Mercedes Schneider read the letter posted by the board of the celebrated IDEA charter chain. She noted that the chief executive officer and chief operating officer had been fired. She dug deeper and wondered about a culture of corruption and self-aggrandizement that went beyond the leaders who were fired.
The May 25, 2021 Houston Chronicle reports of the firing of IDEA Public Schools charter chain CEO JoAnn Gama and CFO Irma Muñoz “after a forensic review found ‘substantial evidence’ that top leaders at the state’s largest charter network misused money and staff for personal gain ‘in a manner to avoid detection by the standard external audit and internal control processes that the Board had in place.
Schneider dug deep into internet archives to take a close look at the “top leaders at the state’s largest charter network.” The network was rolling in dough. DeVos poured in another $200 million plus. Money and luxury. Greed and temptation.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
If you’re going to steal gobs of money from the taxpayers, at the very least you could try and pretend that your schools serve all students. IDEA’s enrollment strategy is to only choose the easiest, highest-achieving kids for their schools, as evidenced by their high rates of attrition. Nothing more than a private school model that IDEA uses to market their schools via US News high school rankings.
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cherry picking and marketing: that’s the recipe
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“At this point, the public has no IDEA just how much taxpayer money has been squandered by “a small number” of its leaders.”
Isn’t that the point of enabling private access to public money without oversight and accountability? The only way to change a corrupt system is for taxpayers to demand accountability. Throwing public funds at private vendors with little oversight is a ticket to fraud. Once public money goes behind an opaque wall of private ownership, there is no way for the public to know where their tax dollars have gone. Policymakers seem unfazed by the waste, fraud and embezzling in the charter sector. If taxpayers want to curb the greed of private charters, they are going to have demand more from their public officials.
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Here’s another crook, reported in a recent Memphis Chalbeat post—-
Metro
Former charter school director indicted on theft, forgery charges
By Yolanda Jones, Daily Memphian Updated: May 27, 2021 6:01 PM CT | Published: May 27, 2021 5:23 PM CT
Tamika Carwell-Richmond, seen here as assistant principal at Sheffield High in 2018, has been indicted for theft. (Daily Memphian file)
Tamika Carwell-Richmond, seen here as assistant principal at Sheffield High in 2018, has been indicted for theft. (Daily Memphian file)
A former Memphis charter school executive director has been indicted after allegedly stealing $4,500 from the school, according to a news release from the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office.
Tamika Carwell-Richmond, the former executive director of Legacy Leadership Academy, was indicted by a Shelby County grand jury on May 6 on two counts of theft over $2,500, two counts of forgery over $2,500 and one count of forgery under $2,500.
Carwell-Richmond, who ran the middle school in Memphis which opened in 2017 and closed in August 2018, is accused of stealing a total of $4,594.72. She allegedly withdrew $3,313.68 from the school’s bank account and then received $1,281.04 after falsifying invoices she submitted to the Tennessee Department of Education for reimbursement, according to the Comptroller’s Office.
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According to the news release, the invoices were related to furniture the academy was leasing. Carwell-Richmond is accused of inflating the amounts on the invoices to make it appear the school paid more for the furniture than it did.
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She is also accused in the indictment of forging a business owner’s signature on a letter for documentation to show the school had bought a large sign. This letter was submitted to the state Department of Education as proof of payment for the school’s sign, according to the Comptroller’s Office.
Authorities said Carwell-Richmond also admitted to Comptroller investigators that she did not follow grant requirements associated with a $261,000.75 federal grant awarded to the school to help with planning, implementation and start-up costs.
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The school still owes the Tennessee Department of Education $126,755.33, according to the Comptroller’s Office.
“This case highlights the importance of oversight,” Comptroller Jason Mumpower said in the release. “The Board of Directors for the charter school should have established adequate internal controls over the financial processes within the academy. For example, the executive director had sole access to the academy’s bank account for a period of time. This weakness can lead to fraudulent activity.”
Topics
Tamika Carwell-Richmond Legacy Leadership Academy theft Tennessee Comptroller
Yolanda Jones
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The leaders that were fired were scapegoats so the other frauds, cons, liars, and crooks could keep stealing the public’s money to grow their fortunes.
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