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The
Washington
Post
A School Scam
The theft of $800,000
is a hard lesson for the District.
EDITORIAL,
washingtonpost.com from the Web, August 22, 2007
GOVERNMENT prosecutors were
careful to say that no other D.C. school employee helped or benefited from a top
official's looting of money earmarked for children in charter schools.
It's clear, though, that Brenda Belton was able to run her scam because of a
system that not only refused to hold people accountable but that countenanced
cronyism and mismanagement. It's an $800,000 story that should be required
reading for Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee as she seeks to change the city's broken
school system.
Ms. Belton, who was supposed to provide oversight of the Board of Education's
charter schools, has pleaded guilty to four felonies, including the theft of
funds through false invoices and steering no-bid contracts to family and
friends. Ms. Belton was able to get away with her crimes for three years
because, as reported by The Post's Carol D. Leonnig, an inattentive school board
ignored warnings and looked the other way.
That the board behaved so dismally underlines the rightness of handing control
over the schools to Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. Yet it would be foolhardy to
think that the culture that allowed Ms. Belton to flourish no longer exists.
Unanswered in the government's statement of facts is why there wasn't better
communication between those charged with approving contracts and those making
payments under them. Government prosecutors aren't expected to indict lazy
managers, fix a wasteful bureaucracy or root out incompetence. But Ms. Rhee can
and should.
Since Ms. Rhee took charge several weeks ago, much of her time has -- rightly --
been spent making sure that schools are ready to open next week. If she is
to succeed in bringing real and lasting change to the system, she has to attack
the problems of the central administration. There's certainly a need for
better fiscal checks and balances, and it's clear that Chief Financial Officer
Natwar M. Gandhi should have a larger role in that effort -- particularly in the
case of charter schools that are not Ms. Rhee's responsibility. A good
place for Ms. Rhee to start is to redress the wrong done to Steven Kapani, the
financial analyst who was hounded from his job after he blew the whistle on Ms.
Belton. As Ms. Rhee reshapes the central office, we'd like to think there
is a spot for someone who has Mr. Kapani's guts and integrity.
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