Doesn't look like anyone will be going to jail for fraud. The state will get back their money and have quit investigating. Local taxpayers don't seem especially angry. It is, after all, mostly state money. The media isn't really interested in following the trail. The Superintendent has pretended since June that it was an accounting error.
October 26, 2008 - The Godwin Heights School District was forced to lay off teachers and repay almost $2 million to the state after its former learning center director padded enrollment numbers.
An investigation was conducted by an independent law firm at the request of the superintendent. Their report [TT - issued in June but only recently released to the board.] accuses former center director Jerry Emde of destroying records, asking for personal favors and instructing his female staff to dress differently to distract state auditors.
The report also stated that many teachers and staff were aware' of falsehoods.
The investigation found "many teachers and staff within the school were aware of the attendance accounting irregularities and, in some cases, assisted in the furtherance of those irregularities by, among other things, signing false attendance books," Superintendent Valdis Gailitis wrote in a June 5 memo to the center's 23 staff members.No teachers or staff were fired over the inflated attendance numbers. Principal Jerry Emde resigned. (Emde is now an adjunct math instructor teaching one class at Grand Valley State University, although university officials said his contract is for just this semester.)
The discrepancies came to light when a former student hired to work in the office raised questions. Her job was eliminated. [TT - And her story makes for fascinating reading.]
The Grand Rapids Press (Oct 26) was more critical after they received a copy of the report.
Ousted Principal Jerry Emde fabricated lists of ghost classes taught by nonteachers, had a secretary clean his home and offered to leave quietly if no legal action were taken against him, Godwin Heights school district investigators concluded in a report obtained by The Press.The principal padded enrollments by 350 students to scam $1.8 million in state funds for the district over three years.
Emde manufactured ghost classes and attendance lists for six staffers who were not even teachers. He shredded those class lists before auditors arrived, according to the report.
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TT - No newspaper or outlet links to the report. The local aspects of the story at WZZM13 play up the cuts and is generating a lot of anger in readers wondering why the state or the federal government can't just pony up the money. So the kids don't suffer. Go figure.
