The state Department of Education has issued a report on the charter management firm that ran Dunbar School, then was run out of town for a variety of indiscretions. The principal the firm hired was recently arrested for allegedly fleecing $10K from the Dunbar student activities fund.
Full report here.
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The report is really about 22 pages with the rest being addenda. There is very strong language in this report. I would encourage all OIB readers to at least read the first 22 pages to truly understand the absolute fraud and dishonesty “Dr.” Sharpe perpetuated with millions in taxpayer funds.
The report regarding FUSE/Jumoke Charter School operations points to the absence of checks and balance, the absence of internal audit feedback, the employment of numbers of people with relationships that left them unable to operate without major conflicts of interest with the educational task at hand, the direction of public funds to the purchase of assets not subject to the educational mission, and the failure of the Board of Directors to exercise its function by holding meetings, keeping records of their decisions, and making this information available to their stakeholders and taxpayers.
It is a minor miracle the report cites the energy and work of the professional staff to do the assigned job with the students at each school and the improvement in results.
Are their major differences in the general nature of such abuses of public trust and funding with what routinely is reported here in Bridgeport relative to the City Council and operation of its committee system (look for comprehensive review of City fiscal issues and month-to-month monitoring as well as failure in delivery by the City to those of “big picture” status of initiatives like total tax abatements currently in effect); to a Mayor’s office that still does not show on its site the activities of the School Building Committee including meeting schedule, agendas, and minutes along with information on the “institutionalized or privatized” for construction management that is used with contracts and agreements made public; the high level of tolerance this City has for relatives employed and Council or commission seat holders related and still holding the opinion governance will proceed with integrity, rather than be left in the dark and secret areas where ethics and laws are ignored or at best met with disregard.
Each time the City Council approved tax relief for an applicant this year, how much extra subsidy did you as a homeowner have to cough up to cover the “forgiven natural flow” of a project in future years? $1, $100, or more? You don’t have a clue, do you. How healthy is that situation? Time will tell.
John, as a group the city council is made up of people who have no backbone and who are indebted to Finch. The other problem is the majority are just too dumb to be on the council. They vote for these tax abatements and never think of the ramifications they will have on the taxpayers.
One example that stands out is a Rotary senior housing high rise near Wood Ave. For 30-plus years they have been paying the full assessed value on their property. An out-of-state company buys this complex and lo and behold the dumb asses on the council vote them a tax abatement. Why?
Tax abatements are a bad thing for a city where the citizens are so overtaxed themselves. We need to grow our taxable property, not give passes on it.
We need to grow our taxable property, that sounds good but how do you do that? Why should a company locate here, the schools are poor, high tax rate, poor government elected leadership and that’s just the start?