This is unbelievable but true. A convicted felon who had served four years in prison for grand theft and arson was chosen as president of the board of a small Florida charter school, where she was convicted of stealing from the school. She is heading back to prison.
You can’t make this stuff up.
“Despite spending four years in prison for arson and grand theft, and having multiple arrests for writing bad checks, Lori Bergeron became president of the board at the Manatee School of Arts and Sciences, a small charter school in Bradenton.
“On Friday, she was sentenced to eight months in jail for stealing more than $27,000 from the school she was overseeing.
“Bergeron pleaded no contest to charges of a scheme to defraud, and in addition to jail time, she will have to pay back the $27,591 she admitted to stealing from the school.
“School principal Richard Ramsay said before the plea hearing that he hoped Bergeron was punished to the fullest extent of the law.
“Honestly in cases like this, I would want the harshest punishment available,” said Rich Ramsay, MSAS principal. “When you’re stealing from children, it’s a betrayal.”
“Bergeron is a convicted felon with multiple arrests in her history. She spent close to four years in prison from 2003 to 2007 after pleading no contest to charges of grand theft and arson, according to the state department of corrections. She was ordered to pay $100,171 restitution in the grand theft case.
“Ramsay, who became principal at the school after Bergeron had joined the board, said the school district provided a background check on Bergeron to previous school administrators, but she was allowed to serve on the board anyway.
“A 2016 audit of the school’s practices by the accounting firm Shinn & Co. conducted after the fraud came to light confirmed Ramsay’s assertion.
“Manatee School of Arts and Sciences’ previous principal and School Board chose to allow a board member to join and become president who failed the background process through the (Manatee County) School Board,” Shinn’s report reads. “This same board member was then added as signatory on all bank accounts.”
Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/news/local/education/article160181454.html#storylink=cpy
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Amazing! They did a background check and hired her anyway! Accountability is for public schools.
Wish it was surprising news-
Laura Chapman reported at this site about a Fla./Ohio contractor school (in court for alleged financial crimes) linked to people from related cities where people with those same names have prior criminal records.
Secondly, a major charter chain was founded by a former convicted financier.
A convicted felon who had spent time in jail now heading up a charter?
Where have we heard that before?
Ah, yes, in Connecticut with FUSE/jumoke charters.
“Just re-FUSE”
Ho-dy hi-dy hum
Another charter scandal
Another felon bum
To burn the public candle
Ho-dy hi-dy hum
A FUSE has now been lit
And public would be dumb
To turn deaf ear to it
Good timing.
Theft of money from kids’ schools creates the kind of deprivation that leads to student grit and resilience. Repeat offenders make the best role models for young people in developing anti-productivity skills. (The rich in the financial sector drag down GDP by 2%.) Lack of accountability for the people at the top make students strive to hold positions of power. Buyer beware in hiring of principals provides excellent instruction in wise consumer purchasing decisions.
They don’t let convicted felons vote in FL but it’s fine if they want to run a school.
OHHH! Good comment.
Leonie,
Think of it as Jeb’s law. Anyone can run a charter, even a convicted felon; but not vote.
Don’t forget the arson charge.
It’s critical for charter operators to have arson experience in case there is an investigation and need therefore to destroy the evidence of fraud.
Perhaps a check of the other bord members is in order.
What kind of ethical hiring committee hires a convicted felon into a position of power? Maybe the kind that is in on the scam?
Hiring convicted felons is a symptomatic of the lack of oversight in charters. Florida has been negligent in managing taxpayer funds that get redirected to private entities. Florida has sent an open invitation to grifters and crooks to come and cash in on the charter frenzy, and many legislators are connected to the charter industry to ensure that the tax dollars keep flowing.
Scott recently signed the “Schools of Hope” bill into law. It provides a lot more money for charters while it further drains public school budgets. This law is another nail in the coffin for public schools.
“$chool$ of Hope”
The “$chool$ of Hope”
A hope for dollar$
Reformer trope
Like “Little Scholars”
Rick Scott’s version of public service is service for his personal bank account with public money.
http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2014/mar/03/florida-democratic-party/rick-scott-rick-scott-oversaw-largest-medicare-fra/
Under California charter law anyone can start a charter. Therefore, when Lori Bergerson gets out of prison, she can move to California and start her own California charter school; and when petitioning a California school board for a charter, she would not have to reveal her felony conviction.
California is charter school lawless frontier and Lori Bergerson might some day benefit from spending her time in prison “California dreaming”.
California is a charter authorizing debacle. If a version of the powerful California Charter School Association has not made it to your less populated state yet, if your charters are still less scams than schools, just wait. They’ll be coming for you. The biggest cities got hit first, NYC, LA, Chicago, Miami… and if you live in Casper, Wyoming and you have a charter that seems to be on the up and up, don’t be complacent. The rich want your money and your democracy too. They will get to you. They want to eat the whole elephant, one bite at a time.
I didn’t mean to insult Florida. Bush made Florida just as bad as California, just as quickly and quietly.
Two attributes of privately managed charter school state laws that harm the public interest are they promote a private interest, and the privately managed charter schools are deregulated, and do not have to follow the same laws as the public schools with whom they are competing for enrollment.
Is it safe to say that school board is appointed and not elected by the people that live in that area – just another autocratic private sector corporate charter school with appointed puppets?
The G-20 (now G-19?) just approved a strong statement about their commitment to enforce the Paris Climate Accord. As usual in the Trump era, the USA was not a participant, having abdicated its leadership in the Western Alliance.
How about Trump allowing Ivanka to sit with heads of state as his sub? Will Macron and May send their children to the next meeting?
Reuters reports “Trump and Putin find chemistry, draw criticism in first meeting”.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-g20-germany-trump-putin-talks-idUSKBN19S24E
Too bad they didn’t mention the formula for that chemistry: CO2 = Global Warming and rising ocean levels.
I thought you’d like this:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ivanka-trump-donald-trump-latest-g20-meeting-outrage-hamburg-germany-anne-applebaum-nicholas-a7830816.html
Donald Trump ‘behaving like a dictator by leaving underqualified socialite daughter to fill in for him at G20’
Maybe convicted felons can run privatized prisons too in the world of upside down!!
They could offer relevant experience.
If I may add a correction:
“. . . a small charter school BUSINESS in Bradenton.”
Good addition, merits routine use.
“School principal Richard Ramsay said before the plea hearing that he hoped Bergeron was punished to the fullest extent of the law.
“Honestly in cases like this, I would want the harshest punishment available,” said Rich Ramsay, MSAS principal. “When you’re stealing from children, it’s a betrayal.”
Even among thieves there is a code of honor!