Baltimore County Schools Shreds Procurement Records After Being Told Not To Do It

I bet Wayne County does it, too.

Baltimore County Schools Destroyed Accounting Records Amid High Profile Procurement Audit and Directive to Stop all Record Destruction

In the midst of a high profile and widely anticipated procurement audit last year, employees from Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) had over 53,000 lbs. of accounting documents from its fiscal services file room destroyed, a windowless storage-room-turned-office in its Business Administration building.

This, according to information provided by BCPS in response to a direct request, specifically seeking a log detailing which records had been removed from the room, purportedly first scanned and then destroyed.

Last fall, the school board directed then-interim Superintendent Verletta White to direct all staff to cease the destruction of all documents after roughly 2,600 financial disclosure statements were found to have been destroyed months earlier, which included some records needed for the procurement audit.

Two floors above the meeting room, where school board members convene for bimonthly public meetings in Building E of BCPS’ Greenwood campus headquarters, the file room was emptied to make room for a new office.  Certificates from a shredding company show that the records were destroyed in November and December 2018, a few months before an April 2019 report was delivered to the school board, at the conclusion of what was supposed to be a comprehensive procurement audit which looked into the system’s procurement practices for years 2012 through 2017.

While BCPS provided a list on Friday, detailing what was archived and sent to an offsite storage facility, what was purportedly “electronically scanned” – and then destroyed – is not so clear. And the scant information provided by the school system does not include what a system employee told The Gunpowder Gazette was also in the file room for fiscal services.

According to that employee, who spoke with The Gunpowder Gazette under the condition of anonymity due to fears of retribution, the sudden and unplanned clearing of the file room – which included “wall-to-wall” and “a center isle” full of file cabinets – included employees’ reimbursement documents as well as travel, mileage and conference expenses which were a topic at the center of controversy for the district after the New York Times and Baltimore Sun published reports which questioned travel and vendor-employee relationships.

So far, the school district acknowledges that the destroyed files were from the Department of Fiscal Services, stating that boxes identified for destruction included vendor invoice documents from its accounts payable department.

Two orders to destroy the records were signed off by the “office head” of the Office of Accounting. Other records were sent to a storage facility. But, not included in a description of the transferred documents, were reimbursement and travel records the employee claims had been there.

The Gunpowder Gazette has requested precise details from Baltimore County schools on exactly what was destroyed since a vague initial response from the school system is disputed by the anonymous employee with familiarity with the file room which was turned into an office for a senior executive director.

Shredgate #1:

Knowledge of this second shredding arose in the middle of a yearlong and continued fight for records concerning the first known shredding – coined by some as ‘Shredgate” or “Purgegate” – that occurred months before, in which roughly 2,600 financial disclosure statements were suddenly purged in the middle of a reporter’s request for financial disclosure records, which immediately preceded the procurement audit.

Financial disclosure statements ask employees to declare all work performed outside of the school system, including any done for school vendors.

The forms are signed under penalty of perjury and the failure by employees to disclose information on them can lead to prison sentences which is what occurred in the case of former superintendent of Baltimore County schools, Dallas Dance, last year.

In late 2017, after The New York Times and Baltimore Sun published stories which questioned vendor and employee relationships, widespread calls for an audit ensued. In early 2018, after Dance was indicted for perjury for failing to disclose $147,000 in income on his financial disclosure forms, pressure mounted.

Within weeks, 2,600 financial forms would be destroyed. At roughly 16 pages each, 40,000 pages for years 1997 to 2013 were simply eliminated and included two years’ worth of records – 2012 to 2013 – that were later needed for the procurement audit.

While the discarded financial disclosure records were destroyed in accordance with school policy – which states that anything over four-years-old can be destroyed – it was the first time in the 21 years the records had been maintained by the system that school staff made use of the policy and decided to purge the records.

For over one year, a now-Gunpowder Gazette reporter has tried in vain to obtain any details about the massive document destruction. The shredding was discovered after several anomalous responses to the records led to the discovery that they had been destroyed during the precise time she had been requesting them.

To date, an attorney for the school system’s law office that oversaw the destruction of documents says there are “no responsive records” available surrounding any part of the disappearance of the financial records.

For months, the office has maintained that there simply are no records of any expenses, employees, contractors or shredding companies which may have been involved in the selection or destruction of roughly 40,000 pages of financial disclosure statements.

But shred certificates – sans a detailed log of the destroyed contents – exist for the records destroyed in the system’s Fiscal Services file room last November and December, which occurred months after the financial disclosure statements vanished without a trace.

Shredgate # 2?:

On Friday, two responses – obtained through a Maryland Public Information Act request – show the school system not only destroyed the records after a directive by board members specifically prohibited it, but the records officer also misinterpreted a reporter’s request in which The Gunpowder Gazette specifically requested a log detailing precisely what had been destroyed, in addition to what may have been archived or stored elsewhere.

Instead, a list of some of the documents that had been archived was provided, including banking reports that were moved for storage to an offsite facility. But requests for details on what had been scanned and subsequently destroyed, only produced responsive documents called “Transfer Requisitions,” and “Certificates of Records Destruction,” provided by a shredding company which stated that 53,000 lbs of of the records were destroyed. Additionally, a short description in the response attempted to describe some of what was discarded.

According to a single sentence in the response from the system’s law office, “boxes identified for destruction included vendor invoice documents from Accounts Payable that were scanned and retained electronically.”

Yet no such detail was provided on what had been purportedly scanned and destroyed or retained, elsewhere.

Baltimore County Schools did not respond to requests for clarification or comment. But communications specialist, Brandon Oland, sent a message after the publishing of this story, stating, “Nothing to add, other than I hope you have a good evening.”

The school system also failed to address the decision to scan and destroy the accounting documents in the midst of a procurement audit and after a directive by school board members specifically asked for all document destruction to immediately cease.

In question is who exactly oversees the documents since the directive to cease purging any records was modified, a month after the directive was implemented, to apply to executive directors and above.

Interim Superintendent Verletta White, who led the system at the time of the purges, stepped down in June and was hired as a consultant for the system after current Superintendent Darryl Williams took over on July 1 of this year.

Timeline of events leading to shredding and procurement audit:

Feb 14, 2018: Reporter made first of six requests to review Financial Disclosure Statements (FDS)

Feb 14, 2018: BCPS’ Office of Law created Excel spreadsheet to log the future destruction of the FDS (the same day that the reporter made the first round of FDS examination requests). Destruction, according to BCPS, occurred on April 27, 2018 and Aug 1, 2018.

May 22, 2018: BCPS school board hired UHY to conduct procurement audit, chooses years 2012 to 2017 for scope.

Aug 9, 2018: Reporter discovered, after six rounds of requests for FDS, that roughly 2,600 had been destroyed

August 21, 2018: School Board directs superintendent to direct school staff to cease all further document destruction due to active audit.

September 2018: The directive to freeze all record destruction in BCPS modified to include only executive directors and above.

November 12, 2018: Seven boxes of material from “Fiscal Services File Room” destroyed. Seven boxes archived. Signed off by “Office Head” from Office of Accounting. But shred certificate states: 26,715 lbs of materials destroyed.

December 7, 2018: Fifteen boxes of documents containing materials from “Fiscal Services File Room” destroyed. Nine boxes archived. Signed off by “Office Head” from Office of Accounting. But shred certificate states: 26,365 lbs of materials destroyed.

April 9, 2019: UHY provided audit report to Baltimore County Board of Education, produced under its consulting services arm, UHY Advisors.

Want to learn about the backstory to this story?  See: Gunpowder Gazette Insider: The Story Behind the Story on Baltimore County Public Schools’ Financial Document Destruction

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Share Your Horror Stories On Accessing IEP Special Needs Educational Services In Michigan - It Is All About The Data

Would you like to know a plausible explanation as to why Michigan was dropped form its "needs intervention" list for special education?

Have you ever tried to get an IEP in a charter school?

Feel free to share your horror stories on accessing special education in public schools of Detroit, Grand Rapids, Benton Harbor, Flint, and any one of those communities up in the central and nothern parts of Michigan, too.

I wonder what they do with all the old identities of children after they are adopted out from foster care?

Always remember, if you do not report it, it does not get tallied, just like they do with votes.

It is all about the data.

#maytheheavensfall

Michigan dropped from 'needs intervention' list for special education

Last year, Michigan was the only state in the nation
 that failed to meet federal special education requirements
and required intervention.

Michigan no longer needs "intervention" to meet federal special education requirements but still needs "assistance," according to state education officials.

The Michigan Department of Education said on Thursday the state's performance on key special education factors improved over last year, which prompted the U.S. Department of Education to lift the state from its “needs intervention” determination to “needs assistance."

Michigan is rated for its annual performance on meeting a section of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

The types of data used to make a determination include the participation of children with disabilities on regular statewide assessments and the percentage of children with disabilities who graduated with a regular high school diploma and who dropped out.

Michigan’s score increased from 59.17% to 65.28% from 2018 to 2019, an increase of 6.1%, according to the 2019 report.

The state boosted its numbers for the percentage of fourth-grade and eighth-grade students with disabilities participating in statewide reading assessments. This year, the numbers were 83% and 81% respectively, compared to 80% and 79% last year.

It also increased the number of students with disabilities in the same grades taking regular statewide math assessments, from 81% and 79% in 2018 to 84% and 81% in 2019.

The state saw a decrease in the percentage of students with disabilities who drop out of school — from 29% to 28% —  but the graduation rate remained the same both years at 63%.

Deputy state superintendent Scott Koenigsknecht said this is the highest score Michigan has received since 2014.

“We are pleased with the trajectory of the growth and will continue to work to improve outcomes for every Michigan student," Koenigsknecht said. "There still is much work to do around the areas of graduation rate, dropout rate, research-based best practices, and inclusion/” 

Last year, Michigan was the only state in the nation that failed to meet federal special education requirements and required intervention. Washington, D.C., Palau and Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. Commonwealth, also received the "needs intervention" ranking.

Federal officials use both compliance and results data for a “letter of determination” on whether a state "meets requirements," "needs assistance" or "needs intervention."

Koenigsknecht said work is being done in the school districts across the state and at the state education department to improve compliance.

A steering committee and four workgroups have been working since December to generate recommendations that would lead to continued improvements for graduation rates, dropout rates, M-STEP participation, and NAEP results and participation, Koenigsknecht said.

Marcie Lipsitt, a Michigan-based special education advocate and civil rights activist, said the change in determination is nothing to celebrate because special education conditions continue to erode in Michigan due to a lack of transparency at the state education department and insufficient funding for special education services.

"Conditions have worsened this year," Lipsitt said. "There is nothing to celebrate here. Outcomes for children with disabilities are not improving."

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Cocktails & Popcorn: Can A State Experience A Constitutional Crisis? - Michigan Child Welfare Systems Sucks

"I claim the State of Michigan in the name of the Lord
so we can save the savages by salvaging
the children's trust funds." said the christians.

Covenant House Academy is a school for homeless kids.

They just got rid of their homeless resource officer.

UPDATE: AS OF 6-27-2019, COVENANT HOUSE ACADEMY CHANGED ITS MIND ABOUT HOW THEY TREAT HOMELESS CHILDREN AND DECIDED TO RETAIN ITS HOMELESS RESOURCE OFFICER.

Ask yourself. How come this charter school, which receives federal dollars to provide for homeless children, has a 4 year old kid realize that they are not being provided for.

Here is another young man who observed the failure of the Michigan Child Welfare System, and came up with an action.

Think about that for a moment.

This is the new privatized model planned as an expansion in the industry of trafficking tiny humans through foster care and homeless children.

How can you forecast a substantial increase in this population which is now being reclassifed as "Special Needs" along with "African Americans, English as a Second Language?

Wanna know?

EDUCATION: School Re-Segregation - Brown v. Board Of Education - A Residual Of Predictive Modeling Crap Databases Of Property Ownership & Gerrymandering

The border babies are the goods to be acquired by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in foster care.

Bethany Christian got those contracts with Samaritas.

That is All Betsy DeVos.

The christians always have a plan when it comes to a manufactured crisis, particularly when it comes to mass torture and death of "The Poors".

Those are Michigan children.

But wait! it gets even better!

Guess who is about to swoop in and save the day!

Eye Roll: Hillary Swoops In To Save 'The Children' At The Southern Border

Do you want to know what they do with all that funding? 

They are running asset forfeiture through corporate guardianship running everything out the country.

These are foreign corporations, people. 

Hello? 

Has any caught on to what they are doing? 

It is called modern day human trafficking, but in this instance, it is the industry of trafficking tiny humans through Medicaid fraud and Title I schemes.

See, there are children in need of help at the border.

There must be a plan of action, which includes a new, and improved, re-engineering of child welfare by reanimating the residuals of the peculiar institution.

Happy Residuals of the Peculiar Institution Month!

I aver that not one single argument is going to be raised about the current, complete and utter debauchery called charter schools.

Seriously, how is the Michigan Supreme Court even going to touch this when everyone and their mama is waiting for Nancy Edmunds to figure out that the Michigan Child Welfare sucks, which includes all the privatization fraud schemes going on, more than likely through SACWIS, but hey, what do I know?

I know these people are also pushing those Christian Human Plantations like Vista Maria.

RELIGIOUS LAND USE AND INSTITUTIONALIZED PERSONS ACT

Then, there are those issues with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops who just so happen to be behind all those child welfare contracts, under international scrutiny for what they do that no one really wants to talk about.

These private schools are foreign corporations.

I wonder if States Supreme Courts can experience a Constitutional Crisis?

I am going to sit back and enjoy observing all the omissions in their fallacious arguments.

Michigan Supreme Court to decide controversy over private school funding

LANSING — The Michigan Supreme Court says it will decide once and for all whether the Michigan Legislature can appropriate public money for private schools.

And in making that determination, the court will consider a 2017 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that suggests a state ban on funding for private schools could violate a U.S. constitutional provision intended to protect religious liberty.

At issue is a series of Michigan budget moves in recent years in which the GOP-controlled Legislature has appropriated millions of dollars to reimburse private schools for costs they incur to comply with state mandates, such as health and safety regulations.

In an order released Tuesday, the court said it will hear an appeal of the Michigan Court of Appeals October 2018 ruling. In that decision, the court said the Legislature may reimburse private schools for the costs to comply with state health, safety and welfare laws, but only if such costs are incidental to teaching and don't involve a key school function.

In Tuesday's order, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Markman said the court needs to resolve the longstanding issue once and for all.

"The court owes the parties, and the people of this state, a final decision in this case that fairly considers all inextricably connected issues," Markman wrote.

More: Judge: Public money for private schools violates Michigan constitution

More: Grosse Pointe votes to close 2 elementary schools

"The need to fully and finally resolve the present dispute has been made especially critical by the fact that it has now been nearly three years since the Legislature (first approved such funding) and since a lower court of this state issued a preliminary injunction preventing that law from taking effect."

It's important, Markman said, that "our legislative process is no longer maintained in limbo."

Justice Elizabeth Clement will not participate in the decision due to her previous role as legal counsel to former Gov. Rick Snyder, the court said.

In the 2017 case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Missouri Department of Natural Resources policy of denying grants to applicants owned or controlled by a church violated the First Amendment rights of Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia to freely exercise its religion. The policy denied the church an otherwise available public benefit on account of its religious status, the court said in a 7-2 ruling.

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EDUCATION: School Re-Segregation - Brown v. Board Of Education - A Residual Of Predictive Modeling Crap Databases Of Property Ownership & Gerrymandering

Before you watch this very painful hearing of educators who are poorly educated on the history of Brown v. Board of Education, here is the condensed congressional history that they are attempting to bleach and "re-segregate".

This was basically a #clownfest of individuals who are trying to pitch their new and improved versions of history, while trying to increase their foreign corporate profits by reanimating the residuals of the peculiar institution by telling really creative tales of how they are best to steward all the public education funding for students without saying that they are going to self embolden themselves with corporate parental rights in their school model for "The Poors".

Yes, this was a privatization pitch and there was not one mention of Detroit, where it all started.

Pierre is talking about black families being dissipated? 

Linda Darling-Hammond,
Predictive Modeling Crapper
"She is creepy."

WTF?  Dude needs some serious therapy.

what the hell 

schrier is talking real estate and financial investment.

The respondents are talking about investing.

this is gerrymandering

Scott stated that submissions into the record was open until May 14th, 2019 by 5:00 p.m. 

I see nothing on the committee site but I did find this if anyone is interested in commenting you can go to the following links: 

https://edlabor.house.gov/media/share-your-research

https://edlabor.house.gov/media/share-your-story?

https://twitter.com/bobbyscott

Charter schools suck, badly.  I know.  I am in Detroit. They started here.

This is geopolitical.

Urban cities have been drained of resource as public schools were financially raped in Michigan.

Then the Emergency Manager Law came in and privatized education.

This has nothing to do with race nor education because they have transformed the entire narrative through political clowning in promoting their predictive modeling crap studies into a push for more resources, like land.

This is about land.

These foreign corporations own our schools and I speculate there are land patents involved.

This is about forced migration.

There studies are crappy data collection methodology are like harvesting wheat shafts with scythes in the hot summer sun.

John Brittain, Attorney
who has no clue about the dirty
deeds of the NAACP

Brown v. Board of Education was based on a science study, "Tanks v. Talent".

Basically, the study was a parody to the study that said, "kids who grew up reading the newspaper in the home got more scholarships for universities and performed better on tests."

The study was done in the 1950s where only "certain people" could own property.

For example, sharecroppers had no toilets.

They had outhouses, not tanks in the home.

Indoor plumbing was for the rich, who owned houses, not shacks.

People in shacks could not afford to purchase a newspaper, which means, according to the original study, would be not able to get scholarships, would not perform well on tests, and as such, would never succeed to be property owners.

Ergo, the more the toilets in the home, the smarter and more successful in life the kids.

Kim Schrier

I used to have the study found in the African American History Journal, but Jstor is privatized, and got copyright on a case used in the Brown v. Board education, so I do not know why it is not in the public domain.

These DeVos witnesses, yes, conflict of interest, are talking about privatizing to help the state with their growing foster care and homeless students populations.

This is TARP.

They stole the children, the land and the votes, creating this population of foster care and homeless students, but I did learn something new!

These witnesses have redefined race by lumping English as a Second Language population as students of color.

They are skewing dirty data.....I love it because everyone up there on the diaz in committee, including their staff, are absolutely unqualified to catch that these people are pumping some some hard core, raw, predictive modeling crap.

This Darling-Hammond just said that kids tear up the schools and get more detention but did she say anything about the schools not having heat or books?

Nope, because she comes from a wealthy school district.

I bet she hangs out with Blasey-ford over there at Stanford but I did find their charter schools think tank which is probably run by some of those trust fund babies mommy and daddy dropped millions to get them into these graduate positions.

These are the people who are doing that generational gerrymandering.

Lessons for Developing School and District Capacity to Transform Literacy Instruction: The Canterbury Learning Collaborative

I knew I would find Social Impact Bonds.

https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/

They are mapping out voting districts through paramilitary instructor, not educator, networks.

Daniel Losen,
He who does not know
Gracie Lee Boggs
or anything about the history
of Civil Rights

These people are talking about lumping racial disparities and psychological disabilities into quotas as their newly made up term of "re-segregation?

I just got chills of terror for these people, of whom command our educational institutions are a caustic affront, besmirching the profession of higher learning, by transmogrifying schools into institutions of predictive modeling  for civil asset forfeiture.

How can they even mention the "School-to-Prison" pipeline without mentioning Gracie Lee Boggs?

Seriously?

There they go talking that race crap as a reason to get more money for community development.

Jahana Hayes,
the only one with common sense

I can smell the carve out from their entire second round of another TARP hustle to get more money through their reparations propaganda.

No parents wakes up and says, "oh, we cannot let little Johnny go to that school because there are too many (fill in the blank)."

Please, someone, make the stupid stop.

These people speak as if they have never set afoot in Detroit, where this entire privatized, charter school model was set up and failed miserably.

Richard Carranza

Defiance?

These people are talking about defiance in children.

Did you know there is a disorder called Oppositional Defiance Disorder and they have psychotropics to prescribe for it.

David Trone
should not be around
any children's issues

They used foster kids for the lab rat researach.

Here is an example of the growing foster care and homeless population of kids they want to service, as opposed to ending child poverty, but I digress.

You snatch a kid from his fmaily for being poor.

You put the kid in a foster care placement, that the Secretary of Education just so happens to have a familiar financial interest in the child placing agency privatized contracts.

The kid wants to go home.

You dope the kid up because the kid opposes foster care or being homeless.

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DOJ: Former D.C. Schools Employee and Business Owner Plead Guilty to Federal Charge in Bid-Rigging Scheme

For a minute there I thought this was another Detroit Public Schools case, but at least we know the model started in Detroit.

Schools Employee Helped Steer Nearly $300,000 Contract to Her Friend

            WASHINGTON – A former employee of the District of Columbia Public Schools and a business owner, her longtime friend, pled guilty today to a federal mail fraud charge stemming from a bid-rigging scheme involving a government contract valued at nearly $300,000.

            The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, Nancy McNamara, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and District of Columbia Inspector General Daniel W. Lucas.

            Amber R. Crowder, 39, of Washington, D.C., also known as Amber Hines, and Shauna Marie Brumfield, 40, of Sacramento, Calif., also known as Shauna Snell, each pled guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The charge carries a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison and potential financial penalties. The Honorable Senior Judge John D. Bates scheduled Brumfield’s sentencing for Feb. 5, 2019, and Crowder’s sentencing for Feb. 11, 2019.

            According to a Statement of Facts agreed to by both defendants as part of their plea, Crowder worked as a program manager in the Office of Special Education (OSE) of the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS).  In the summer of 2012, Crowder was tasked with identifying and recommending a company to aid in the scheduling of meetings related to individual education plans for special education students.  Brumfield and Crowder agreed to work together to obtain the contract.  

            On Aug. 7, 2012, Brumfield created a company called A Simple Solution to bid on the contract.  Brumfield and Crowder were partners in A Simple Solution.  Crowder was not identified in any company filings or listed on any communications to DCPS in order to conceal her ownership interest in A Simple Solution.  At the time, Brumfield and Crowder were also partners in another company called Education Connection, which provided tutoring services to special education students.  Crowder was not identified in any Education Connection company filings or listed on any Education Connection communications to DCPS.  

            OSE chose A Simple Solution for the administrative assistant contract over several local qualified companies based on written documentation prepared by Crowder and her personal recommendation.  In that documentation, Crowder falsely stated that A Simple Solution was an experienced company.  Crowder falsely claimed that her contact person for A Simple Solution was “Marie Matthews,” which was an alias used by Brumfield.  Crowder did not disclose that she was on the payroll of Education Connection.  A Simple Solution bid $298,800 for the contract because Crowder disclosed to Brumfield that the expected budget for the contract was $300,000.  Two separate contracts were signed to cover the entire school year.  Crowder’s boyfriend signed the first contract as the purported A Simple Solution Chief Financial Officer, while Brumfield’s boyfriend signed the second contract as the purported A Simple Solution branch manager in order to make it appear that A Simple Solution was an established company with multiple employees.

            As a result of the fraud, from October 2012 through March 2014, the District of Columbia Public Schools paid approximately $222,000 to A Simple Solution.  Brumfield transferred approximately $19,164 of those funds from A Simple Solution’s bank account to Crowder’s personal bank account.

            In announcing the pleas, U.S. Attorney Liu, Assistant Director in Charge McNamara, and Inspector General Lucas commended the work of those who investigated the case from the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the District of Columbia Office of the Inspector General. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Lucas, Paralegal Specialists Joshua Fein and Aisha Keys, and former Paralegal Specialists Jessica Mundi and Kristy Penny. Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Anthony Saler and Kondi Kleinman, who investigated and prosecuted the case.

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Betsy DeVos Is Winning In Michigan K12 Privatization

Michigan Court of Appeals approves the first Type III transfer of public funding to private corporations.

The Type III transfer started in 1965 for the purposes of establishing new departments, commissions & boards, and, for dissolution of departments, commissions & boards.

Privatization of infrastructure came into fashion and launched the first, of many, complex financial fraud schemes to line to pockets and campaigns of politicians through child welfare because no one cares about children.

But somewhere under the Engler administration, his Buddy Bush got him to let Michigan to be the first state to diffuse the privatized trafficking of tiny humans model, starting with foster care and adoption, which automatically captures Target Case Management Medicaid funding for Special Needs, for which these private, christian charter schools, including the contained environment schools of residential institutions (i.e. juvenile justice, mental health) to invest in real estate through stuff like the Michigan Children's Trust Fund, a foreign corporate operation that funds political campaigns, and more.

I would not fault the Appeals Court judges who voted in support of privatization, for the simple fact that they do not know anything about the subject matter of child welfare.

Judges must rely upon their clerks, who only do internet searches of "pre-existing" opinions from other judges who have no clue, or just had their opinions written for them by special interest think tanks.

As for the religious interference, there is not much anyone is going to do to enforce the ruling or even for anyone to blow the whistle because are looking at the first building blocks of more stealin' in the name of the tax exempt god.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that no one can look at child educational records in foster care and adoption because of privacy laws.

Gotta love that Betsy!

Michigan court approves public funding for private school mandates

Lansing — Michigan lawmakers can provide public funding to private schools to cover the “actual costs” of mandates that do not directly support student education, a divided Court of Appeals panel ruled Tuesday in a closely watched case.

In a 2-1 decision, judges William Murphy and Anica Letica ruled state funding to reimburse private schools for complying with health and safety laws is not inherently unconstitutional despite a ban on public aid for private education.

The funding must be “incidental” to teaching and providing educational services, cannot support a “primary” function critical to the school's existence and must not involve or result in “excessive religious entanglement,” they said in devising a new three-part test.

Any state law concerning student health, safety or welfare is “almost by definition” incidental to teaching, the judges said.

Public school advocates sued the state in 2017 after the Republican-led Legislature approved a budget with $2.5 million to reimburse private schools for fire drills, inspections and other state requirements. Plaintiffs, who have argued the funding is a "slippery slope," are considering a possible appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court.

Court of Appeals Judge Elizabeth Gleicher on Tuesday accused her colleagues of “hijacking” the concept of incidental aid to create a new exception to the “plain language’ in the state Constitution that prohibits direct or indirect aid to non-public schools.

“The public money directly and indirectly assists nonpublic schools in keeping their doors open and meeting their payroll,” Gleicher wrote in a spirited dissent. “It is unconstitutional for that simple reason.”

Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens ruled on similar grounds in April when she found the budget appropriations were unconstitutional. The legal battle has prevented the state from providing the funding to non-public schools, but lawmakers approved another $2.5 million for fiscal year 2018 and $250,000 for 2019.

A Michigan Court of Appeals panel is set to hear arguments Friday in a slow-moving lawsuit alleging the state Unemployment Insurance Agency violated due process rights of claimants by imposing steep penalties for false fraud accusations. (Photo: Dale G. Young, Detroit News file)

Murphy and Letica said Stephens' blanket ruling was an overreach. While some of the mandates may not pass their test, the Court of Appeals judges said funding for compliance with laws regarding criminal background checks, instrument disposal and epinephrine auto injectors is constitutionally permissible.

Criminal background checks for teachers are required by state law and conducted  “for the purpose of ensuring and advancing the safety and welfare of its students, weeding out prospective teachers and other school personnel who might pose a risk of harm to students,” they wrote.

A background check is “merely incidental to teaching and providing educational services to private school students. It does not constitute a primary function or element necessary for a nonpublic school’s existence, operation, and survival, and it does not involve or result in excessive religious entanglement.”

The panel sent the case back down to the Court of Claims to consider the constitutionality of each mandate individually. Should the court conclude a specific cost or action is unconstitutional, it may only strike or preclude that reimbursement without invalidating the entire statute, the majority ruled.

Plaintiffs are considering their next steps in the legal battle after the appeals court panel "gave its blessing" to diverting public funding away from public schools, said Daniel Korobkin, deputy legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan.

"This is a law that the Legislature intentionally passed to direct millions of dollars into the bank accounts of private schools," Korobkin said.

But state Rep. Tim Kelly, a Saginaw Township Republican who chairs the K-12 budget subcommittee and pushed to include the funding in recent budgets, said he was "thrilled" by Tuesday's ruling but expects opponents will appeal.

"There's some sanity that's crept into the court here," he said. "Even though this fight isn't over, I think it's clearly headed in the right direction."

Reimbursing private schools for state mandates is "the right thing to do," Kelly argued. 

"You're not wrapped up in religiosity or whatever," he said. "This is clearly not trying to influence kids other than just trying to pay the costs."

The Michigan Constitution prohibits the state from appropriating public monies or property to "directly or indirectly to aid or maintain any private, denominational or other nonpublic, pre-elementary, elementary, or secondary school." Courts have interpreted the amendment to bar state support for general educational programs unless the main effect is to further a “substantial” governmental purpose.

Tuesday's ruling "flies in the face of our state Constitution," said Chris Wigent of the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators. “This is a clear attack on public education by special interests that want to funnel taxpayers’ money away from public school classrooms."

The three-judge appeals court panel that upheld the Republican appropriation included two Democratic appointees. Letica was picked for the court by GOP Gov. Rick Snyder in June. Murphy was appointed by former Gov. Jim Blanchard and Gleicher was picked by former Gov. Jennifer Granholm, both Democrats.

Michigan voters approved a general ban on public funding for private education in 1970. The so-called Blaine Amendment to the Michigan Constitution allows the state to provide student transportation to any school but holds that public funding cannot be used "to support the attendance of any student or the employment of any person at any such nonpublic school."

In 2000, state voters defeated by 69-31 percent a ballot proposal to let parents in some struggling school districts use up to $3,100 in public money to pay for their child’s tuition at a private or religious school. The effort was led by Grand Rapids area school choice advocate Betsy DeVos, who became President Donald Trump’s education secretary in 2017.

Voters overwhelmingly defeated a similar voucher proposal in 1978.

Michigan Quo Warranto Petit... by on Scribd

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Time To Audit God: Detroit World Outreach, Child Welfare Fraud & Detroit Land Bank Authority

To begin, I would like to honor the Redford Police Department for executing an extremely delicate, social arrest, with a professional grace.

Now, on to why this is an issue of child welfare fraud.

This is the quote from the article that made me take pause:

"The church has more than $15 million worth of assets, including its main campus in Redford Township, the parsonage, additional real estate and a “sizable discretionary fund” for the senior pastor, according to Harmon."

Additional real estate?

Why and how does a church, a non-profit, tax exempt organization hold more that $15 million worth of assets?

1945 Webb, Detroit, Michigan

So, what I did was a take a simple visit to its website and, voila, I found a questionable relationship of a real estate transaction in conjunction with the glorious Detroit Land Bank Authority.

Detroit World Outreach is in partnership with Life Remodeled, another non-profit with a plan to take over Detroit Public Schools.

Through the Detroit Bankruptcy case, overseen by presiding Judge Steven Rhodes, who was subsequently appointed by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder as the Emergency Manager for Detroit Public Schools, "blighted' properties were "transferred" via the Hardest Hit Funds, devoid of any due process or any opportunity for legal remedial challenge, to the private, non-profit Life Remodeled.

In the particular case of 1945 Webb, below, Wayne County had previously transferred the property to
Andre McCoullough of Quality Solutions, with payment arrangements and payments of past due taxes, where the legitimacy of these so-called past due taxes may be even called into question.

1945 Webb - Detroit, Michigan Deed and Taxes by Beverly Tran on Scribd

Without any notification, the property of 1945 Webb, I guess the best superlative would be, was "miraculously" transferred with lease to Life Remodeled, a tax exempt, non-profit, without any notification to the...current owner (?), signed between Steven Rhodes and Chris Lambert.

Detroit Public Schools and Life Remodeled Lease of 12-30-2016 for Property of 1945 Webb, Detroit, Michigan by Beverly Tran on Scribd

In allegation only, at this particular point in time, this is the agenda of Betsy DeVos, U.S. Department of Education Secretary of Privatization (my lil mismomer), in charter schools to religious, tax exempt, corporations for purposes of private investments through questionable billing to child welfare programs, like, um.....Medicaid.

Of course, I provide my disclaimer that I have not fully vetted this transaction, but the purpose of this publication is for my #Superfans.

To my precious, most delicious ones in the Michigan Eastern District U.S. Attorney's Office, go forth, and make Mommy proud...

#Time2AuditGod

Widow, megachurch battle for control of mansion, millions

Redford Township — Local religious leaders are warring with a bishop’s widow over a $3 million mansion and control of the soul and mega bank accounts of one of Metro Detroit’s megachurches.

The war is 4 months old, triggered by the death of Bishop Benjamin Gibert, the charismatic, leather-clad leader of Detroit World Outreach in Redford Township, a megachurch whose leaders believe wealth is God’s reward.

Within days of the bishop’s death, church leaders fired his widow, Charisse Gibert, from her church post and announced plans to sell her home, an 11,000-square-foot parsonage in Northville Township that was controversially removed from the tax rolls 10 years ago.

 Church leaders also are trying to block Charisse Gibert from collecting on her late husband’s $2 million life-insurance policy.

 State and federal court records and interviews chronicle a power struggle over who should succeed Benjamin Gibert, a legal battle filled with palace intrigue, police and claims that the church has financial problems, an ironic twist that could end up benefiting Wayne County taxpayers.

 “The dispute is about control and the future of the church, though money and power is always in the background,” church vice president and treasurer Marvin Wilder said. The power struggle is not unusual.

 “Megachurches that are built around the personalities of their leaders most of the time do suffer when there is an unexpected death or loss of that pastor, as do smaller churches,” said Scott Thumma of the Connecticut-based Hartford Seminary, who studies megachurches.

 It is somewhat rare for a clergy’s spouse to become the new leader of a church, but that typically happens when the spouse is viewed as an equal, Thumma said.

 “This does not sound like it was the case at (Detroit World Outreach),” Thumma said. Charisse Gibert’s lawyer did not respond to a message seeking comment.

 After Benjamin Gibert, 54, died of a heart attack Feb. 28, his widow tried to take control of the church from Detroit World Outreach’s board of elders, leaders allege.

 Charisse Gibert tried firing church elders and stocking the board with family and friends, church lawyer Henri Harmon wrote in a Wayne County Circuit Court filing. Gibert’s handpicked board includes her 23-year-old daughter and a brother-in-law. Gibert claimed her late husband, before he died, named her first vice president.

The move was an attempt to leapfrog her past Wilder and put her first in line to become the church’s new senior pastor, the lawyer alleges.

 “The ‘first vice president’ position does not exist, and never existed,” Harmon wrote in the court filing.

 The move was designed to grab control of church finances and assets, including the $3 million mansion in Northville Township, the lawyer alleges.

The church has more than $15 million worth of assets, including its main campus in Redford Township, the parsonage, additional real estate and a “sizable discretionary fund” for the senior pastor, according to Harmon.

The dispute turned ugly at the church’s main campus March 19, according to court records.

 Charisse Gibert and others arrived at the facility and seized control of the church’s live web feed, according to Harmon.

 A week later, during Sunday services, Gibert returned and insisted she be allowed to speak to parishioners. Someone called law enforcement and Gibert agreed not to take the pulpit, according to Harmon.

 “Gibert did not keep her word,” the lawyer alleged.

 The church says Gibert twice interrupted Sunday services before law enforcement intervened, handcuffed her and led her off the stage.

 Video of the incident was posted on YouTube. On March 21, Charisse Gibert unsuccessfully tried to have the church bank accounts put in her name, according to a court filing.

 The next day, the church sued her in Wayne County Circuit Court.

 The church wanted an order declaring Charisse Gibert is not senior pastor and has no right to control the church’s assets. The church also wanted an order preventing her from entering the church and kicking her out of the mansion.

 Charisse Gibert countersued, arguing she and her late husband were both senior pastors.

 Gibert asked the Wayne County judge to declare her senior pastor, temporarily block Wilder and others from interrupting church finances and remove him from bank and credit card accounts.

 Wayne County Circuit Judge Annette Berry refused to decide who is the church’s rightful leader.

 “The question of who should perform as a pastor is an ecclesiastical question, which the court is not authorized to decide,” Berry ruled.

 Berry also refused Charisse Gibert’s request to have a representative attend church services to collect and count money given to the church.

 The case is pending and the judge has ordered both sides to participate in mediation June 29.

 Apostle Ellis Smith is handling senior pastor duties while a church search committee hunts for a new leader. Charisse Gibert, meanwhile, is holding her own church services at Metro Detroit hotels.

 While the court case lingers, the church is struggling financially.

 The church had 4,000 members a decade ago.

In January, there were half as many members, which Wilder attributes to changing church demographics and a natural decline as members move from church to church.

 The Sunday after Gibert died, the church lost 900 members, Wilder said.

 “When a pastor dies, some people in a congregation don’t know how a church is going to go on, so they find a new spiritual home or go looking at other churches,” Wilder said.

 The drop in membership has turned the mansion from a symbol of prosperity into a millstone.

 The church spends $380,000 a year on mortgage and maintenance costs.

Detroit World Outreach can no longer afford the expense because church revenue has fallen by approximately $2 million since 2010 “and our weekly attendance has dropped significantly,” Wilder wrote in a court filing.

 “Selling the property would cut the debt of the church by close to 50 percent,” Wilder wrote.

 Selling the property could benefit Wayne County and Northville Township by putting the home back on the tax rolls.

 The county, township, schools and others would split more than $54,000 a year, township assessor Holly Cozza said. For now, Charisse Gibert continues to live in the mansion, Wilder said.

 “I suspect she will leave and we’ll be able to sell the property,” he said.

 The fight between Gibert and the church intensified June 6.

 That’s when American General Life Insurance Co. sued Charisse Gibert and the church in federal court in Detroit.

 American General insured Benjamin Gibert’s life and wants a judge to decide who collects on the insurance policy.

 Benjamin Gibert set up the policy so that the church and his wife would split the money. On March 28, a month after her husband died, Charisse Gibert tried to collect her $950,000 share.

 She also demanded that the insurance company pay no benefits to the church, citing the ongoing lawsuit.

 “I am quite concerned about possible fraud and mismanagement of church properties and funds,” Charisse Gibert wrote in a letter to American General.

 On May 25, the church told American General not to pay any benefits to Charisse Gibert, according to the federal court lawsuit.

 American General wants to deposit the $1.9 million in an interest-bearing account until a federal judge can determine the proper beneficiary.

 Wilder, the church vice president and treasurer, laments the ongoing disputes and effects on the congregation of a church that is 82 years old.

 “It’s unfortunate that this has happened and that the congregation did not get to properly mourn Bishop Gibert,” he said.

“It’s a shame that this has marred his legacy.

 “He made significant contributions — I don’t want to belittle them — but they pale in comparison to 82 years,” Wilder said.

“The church doesn’t belong to you.”

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