With leaders like these . . .

In an article titled, Former DeKalb schools chief, three others indicted, the AJC shared the charges listed in the District Attorney's indictment in the past week. Below is a sampling from the article:

A grand jury returned indictments on Lewis, Reid, also known as Pat Pope, her former husband Tony Pope and her secretary Cointa Moody.

“It’s hard for us to assess the full dollar amount, but Tony Pope made over $2 million,” Fleming said. “More than $80 million in contracts were all obtained through some type of fraud.”

Much of that money went to construction companies where Reid and Pope had connections, but no one from those firms were charged.

All four were either arrested by or turned themselves into sheriff’s deputies by Wednesday evening.

Lewis was booked into the DeKalb jail just before 8 p.m. Wednesday and was released on $200,000 bond about 90 minutes later.

Reid and Pope remained jailed Thursday morning, with bond set at $1 million each, according to jail records. Moody was being held Thursday on $200,000 bond.

The indictment includes the following:

Four counts of violating the racketeer influenced and corruption act against Lewis, Reid, Pope and Moody.

One count of theft by a government employee against Lewis, Reid and Moody.

One count of bribery against Lewis and Reid.

One count of falsifying public documents against Reid.

Lewis, 56, faces a maximum of 105 years in prison.

Reid, 52, faces up to 115 years in prison, investigators said. . . .

According to investigators, the scheme had begun in 2006 and involved the three school officials concealing information from the school board, altering documents and giving work to Pope’s architectural firm.

“All of the parties used their positions and the resources of school system to facilitate theft, fraud and obstruction, whether for personal gain or for the benefit of others,” Fleming said. “The money received by Tony Pope was then funneled to Pat Pope.” . . .

When she was hired, the couple was told he could complete one on-going school construction contract but could not work on any additional school projects, Fleming said.

But Lewis and Reid ignored that stipulation, the indictment alleges. The two, along with secretary Moody, 48, conspired to get Pope contracts. This was accomplished by issuing illegal change orders, altering construction projects and leaking information to Pope, all behind the school board’s back, Fleming said.

Those projects included work on Columbia High School, Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy, Arabia Mountain High School and the Mountain Industrial Complex.

For the Arabia Mountain project, Reid forged the signatures of several members of a bid selection committee to steer the work to her husband, Fleming said.

Pope also collected money by working as a subcontractor for the McNair project, investigators said. . . .

For a tally on the amount of money possibly redirected to Pope Architects check out this article -

DeKalb indictments box

Wednesday's indictments charged Tony Pope with fraudulently taking money from four school building projects in the DeKalb County school system. How much did each project bring him?

Columbia High: $1.122 million

McNair: $193,217

Mountain Industrial: $1.075 million


Total: $2.391 million

All of the accused are claiming innocence.

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Now - we have the following issues that need to be addressed by the board and the interim superintendent WHILE these indictments continue and a possible trial goes forth, creating enormous diversion:

• Redistricting - will it happen? Will the board implement a plan for 2010 or 2011?
• Block Scheduling vs 7 Period Days - will the board save money by eliminating the block?
• Magnet costs and the associated transportation costs - will the board continue to pay for magnet transportation?
• Will the board conduct an audit of the entire system's pay structure and job descriptions?
• And the biggest question of the day - will SACS threaten to take DCSS's accreditation and if so, will the governor step in as the new law allows?

Governor Sonny Perdue today signed into law Senate Bill 84, landmark school board governance legislation.

“SB 84 gives the state the ability to step in when a local school system’s accreditation is threatened. This bill strikes the appropriate balance between local control and state intervention when a system is in crisis,” said Gov. Perdue. “I want to thank my floor leaders, Rep. Jim Cole and Sen. Bill Heath, as well as our Education Committee Chairs, Rep. Brooks Coleman and Sen. Dan Weber for their hard work and leadership on this issue over the past two sessions.”

The legislation standardizes board ethics policies and board training, clarifies the law delineating the roles and responsibilities of superintendents and board members, creates minimum qualifications for board candidates, and gives the state the ability to find responsible citizens to serve on school boards when existing members fail to serve the interests of their students.

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Download the indictment here:
Crawford Lewis DeKalb RICO Indictment

See also:

Are we gearing up for a trial yet?

Pope pushed Lewis into it - according to the AJC...

Today's AJC article is strange.  It makes the case that Lewis was "more of a supporting character to the woman who ran the district’s construction program."

In a 127-page indictment handed down Wednesday, Lewis is portrayed as a superintendent who turned a blind eye to violations of district policy and state law, compromising himself for little in return. . . .

The indictment does not allege that Lewis took any money, but that he received free tickets to sports, theater or social events. So, if that allegation is true, why would Lewis sacrifice his career for free tickets?

The indictment does not offer a direct answer, though it states that Reid “knew things about him which would damage him...” The damaging information is not spelled out in the indictment. . . .

When asked about the ticket allegations, Lewis said, “In the five years that I was superintendent, I received two tickets to go to the Masters [golf tournament] in 2008. When I received the tickets, I didn’t know where the tickets came from.”

So, I guess they want us to believe that Pat Pope Reid did this all by her little lonesome. If true, then our school system is a very weak steward of the public trust of over a billion dollars a year. If not, then there simply must be others who want us to buy this story for some reason. Wonder who - wonder why...

More Questions Than Answers

We've had quite the conversation about the indictments against Crawford Lewis, Pat Reid (FKA Pat Pope), Vincent (Tony) Pope and Reid's secretary Cointa Moody.

That thread netted a list of questions that we need answers to such as:

• Why didn't the Board of Education challenge some line items presented by Pat Pope at monthly board meetings?
• The state even brought some issues to the BOE's attention that would have saved them millions, why was Pope never fired for wasting tax dollars or not filing proper paperwork?
• What did board members know and when did you know there was a problem?
• Why did you agree to allow Pope/Reid to continue to do business as usual when you red flagged some key construction problems?
• Why did you allow Lewis/Pope/Reid to pour tax dollars into a new mega-office complex instead of repairing all the schools for our students?
• Who is responsible for checking over and signing off on Crawford Lewis' P Card bills and why were the Bahamas hotel and the Ritz hotel bills paid? Who signed that payment?
• Who is responsible for paying construction contracts? Who signed the checks made out to Anthony Pope's Architecture Company knowing that Pope was not supposed to be doing further business with DCSS? Who signed those checks knowing that paperwork showing board approval should be attached?
• Why did the architect "quit" the Cross Keys project in the middle of the Pope/Lewis manipulations? Why did the board not question the lack of progress on promised SCHOOL projects such as Lakeside, Cross Keys, Dunwoody and Chamblee and instead rubber-stamp multi-millions being spent on administrative offices?
• What exactly did the board know about allegations against Lewis when they "agreed" to separate with him, giving him a $90,000 severance package?
• Additionally, are taxpayers REALLY saddled with $100,000 in legal fees for Lewis' defense of his actions against those same taxpayers?
• How on earth were two people capable of manipulating multi-millions of dollars right under the noses of the elected officials charged with the fiduciary responsibility of monitoring school tax dollars and SPLOST dollars?
• What does our board expect ordinary parents and taxpayers to think? There has been suspiciously little information coming forth from the board to the public on this catastrophe.  Why?

If you have answers, please post them in the comments.  If you (like most of us) only seem to have more questions, then post those as well. 

Superintendent Lewis, Pat Pope and others indicted

From Fox 5 this evening

Crawford Lewis, three others face charges

Updated: Wednesday, 26 May 2010, 10:37 PM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 26 May 2010, 4:56 PM EDT

By: LEIGHA BAUGHAM | MyFOXATLANTA

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - Former DeKalb County Schools superintendent Crawford Lewis was among four people indicted Wednesday on racketeering and theft charges after an investigation into school construction contracts.

District Attorney Gwen Keyes announced the indictment against Lewis and three others, including former schools chief operating officer Patricia Reid, her former husband Anthony Pope, and Cointa Moody, Reid’s former secretary. Keyes presented a 50-page long Powerpoint presentation summarizing the indictment, which was approximately 1,000 pages long.

The indictment lists approximately $2.3 million in fraudulently-received school funds, and possibly $80 million in illegal fraud as a part of the scheme allegedly conducted by the four. It’s not clear how long the alleged scheme when on before it was discovered.

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And earlier -

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. -- Channel 2 Action News has learned a DeKalb County grand jury has indicted 4 people, including former school Superintendant Crawford Lewis, on racketeering and other charges in connection with the district attorney's investigation into school construction contracts.

In addition to Lewis, the indicted named Pat Reid (formerly Pope), her ex-husband Tony Pope and Reid’s former secretary Cointa Moody. Reid was formerly DeKalb School's chief operating officer and oversaw the system’s massive school construction program.

Tony Pope, Reid's ex-husband, is an architect who has done work for the system.

The district attorney's office has called a 4:30 p.m. news conference.

A team of Channel 2 reporters is working this story right now and will provide more information as the story develops.

Stay tuned to Channel 2 Action News at 5 and refresh this story on wsbtv.com for more breaking developments.

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Here's a link to the AJC's report on the subject.

Former DeKalb schools' chief indicted

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DCSS Press Conference



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To download the entire indictment click this in-depth article at Atlanta Unfiltered.

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To download the Powerpoint Presentation the DA used for the press conference, click here and then click the link at the end of the article.

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Download the indictment here:
Crawford Lewis DeKalb RICO Indictment

Georgia "Out of it's Mind"

This state is messing up badly.

First, as Maureen Downey reported at her AJC "Get Schooled" blog, State funding pays for 147 days of school. Districts are on their own for the remaining 33.

Maureen tells us that state Superintendent, Kathy Cox's criticisms of state cuts to education are growing more forthright, including a statement this week that the Legislature only approved enough funding next year to cover 147 days of the mandated 180-day school year. Cox is leaving her post in a few weeks. (She announced last week that she is resigning to head a think tank in D.C. and is no longer seeing election to a third term running Georgia’s schools.) 

So nice of you to finally speak up, Ms. Cox.

Jim Galloway recently posted a "Political Insider" column called, A wave of teacher layoffs set to wash over Georgia politics. Jim reports:

A wave that Georgia Republicans have feared for the better part of a year is approaching the shoreline.

This month, thousands of public school teachers across the state were formally notified that their services were no longer required. They will be joined in the unemployment line by thousands of others — school clerks, cafeteria workers and bus drivers.

Roughly 3,500 of the state’s 118,000 public school teachers are at risk, according to one estimate — although the state Department of Education says an exact count won’t be available until this fall.

State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond says his department has prepared for 8,000 school-related applications for jobless benefits this summer.

Even more teachers and school workers could lose their jobs next year, as federal stimulus funding is depleted.

Not good. Not good at all. In so many ways.

For a look at just how poorly our state has funded education in the past decade, read this report called, THE UNFULFILLED PROMISE TO GEORGIA’S CHILDREN, compiled by the Georgia School Funding Association. The report states:

The State must do more than provide enough financial support, but this is still a primary obligation which it has neglected. Even though the absolute amount of State funds for K-12 education has increased in recent years, the increases have not kept pace with the growth in enrollment and the effect of inflation, much less the needs of our students. In fact, the total amount of all funds allotted by the State to local school systems decreased on a per-student, inflation-adjusted basis by 18% between Fiscal Year (“FY’) 2002 and FY 2009.

Support for education in Georgia seems to have hit rock-bottom - or has it?

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To learn how QBE (Quality Basic Education), which is GA’s formula for funding education, is figured download this Powerpoint:

Funding Georgia’s Public Schools: An Overview

What the Budget Cuts Mean

http://www.ajc.com/news/government-waste/ajc-special-school-central-533227.html

AJC Special: School
central offices costly

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Gloria Talley, deputy superintendent for teaching and learning with DeKalb schools, explained the many functions the central office performs.

“Let me tell you what we do,” Talley said. “We recruit and hire teachers. We write their checks. We train teachers in current practices and current strategies. We monitor teachers. We monitor principals. We assist principals in how they work with teachers. We have textbooks to purchase. We write curriculum. We have technology to oversee and to help implement.

“There’s a testing component that we need to oversee. There’s planning that we assist our schools with, and data analysis to help schools make decisions. That list doesn’t even include student security and safety.”

She continued: “I don’t want to get into the debate about how many bodies you need to run a central office because people sit on different sides of the fence. I believe that schools need support and that’s what we’re here for.”

Cobb County

106,079 Students

$34,470,248 spent on General Administration

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DeKalb County

96,907 Students

$49,159,245 spent on General Administration

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Yep, it's all about you and the Central Office, Gloria Talley.

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In an unbelievable display of insouciance, completely ignoring the reasons why there was a $100 million budget deficit and what led to it, the DCSS Central Office led by Ramona Tyson, and approved by the Board of Education, cowardly made cuts to the lowest paid staff and new teachers, you know, the people who actually work in the classroom and school house, where the students are.

In fact, the only administrative department/division that had any substantial cuts was the public relations division. And the one reason why this division had administrator layoffs is that Board of Ed members and the highest ranking Central Office administrators (Tyson, Bob Moseley, Gloria Talley, Marcus Turk, Ron Ramsey) felt the PR staff allowed the media to report too many negative stories on DCSS, whether the stories were deserved or not. The BOE, Crawford Lewis, Tyson, etc. got egg on their face, so the PR staff was gone. Of course, the only upper level PR administrator who did not lose her job, Philandria Guillory, is the daughter of a powerful former board member, Frances Edwards. Funny how family members of board members fared well in the budget cuts.

The most telling budget cuts comes from the the systems IT department, aka MIS, Management Information Systems. Ramona Tyson was the administrator in charge of this department while it grew from a small support services department to a massively bloated and ineffective monster of a department, with hundreds of employees and a $20 million annual budget. The annual budget doesn't count the millions spent on eSIS. And many parents and taxpayers don't know that even with hundreds of employees, MIS relies on Dell for much of the real technical dirty work of installations, server maintenance, etc.

The cuts made by Ramona Tyson to MIS are the lead proof on how she doesn't get it, no one else from the Central Office gets it, and that the Board of Education has never "got it". What cuts were made to MIS? Well, a few CTSS employees were let go. Who are the CTSS'ers? The employees who provide front level support to teachers and staff in the school building. Did any MIS administrators have to worry about the budget cuts? Nope, Tyson took care of her own.

Because the MIS Dept. has little quality control, yes, there are stories on how some CTSS'ers are unprofessional and unhelpful, like son of Frances Edwards, Jamal Edwards, who went six months not being seen in his assigned school. But the majority of CTSS'ers were productive employees who tried their best to serve their assigned schools and navigate the ridiculous MIS procurement and equipment replacement process. Again, it's telling that whenever a Central Office administrator wants a new computer, he/she receives it in a flash, while many teachers, especially in elementary schools, have ten year old desktops and smart boards that don't work because Tyson picked a brand with incredibly expensive replacement bulbs. You should see the technology, especially flat screen TV's, in the new Central Office HQ at Mountain Industrial.

So the budget was balanced, with some early retirement, but the bulk of the cuts came from the school house, with teachers and in school support staff being let go. The source of the bloat, and the decision-makers who spent millions with no return on investment from #$%^ like America's Choice, eSIS, etc., are still in place with their six figure salaries and their complete lack of understanding of what the school house needs, or that some older schools are falling apart. Tens of millions are spent anually on Instructional Coaches or Supervisors or whatever Deborah Rives (former DCSS regional super who now works for America's Choice) and Gloria Talley call them are still out of the classroom assigning nonsense busy work to actual teachers who actually teacher our children.

The bloat is still there. The massive upper management is still in place. Hundreds of administrators, managers and staff who have nothing to do with the classroom are still there. My hope is the new superintendent will instantly recognize this and clean house. But without a new Board of Education, that will be extremely difficult and unlikely.

I'd like to hear from you where the real budget and personnel cuts should have been made, and what we can do as parents and taxpayers to out those focus back on the student, teacher and school house!!! Post away!