A "Book Gate" Update

Ahem. Some facts:

According to the AJC, although she claims these books were ordered by principals all over the system, in reality, Yvonne Sanders-Butler personally ordered $11,494 worth of her own books - using school system money. On top of that, her sister, Annette Roberts, principal at Rainbow ES, ordered $14,184 worth of Butler's books.

She is correct in saying that others were selling books, which is what may have lulled her into a false sense of security. Certainly, she was referring to Assistant Superintendent Ralph Simpson, who has sold more than $15,000 in books to the district. The AJC reported, "All told, the school system found three educators-turned-authors raked in a total of almost $100,000 in sales to district schools."

Now, how can you think this is ethical? These educators need to put themselves in an imaginary corporate job. Say you are an IT professional. You write a book about widgets. Then, you use a company purchase order to buy $10,000 worth of your books. Do you really think you wouldn't be fired for that? Really?

There's a bigger issue here and it's one of paradigm. How can anyone have thinking this wrong-headed? How can anyone think that they are entitled to taxpayer dollars? How can anyone actually have the nerve to sit down, write up a government purchase order and buy $11,000 worth of their own book?