I wonder if Shanetta Coleman got a lawyer yet.

Detroit's Head Start program in peril

The Detroit agency being investigated by the FBI following Free Press reports of misspending and mismanagement is placing the city's preschool Head Start program at risk by failing to pay rent to classroom providers and allowing federal violations to persist.

Head Start providers worry that they may have to shut down their programs that serve about 7,000 low-income children in Detroit. They said the beleaguered Human Services Department, which receives $47.8 million a year in federal grants to administer the programs, hasn't paid June rent to at least eight Head Start agencies -- which the mayor's office has acknowledged. Head Start officials say their phone calls to the department have not been returned.

"If the money isn't there, then the organization can't function, which means Head Start will stop serving kids," said Janet Windemuth, a Head Start volunteer and Wayne State University instructor who specializes in urban education of early childhood. "We have no idea what's going on with the city."

The city may give up the program. City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson and Wayne County Commissioner Kevin McNamara, who serves on the county's Head Start Board, said the city has floated a plan to transfer its Head Start money to Wayne County.

Spokesman Dan Lijana said the mayor's office is aware of no such plan.

Head Start program abuses go unchecked for years

The Detroit Human Services Department has mismanaged the childhood development program Head Start for years with few consequences from the agencies and officials responsible for oversight.

During the past three years, local and federal auditors have warned of serious problems with the department's handling of more than $45 million annually in federal money provided for Head Start.

The problems range from excessive salaries to missing money.

Despite a law that requires federal intervention of troubled Head Start programs, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families has continued to allow Detroit to handle the money that helps educate about 7,000 children and finds jobs and assistance for their parents.

"Everyone is turning a blind eye to very serious problems within the city," Detroit Head Start volunteer Julie Dearing said. "Who is looking out for the children whose families are poor? This is a travesty."

The federal agency didn't return calls for comment.

Lax oversight

The city also continues to operate the Southeast Children and Family Development Head Start in Detroit without a federally required board of directors, which is responsible for overseeing programs and finances.

By contrast, Wayne County's nationally recognized Head Start program has a very active board of directors, said board member and county Commissioner Kevin McNamara.

"This board is very serious," McNamara said. "We get the services out on time and monitor the program very closely every month."

Wayne County disburses $23.8 million a year to Head Start agencies in 29 communities and has seven employees working on funding and organizing the programs.

A federal audit last year criticized Detroit for its Head Start payroll of $3.3 million, which includes the salaries and benefits of more than 17 city workers. Five of those employees earned more than $100,000 a year, payroll records show.

It's unclear how long Mayor Dave Bing's administration has been aware of problems at city Head Start programs, but providers said complaints to his office have gone virtually unanswered for two years.

Bing knows of the troubles now.

An investigation of the Human Services Department, sparked by the Free Press' disclosure of furniture purchases made with money meant for the city's needy people, has evolved to include the agency's handling of Head Start, said mayoral spokesman Dan Lijana. "It's a comprehensive investigation," he said.

Director suspended

So far, the investigation that began internally has resulted in the suspensions of department Director Shenetta Coleman and several employees, and now involves the FBI and Detroit Police.

All of the suspended employees were in charge of handling Head Start money.

Three employees in the Human Services Department said the FBI was reviewing Head Start records and interviewing workers about the program.

Greg Murray, vice president of the Senior Accountants, Analysts and Appraisers Association, which represents Head Start employees, said he was booted from a meeting with the mayor's office last year after leveling allegations of mismanagement and misspending.

Murray and Head Start volunteers said the investigation has brought to a halt the department's role with childhood education.

So far, at least eight program providers for Head Start haven't received rent this month, prompting concerns of closures and worries about whether the city will make payroll later this month.

Murray questions whether the city is purposely sabotaging the program to get rid of it.

"They are putting Head Start at risk because of the financial pressures they create," Murray said. "They are starving the city of resources, and no one is responding to concerns we have."

Bing called for an investigation of the Human Services Department in May following a Free Press report that showed the agency spent more than $200,000 in federal grants intended to feed and clothe struggling Detroiters on furniture for its offices.

Head Start advocates emphasized that problems with the programs are rare. "All Head Start programs must exercise diligence in their role as stewards of the scarce federal resources," said Robin Bozek, executive director for the Michigan Head Start Association. Her group, she said, has tough standards that "serve as a platform for quality early education and family services in Michigan."

The Michigan Head Start Association has no authority over Detroit's programs.

Detroit Fraud in Child Welfare

Fired Detroit official defends $200K furniture buy

Shenetta Coleman

Detroit — A fired director at the center of the latest City Hall corruption probe admits her staff used federal funds for the poor to buy $200,000 in office furniture — and makes no apologies for it.

"It is legal to purchase furniture. I fail to understand the hype about the furniture," said Shenetta Coleman, who was removed last week from her $124,999 job as director of the city's Department of Human Services.

Coleman spoke about the accusations for the first time Thursday, since she was fired and four staffers were suspended without pay and Mayor Dave Bing announced an internal and police probe. Even as she defended herself, new allegations about her office emerged.

Police are investigating the disappearance of two flat screen televisions and other electronic equipment that her department bought with federal funds.

Bing's office also is concerned that Coleman's brother was hired by an agency funded with grants through her department.

Coleman welcomed the investigation but said she's not responsible for any misspending that is uncovered.

The furniture money came from a $1.1 million federally funded contract to Clark & Associates, a nonprofit that acts as a fiduciary, to provide a food pantry and clothing boutique for low-income residents. Coleman said she didn't know anything about missing televisions.

"Just because I am the director doesn't make me responsible for everything in the department," said Coleman, whose department provides anti-poverty programs, Head Start efforts and home weatherization services.

"I, Shenetta Lynn Coleman, do not order furniture. I do not order equipment. That was not my job. I have a staff person who was responsible for that."

"If I don't know about it, then there's nothing I can do about it. I cannot be in 29,000 places at once."

When asked if she was ultimately responsible as director, she said her job isn't to "hold someone's hand."

Despite her protests, Coleman is responsible for her staff, countered Dan Lijana, a spokesman for Bing, who added ignorance is "no excuse for poor judgment."

"All directors are charged with managing and held responsible for every aspect of their department including operations, personnel and performance," Lijana said.

Bing fired Coleman as director of the department, but because she had been a manager prior to her appointment, civil service rules allowed her to return to that post. After that, Bing suspended her for 30 days without pay. Depending on the outcome of the investigation, she could retain that job, Lijana said. Coleman said she is recovering from surgery and hasn't paid attention to media accounts of the controversy. But she said she's shocked by the outcry over last year's purchase of cherry wood desks, book shelves and conference table. She said her office needed an upgrade.

"My desk alone was being held up by a metal pipe," Coleman said.

Coleman said the furniture was permitted under the grant and represented a small percentage of what she said was $18 million in federal funds that went to services for the poor in Detroit. She also indicated state officials signed off on the purchase.

Greg Murray, vice president of the union, Senior Accountants, Analysts and Appraisers, that represents about 20 department staffers, bristled when told that Coleman defended the furniture expense.

He said some of the replaced furniture was only 2 years old: "$200,000 for furniture in a city department that was reluctant to open a warming center is heartless."

This winter, Coleman was at the center of a controversy because the city's warming center didn't open until the end of February. A longstanding policy mandated its operation, but Coleman said it couldn't open because of budget constraints and called a center a "nice extra to have." The city eventually released $150,000 in emergency federal funds to open the center two months into the season.

Bing's office also is concerned that Coleman never disclosed that a contractor working for her department had hired her brother, Lijana said. It's wasn't clear late Thursday if city executives are required to make such disclosures. The brother, Hyshon Coleman, is still employed and was hired more than five years ago by the Detroit Urban League to do home weatherization work for the Human Services Department, his sister and city officials confirmed. His salary wasn't available.

He was listed as a staffer on the internal department phone list and has a city phone number.

Shenetta Coleman said she was a deputy director at the time and had no involvement in the hire. But she did say a city employee under her — the weatherization director — brought him aboard.

Words of advice:  When there is an investigation, and we shall assume this is a federal investigation from the report findings I am including below, one should keep their mouths shut.  In this case, Shanetta Coleman's arrogance is only exceed by her ignorance in allowing for this interview.

Time to get legal counsel, my dear.

U.S. DHHS OIG City of Detroit Department of Human Services Audit 2009