The head of the board of a charter school in Louisiana treated himself to some good meals using the school’s credit card.
A world away from his Central City school, where 97 percent of students are considered economically disadvantaged, the head of a charter school board racked up $778 over six months at an upscale restaurant on St. Charles Avenue.
The Rev. Charles Southall III bought the meals with a credit card issued to Edgar P. Harney Spirit of Excellence Academy under his name. Monthly statements went not to the school, but to Southall’s church on Carondelet Street.
Southall spent $1,514 at restaurants in New Orleans and Baton Rouge in six months starting in July 2016. That’s $250 a month at establishments such as Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, Cheesecake Bistro by Copeland’s and Le Pavillon hotel — all funded by the school.
Asked about the meals, Southall said, “They were lunches that were related to preparing to get a new school leader in.”
But Eileen Williams had been in charge of Harney since at least 2013 and continued until June 2017. Southall did not respond to follow-up questions.
The small school’s financial practices have drawn scrutiny from the Louisiana Department of Education and the Orleans Parish School Board. Auditors criticized the school’s one-man finance department and said the board should provide more oversight.
Last fall, the state Board of Ethics filed an official complaint against the school’s chief financial officer, Brent Washington Sr. The school paid him $54,500 on the side to do accounting work, which the ethics board contends broke the law.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Asked about the meals, Southall said, “They were lunches that were related to preparing to get a new school leader in.”
Rev. Charles Southall III should take the advise of our Great Leader and eat McDonalds hamburgers, french fries, Diet Coke and buy lots of Oreo cookies. Then he should purchase all that unhealthy junk on his own credit card.
This is a crime to waste money on this type of luxury when children in the district are going hungry. Only a reverend with no morals would do such a dastardly thing. Shame on any congregation member who goes to his church, assuming this corrupt reverend has a church.
What is WRONG with these charter people? Oh, forgot, they LIE and CHEAT…the NORM for them.
This is a clear case, and not the first, of imaginative and totally corrupt uses of credit cards.
Unfortunately the “corruption line” is being blurred for tech contracting whether for charter, public, or private schools. This is a blatant example of how that works.
https://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2018/01/14/erdi-paying-school-admin-to-review-ed-products-that-those-admin-could-then-purchase/
MEANWHILE, in another headline….”Washington, D.C.: Country’s Leader Enjoys Fine Dining With Nation’s Credit Card.”
Of course, Trump and his enablers have set a new standard for gluttony at the expense of U.S. taxpayers. Though to be fair to His Orangeness, the trend did not just start on Inauguration Day 2017. To wit: the post above along with all the other charter school pilfery that has been let loose in recent years coast to coast.
Here’s a link to some images of gluttony including a guy who reminds me of Trump….he’s all mouth: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/229754018459775724/
Bon Appetit (NOT!)
John, try this one out for pure stink.
……..
Far-Right Christians Think Trump Is Under Supernatural ‘Luciferian’ Attack
Opponents of the president may literally be the devil, some Evangelicals believe.
By Chris Sosa / AlterNetMay 25, 2018, 3:56 PM GMT
Evangelical Author Believes Trump Is Under Attack by “Luciferian” Beings
During an interview last week on Jim Bakker’s show, Evangelical author and radio host Paul McGuire made remarks that highlight the extent of extremism we’re seeing on the Christian far-right.
In a clip now gaining steam on the internet, McGuire goes all-in to defend Trump by claiming his opposition is literally demonic.
“The unprecedented attacks against President Trump and his administration are something that we’ve never seen before in all of human history,” McGuire said. “These unprecedented attacks on Donald Trump are part of the greatest spiritual battle in the history of mankind.”
“There are people very high up in what is called the globalist occult or globalist Luciferian rulership system, and this rulership system consists of what used to be called the Pharaoh-God Kings,” he said. “[I]t’s what Aldous Huxley called ‘The Scientific Dictatorship,’ and these are advanced beings who know how to tap into supernatural multidimensional power and integrate it with science, technology, and economics.”
Oy!
What does Trump have to do to convince these Evangelicals that he is not some kind of mega-Christian savior?
Maybe perform an abortion in Times Square, on live TV?
Probably not. They would just call it “fake news.”
{{Sigh}}
I guess that would make me “very, very, very devilish.”
But then again, to paraphrase Marx (Groucho, that is) I wouldn’t want to belong to any club that would have me as a member.
John: I had no idea that I was under the domination of Lucifer. I always thought that loving, caring, law abiding, honest, spiritual people were better than that. Now I know that I was wrong.
Dang. Guess I’ll have to start chasing men. [As a woman I don’t chase women.] Married men should be high on my list. I should bully people and demand total loyalty to everything I say. I should demand more money for the wealthy and work to defund anything that helps the poor. I should welcome the recent ICE works to separate children from their parents. After all these are all brown people who deserve no justice nor human treatment. I applaud the tax breaks for the wealthy. I’m not wealthy but I really don’t want Lucifer to dominate me any longer.
These are the same folks using their vote to direct foregn policy to dovetail w/Books of Daniel & Revelations, as in, “Surely moving the US embassy to Jerusalem will hasten the end days, yay! Repent! The end is near!”
In fairness, $250 is only one meal at Ruth’s Chris. Every one of our elected officials spends considerably more than that a month on our tab.
And if schools are businesses, business leaders spend well north of that too. Just think of it as the price for getting the Rev. Mr. Charles Southall III’s expertise in the public (ahem) sector rather than the private sector where his excellence would be much more handsomely compensated.
To be serious though, I don’t condone this sort of thing. But the reality is that this is small potatoes and more than expected in this day and age of rampant corruption. Until we clean house of the big wigs doing this kind of thing, I think it’s to be expected that the small fries are going to do it too.
I guess Rev. Southhall lll got confused and thought the free lunch was for him, not the poor students. Remember, there is no free lunch; somebody pays, public schools in this case. While it may be small potatoes, it still represents the wrong, fraudulent mindset.
While I agree with your sentiment, a Congressman’s tab is picked up by the national body of taxpayers, while a charter admin’s tab is divvied up by a much smaller group of locals. That’s why it stands out & gets Investigated. While this man’s profligacy is no doubt encouraged by that of ‘big wigs,’ we’re more likely to build backlash from the bottom up.
you got it right… read my comment about the unprincipled principal at the NYC middle school, who was ‘entitled’ to use the school account at Costco.
But, of course he did. It’s perk of the job. The 1st and 2nd director of the tiny NYC middle school where I taught in the nineties,– we did not have real ‘principals yet, or any principles – used the school account at Costco and other places… a pro of the job.
Of course, he got himself fired fro reaching more deeply into school funds. not to worry, he got a job as saprincipal in Yonkers, after he was sent packing, and he managed to loot the school of science and computers on his way out.
Utter contempt rules in America!