U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton announced today the creation of a reporting line for "spending irregularities, corruption in the contract and bidding process, theft and embezzlement of district funds, and bribery, kickbacks or other forms of illegal collusion with outside vendors" by schools.I am shocked. A hotline to report spending irregularities of district funds? Is there a need for such a thing in the Mt. Lebanon School District? HA!
Anyone aware of such behavior can call 412-894-7515, and can provide their name or report information anonymously. The U.S. Attorney's Office will then work with law enforcement agencies to investigate, where appropriate.
Friday, January 6, 2012
What? A fraud hotline affecting public schools?
In yesterday's PG,
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2 comments:
There must be a substantial amount of smoke eminating from some school districts to prompt Attorney Hickton to suspect there is a fire.
While so far we have no evidence here of wrong doing in MTLSD, I'm sure glad we have blogs like Elaine's and Tom's Bloglebo that shed light on relative topics.
Here a for instance. School Board Posti writes on her blog.
"Posti says this on her Center Court blog:
"Monday, the Board screened a video produced by PSBA called "Stand Up for Public Education" that I encourage you to watch."
While virtual schools may not be preforming as well as brick and mortar public schools, she fails to mention that brick and mortar charter schools seem to be performing at the same level as public schools according to the New York Times.
Read more on this link:
Students of Virtual Schools Are Lagging in Proficiency - NYTimes.com
An excerpt:
"About 116,000 students were educated in 93 virtual schools — those where instruction is entirely or mainly provided over the Internet — run by private management companies in the 2010-11 school year, up 43 percent from the previous year, according to the report being published by the National Education Policy Center, a research center at the University of Colorado. About 27 percent of these schools achieved “adequate yearly progress,” the key federal standard set forth under the No Child Left Behind act to measure academic progress. By comparison, nearly 52 percent of all privately managed brick-and-mortar schools reached that goal, a figure comparable to all public schools nationally.
Repeat -- 52% of all privately managed schools reached that goal, A FIGURE COMPARABLE TO ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS. I'm betting the PSBA doesn't publicize that finding or that in many cases the cost per student are far lower than the public schools.
If anyone does call the hotline, I give you permission to reference my Lebo Citizens website and blog.
Elaine Gillen
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