ACPS School Board Chair Sheryl Gorsuch (Courtesy Photo)
The Alexandria City School Board has reviewed the CIP Report recommendations and has asked the Superintendent for an independent compliance audit of financial controls within 45 days.
"The Board takes this external CIP report very seriously," said Board Chairman Gorsuch. "We are keenly aware of our fiduciary responsibilities and have asked for a follow-up audit to confirm that strong internal controls, as well as checks and balances are in place.
"We were deeply concerned when we learned about the CIP issues last fall, and we have worked closely with the Superintendent and our School Board attorney, John Cafferky, to uncover and swiftly correct any deficiencies. No monies are missing--our tax dollars are safe. We have seen no evidence of personal gain. Although some procedures were not followed, our internal systems did catch the irregularities. All approved CIP projects can now be completed and we can return to our business of educating children," Gorsuch said.
The School Board has taken numerous actions in this CIP review process:
-The School Board attorney represented the Board in all interviews with facility, finance and accounting employees, as well as key City staff, and interacted directly with the independent accounting firm, Robinson, Farmer, Cox Associates.
-The School Board recommended additional procedural steps during the process of verifying invoices from the projects in question, and has begun review of board fiscal policies in light of the recent situation. The Board relies on the advice of independent auditors and the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report to review financial operations. The Board will have those reports reviewed as well.
-Many of the audit report’s recommendations have already been implemented. Internal controls have been strengthened. Although the board does not comment on specific personnel matters, the facilities and finance staff involved no longer work for Alexandria City Public Schools.
The Superintendent will present the next quarterly progress report on CIP projects, including any items temporarily deferred from last year, at the March 22 Board meeting. "We expect this report to confirm that there is adequate funding available to complete all outstanding projects," said Gorsuch.
"We will retain the public trust by ensuring that all Report recommendations have been implemented, and we will follow up with a compliance audit. We are confident our experienced interim CFO, Stacey Johnson, and her staff will report any issues immediately to the Superintendent and the Board. She will work closely with City staff to correct any miscommunication, prevent procedural errors and ensure Board policies are followed."
This article only begins to uncover the fraud and corruption so systemic in ACPS. Anyone willing to entertain a knowledgeable teacher in the system who will then turn to the 'books' can learn the truth. Let's take one, very concrete, example; the Lucy Caulkins writing program.
One of the areas of universal strength in ACPS has been writing scores, at least as evidenced by SOL scores. Even among those schools where this component of language arts was weak, teachers were collaborating on how best to address the issue.
With input from no one, Sherman ordered that ACPS would adopt a new writing program...Lucy Caulkins. Each teacher was forced to spend school funds at the the tune of more than $200 on five to ten books from the Lucy Caulkins Reading and Writing Project (ISBN numbers can be provided). Teachers were then pulled from their classrooms for up to fifteen days during the program's roll out. Teaching time was lost, behavior problems increased, morale plummeted. Substitutes were hired when teachers traveled to GW for 'training.' The cost climbed into the tens of thousands of dollars. A program that teachers had not vetted, nor asked for, was shoved down their curricular throats.
Now comes the kicker. It turns out that the Lucy Caulkins program's adoption was the result of a friendship between Mort and Lucy...a pattern repeated ad nauseum during his tenure (see Habits of Mind, Success for All (SFA), Goldie Hawn, the Rock Star...on and on it has continued).
An entire level of GW Middle School was dedicated to Mort's 21st Century vision. Summers were spent rewriting curriculum, huge fees were spent on consultants, hiring of John Brown and revamping Central Office staff and the 'executive' organization. Sherman hired the Wendy's, "Where's the Beef" spin man, to pitch his program. Despite rumors of Lucy Caulkins being wined, dined and housed at ACPS expense, the program continued to be imposed upon teachers, teachers sick of meaningless training for a program they rejected, teachers sick of being told how little they knew of their student population and their needs. Rumors of kickbacks to Sherman and his pal, Lucy persisted. Central Office staff fled ACPS in fear of an investigation. There was none. Teachers and citizens pleaded with the school board to investigate...they did not. And every year, quality teachers left our schools...left in disbelief that a city could fail its children so flagrantly.
And, then? It disappeared. That's right, Lucy Caulkins training ceased, the books were shelved or trashed and it was spoken of no more. Oh, they were/are occasionally pulled out when observations take place in schools where SFA has yet to arrive. But the visits by Lucy and her crew have long since stopped...new teachers are given no training at all. The new writing program is now part of SFA...brought in by another of Mort Sherman's pals, and his new assistant superintendent, the former CFO of Success for All...Gwendolyn Carol Holmes. Smack of conflict of interest? Nearly two million dollars will have changed hands when all is said and done vis a vis Success for All. From the huge outlay of cash to bring in this outside company to the salaries of Holmes and her building coordinators and facilitators, to the mountains of pricey, but often poorly assembled materials. But it's not just the waste of money, outrageous as it may seem. It's the insidious converting of staff and diverting of resources as reading specialists are pulled from classrooms to administer a program roundly criticized (see 2009 DOE study) as marginally effective and worse. It's the monies that could have been used to directly help and effectively help our kids. Now we are left with a scripted program based on flawed SRI testing data with a dated one size fits all approach to grouping students. SFA boasts of being a 501(c)3, hoping that the non-lawyers will think that it operates along the lines of a charitable organization. Anyone remember The United Way scandal? Holmes seeks to reassure our community that her attorney husband has assured her that all is kosher. Really? Teachers who were at meetings with Gwen remember clearly being told that, not only will you adopt this program, and 'implement it with fidelity," but all other elementary schools will also be 'adopting' the program at an initial outlay of $800 per student.
ACPS teachers have lived and worked in some bizarre, alternate universe since Sherman's arrival. They've sat through incredibly ostentatious and costly convocations, become physically ill at Sherman's embrace of Hollywood starlets at city expense. They've endured the program and consultant of the month scheme even as resources in the classroom have dwindled. And this has all happened with a complicit school board.
Thank God for Kerry Donley, Patricia Hennig and a precious few who are now saying enough is enough. Remember, Kerry and Pat, the Lucy Caulkins/SFA shell game is but one of dozens of scams foisted upon us. There are those still here, and some recently departed, who have stories to tell.