Folks, where Hoboken's Old Guard's BoE is concerned the 'fun' never ends.
Oh, there is plenty more to mine on the 2005-2006 BoE audit by KPMG, but for now let's direct our attention to the BoE's 2008-2009 Financial Audit.
The 2008-2009 audit, is less detailed and 'user friendly' than the KPMG one, but nevertheless the 203-page document is another brimming Pandora's Box.
This is the audit that was presented at the BoE on November 17, 2009. The one that the Jersey Journal cited as "scathing" noting more than "2 dozen irregularities". The one that Patrick Ricciardi, then BoE videographer 'accidently' had kept his lens cover on throughout the presentation, so it couldn't be aired on Channel 77. (Ricciardi was subsequently fired by Interim Superintendent Peter E. Carter.) Thanks to Da Horsey, audio was recovered and that (audio) portion of the broadcast was restored- it aired with the screen black.
Well, did you think the public was informed of all the 'anomalies' in that 2008-2009 audit?
Guess again.
Oh yes, folks.
Anyone who reads the frenzied Patch postings of Lane (prosbus) Bajardi and Kim (Curious Gal) Cardinal, is familiar with their rantings about 'dropping enrollment' and students 'fleeing' from our public schools.
Well folks, the only thing that's 'fleeing' from our enrollment numbers are the crooks who inflated their numbers- let's call them the BoE chefs. Because these chefs cooked the enrollment numbers like a souffle, starting in 2003.... gradually increasing them up until 2008.
Take a look:
See the 11% spike up in student enrollment in 2003? That's when 288 students 'appeared' in the Average Daily Enrollment.
The Enrollment and Average Daily Enrollment numbers should match. Like they do in 2000, 2001, 2002 and.... 2009*. (*off by 1 student).
And the 18% drop in enrollment in 2009? That's when approximately 400 students 'disappeared' from the Average Daily Enrollment.
Abracadabra.
No wonder Patrick Ricciardi forgot to take his lens cap off.
This looks like some serious cooking of Hoboken public school enrollment numbers to squeeze more money from the State.
Why?
Conjecture: as they gorged on BoE dollars they needed to 'hide' their expenses by keeping the cost-per-pupil number down.
GA believes that because of the increasing scrutiny on BoE activities, Superintendent Raslowsky put the kibosh on inflating enrollment in 2009. So to keep the cost-per-pupil down, he ordered the firing of 20 teachers.
Whatever it is, serious liberties have been taken with reporting student enrollment to the NJDOE.
Before Kids First.
Oh, there is plenty more to mine on the 2005-2006 BoE audit by KPMG, but for now let's direct our attention to the BoE's 2008-2009 Financial Audit.
The 2008-2009 audit, is less detailed and 'user friendly' than the KPMG one, but nevertheless the 203-page document is another brimming Pandora's Box.
This is the audit that was presented at the BoE on November 17, 2009. The one that the Jersey Journal cited as "scathing" noting more than "2 dozen irregularities". The one that Patrick Ricciardi, then BoE videographer 'accidently' had kept his lens cover on throughout the presentation, so it couldn't be aired on Channel 77. (Ricciardi was subsequently fired by Interim Superintendent Peter E. Carter.) Thanks to Da Horsey, audio was recovered and that (audio) portion of the broadcast was restored- it aired with the screen black.
Well, did you think the public was informed of all the 'anomalies' in that 2008-2009 audit?
Guess again.
Oh yes, folks.
Anyone who reads the frenzied Patch postings of Lane (prosbus) Bajardi and Kim (Curious Gal) Cardinal, is familiar with their rantings about 'dropping enrollment' and students 'fleeing' from our public schools.
Well folks, the only thing that's 'fleeing' from our enrollment numbers are the crooks who inflated their numbers- let's call them the BoE chefs. Because these chefs cooked the enrollment numbers like a souffle, starting in 2003.... gradually increasing them up until 2008.
Take a look:
 |
| 2008-2009 BoE audit- Hoboken Public Schools- page 171 |
See the 11% spike up in student enrollment in 2003? That's when 288 students 'appeared' in the Average Daily Enrollment.
The Enrollment and Average Daily Enrollment numbers should match. Like they do in 2000, 2001, 2002 and.... 2009*. (*off by 1 student).
And the 18% drop in enrollment in 2009? That's when approximately 400 students 'disappeared' from the Average Daily Enrollment.
Abracadabra.
No wonder Patrick Ricciardi forgot to take his lens cap off.
This looks like some serious cooking of Hoboken public school enrollment numbers to squeeze more money from the State.
Why?
Conjecture: as they gorged on BoE dollars they needed to 'hide' their expenses by keeping the cost-per-pupil number down.
GA believes that because of the increasing scrutiny on BoE activities, Superintendent Raslowsky put the kibosh on inflating enrollment in 2009. So to keep the cost-per-pupil down, he ordered the firing of 20 teachers.
Whatever it is, serious liberties have been taken with reporting student enrollment to the NJDOE.
How else to explain hundreds of students appearing- then disappearing from one year to the next?
Before Kids First.
Wow. We need to stop blogging and start prosecuting. This is FRAUD.
ReplyDeleteFantastic job, GA. I just want to see it get into the right hands once and for all.
Another common technique of extracting more state aid not so long ago was to label an inordinate number of kids as "special needs". It's a wonder the NIH didn't look into what was going on with our population to produce that many children with below-average abilities in every capacity.
ReplyDeleteThose kids were so stigmatized that they couldn't even get into a second-rate community college.
The evil genius responsible for this went to prison for another reason and I believe has since died.
Karma.
Raslowsky and his friend Petrosino should go to jail!
ReplyDeleteThis is massive fraud. It stops on a dime in 2009.
ReplyDeleteKF may not want this fight, but this fight picked them. They can either address the fraud or let it stand as a drop in enrollment of 400 students - which will be on 1000s of glossy fliers all over town.
They can't just wait and go on the defensive this fall when they are attacked in fliers, print, and TV ads. You'll always look like you're hiding something when you don't make the 1st move. They have to go on the offensive and address and explain the missing 400 students.
We might also have to give $$$ to the state because we claimed $$$ for students we turn out not to have had. And that is when this becomes a federal matter.
Again I don't believe they have a choice. Lane and Kim are tipping off what the opposition will be saying this fall (because Lane & Kim are stupid). But this isn't about the opinions of politically-savvy bloggers. It's about the 1000s of low information voters and the glossy flier that is handed to them right before they vote. That ad needs to be dealt with now, not later.
Where did the 400 students go? Did they ever exist? Or were they made up to true-up the books?