IF ONLY YOU KNEW?
Well folks, the "Press Enterprise newspaper" did
a perfunctory articule on money missing from student fund
coffers at three Moreno Valley Unified schools and how the district's
accounting department was soooo contrite.
They are going to fix those schools!
Attendance and all! If only those three schools represented the real problems.
The fiscal wrong doings at Moreno Valley Unified School District are rampant
and well beyond any three schools. So too, it has been alleged that
such abuses extend back at least 15 years. However, the problems worsened and became
more obvious under former Assistant Superintendent Robert Wallace Crank. Crank,
eliminated all positions of fiscal over sight regarding MVUSD'S loosely and
randomly regulated student fundraising. There has not been any
meaning full systematic structure for handling and accountability in that 15
year span . No training of state aligned methods or manuals, bookkeeping
software has been mysteriously been wiped out completely (with no server level
back up to be found), on ASB account’s computers. Amazingly, on at least three ocassions; just ahead
of some official inquiry by an outside agency or the treat thereof.
I do not however, think of the new Superintendent Dr. White as
complicit. I believe though she has been kept uninformed by individuals with
vested interest in keeping these things hidden. In any case, most of the personnel
who knew the truth have left the district by now. Some retired some forced out by a VERY complicit school board Those who
have not gone and might speak honestly, are systematically being forced out by deceit,
harassment, and lies in the hopes of
silencing the truth once and for all and avoiding an incredible amount of liability and
embarrassment. The majority of this unethical and sometimes illegal action
comes from a top administrator who 20 days into his new job at MVUSD, said he “was
going to clean up the reputation of HR.” referring to the unethical behaviors
notorious of the previous HR Director.
I am referring for the moment, of nearly half a million dollars a year. May be
more? Probably more. Stolen, misplaced, misappropriated, or just gone. One of the
problems is almost all fundraising is done in cash. Due to the
logistics of handling returned checks, the schools seldom take them anymore. Large sums
of cash were kept in just about any lockable container. Sometimes for months on
end. As an example: In a singular ac, five years ago, $10,000 in cash was
stolen directly from the safe at one MVUSD middle school. Under the circumstances
I was told, it took less than ten minutes to accomplish and there were only five
people who had all the necessary keys to walk in and out with the money. No
investigation occurred and no further mention was made of it. The only
persons who should have the key and safe combination are the ASB (Associated
Student Body or "government") accountant and the school principal.
The cash sits with no oversight and no truly accurate record of it's
existance. No club fundraising cash deposits go through the ASB cabinet
approval process as do purchase orders or check requests. They are handled
directly by the ASB accountant under the over site and responsibility
of the principal.
About MVUSD "clubs." In general regarding fundraising; it is and has always been mandatory for students to pay to participate in extra-curricular activities. Fundraising seldom covers even half the student expenses. Recently this practice has been deemed ILLEGAL in law suits against surrounding school districts. However at MVUSD, the money parents pay is shown on School Board Minutes as “Voluntary Parent Contributions,” but the child can't participate without paying the fee. Therefore, it appears that participation is neither voluntary nor a contribution. (Handout, gift, or offering.) The courts have recently interpreted "fair and adequate" to mean that all public school activities requiring parents to pay money or monies for participation; Must be offered free to any and all eligible students. This includes extracurricular sports and any student clubs. It is a violation of the law to charge parents or force students to fund raise their share. In one discussion, the practice was deemed "double dipping," because parents pay for their child's education through taxation. The court's interpretation extended to include uniforms and protective gear.
In keeping with previous years, more than one MVUSD principal of late has been implicated in possible financial wrongdoings regarding student funds. While seldom investigated by MVUSD in any fair and through manner, the problem itself best documented under deposition (Williams v. MVUSD 2006) by former Director of Secondary Education, Kim Kruger. Who further admitted under oath that the problem was commonplace and that he himself had problems regarding student funds as principal at Valley View High School.
More recently, regarding a here to unnamed middle school and their ASB student fund for the 2009-2010 school year; it opened school with a ledger balance rollover from the previous year, somewhere in the vicinity of $115,000. Which is extremely high and a strange discrepancy in the rollover for any student fund account. This is the ASB general fund to which all other clubs, excluding parent run booster clubs, deposit their fundraising cash, draw their money, pay their bills and obtain their club status. At the end of these first two months, this middle school's account ledger reportly dropped to just over $4,000. The ASB ledger entries for this school, during this time period, are said to not make sense nor add up to any where near $100,000. This example was but one school and one school year in Moreno Valley Unified School District.
Next report; ASB and Booster Clubs. The difference between the two and why both are ripe for cash skimming.
About MVUSD "clubs." In general regarding fundraising; it is and has always been mandatory for students to pay to participate in extra-curricular activities. Fundraising seldom covers even half the student expenses. Recently this practice has been deemed ILLEGAL in law suits against surrounding school districts. However at MVUSD, the money parents pay is shown on School Board Minutes as “Voluntary Parent Contributions,” but the child can't participate without paying the fee. Therefore, it appears that participation is neither voluntary nor a contribution. (Handout, gift, or offering.) The courts have recently interpreted "fair and adequate" to mean that all public school activities requiring parents to pay money or monies for participation; Must be offered free to any and all eligible students. This includes extracurricular sports and any student clubs. It is a violation of the law to charge parents or force students to fund raise their share. In one discussion, the practice was deemed "double dipping," because parents pay for their child's education through taxation. The court's interpretation extended to include uniforms and protective gear.
In keeping with previous years, more than one MVUSD principal of late has been implicated in possible financial wrongdoings regarding student funds. While seldom investigated by MVUSD in any fair and through manner, the problem itself best documented under deposition (Williams v. MVUSD 2006) by former Director of Secondary Education, Kim Kruger. Who further admitted under oath that the problem was commonplace and that he himself had problems regarding student funds as principal at Valley View High School.
More recently, regarding a here to unnamed middle school and their ASB student fund for the 2009-2010 school year; it opened school with a ledger balance rollover from the previous year, somewhere in the vicinity of $115,000. Which is extremely high and a strange discrepancy in the rollover for any student fund account. This is the ASB general fund to which all other clubs, excluding parent run booster clubs, deposit their fundraising cash, draw their money, pay their bills and obtain their club status. At the end of these first two months, this middle school's account ledger reportly dropped to just over $4,000. The ASB ledger entries for this school, during this time period, are said to not make sense nor add up to any where near $100,000. This example was but one school and one school year in Moreno Valley Unified School District.
Next report; ASB and Booster Clubs. The difference between the two and why both are ripe for cash skimming.
Praetorian: spent 4 years as an ASB co-director for MVUSD
The prospects for healthcare reform may be chillier than DC weather, but Democrats in the House and Senate are turning their attention to another warmer but still significant national issue: the increasing number of runaway and throwaway youth who are being forced into prostitution. In response to the growing concerns that desperate, runaway teens will be forced into prostitution in a sluggish economy, Congress is pushing several bills to improve how runaway kids are tracked by the police, fund crucial social services, and prevent teens from being caught in sex trafficking. Here's the gist of what the new legislation is trying to accomplish:
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