Kudos to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois. In a June 8 letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Durbin (an East St. Louis homeboy) asked that Duncan look into “alleged improper use of federal Title I funding” in ESL School District 189.
This request stems from what Durbin refers to as “recent media reports” which “detailed expenditures of federal funding by District 189 officials that appear extravagant and wasteful.”
OK, I confess that I may have taken the liberty of emailing to Sen. Durbin’s office a few of my columns regarding District 189’s flagrantly excessive spending on “CON-sultants” (over $3 million), their penchant for drinking fine bottled water (to the tune of about $7,600) and myriad additional over-the-top spending, including about $200,000 on hotels and airline tickets; all while ESL students test scores and achievement are among the worst in the state.
That’s me, guilty as charged.
However, the Belleville News-Democrat, reporter Elliot Davis of KTVI-TV’s “You Paid for It” and Craig Cheatham of KMOV-TV are equally as guilty in exposing the wanton and brazen recklessness and arrogance of District 189 Superintendent Theresa Saunders and School Board President Lonzo Greenwood in assuming that their cover would never be blown.
With this request, Durbin clearly sees District 189 as cabbage on his political cutting board and, folks, I think the U.S. government will be turning them into “East Boogie coleslaw” very shortly.
And, given the fact that both the Illinois State Board of Education and the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education are already investigating District 189, ESL Schools won’t have the luxury of playing state “poli-tricks” (as usual) with this case.
What possible scenario could play out here? Well, if a federal investigation is ordered by the Office of Inspector General, a federal audit of Title I federal spending would, more than likely, take place.
If that audit were to reveal misuse of federal funds, then District 189 could stand to lose those funds, and a subsequent criminal investigation would be likely to follow.
One of the newest ESL School Board members, Carl E. Officer, has constantly complained of his inability to receive full transparency in his requests for information regarding student performance as well as spending.
Somehow, I don’t expect that the federal government will have that same issue.
Oh, sure, I can imagine that some folks at District 189 may be spending long hours (even as you read these words) at their copiers, with White-Out in hand, or at their computers “revising” documentation, so that when the feds eventual knock at their door they will be prepared to tell their story.
Other District 189 administrators are probably racking their brains to justify how much they spent on conferences, travel and fine living, yet brought so little back to their chronically underperforming school district.
The feds, after following the money trail, will want to know answers to those questions too.
However, Superintendent Saunders, Board President Greenwood and their cast of cronies won’t be able to run away or evade questions (as they do with TV reporters and journalists). “No comment” is not an acceptable answer when you’ve been subpoenaed by the U.S. government, as these so-called educated folks should already know.
So, again, hats off to U.S. Sen. Richard “Give em’ hell” Durbin of Illinois. Thanks to Dick, justice might be right around the corner.
Email: jtingram_1960@yahoo.com.