill has been steadily increasing since 2010.  

Why has this bill increased?  What are these undocumented funds being spent on?

WTOP: Concerns about Montgomery Co. school finances aren't new

• A PlayStation, a Nintendo 3DS, and nine iPod Shuffles were paid for with school funds, but there was no record of who received them.

http://www.wtop.com/52/3366607/Concerns-about-Montgomery-Co-school-finances-arent-new

$694,771 for Very Private MCPS Charter School - ZERO Accountability

On Wednesday, April 24, 2013, the Montgomery County Council held a hearing on various MCPS and pre-school programs.  One of the topics was the very private MCPS Charter School that is being funded by taxpayers. It's supposed to be a public charter school, and it is not supposed to be run by a private organization.  But, this is Montgomery County and there is no oversight of this school, and a private organization is running the school.

The BOE will hand this private charter school $694,771 for Fiscal Year 2014 with absolutely no oversight as to the operations of this supposed public school.

Listen to what Councilmember Valerie Ervin has to say when she finds out that the Council was given no information about this program for this April 24th hearing.

From the Council Packet prepared for this hearing: 
• Community Montessori Charter School: In FY13, the Board of Education budgeted $274,242 for a Community Montessori Charter SchooL It was expected that the school would serve 70 three and four-year old children. Because information about the program was not available prior to packet publication, the Committees may be interested in receiving an update from MCPS staff about the program

Exclusive: Local School Slush Fund Report for FY 2012

MCPS Independent Activity Funds Data Report for FY 2012

Agenda for Dec. 17, 2012 BOE Fiscal Management Committee

2012 Fiscal Mange Ment Comm

The Board of Education and the Superintendent have not made the majority of the very important financial  documents discussed at this meeting available to the public. In furtherance of transparency and accountability for our public school system, the Parents' Coalition is making these documents public on this blog.