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Subscribe to RSSCHICAGO -- The Chicago Public School system has removed 12 principals and assistant principals for allegedly falsifying free and reduced lunch forms for their own children, according to a report from the Office of the Inspector General and CPS.
None of the 12 assistant principals or principals have been charged with a crime, but have been removed from their posts pending due process hearings. Their names have been withheld during the hearing process. The program costs about $100 million per year and is meant to provide nutritious meals to needy children.
“The investigation by the OIG has uncovered continuing fraud in this program and we will not stand for any lapse in ethical judgment by our school leaders,” said CPS Chief Executive Officer Jean-Claude Brizard. “CPS employees have an obligation to the students, families and taxpayers of this District to hold themselves to the highest ethical standards. We simply cannot, and will not, allow any employee to break the trust that parents and children of this District place in us every day.”
Read NBCChicago.com's complete cover of suspected lunch scam
Under the program, parents are required to fill out applications certifying their income is below $29,055 per year for free lunches and below $41,348 for reduced rate lunches. But in some cases, CPS employees making as much as $70,000 per year were applying for the benefit, the report alleges. In many cases, the principals or assistant principals were applying for benefits at the schools where their children attended, not at the schools they supervised.
“All public employee misconduct is disturbing, but when high-paid administrators are involved in lying to get a little extra for themselves and the schools it proves that the problem is systemic and must be dealt with by CPS and its federal funding sources,” said Inspector General James Sullivan. “With these newest cases, the OIG has now uncovered 55 CPS employees in the last four years involved in falsifying lunch form data.”
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This isn't a new problem. The Inspector General began investigating in 2009. In 2011, the Inspector General found "rampant" lunch falsification at North Grand High School.
Following that investigation, 14 CPS employees were disciplined. Of those, five were terminated by the Chicago Board of Education, two resigned in lieu of termination hearings, one termination case is still pending with the Illinois State Board of Education, and six employees have been suspended or are still facing disciplinary action.
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Hmmmm .... so, the punishment for defrauding the school system is apparently a paid vacation while the union lists all the reasons they can't be fired.
Just have to find any place to spew gop propaganda do you.
The rest of us that know how to rea also read this part of the article.
"Following that investigation, 14 CPS employees were disciplined. Of those, five were terminated by the Chicago Board of Education, two resigned in lieu of termination hearings, one termination case is still pending with the Illinois State Board of Education, and six employees have been suspended or are still facing disciplinary action."
Chicago the most crooked town in the US? If you are a politician in this environment what does it take to succeed? We could ask Ram, Blago, Obama but would you believe their answer? After 3 1/2 years with one of their own at the helm of this country I have had all of it I want!
well...its like this you see...Chicago is the most corrupt place in the country at least thru my Illinois eyes.
I have a theory to lighten the number one thing tho...ALL politicians are either extremely corrupt or they have not yet been in office long enough. What I DO believe is that Illinois politicians are very corrupt...they may not be as smart as those in other states or districts (of columbia).
Would it not be fun to tar and feather the bunch?
Most likely REPUBLICANS, such greedy people.
Sam: It's Chicago, they are DEMOCRATS. After all, they are the greedy ones that want free lunches handed to them so of course they are Democrats.
After 8 years of a war crimes and the destroyer of American lives I guess 3 1/2 years of a mixed racial President is too much for you. When they take your ss and medicare away realize you were reading hate propoganda from the rich. If you make decisions of fiscal responsability it would be the democrats who give the poor and needy(ask Jesus) a break.
Now If you are on social issues you would go to the republicans for abortion issues and other junk that has nothing to do with the running of my govrnment. But as long as billionaires can twist and distort lies of tearing down your opponent and keeping the stupid arguing how the poor are getting over! Just imagen?You are poor and you go for food stamps and they give you 32 bucks in stamps, look at that non working,lazy freeloader. A lot of food for 32 bucks a month, what a freeloader! Better look to take the moat out of your eye before trying to take a splinter from your enemy! Argue over nonsense why they steal our houses and frack anywhere because they told you there are free loaders and they are getting over! So you go vote for the Hater Republicans, who destroy your water and make laws to take even more from you.
Do you realize germans get 6 paid weeks of vacation and all dental and medical free? Just stay where you are in your old testament logic! Remember theGod we worship was a God of vengeance and revenge until he sent the redeemer to show mercy and forgiveness! If you Judge so will you be judged, and if you forgive you will be forgiven. I know the children that have not been loved were casted aside and God will and does have mercy for them, but is it any less that millions died in Iraq and Afghanistan who had families destroyed and loved ones of many many years killed over nothing OIL.
Angie, democrats or republicans. It's the same. They made laws to enrich their contributers pockets and they all sit on a Board on wallstreet when they retire. Then they end up screwing us even more. How can you blame democrats when it is both parties who have learned to use this system by making laws that make them immune and Rich. They stole my republican party from me, a conservative that believes sharing and loving your neighbors as yourself and has morals. Remember, a comment or opinion is like a bullet in a gun...... once you fire it, you cant put the bullet back in the gun. show mercy and it will be shown to you!
YUP. Their all crooks. Just like Mexico!
A corrupt school system? What a shock!
If we privatized the schools, then they would go out of business when they performed so poorly and in this case had employees behaving criminally and committing fraud.
Government doesn't seem to go out of business no matter how poorly they serve the public. They just take more money from us by force.
No news here. It's called a scam I mean government. License to steal. Get use to it. It's the new american way.
This is just another way the GOVT is failing, I work at a local elementary school, I have one parent who drives up in her brand new Mercedes comes in for the free breakfast with her child, when she was asked to pay she just said , make me. She is a CAPT in the marine corp.
If we could stop the all this corruption, maybe our tax dollars could go to our children's education.
she and her child should be left hungry "make me" typical Marine corp attitude.
SUNNYAZLORA.....there are a few bad ones everywhere you go;but still that is UN called for MARINE CORPS CAPTAIN TO ACT.she should be reported to the district,cause she must be on recruiting duty and hit her up on charges. she should be drummed out of the corp! she come to Vegas i would go hand to hand combat with this leach!
SEMPER FI
DANNY P
USMC RETIRED
Very simple, in this case: You find out where she's stationed and call her commanding officer. That crap will stop in a hurry.
Why are they giving free lunches, nobody did that for me when i was a kid. It was peanut butter and jelly. are parents supposed to feed their kids are is it the government s responsibility now. also free phones this is all government hand outs with hard working peoples money. this is to much. And the corruption in chicago is unbelievable. Its to bad we have become a entitlement society.
I went to elem. school in the 50's I ate plenty PB&J and I had breakfast before school. But I knew lots of kids that didn't have these "luxuries". We know now that a hungry kid can't learn. Because we are falling behind the world in the education of our kids, a free lunch and breakfast (when deserved) is a small price to pay to preserve, or maybe, reclaim, our place in the world
Mike, so when your ready to retire don't collect SS or use Medicaid. You Republicans all seem to think that's an entitlement. Oh and by the way do you take TAX deductions? that is an entitlement also, why because not everyone gets them. I'm single and don't like paying for peoples Kids, Interest, and all the other crap I get stuck with.
What I don't understand is most of these parents get welfare, food stamp, section 8 housing, free medical, utilities allotment, not to mention food banks, catholic charities, soup kitchens, coomunity handouts, ect, ect. ect. These parents are spending the food money on luxuries that I couldn't afford for my kids when they were young. They sell their food stamps for 1/2 price to people who don't get them to get money fo booze and other luxuries. Why spend the food for the kids if the Guberment (us taxpayers) will also provide other ways.
Sam - try NOT to make stupid statements, please. Mike is saying that there needs to be more personal responsibility: there are a lot of kids getting free lunches whose parents COULD feed them if they made better financial decisions. Social Security and Medicaid are benefits that you theoretically are paying for throughout your life via your taxes. Calling a tax deduction and "entitlement" is just plain ridiculous: the reason "not everyone" gets them is dependent on how much one pays in taxes and how well one figures one's deductions: nothing else. Try making some sense in the future.
Not only can a child who is hungry not learn, but neither can a kid who is constantly texting or playing on his phone. Or one who is up until all hours of the night. Or one who watches TV or plays video games all evening. Or one who doesn't do his homework. Somehow so many of the parents who can't afford to feed their children can afford phones, big screen LCD TVs, cigs, tats, booze and drugs.
Now if we could only figure out how to make parents take even a modicum of interest in their children's education, I think most of the problems would be solved.
As for this article, expedite the due process, and, if found guilty, fire them. These are people who knew better. Enough of the fraud without consequences.
Disgusting. STEALING food from hungry children - I am not sure how much lower you can go. And feed your own kid crappy, preservative-laden school food because you're a cheapskate - that's even worse. Hope the national public humiliation to your and your children was worth the few dollars a week that you saved.
Nothing new here: this story highlights only the tip of an iceberg-of-corruption in America.
I remember Bush Jr's pals at Halliburton receiving a trillion-dollar NO BID contract while he was president. So, it has nothing to do with President Obama's tenure as president. But, it has everything to do with politicians, in general.
I can't stop wondering why there are so many stories about corruption in Illinois politics. Corruption is a pervasive part of America society. Teachers molesting students. Law enforcement framing people. Teachers giving students the answers to questions on standardized tests. The list is endless.
These type of stories are an an indirect attempt to link Illinois corruption to President Obama. It's guilt by association.
You can bet that if they're willing to cheat the tax payer out of a $1.95 lunch for their kids, that they'd cheat the tax payer for a hell of a lot more too. Off with their heads!
I am not surprised! Hope we aren't so naive to think this is only happening in Chicago!
A private-sector analogy might be a VP embezzling and spending it all on potato chips-and not very good ones.
These potentates-remember, these are principals, not rank-and-file teachers/office admin/other staff-may have flushed their careers down the toilet over stealing access to what is likely cheap and nutritionally-lacking food.
Let's be clear here: Any misdeed is dumb, but if the analogy holds up, theirs is "capital-D" dumb, and if criminal charges are filed after they are fired, they might be profiled on "World's Dumbest Criminals".
Let them steal, I'll bet you most of them are the same race that constantly lie and steals, you can't change low lifes. These people are are the same ones who wonder how come we think so low of them when they constantly prove to us that they are low lifes. They represent there race well.
What race is this that has cornered the market on lying and stealing?
You mean the same race as the bankers and finance wizards that lied and cheated us into our present dilema?
friggen asians!
All the Principles must be black because you haven't heard a word from jessie or al or jessie jr OH wait.....It seems that jessie jr is in a drug dry out clinic.....being fed and boarded FREE by our tax dollars so what is the difference...why don't we elect a corrupt community organizer from Chicago to get the country out of a recession....oops tried that and he is now running on his creating new jobs record which should get him about 98 percent of the black vote again....cause the 98 percenters are still on welfare...
Wake up America
Everything in and out of Chicago is a sham and a scam and a corrupt pos.
It's Chicago, what do you expect from one of the most politically corrupt municipalities in the U.S. That's where Obama got his training from, so as you can see, nothing has changed.
You want to talk about scams !!! I have seen first hand the amount of food going out the back door of the people supplying these lunches in New Jersey and charging the government for food and supplies that never even reached the schools. Seems all involved in these programs are getting a piece of the action.
If you'll forgive beating a dead horse here-and judging from the more barbarian commentary I see here, some of you LOVE to beat dead horses-being the butt of jokes on "World's Dumbest Criminals" borders on-but doesn't cross into-cruel and unusual punishment.
(*whips out freshly boiled linguine and starts dealing lashes to the boneheads in the article and the griefers on the page.*)
It is the whole entitlement mentality so prevalent in America today. Irresponsible adults having children they can't take care of, letting the state raise them (that's why it takes a village), corrupt government officials stealing everything they can get from poor working taxpayers who don't make nearly as much as they do. It is everywhere, from the poorest to the richest. "You owe me, I am entitled to..." I am a grandmother working full time at low wages raising two grandchildren and I am always being urged to apply for food stamps. I would do so rather than see the children go hungry, but as long as I can put food on the table I will continue to do so, and just do without the luxuries I cannot afford. America has become a cesspool of takers.
To begin with, the Food Stamp program was put into place to help subsidize farmers and agriculture in our country. The secondary benefit was to feed the poor.
THESE are Obama's people....he organized their communities.....corruption breeds corruption! WHat a piece of sh*t city Chicago is.....pure scumbagville....you done good Obama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND this is why unions suck and nolonger have a realistic place.....all crooks.....unions spent 4 plus billion on elcctions over the last few years....if you are a union member....they bent you over and made you squeal.....AND YOU SURE MUST LIKE IT!
The 'haves' stealing from the 'have nots.' Isn't this what children are learning from the 'highest' levels of our government? Bush and Obama annointed Wall Streets crimes, and Obama still is being held hostage by the Retailban majority congress who pretend to never have heard of the RICO Act which was passed in spite o these criminals and suspended by the same criminals. The Austerity party philosophy is alive and well and the '1% untouchable thief' is the honored one in this country. Disband the IRS if they can't do anything more than get dirty knees in banks and investment firms, hire hookers instead. At least nobody would be wondering about what the IRS is doing for Chase.
Say, what??
nigs, aren't they?? explains all of it.
Wow, how the tax-paying Demanders and Haters loathe the Eaters and Non-Payers! Shocking. Trivia. It isn't like employees were selling school property and making the bucks!!!! They were feeding their children. Probably the federal program was being monitored poorly, allowing LOTS of kids to sneak in under the wire, so how is the kid of a "rich" person with a job, less important to feed (by the public) than a poor kid?!? Eat a meal and go to Jail? Hey you Demanders and Haters! If you are without sin, go ahead and stone them!
Ahh, so it's "hate" to not want someone to defraud a program meant for the poorer kids. I get it now. So is it also "hate" to not want people to rob banks? To obey traffic laws? I must be a hater because I think people shouldn't break into houses or vandalize public property. Wow, I guess I need some political re-education - er, I mean, "sensitivity training"....
Yep. I would say you have assessed yourself, so I don't need to. If someone defrauds you , you have a choice in your response. Hate is not a good response. A valid one, but not the best one. Do you obey all the traffic laws? Do you drive on the roads my tax money helped provide for you? Are you really going to spend your precious time and other resources on quibbling over small things?
a program to help the needy and this moron has to go and abuse it.
What do they mean "lapse in ethical judgment"? Isn't that the very defiitioon of a crime? Isn't what they did theft or grand theft? Isn't it falsifying a document? Isn't it conspiracy to commit? Isn't failure to prosecute via criminal charges also conspiracy to commit? Unions be damned; Chicago politics be damned! Treat them as anyone else would be treated if not part of the Chicago-area corruption - fire them, prosecute them, punish them with jail! Or else, Chicago, learn to accept the disdain and loss of tourist dollars. And if we can ever get the Feds to comply with their laws, Chicago might have to learn to live without all those federal gimmes.
These officials were wrong and should have been removed.
But the segment in the story that claims the lunches are nutritious is a complete joke. School lunches are a big business, nothing more, nothing less. It has nothing to do with proper nutrition for these children, which is VERY important to cognitive function. The junk these kids are given in the public schools for lunch is terrible for these kids.
You speak truly on both points...the officials should be outta here and so should what they're passing off as lunches.
In the words ascribed to the nerdy-looking host of "Good Eats", "Too bad you just documented the fall of Western Civilization". In the same episode, the host points out, albeit in passing, that some schools in a bind have felt it necessary to allow "less than nutritionally savory food partners into the cafeteria".
Are you a Sifu (a level or two short of being an instructor) of Skunk Fu , or perhaps a Grand Master thereof?
If memory serves me right, it was TV personality Jamie Oliver who got himself into a near-foot-fist-brawl with the LA Unified School District last year on the issue of junky public-school lunches. (Sorry about the unintended joke-only-Jim-Cramer-would-get, peeps.)