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Some
principals
charged
with
kickbacks
faced
financial
woes
By
Associated
Press
DETROIT
- A
dozen
Detroit
principals
and an
administrator
are
accused
of
finding
a way to
bleed
their
struggling
public
schools
of
$900,000
—
ordering
chairs,
writing
paper
and
other
supplies
that in
most
cases
were
never
delivered,
even as
investigators
doggedly
battled
fraud in
a
district
that
lacks
textbooks
and even
toilet
paper.
Federal
authorities
say the
bribery
and
kickback
scheme
started
as early
as 2002
and
ended
earlier
this
year. It
is the
latest
in a
string
of
embarrassing
public
corruption
cases
where
elected
officials
and
workers
succumbed
to the
temptation
of an
easy
dime
left in
a
too-often
unguarded
public
till.
"They
stole
from the
children,"
said an
angry
Ida
Byrd-Hill,
who had
two
children
attending
a
Detroit
high
school
in 2009
during
the
height
of the
alleged
kickbacks.
"We keep
forgetting
that
these
schools
belong
to the
citizens
of
Detroit,"
she
said.
"They
don't
belong
to
Detroit
Public
Schools.
They
don't
belong
to the
principals.
Everybody
has
forgotten
who they
work
for.
They
work for
the
parents."
Mostly
middle
aged,
the 13
schools
officials
charged
last
month
with
conspiracy
to
commit
bribery
had
salaries
far
above
what the
average
Detroiter
takes
home.
But a
public
records
search
by The
Associated
Press
showed
some
faced
bankruptcies,
tax
liens
and
other
personal
financial
troubles
just
prior to
or
during
the time
they are
accused
of
receiving
kickbacks
from
longtime
district
supply
vendor
Norman
Shy, 74.
Wayne
State
University
Law
School
professor
Peter
Henning
described
it as a
scenario
that is
all too
familiar
in a
city
where
public
employees
think
they are
owed
more
than
they get
for
difficult,
thankless
jobs.
"I doubt
any of
them
really
thought
they
were
doing
anything
wrong —
they
(believed
they)
were
just
getting
something
they
deserved,"
Henning
said.
"They
worked
hard,
were
underpaid
and had
to deal
with all
the
stuff
that
goes on
in DPS."
Henning
said it
"comes
down to
(the)
basic
morality"
of city
officials
— or a
lack
thereof.
"If
somebody
wants to
steal,
they can
steal.
If
somebody
wants to
take an
improper
benefit
or
payment,
they can
do it.
Is
anyone
going to
notice
$100
here, a
$1,000
there?"
he said.
Federal
investigators
have
been
busy in
Detroit
for at
least
seven
years.
Much of
their
work
involved
uncovering
rampant
pay-to-play
schemes
at the
highest
levels
of City
Hall.
Disgraced
ex-Mayor
Kwame
Kilpatrick
is
serving
a
28-year
prison
sentence
for
corruption.
Former
City
Council
President
Monica
Conyers
also
spent
time
behind
bars
after
pleading
guilty
in 2009
to
conspiracy
to
commit
bribery.
But the
school
bribery
charges
are
particularly
galling
given
the
district's
poor
finances.
The
state
Legislature
is being
asked to
enact a
$720
million
restructuring
plan
that
would
pay off
the
district's
enormous
debt.
Dozens
of
schools
were
forced
to
cancel
classes
this
year as
teachers
called
in sick
to
protest
low pay,
lacking
supplies
and
over-crowded
classrooms.
Enrollment
has
dropped
to about
46,000
students
from
95,000
in 2009.
The
state
recently
provided
$48.7
million
in
emergency
funding
to keep
the
schools
open
through
June.
Principals
in
Detroit
were
responsible
for
ordering
supplies
and
selecting
vendors.
Authorities
said
that
because
of the
scheme,
the
district
paid
thousands
of
dollars
for
auditorium
chairs,
supplemental
teaching
material,
raised
line
paper
and
other
classroom
supplies
that
either
never
arrived
or came
in
smaller
quantities
than
ordered.
"At the
core of
this
apparent
scheme
is
something
that's
very
real —
horribly
resourced
public
schools,"
Detroit
teachers'
union
president
Ivy
Bailey
said
last
month,
when
charges
were
announced.
The
probe
evolved
from a
state
audit of
finances
in a
spin-off
district
of 15
low-performing
Detroit
schools.
That led
to the
arrest
of
Kenyetta
Wilbourn-Snapp,
a
principal
at two
high
schools
who was
charged
late
last
year
with
taking
bribes
to hire
a
company
to
perform
tutoring
services.
From
there,
federal
investigators
eventually
found
enough
evidence
to
charge
more
administrators.
Their
average
salary,
without
benefits,
is about
$98,600,
compared
with the
median
Detroit
household
income
of about
$26,000.
Nonetheless,
several
of the
accused
educators
found
themselves
in
financial
straits
and
appear
to have
accepted
money,
gift
cards
and
checks
from Shy
to pull
themselves
out.
The U.S.
Attorney's
office
says
Spain
Elementary-Middle
School
principal
Ronald
Alexander
received
about
$23,000
in
kickbacks
from May
2009
through
June
2014.
Alexander
filed
for
Chapter
7
bankruptcy
in 2011.
Shy's
company
gave
Thirkell
Elementary-Middle
School
principal
Clara
Smith a
total of
$194,000,
including
$18,000
in
personal
credit
card and
bill
payments
and
checks
to
relatives
and
friends
in 2011.
She
received
Sam's
Club
gift
cards,
cash and
checks
made
payable
to
family
members
and
friends.
On or
about
March
10,
2010,
one
kickback
was in
the form
of a
$5,000
personal
credit
card
payment.
On Dec.
12, 2012
she
received
$4,000
in
Walmart
gift
cards,
prosecutors
say.
Smith
even
kept
track of
how much
was
coming
to her
in a
ledger,
according
to court
documents.
A tax
lien was
filed
last
year on
her
Southfield
home.
The U.S.
Attorney's
office
says a
big
chunk of
the
$900,000
in
kickbacks
went to
Clara
Flowers.
Flowers,
61, had
been an
assistant
superintendent
in
Specialized
Student
Services
and a
former
principal.
Now,
she's
accused
of
receiving
nearly
$325,000
in the
scheme.
Shy's
Allstate
Sales
received
about
$2.7
million
from the
district,
according
to court
documents.
The
Associated
Press
left
messages
seeking
comment
from
attorneys
representing
the
principals,
who face
up to
five
years in
prison
and a
fine.
Only
Flowers'
attorney,
Frank
Eaman,
responded.
Flowers
plans to
pay the
district
back, he
said.
"She
profoundly
regrets
that she
became
involved
with a
vendor
who was
paying
kickbacks
to
administrators,"
Eaman
said.
"She has
completely
cooperated
with the
authorities
and will
continue
to do
so. She
will
accept
responsibility
for her
actions
and
accept
the
consequences
of her
actions."
The U.S.
Attorney's
Office
says 11
guilty
pleas so
far are
scheduled
starting
Thursday
and into
May,
including
plea
deals
with
nine
principals.
Shy is
scheduled
to plead
guilty
May 11.
Many of
the
kickbacks
allegedly
occurred
after
then-emergency
manager
Robert
Bobb
began
attacking
corruption
and
fraud in
2009,
while
trying
to fix a
$300
million
budget
deficit.
But
somehow,
the
administrators
evaded
detection.
"I think
it's
shocking
anytime
you hear
that 13
very
high-level
school
officials
are
engaged
in
bribery,"
U.S.
Attorney
Barbara
McQuade
said.
"If I
were a
parent
or a
teacher,
I would
not be
satisfied
that
this
could
occur
under
anyone's
watch."
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