| TIME FOR ANOTHER RANDOM ROUND-UP Oh, what a surprise! Our trusted bookkeeper/CFO/supe/PTO president has embezzled $250,000! It's never happened in any other school district! This is the first time in the history of U.S. public education (since 10:08 a.m. this morning)! My, what a surprise! By Peyton Wolcott Updated Friday, August 24, 2007 - 2:43 am |
| H o w w e t a k e b a c k o u r c h i l d r e n ' s e d u c a t i o n -- o n e p e r s o n , o n e q u e s t i o n , o n e s c h o o l a t a t i m e . |
| P E Y T O N W O L C O T T |
How we take back our children's education: one person, one question, one school at a time. |
| FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of education issues vital to a republic. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C., Chapter 1, Section 107 which states: the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright," the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use" you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. |
| ATTENTION EDUCATORS AND ADMINISTRATORS: Every attempt possible has been made to verify all sources and information. In the event you feel an error has been made, please contact us immediately. Thank you. |
| Copyright 1999-2007 Peyton Wolcott |
| TEA's online check register: |
| C o n s e r v a t i v e C o m m e n t a r y - Aug. 2007 |
KEY POINT: "Superintendents and school boards would have to be willing to be perceived as being anti-open government and anti-transparency to turn down your request that they post their check registers online." --Peyton Wolcott |
| http://www.ednews.org /articles/8244/1/An-Inte rview-with-Peyton-Wol cott-quotIs-the-Check-i n-the-Mail-or-On-Line- quot/Page1.html |
| Education News Interview (Michael Shaughnessy) August 22, 2007 February 19, 2007 www.EdNews.org |
ONLY 9 EASY STEPS TO ACCESS DALLAS ISD'S CHECK REGISTER ONLINE: STEP 1 START HERE: www.dallasisd.org STEP 2 ON THE LEFT (GREY BOX 'QUICKLINKS') CHOOSE: Board of Trustees STEP 3 YOU'LL SEE 2 GREY LINES OF TYPE; FROM 2nd LINE CHOOSE: Meeting Agendas STEP 4 SCROLL DOWN; FOR THE MOST RECENT CHECK REGISTER CHOOSE THE MOST RECENT "BOARD BRIEFINGS" ------ STEP 5 CHOOSE: FEB. 8, 2007 (or more recent date) STEP 6 FIND "Briefing Meeting - February 8, 2007 11:30AM STEP 7 CLICK ON: "AGENDA PACKET" STEP 8 SCROLL DOWN TO 4. FINANCIAL SERVICES (Business Services Division) b. Ratification of List of Bills, Claims and Accounts for December 1, 2006 to December 31, 2006 ($74,044,519.08) STEP 9 CLICK ON "BillsClaims_ Attachment" VOILA! YOU'VE JUST ACCESSED DALLAS ISD'S CHECK REGISTER! IN ONLY 9 --COUNT 'EM, 9-- EASY STEPS! |
| Fort Bend Now - Editorial Feb. 2, 2007 www.fortbendnow.co m/opinion |
| Dallas Blog Feb. 19, 2007 www.dallasblog.com |
| Houston Chronicle Feb. 13, 2007 http://blogs.chron.c om/insidekaty |
| Looking for articles re online check registers? |
| Education News www.EdNews.org Dallas ISD's check register online! Houston's soon! Feb. 16, 2007 |
| Easiest way to find articles: Google/Yahoo "Peyton Wolcott" & "check registers" 250+ online as of August 2007 |
| Not a PR pro? How to talk to your local school board & supe about putting your district's checks online By Peyton Wolcott Copyright 2007 Updated Mar. 28, 2007 Friends, a light bulb went off recently when an astute friend remarked, "You know, most grassroots parents and taxpayers aren't good at PR." This comment took me off guard, but do you know what? He was right. Many of our best volunteers are rational people, engineers and accountants and the like, who are used to an environment in which facts reign. |
| It takes us a very long while to understand that our public schools are essentially socialist models and their engine and currency is the realm of emotions and people skills. Further, our superintendents attend confer- ences and meetings where they learn how to develop their PR skills, and they hire well-paid PR guys and gals who are skilled in the art of public relations. This is the arena into which we step. Also, by the time most of us get to the point that we are interested in seeing how our district spends its money, there have been precipitating incidents. As another friend put it, "I just wanted to slug someone at that board meeting." This man is a genuinely decent human being and the comment surprised me-- but it's not the first time I've heard this from a parent. It wasn't always that way. Generally we start out assuming our dealings with our school districts will be a rational exercise. Most of us are volunteers and in addition to our taxes give generously to our children's schools. Then when we spend a lot of time there, we notice things. Years ago I myself felt sure that if I showed my local supe and board where money was being wasted in some areas and not adequately safeguarded in others that they would welcome this information with open arms and changes would be made on the spot. Hah! Imagine my surprise when they reacted as though to a personal attack when I was just trying to help. At this point we often start gathering hard data on our schools because we assume--also incorrectly, as it turns out-- that "someone" higher up is watching out. But the "someone" turns out to be us. We learn that our local schools have next to no real oversight; as just one example witness the two dozen state, federal and local governmental bodies and elected officials two moms in Texas contacted in their effort to bring their local superintendent to justice. Besides, to focus on spread sheets and flow charts to take to "someone in charge" is to focus on the wake of the wave and not the boat and the pilot. This is why I have come to the conclusion after years in the grassroot trenches that the best and most effective single step we can take to help our districts reign in costs and improve our vendor-driven curriculums in order to better educate our kids is to persuade our schools to post their check registers online. When we approach our districts, we have found there are some things we can do which are more effective than others. Like I tell my kids, go and make new mistakes--don't replicate mine. To make it easier for you to successfully ask your local district to put its check register online, I've just posted two new pages; the first walks you through the process, and the second is a flyer you can print as is, or you can copy and paste* the report sec- tion in the grey box on the left. I've done this successful- ly, and wouldn't recommend that you undertake something I haven't already done myself. If I can do it, you can, too-- and probably much better! |
| Our public schools are essentially socialist models and their engine and currency is the realm of emotions and people skills. |
| Oct. 1, 2006 was the start date of the National School District Honor Roll with four small school districts in Texas who'd posted their check registers online. We now have 56 districts either online or committed-- or where parents and taxpayers have begun asking. Districts are almost all saying "yes" immediately. Why? Superintendents and board members understand it's better to be on the beginning of this wave than in its wake. |
Looking for previous COMMENTARIES ? Click on "Archives" button up on the tool bar. CHECK REGISTER COMMENTARIES ? Wondering who came online and when? Previous check register commentaries have moved to: |
| * Please attribute and include copyright. |
| Dallas Morning News March 8, 2007 |
| Austin American- Statesman March 23, 2007 |
| Former Bremond ISD supe |
| THE BIG PICTURE |
| Public Records |
| Sentencing |
| Bremond ISD |
| The National School District Honor Roll ++++++++++++++++ FIRST & MOST COMPLETE U.S. LIST Founded Oct. 1, 2006 - Updated weekly ++++++++++++++++++ 60 districts 5 states $31.3 billion How to ask your school district to post its checks online Flyer History |
| Practical steps: How to Organize 95 Questions How to ask for public records |
| Origin of the National School District Honor Roll |
_______________
| ONLINE CHECK REGISTERS Illinois, Michigan, Minne- sota, Texas, Wisconsin SCHOOL DISTRICTS ONLINE ILLINOIS: Carpentersville SD 300* Elgin U-46* Huntley CUSD 158* Naperville CUSD MINNESOTA Milaca ISD St. Cloud ISD TEXAS: Allen ISD Anthony ISD Arlington ISD Bellville ISD Big Spring ISD Blackwell CISD Bremond ISD Center Point ISD Chester ISD China Spring ISD Comal ISD Conroe ISD* Corpus Christi ISD* Cypress-Fairbanks ISD* Dallas ISD Denison ISD Ector Co. ISD Electra ISD Franklin ISD Grandfalls-Royalty ISD Hempstead ISD Holliday ISD Houston ISD* Hunt ISD Katy ISD Keller ISD* Kerrvile ISD Leander ISD Leonard ISD Lovejoy ISD Madisonville ISD Malakoff ISD Marble Falls ISD Meadow ISD McKinney ISD Nederland ISD New Caney ISD Nordheim ISD No.Forest ISD No. Zulch ISD* Pasadena ISD Pearland ISD Quinlan ISD Round Rock ISD* Royce City ISD San Angelo ISD Spring Branch ISD * Timpson ISD Tomball ISD Trent ISD Van Alstyne ISD Wharton ISD Wimberley ISD WISCONSIN Sun Prairie SD - NEW! COMMITTED/SOON El Paso ISD (TX) Galena Park ISD (TX) Miami-Dade CPS(FL) Richardson ISD (TX) Sundown ISD (TX) Temple ISD (TX) Ysleta ISD (TX) MIDDLE EDU-LAYER ONLINE MICHIGAN St. Clair County RESA STATE DOE ONLINE Texas Education Agency HONORABLE MENTION** Michigan Intermediate School Districts PARENTS,TAXPAYERS TRUSTEES ASKING: Cedar Rapids PS (IA) ChippewaVall.SD(MI) Cleburne ISD (TX) Eanes ISD (TX) Lake Travis ISD (TX) Lancaster ISD (TX) LA USD (CA) Midway-Waco ISD (TX) New York CPS (NY) Omaha PS (NB) Rochester CS (MI) Santa Cruz CPS (AZ) Water Valley ISD (TX) * No check numbers. **For online numbers including budgets, salaries, lobbying, PR, legal, autos, more. (Source for 6 Texas districtsHouston Chronicle) UPDATED Aug. 25, 2007 |
| Michael J. Donley |
| Alaska educator Fred/ Frederick Deussing pleads guilty By Peyton Wolcott Tues., July 25, 2007 |
| TEA's Inspector General Report (06/15/07) E&O The folks behind it Shirley Neeley Did she fill out a conflict of interest form (her school architect Signifi- cant Other/now hubby)? Eanes ISD (at right); Manor ISD; more... Michael J. Donley Why did Shirley hire a 2nd year law school grad to head up an important division--witho ut getting a signature on his employment application? James Catazaro What in his background gave Donley & Neeley confidence in his ability to produce a well- researched report? |
| When Penn- sylvania investi- gator Dan Barber told me last winter that liberal/ "progressive"/RIN Oelements in Texas public education--with deep ties to public education vendors--were in the majority on the State Board of Education and pretty much railroaded the writing of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standards their way. A few clear-thinking minority voices fled the subjective whole-language touchy-feely fake- consensus Delphi'd (more below) TEKS task force to write their own alternative document, based on decades of teaching proven educational truths, and were ignored. |
| HEADS UP |
| ROBERT SCOTT SANDY KRESS INSP. GEN. REPORT E&O MICHAEL DONLEY JIM CATAZARO SBOE ELAR TEKS REWRITE PSF JOHN STEVENS john stevens texas business and education coalition LOBBYISTS Wondering how many folks are reading TM's blog as no one forwarded this to me. It posted apparently a week or so after the TAS/MUS "Boerne tourney" pix went up; wondering if I should have distributed packets of SueBee on the golf course that day: As all wise Southern women know, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. It makes me wonder if the vigilant reporting -- about lobby dinners and golf games, etc. -- has cursed hospitality as a means for fruitful communication. Now all that's left is attack ads? This is not progress in human evolution. posted by Patricia Kilday Hart at 4:27 PM |
| Remember PA principal John Acerra? Arrested for selling meth in his office at MS? 48 lap- tops are now missing By Peyton Wolcott Sun., Aug.5, 2007/10pm |
| "The computers, valued at $48,000, are missing from Nitschmann, East Hills, Northeast and Broughal middle schools, but the bulk (34) are missing from Nitschmann. An internal investigation was launched in July and was the first test of a new set of proposed policies and procedures governing workplace investigations instituted because of ex-Nitschmann Principal John Acerra's arrest on drug charges in February." (SOURCE--The Morning Call) |
| Record turnout for board meeting after Acerra's arrest |
| Who're you gonna call in Sequoyah County, OK? By Peyton Wolcott Tue., Aug. 7, 2007/8:11 pm |
| Not the supe, not the police chief, not the DA. Ghostbusters, maybe? At least one of the events over the past two weeks in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma has put a slightly different perspective on the presentation last year of a $2.3 million check (at right) generated by the sale of car tags to Cherokee Nation-area school districts. Here's how things have unfolded of late: |
| Former DA James L. Gray |
| CHEROKEE NATION Principal Chief Chad Smith [top right] and tribal councilors recently presented a check in excess of $2.3 million to the school districts within the 14-county jurisdiction of the Cherokee Nation. At the Sequoyah County school check presentation are, from the left in front, Ann Hogan, Vian Schools; Carla Fivekiller, Brushy Schools; Sue Terrin, Central Schools; Brenda Taylor, Gans Schools; and Tribal Councilor Phyllis Yargee. In back from the left are Lucky McCrary, Belfonte Schools; Randy Wood, Roland Schools; Greg Reynolds, Moffett Schools; Larry Couch, Marble City Schools; Tribal Councilor David Thornton; Roger Sharp, Muldrow Schools; Mackie Newman, Liberty Schools; and Smith. (PHOTO, CAPTION: Cherokee Nation) |
| Larry Couch Marble supe |
| Marble City schools boss surrenders on embezzlement of public funds By D. E. Smoot - Muskogee Phoenix Staff Writer Aug. 7, 2007 A school superintendent charged in Sequoyah County District Court with the alleged embezzlement of public funds surrendered Monday to authorities and immediately posted an appearance bond. Marble City Schools Superintendent Larry Couch, 54, of Vian agreed to surrender after prosecutors filed charges Friday. Sequoyah County Jail booking records were void of information about Couch’s surrender, but District Attorney Jerry Moore said Couch’s lawyer confirmed Monday’s transaction. Couch is accused of converting to his personal use school district funds totaling an estimated $100,000. Moore said it appears Couch used the money to buy real estate in Sequoyah County. Couch’s alleged role in the embezzlement scheme was revealed in the preliminary findings of an investigate audit of the school district’s financial records and county land records. Moore said he requested the audit about three months ago after he learned about the school district’s missing funds. “There were a number of inquiries from some concerned citizens to our treasurer’s office,” Moore said. “The treasurer then alerted me to the situation.” Moore said the Oklahoma Auditor and Inspector’s investigation is ongoing. “I think they still have quite a bit more work to do,” Moore said. According to online court records, Couch is scheduled to appear Sept. 19 in Sequoyah County District Court. A preliminary hearing date is expected to be scheduled then. |
| Putting a $100,000 loss from Marble City schools into perspective: Median income for a family in Sequoyah County per the 2000 census was $16,250. (SOURCE--2000 U.S. Census/Wikipedia) |
| Where the Cherokee Nation's $2.3 mil check came from: Car tags According to Chad Smith, Cherokee Nation principal chief, all funds distributed to schools are generated from the sale of Cherokee Nation car tags over the last year. "Under Cherokee Nation law, the tribe gives schools within its jurisdiction 38 percent of the revenues generated by tag sales. Tag revenue is donated only to those schools whose district lines are within tribal jurisdiction, since the Cherokees only sell tags to its citizens who live within jurisdictional boundaries. This year's contribution to area schools is greater than last year's donation by more than $167,000, Smith said. |
| his having been charged "in Sequoyah County District Court with the alleged embezzlement of public funds....Couch is accused of converting to his personal use school district funds totaling an estimated $100,000. [District Attorney Jerry Moore] said it appears Couch used the money to buy real estate in Sequoyah County. Couch’s alleged role in the embezzlement scheme was revealed in the preliminary findings of an investigate audit of the school district’s financial records and county land records. Moore said he requested the audit about three months ago after he learned about the school district’s missing funds. (SOURCE-- D. E. Smoot/Muskogee Phoenix Staff Writer) |
| Larry Couch is a registered Limousin cattle breeder |
| Yesterday, "Marble City Schools superintendent Larry Couch, 54, of Vian agreed to surrender after prosecutors filed charges Friday"; this was following |
Developing . . . . . |
Commentary archives here |
| Kentucky: Another case for strength- ening internal controls 101 By Peyton Wolcott Wed., Aug. 15, 2007 |
| KENTUCKY Defense wraps Vanhoose embezzlement trial By Andrea Bennett Editor-Paintsville Herald Fri., Aug. 10, 2007 The presentation of evidence in the trial of a former Johnson County Schools employee wrapped up yesterday with surprising testimony from the defendant herself. Peggy Vanhoose, on trial for embezzling federal funds from the Johnson County Board of Education, attempted to explain to the jury the issuance of paychecks to her son Michael Vanhoose, why she made charges on the school system’s credit card, and why she decided to conceal salaries from the five- member board of education. “As (Orville Hamilton) got closer to his death, he wanted people to think highly of him,” Vanhoose said. “He asked me not to tell.” Vanhoose claims Hamilton, who served as superintendent of Johnson County Schools on two different occasions, had given some 40 raises to employees throughout the district and did not want her to reveal those raises to anyone. However, she said when the board requested salary information regarding employees she did not lie about the pay of the district’s principals, only her own pay and that of Valerie Blair and Shelby Coleman, who is also charged with the theft of federal funds. Superintendent Steve Trimble testified earlier this week that board members began to question Vanhoose’s salary after rumors started to circulate throughout the district. After two requests for a list of employee salaries and an investigation by Assistant Superintendent Zella Wells, school officials discovered Vanhoose was being paid more than $90,000 a year. Vanhoose said Hamilton gave her raises on several different occasions, one substantial raise of $20,000 for keeping the district’s budget above $1.5 million |
| Peggy Vanhoose |
| Comment : No wonder our schools are "Broke, broke, broke." |
| Richard L. Gray |
| 081607 UPDATE: The Marble City school board is considering whether to dismiss their supe, Larry Couch, who appears to have admitted to taking the $100,000 to pay for some ranch land. |
| Best practices: School district check register nos.--Allen ISD scores By Peyton Wolcott Tues., Aug. 21, 2007 |
| When longtime Montrose Community Schools bookkeeper Dana Bacon (above right) was arrested in December 2005 on charges of embezzling $1.2 million--from a school district with a $14 million annual budget--over the previous ten years, it's safe to say the community was surprised. They knew her as a dependable employee who was also an enthusiastic supporter of her daughter's winter guard indoor drill team (see Bacon's office wall sign below). Unfortunately for Montrose's schoolchildren and taxpayers, Bacon's activities also came as a surprise to Montrose superintendent Mark Kleinhans--and to Wayne Wright, the district's then-director of finance. It could be expected that Wright would not suspect his employee Bacon; after all, he had been her seventh-grade math teacher. And in fairness to Mark Kleinhans, having talked with him at some length earlier this year, I must say that he seems like someone you'd want running your own local school district. Except that he didn't notice the missing million-plus either, despite regular audits, etc. When we spoke by phone last winter, Mark said the district now has new and improved internal controls; it had not occurred to him until I asked to consider posting the district's register online. This past June the Montrose district filed a civil lawsuit against their former bookkeeper, also naming her family as defendants, seeking to recover some of the lost money. Says Kleinhans, "The filing of this civil suit is one of the many avenues the district is pursuing in order to make the school district whole." (SOURCE--Lindsey Poisson/The Flint Journal) Here's hoping another avenue Mark Kleinhans will explore is posting Montrose's check register online; it's a lot cheaper than a lawsuit--and had he done it first thing on the job three or four years ago might have been able to prevent the district's $858,000 deficit and laying off of 29 teachers and seven administrators. In the meantime, posted below is Dana Bacon's office sign; in its ordinariness, its everyday-mom aspect, who would have thought what was allegedly going on in there actually was? (SOURCE--Paul Janczewski/Flint Journal) |
| Remember the issue Houston ISD raised at the eleventh hour re online school district check registers, that bill this past May at the Texas Lege, about possible external fraud dangers resulting from posting check numbers online? And parents and taxpayers are concerned more about internal fraud, as with the HISD secretary indicted just this past May for $148,000? Allen ISD supe Ken Helvey and his CFO Mark Tarpley, whose district also uses PositivePay, have come up with |
| Ken Helvey (L), Abe Saavedra (R) |
| $1.2 million/Michigan |
Developing . . . . |
| $100,000/Oklahoma |
| GENESEE COUNTY v. DANA LORRAINE BACON, Case #07020451FH Criminal. Upcoming court dates: Pre-trial Oct. 11, 2007; Trial Oct. 18, 2007 |
| Dana Bacon's office sign; Montrose citizens turn out for school board meeting; criminal case. |
| While some might say it's about time that former Sacramento-area school administrator Frank Harding was to surrender today to authorities in connection with a series of no-bid contracts worth $433,900 steered to a business associate, the question remains that I asked last May: What about his two superintendents--David Tooker, now interim |
| $433,900 / California |
| assistant supe at Davis USD, and Steve Farrar, still at Natomas USD--who allowed this alleged practice to contin- ue for so long? Especially given that Harding's associate, Michael Cannon, was serving on Natomas' education foundation board? Scroll down here to May 1-2: |
| (Clockwise, from left) Frank Harding (PHOTO--Sacramento Bee), Steve M. Farrar and Michael S. Cannon |
| $11.2 Million/Roslyn, NY |
| My calls earlier this week to Oklahoma generally started out getting the same reaction: "How on Earth did you hear about little ole Marble City"? It all started with reports earlier this month that in one very small (population 40,800) county in eastern Oklahoma located near the Arkansas state line, a school superintendent, a police chief and a DA had all three gotten themselves tangled up with the law in one way or another, leading to my headline below, "Who're you gonna call in Sequoyah County, OK?" Ghostbusters? (Scroll down below yellow bar for full commentary.) |
| Former Roslyn supe Frank Tassone's (right) guilty plea in September 2005 brought a degree of closure to a district reeling from the unfoldment of one scandal after another; trusted bookkeeper Pam Gluckin--formerly a bus driver at the William Floyd district--was found to have taken $4,634,012 of district funds. Then-New York Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi said he had never before seen such a "systematic misappropriation of taxpayer money" by school officials, and that "certain senior officials with the keys to the cash register went on a spending spree of massive proportions. The variety of methods used was breathtaking." |
| Frank Tassone in court, finally; Pam Gluckin |
| "We have given over $6 million dollars to area schools in the last three years, and schools can use these funds as they deem most appropriate. We are the only Indian nation to return car tag monies to schools, which we think demonstrates our total commitment to education,' Smith said." Gift presented: 2006 (SOURCE--Sequoyah County TImes) |
| Jeremy Floyd, Vian, Oklahoma's police chief, suddenly resigned his post July 25, "just days before the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) was called by the town's current acting chief to investigate an alleged theft at a downtown business. The alleged theft was caught on surveillance tape." (SOURCE--Monica Keen/Sequoya County Times) |
| But wait, there's more: A few days after the police chief's resignation, "Sequoyah County's former district attorney was bound over for jury trial...on an amended charge of embezzlement. Richard L. Gray Jr., 46, the former District 27 district attorney, who served Sequoyah, Adair, Cherokee and Wagoner Counties, is accused in Cherokee County of embezzling about $8,800 in money seized in drug investigations." (SOURCE--Sequoyah County Times) While it should be pointed out that none of these folks have been convicted, and all are entitled to their causes being brought to justice, to which official in authority in Sequoyah County, given the givens, would you have brought your school-related issues this summer? Tag, you're it. We are our own strongest and best advocates. |
| Larry Couch |
| What Jackman doesn't mention: Litsa Mattfeld was also associated with two other groups: the Fairfax County Youth Basketball Council Advisory Board (as the Chantilly Youth Association representative), and the Chantilly High School Boosters (as Corporate Sponsorship contact); recent CHS Booster fund raisers include: |
| Sandy Garrett at 5th swearing-in as OK Sup't of Instruction |
| 2007 Booster Team Incentive Program 2007 Corporate Sponsor Information 2007 Sport Teams Corporate Incentive program |
| Marble City, OK supe: Cows or kids? This was apparently the dilemma faced by Marble City Public Schools--a one-school school district--supe Larry Couch when he allegedly took at least |
| 2007 Website Banner Information 2007-2008 Booster Membership Forms 3rd Annual "Raise the Spirit" 5K Bonefish Dinner |
| Limousin cattle Oklahoma |
| $100,000 from his district. Unlike, say, the Houston Houston ISD secretary who said she took $148,000 in the district's bond money at least in part to pay for her son's medical expenses, Couch's apparent purpose was to buy land; he is a registered Limousin breeder. "Couch told [Alan F. Loyd, investigator for District 27 District Attorney’s Office] he had had |
| office to the school to oversee the school operations and report back to the State Board of Education....A court hearing is set next month in the case." (Ibid.) NOTE: Many thanks to Ramona Paul for her gracious assistance in researching this commentary. |
| Regarding Oklahoma superintendent of education Sandy Garrett's recent injunction against Couch, which has since been cancelled in a sort of duel between two local judges, "in response to the court's latest move, Garrett has since sent a team from her |
| $100,000 in his farm account but that a land purchase would have taken all of those funds, so he took $100,000 from the school and used it on the land purchase." (SOURCE--Donna Hales/Muskogee Phoenix) "You could buy every kid in that school a dictionary, backpack and laptop and still have $15,000 left," said State Auditor Jeff McMahan, who has been conducting an investiga- tive audit. (SOURCE--Monica Keen/Sequoyah County Times) "An affidavit filed in the case states when Alan F. Loyd, investigator for District 27 District Attorney’s Office, conducted a search warrant at the school in early June that Couch admitted to taking the money." (SOURCE--Donna Hales/Muskogee Phoenix) "Couch allegedly told the investigator that he figured out, after taking the money, that it was a lot easier to taking the money than trying to put it back." (SOURCE--M.Keen/SequoyahCTimes) |
| NOTE: In all of these cases, and other similar ones throughout our nation, stronger internal controls beforehand would have brought about a significantly different--and better--outcome, for all involved. |
| NEW! Sun Prairie School District, Wisconsin Online check register here |
| Friends, I have been unable to find the link to the Prairie Sun check register on their web page; have contacted several folks in the area who are also unable to locate the link on the district's site. The full URL is: www.spasd.k12.wi.us/html/ Do/glking/(8-27-07)%20Fi nance%20Committee.pdf |
| $180,000 / Virginia |
| According to reporter Tom Jackman in this morning's Washington Post, Triantafilitsa Mattfeld "who was formerly president of the parent-teacher associa- tion at her children's elementary school has been charged with embezzling $180,000 from the association, Fairfax police said yesterday....Mattfeld, 46, also served a term as treasurer of the PTA at Navy Elementary School." The loss was apparently discovered when the school switched from having a PTA to a PTO; no statement was available from Navy Elementary's principal, Katie Held. |
| Triantafilitsa Mattfeld (top), Katie Held |
| JAN. 2007: "Dana Bacon (R) is handcuffed by Sheriff's Deputy Tom Nelson Thursday afternoon after her arraignment in District Judge Christopher R. Odette's courtroom. Bacon faces charges over the alleged embezzlement of $1.1 million from the Montrose School District." (CAPTION, PHOTO Megan Spelman/Flint Journal) |