MOUNT VERNON ON FIRE TRAILER 2

EXCLUSIVE: THOUSANDS OF BOOKS AND $15,000 OF COPY PAPER ORDERED NOT NEEDED FOR STUDENT USE LEFT TO ROT ON BASEMENT FLOOR

THOUSANDS OF THESE BOOK WERE OVER ORDERED OR JUST NOT NEEDED.
THEY ARE STILL SITTING IN CITY SCHOOLS.  SUPERINTENDENT JUDITH JOHNSON IS ALLEGED TO HAVE A FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENT WITH VENDOR

CORRUPT SUPERINTENDENT JUDITH JOHNSON

$15,000 OF COPY PAPER NOT NEEDED JUST LEFT TO ROT IN BASEMENT
OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.

For the past few weeks, Mount Vernon Exposed has been informing the citizens of Mount Vernon about the rampant stealing of funds and corruption within the Mount Vernon City School District. Millions of dollars stolen are only numbers to some, but thousands of lives have been destroyed by the behavior of Len Sarver, Joseph McGrath, Judith Johnson, and Tim Costello.

Mount Vernon Exposed has learned during our investigation that Mount Vernon School officials are negligent and reckless when it comes to spending public funds. 

Mount Vernon Exposed has learned that School Superintendent Judith Johnson has brought her corrupt ways to the City of Mount Vernon School district.  Mount Vernon Exposed Investigators have learned that thousands of Language Arts books were ordered at the direction of Johnson.  The Language Arts books in question have either been doubled ordered or just not needed.  The books in question are just lying around various schools in the district.  Sources have told Mount Vernon Exposed that Judith Johnson has a close, personal relationship with the Language Arts vendor.  Is Johnson getting a commission for purchasing these books?  Has Johnson disclosed this conflict of interest to school board trustees?

Mount Vernon Exposed investigators have uncovered additional acts of fraud, waste, and abuse by Mount Vernon school officials.  Mount Vernon Exposed has learned that approximately $15,000 or copy paper is sitting in an elementary school basement just rotting away.  School officials have no intention of using the paper.  Since the copy paper was paid for by and belongs to the taxpayers, the copy should be distributed to students in need.  Did Johnson benefit financially from this copy paper delivery?

Any school system is the lifeblood of the community they educate. A good school system educates children, and prepares them to be productive members of society. A good school system helps to prevent welfare, gangs, and jailed citizens. A good school system also insures that property values remain stable. Mount Vernon has the highest property taxes in the nation, and one of the worst school systems in the state of New York. Mount Vernon also has the worst ratio of property taxes to property values in the state.

How does such an enormous school budget of $230 million dollars produce such bad results? Because of greediness, school officials continue to pilfer tax dollars while putting children’s lives in danger.  The children and taxpayers are the real victims of this heist. 

In recent weeks, Mount Vernon Exposed has met with dozens of the over 500 families in tax foreclosure.  There are hundreds more homes in bank foreclosure, because people are not able to pay their property taxes. Mount Vernon has one of the highest rates of foreclosures in the nation. Hundreds of homes in Mount Vernon are abandoned.   Men, woman, and children have been put out on the street because of the corrupt acts of Superintendent Judith Johnson, School Board Vice President Len Sarver, Assistant Superintendent of Business Timothy Costello and Chief Technology Officer Joseph McGrath.  These individuals, already receiving more salary than they should, have decided that their high six figure paychecks cannot satisfy their lifestyle, so they have decided to loot the school coffers.

However, the biggest crime is being done to the children of Mount Vernon, because they are not being properly educated. With $230 Million per year being sucked out of the pockets of taxpayers, Mount Vernon has the second worst school district in the state. Some schools have 75% or more students performing below grade level, and most of our children do not graduate. With a school budget of $230 million, Mount Vernon School district should have the best schools in New York State. 

Twenty years ago, Mount Vernon had great schools and low taxes. What happened? Monies paid by taxpayers never make it to the classroom.  Instead, it ends up in the pockets of crooked school officials.  Len Sarver, Joseph McGrath, Judith Johnson, and Tim Costello, just to name a few, have robbed the future of the children of Mount Vernon. Children who drop out of school join gangs, become involved with drugs, become teenage parents, and end up in jail. Most of the children who happen to graduate are unprepared for college. Due to rampant corruption a generation of children have been lost in the City of Mount Vernon.

Mt Vernon has been devastated by the actions of a few selfish, and greedy individuals. They have destroyed this once great city and should be held accountable. When you walk around Mount Vernon, and you see a troubled teenager, or an abandoned home, you now know what caused this plight. Mount Vernon taxpayers and residents cannot continue to sit back and allow this foolishness to continue. It is up to all hold school officials accountable for their actions. Taxpayers must demand that the Board of Trustees call in the authorities to investigate the district finances. After all, they just voted to do so. Mount Vernon Exposed will keep you posted about the action taken by school board trustees.   To be continued…

AMANI CHARTER SCHOOL RECKLESSLY OVER BILLS MOUNT VERNON TAXPAYERS

CORRUPT ARMANI  CHARTER SCHOOL DIRECTOR DEBRA STERN

CORRUPT EX-SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT CHARLES STERN

CORRUPT SCHOOL CFO TIMOTHY COSTELLO

CORRUPT SCHOOL BOARD TRUSTEE ELIAS GOOTZEIT

It has been 3 weeks since Mount Vernon School Board Trustee’s voted unanimously to have Federal investigators take a look at the books and allegations of fraud, waste, and abuse within the City of Mount Vernon School district.  School Board Trustee Elias Gootzeit authored the resolution.  On Monday, November 19, 2013, Gootzeit held a forum at Mandela High School, “What to do when stopped by the police”.  Many parents informed Mount Vernon Exposed that they were outraged and troubled that a school board trustee would hold a seminar about being stopped by the cops instead of having a seminar of importance such as, preparing for college, or preparing for life after high school.

The resolution unanimously approved by school board trustees calls for School Board President Gerald Whiteside and the school attorney to forward all allegations of corruption found on this website.  As of today, school board President Gerald Whiteside nor the school board attorney have turned over any documentation to Federal authorities.  Mount Vernon Exposed recently revealed that the current board President, Gerald Whiteside although a good board member, has been a less than mediocre Board President.  Whiteside has seldom sat with Mount Vernon Superintendent Judith Johnson when preparing the tabs (resolutions) for upcoming board meeting.  This inaction on Whiteside’s behalf has led to School Board President Len Sarver sitting with Johnson in Whiteside’s place.  Sarver and Johnson have gone wild with taxpayers’ funds and have awarded lucrative contracts to cronies of Sarver and Johnson.

Last month, Mount Vernon Exposed revealed that Amani Charter School went on a spending spree in excess of $200K of taxpayer funds.  Amani Charter School has been a hot button topic in the City of Mount Vernon for the past several years.  Debra Stern, wife of former school board President Charles Stern, started the Amani Charter School.  Parents and taxpayers have long questioned the motives and the reasoning behind the creation of the Amani Charter School. 

Debra Stern and Charles Stern had two young children attending the Lincoln Elementary School.  As the children were nearing graduation, the Sterns did not want their children attending the Mount Vernon public middle schools.  So the Sterns craftily drafted a plan that would personally enrich them while solving the problem of the young children attending the Mount Vernon Public Middle Schools. 

While serving as Board President, Charles Stern, studied night and day to find out where the money was in the school budget for his Charter School.  Stern had the hand of Assistant Superintendent of Business Timothy Costello to assist in his quest to loot already cash strapped taxpayers.  Stern, Costello and School Board Vice President Sarver are parishioners at the Sinai Free Synagogue in Mount Vernon.    

Costello publicly on several occasions spoke out against the creation of the Amani Charter School.  Costello told the public that the Amani Charter School would bankrupt the school district. 

It turns out that Costello was talking out of both sides of his mouth when it came to the Amani Charter School.  Costello’s behavior and ethics also comes into when it comes to the Amani Charter School.

On October 28, 2013, Mount Vernon Exposed revealed to the public that the Amani Charter School went on a wild spending spree spending in excess of $200K on a brand new file server, custom purple molding, laptops, and electrical service upgrades.  Upon information and belief, the electrician that did the electrical work for Armani Charter School is connected to and is a close friend of School Board Vice President Len Sarver.

When news broke that Mount Vernon Exposed was hot on the trail of corruption at the Amani Charter School, Timothy Costello on orders from School Superintendent Judith Johnson began to take steps to cover up their criminal acts including backdating memorandums and correspondence to make it appear that Costello’s office and the Mount Vernon City School district found the fraud instead of Mount Vernon Exposed’s investigative team. 

On September 25, 2013, Costello sent a letter to the attention of Debra Stern at the Amani Charter School.  The letter stated that 17 students were discharged from the Amani Charter School and that Amani Charter School officials were indeed billing taxpayers erroneously.  The letter also stated that an investigation by City of Mount Vernon School district attendance officers determined based on conversations with parents that 12 students also being billed to Mount Vernon taxpayers were no longer attending the Amani Charter School.  The Mount Vernon City School district said in the letter that it intended to recoup the fraudulent charges by deducting $89,635.99 from the next bi-weekly payment to the Armani Charter School.

On October 31, 2013, the Amani Charter responded to Costello’s letter dated September 25, 2013 by stating they will be refunding the money over billed to Mount Vernon taxpayers. 

One must wonder how long has this billing discrepancy been going on and should taxpayers be concerned about Armani’s accounting practices from previous years?  How did Costello detect the Armani overbilling?  What other accounts and vendors have been overbilling the Mount Vernon School district?

The documents presented to Mount Vernon Exposed are questionable.  Under normal circumstances, documents are time stamped by a mechanical clock so there is a record of when the said document was received.  The documents from Amani Charter School reviewed by Mount Vernon Exposed were not time stamped by the clock instead they were stamped with a ink pad that can be easily obtained at Target or Staples. 

School Board members must remain focused and not get distracted from doing their jobs.  They do not work at the pleasure of the school board attorney and the Superintendent of Schools.  School Board President Gerald Whiteside must do as he was directed, and serve the taxpayer by turning over all allegations of corruption to Federal authorities.  Mr. Whiteside must step up or step down.  We are watching you Mr. Whiteside and everything that you do! Remember you were elected to serve the taxpayers in good faith, let your conscience be your guide!!!

  ARMANI PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL FRAUDULENTLY OVERBILLS MOUNT VERNON TAXPAYERS

ARMANI CHARTER SCHOOL FRAUDULENTLY OVERBILLS MOUNT VERNON TAXPAYERS

It has been 3 weeks since Mount Vernon School Board Trustee’s voted unanimously to have Federal investigators take a look at the books and allegations of fraud, waste, and abuse within the City of Mount Vernon School district.  School Board Trustee Elias Gootzeit authored the resolution.  On Monday, November 19, 2013, Gootzeit held a forum at Mandela High School, “What to do when stopped by the police”.  Many parents informed Mount Vernon Exposed that they were outraged and troubled that a school board trustee would hold a seminar about being stopped by the cops instead of having a seminar of importance such as, preparing for college, or preparing for life after high school.

The resolution unanimously approved by school board trustees calls for School Board President Gerald Whiteside and the school attorney to forward all allegations of corruption found on this website.  As of today, school board President Gerald Whiteside nor the school board attorney have turned over any documentation to Federal authorities.  Mount Vernon Exposed recently revealed that the current board President, Gerald Whiteside although a good board member, has been a less than mediocre Board President.  Whiteside has seldom sat with Mount Vernon Superintendent Judith Johnson when preparing the tabs (resolutions) for upcoming board meeting.  This inaction on Whiteside’s behalf has led to School Board President Len Sarver sitting with Johnson in Whiteside’s place.  Sarver and Johnson have gone wild with taxpayers’ funds and have awarded lucrative contracts to cronies of Sarver and Johnson.

Last month, Mount Vernon Exposed revealed that Armani Charter School went on a spending spree in excess of $200K of taxpayer funds.  Armani Charter School has been a hot button topic in the City of Mount Vernon for the past several years.  Debra Stern, wife of former school board President Charles Stern, started the Armani Charter School.  Parents and taxpayers have long questioned the motives and the reasoning behind the creation of the Armani Charter School. 

Debra Stern and Charles Stern had two young children attending the Lincoln Elementary School.  As the children were nearing graduation, the Sterns did not want their children attending the Mount Vernon public middle schools.  So the Sterns craftily drafted a plan that would personally enrich them while solving the problem of the young children attending the Mount Vernon Public Middle Schools. 

While serving as Board President, Charles Stern, studied night and day to find out where the money was in the school budget for his Charter School.  Stern had the hand of Assistant Superintendent of Business Timothy Costello to assist in his quest to loot already cash strapped taxpayers.  Stern, Costello and School Board Vice President Sarver are parishioners at the Sinai Free Synagogue in Mount Vernon.    

Costello publicly on several occasions spoke out against the creation of the Armani Charter School.  Costello told the public that the Armani Charter School would bankrupt the school district. 

It turns out that Costello was talking out of both sides of his mouth when it came to the Armani Charter School.  Costello’s behavior and ethics also comes into when it comes to the Armani Charter School.

On October 28, 2013, Mount Vernon Exposed revealed to the public that the Armani Charter School went on a wild spending spree spending in excess of $200K on a brand new file server, custom purple molding, laptops, and electrical service upgrades.  Upon information and belief, the electrician that did the electrical work for Armani Charter School is connected to and is a close friend of School Board Vice President Len Sarver.

When news broke that Mount Vernon Exposed was hot on the trail of corruption at the Armani Charter School, Timothy Costello on orders from School Superintendent Judith Johnson began to take steps to cover up their criminal acts including backdating memorandums and correspondence to make it appear that Costello’s office and the Mount Vernon City School district found the fraud instead of Mount Vernon Exposed’s investigative team. 

On September 25, 2013, Costello sent a letter to the attention of Debra Stern at the Armani Charter School.  The letter stated that 17 students were discharged from the Armani Charter School and that Armani Charter School officials were indeed billing taxpayers erroneously.  The letter also stated that an investigation by City of Mount Vernon School district attendance officers determined based on conversations with parents that 12 students also being billed to Mount Vernon taxpayers were no longer attending the Armani Charter School.  The Mount Vernon City School district said in the letter that it intended to recoup the fraudulent charges by deducting $89,635.99 from the next bi-weekly payment to the Armani Charter School.

On October 31, 2013, the Armani Charter responded to Costello’s letter dated September 25, 2013 by stating they will be refunding the money overbilled to Mount Vernon taxpayers. 

One must wonder how long has this billing discrepancy been going on and should taxpayers be concerned about Armani’s accounting practices from previous years?  How did Costello detect the Armani overbilling?  What other accounts and vendors have been overbilling the Mount Vernon School district?

The documents presented to Mount Vernon Exposed are questionable.  Under normal circumstances, documents are time stamped by a mechanical clock so there is a record of when the said document was received.  The documents from Armani Charter School reviewed by Mount Vernon Exposed were not time stamped by the clock instead they were stamped with a ink pad that can be easily obtained at Target or Staples. 

School Board members must remain focused and not get distracted from doing their jobs.  They do not work at the pleasure of the school board attorney and the Superintendent of Schools.  School Board President Gerald Whiteside must do as he was directed, and serve the taxpayer by turning over all allegations of corruption to Federal authorities.  Mr. Whiteside must step up or step down.  We are watching you Mr. Whiteside and everything that you do! Remember you were elected to serve the taxpayers in good faith, let your conscience be your guide!!!

  ARMANI CHARTER SCHOOL FRAUDULENTLY OVERBILLS MOUNT VERNON TAXPAYERS

ARMANI CHARTER SCHOOL FRAUDULENTLY OVERBILLS MOUNT VERNON TAXPAYERS

It has been 3 weeks since Mount Vernon School Board Trustee’s voted unanimously to have Federal investigators take a look at the books and allegations of fraud, waste, and abuse within the City of Mount Vernon School district.  School Board Trustee Elias Gootzeit authored the resolution.  On Monday, November 19, 2013, Gootzeit held a forum at Mandela High School, “What to do when stopped by the police”.  Many parents informed Mount Vernon Exposed that they were outraged and troubled that a school board trustee would hold a seminar about being stopped by the cops instead of having a seminar of importance such as, preparing for college, or preparing for life after high school.

The resolution unanimously approved by school board trustees calls for School Board President Gerald Whiteside and the school attorney to forward all allegations of corruption found on this website.  As of today, school board President Gerald Whiteside nor the school board attorney have turned over any documentation to Federal authorities.  Mount Vernon Exposed recently revealed that the current board President, Gerald Whiteside although a good board member, has been a less than mediocre Board President.  Whiteside has seldom sat with Mount Vernon Superintendent Judith Johnson when preparing the tabs (resolutions) for upcoming board meeting.  This inaction on Whiteside’s behalf has led to School Board President Len Sarver sitting with Johnson in Whiteside’s place.  Sarver and Johnson have gone wild with taxpayers’ funds and have awarded lucrative contracts to cronies of Sarver and Johnson.

Last month, Mount Vernon Exposed revealed that Armani Charter School went on a spending spree in excess of $200K of taxpayer funds.  Armani Charter School has been a hot button topic in the City of Mount Vernon for the past several years.  Debra Stern, wife of former school board President Charles Stern, started the Armani Charter School.  Parents and taxpayers have long questioned the motives and the reasoning behind the creation of the Armani Charter School. 

Debra Stern and Charles Stern had two young children attending the Lincoln Elementary School.  As the children were nearing graduation, the Sterns did not want their children attending the Mount Vernon public middle schools.  So the Sterns craftily drafted a plan that would personally enrich them while solving the problem of the young children attending the Mount Vernon Public Middle Schools. 

While serving as Board President, Charles Stern, studied night and day to find out where the money was in the school budget for his Charter School.  Stern had the hand of Assistant Superintendent of Business Timothy Costello to assist in his quest to loot already cash strapped taxpayers.  Stern, Costello and School Board Vice President Sarver are parishioners at the Sinai Free Synagogue in Mount Vernon.    

Costello publicly on several occasions spoke out against the creation of the Armani Charter School.  Costello told the public that the Armani Charter School would bankrupt the school district. 

It turns out that Costello was talking out of both sides of his mouth when it came to the Armani Charter School.  Costello’s behavior and ethics also comes into when it comes to the Armani Charter School.

On October 28, 2013, Mount Vernon Exposed revealed to the public that the Armani Charter School went on a wild spending spree spending in excess of $200K on a brand new file server, custom purple molding, laptops, and electrical service upgrades.  Upon information and belief, the electrician that did the electrical work for Armani Charter School is connected to and is a close friend of School Board Vice President Len Sarver.

When news broke that Mount Vernon Exposed was hot on the trail of corruption at the Armani Charter School, Timothy Costello on orders from School Superintendent Judith Johnson began to take steps to cover up their criminal acts including backdating memorandums and correspondence to make it appear that Costello’s office and the Mount Vernon City School district found the fraud instead of Mount Vernon Exposed’s investigative team. 

On September 25, 2013, Costello sent a letter to the attention of Debra Stern at the Armani Charter School.  The letter stated that 17 students were discharged from the Armani Charter School and that Armani Charter School officials were indeed billing taxpayers erroneously.  The letter also stated that an investigation by City of Mount Vernon School district attendance officers determined based on conversations with parents that 12 students also being billed to Mount Vernon taxpayers were no longer attending the Armani Charter School.  The Mount Vernon City School district said in the letter that it intended to recoup the fraudulent charges by deducting $89,635.99 from the next bi-weekly payment to the Armani Charter School.

On October 31, 2013, the Armani Charter responded to Costello’s letter dated September 25, 2013 by stating they will be refunding the money overbilled to Mount Vernon taxpayers. 

One must wonder how long has this billing discrepancy been going on and should taxpayers be concerned about Armani’s accounting practices from previous years?  How did Costello detect the Armani overbilling?  What other accounts and vendors have been overbilling the Mount Vernon School district?

The documents presented to Mount Vernon Exposed are questionable.  Under normal circumstances, documents are time stamped by a mechanical clock so there is a record of when the said document was received.  The documents from Armani Charter School reviewed by Mount Vernon Exposed were not time stamped by the clock instead they were stamped with a ink pad that can be easily obtained at Target or Staples. 

School Board members must remain focused and not get distracted from doing their jobs.  They do not work at the pleasure of the school board attorney and the Superintendent of Schools.  School Board President Gerald Whiteside must do as he was directed, and serve the taxpayer by turning over all allegations of corruption to Federal authorities.  Mr. Whiteside must step up or step down.  We are watching you Mr. Whiteside and everything that you do! Remember you were elected to serve the taxpayers in good faith, let your conscience be your guide!!!

  ARMANI CHARTER SCHOOL FRAUDULENTLY OVERBILLS MOUNT VERNON TAXPAYERS