When Hoboken's BoE was a patronage mill and piggy bank...

As GA wrote yesterday, one of the shocking 2007-2008  Hoboken School Audit findings [No. 2008-10] included the "transfer out" of Charter School appropriations "without prior approval" in "unknown" amounts,  for "cause" unknown.

"But GA, that was 7 years ago!  Kids First/Reach Higher has put a STOP to the abuse of public monies and turned around the mess that was left by Anthony Petrosino and his boss, Superintendent Raslowsky!"

Yes... but let me remind you...

3 school board seats will be contested soon.  

We are 2 seats away from Dark Side hands (back) in the $69M cookie jar.

Hence, these 'old'  BoE audits are a giant red flag for 2016.

The unauthorized "transfer" of money out of Charter School appropriations is just one shocking example; these 'old' audits reveal that Hoboken's public schools were pillaged by a Dark Side cabal- disastrous record-keeping, checks cashed without proper signatures, no-bid contracts, students not found in class registers....

Here's one: in 2005-2006 the Hoboken Public School District had no pay ledger.

source: Hoboken Public Schools audit ending June 30, 2007 

A different audit for Hoboken Public Schools reported a staggering 1,050 employees on the payroll in the [same] 2005-2006 school year.

The 2005-2006 School Board  included Jack Raslowsky, VP Carmelo Garcia and President Frank Raia.

Page 40- NJDOE Performance Audit of Hoboken Public Schools 

When a school district operates without a pay ledger and/or incomplete HR/payroll file, it always helps to circumvent the 3-signature requirement  [N.J.S.A. 18:A- 19-1] for drawing checks from the School Board's general account.   That makes it much easier to write checks for friends or for a favor- just in case!

The 2006-2007 audit, found the district was not following the 3-signature rule.  The auditor put it this way:

"Lack of controls pertaining to cash disbursements may result in unauthorized payments."

Ummm... you think?

Note, the 2006-2007 School Board included Anthony Romano, Carmelo Garcia, Frank Raia and Jack Raslowsky (until he left to become Superintendent).

source: Hoboken Public Schools audit ending June 30, 2007 

Did you recognize any of those Hoboken School Board Trustees from the era when the BoE was a patronage mill and piggy bank?

You should.

The same names are vying for control of City Hall and the Hoboken BoE in 2017.

Freeholder Anthony Romano, presumptive mayoral candidate, got John Madigan and Britney Montgomery elected to the BoE.

The Dark Side's numero uno attack dog to regain control of the Hoboken BoE, is vendetta-driven Anthony "Curious Gal" Petrosino.   Petrosino may live and work in Austin, Texas, but he's obsessed with the Hoboken School District.  

Petro tirelessly churns out Crapademic hit pieces against Board majority Kids First/Reach Higher for use by his political allies.  The fact is, Petrosino writes political messaging poorly disguised as scholarship, and it is deployed by Hoboken-based allies at election time.

Now... should you read the two BoE audits for 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 (The Petro Years)- you will shudder to think how close Hoboken is to sliding back to its patronage mill/ piggy bank days.

More to come.   

June 3, 2014:  Anthony Petrosino (circled) celebrates with Anthony "Stick" Romano, John Madigan, Beth Mason, Mike Russo, Terry Castellano, and Frank Raia.