SCHOOL BOARD TRUSTEE OMAR MCDOWELL CONSPIRES TO DEFRAUD $100M FROM MOUNT VERNON TAXPAYERS

Educational Genocide In The City of Mount Vernon

CURRENT CORRUPT BUSINESS MANAGER
KEN SILVER

Educational Genocide has been happening in Mount Vernon for the last 19 years and the perpetrators are wearing robes and suits.  It is clear that securing jobs and contracts are more important than educating children in Mount Vernon’s School District.  Valhalla’s Prison is full of past Mount Vernon students who have been robbed of an education. The same people who are supposed to pray for us continue to prey on us.  Since 1997, when Mount Vernon’s black churches and politicians orchestrated a takeover of Mount Vernon’s school board, our district went from blue ribbon status, to one of the worse school districts in the country.

POVERTY PIMP
W. FRANKLYN RICHARDSON

Who is responsible for former Mount Vernon students being unemployed, imprisoned, having substance abuse issues, or no longer being alive? Is there no shame in this city when it comes to our clergy and politicians? It is painfully clear that some in our district are more interested in the Architect that will control a proposed $100 million bond than it does on test scores and graduation rates.

School Board Trustee, Omar McDowell is the new anointed point man for Rev Richardson and the meddling churches. Richardson led the group that is responsible for destroying the Mount Vernon school district. McDowell, the only Trustee who owns no property in the City of Mount Vernon and who pays no property taxes, has taken the baton and is pushing the church’s agenda. The District is trying to pass a $100 Million bond and McDowell wants Richardson’s personal architect, Fuller and D’Angelo to secure a no bid contract without any oversight whatsoever on how our money will be spent.  Where are the feds?

CORRUPT SCHOOL TRUSTEE
OMAR MCDOWELL

$43 million of the $100 million will be spent on Longfellow and Grimes Elementary schools which were built only 10 years ago.  These schools were so poorly constructed that they are falling apart. The $100 million dollar bond used to construct these schools was stolen. Longfellow and Grimes have massive construction issues and are falling apart. These schools were built with crooked architects and contractors and no oversight. Instead of investigating previous bonds to determine who is responsible for this crime, the district wants taxpayers to pay for repairs.  Where are the feds?

The meddling churches are now up in arms because there is a call for a bid process for the bond architect. They demand that Fuller and D’Angelo control the proposed $100 million bond and they absolutely do not want oversight. It is Trustee McDowell’s job to deliver for the churches and he is hell bent to do just that.  Where are the feds?

Joining in on the architect scandal is past Board Member Lenny Sarver, and past Business Manager, Tim Costello. Current Business Manager, Ken Silver has been a disaster because he is not his own man. He has allowed Costello and Sarver to set the financial agenda for the district. Sarver had such a close relationship with Fuller and D’Angelo that he had to recuse himself from voting on their resolutions while he was on the board. Reports say that Sarver and Costello are financially benefiting from the architect firm and are pushing Silver to favor Fuller and D’Angelo.  Where are the feds?

CORRUPT FORMER TRUSTEE
LEN SARVER

In the past 5 years, The Mount Vernon City School district has paid more money to Fuller and D’Angelo than they spent for vocational training or many other needed services. The firm has raked in tens of millions of dollars, taking away from vital children services. One issue troubling Ken Silver is that Fuller and D’Angelo came up with the figure of $100 million needed for the bond. Our guess is that another architect firm would come in with a price tag of $50 million for the bond performing the same work. If this happens, this will expose the planed rip off of taxpayer money. Look for Silver and McDowell to make sure Fuller and D’Angelo receives the contract.

McDowell has two allies on the Board, Darcy Miller and Charmaine Fearon. The trio was elected in 2014, and appears to be puppets to Delia Farqueson, Elias Gootzeit and the blood sucking churches. Mount Vernon Exposed would bet that neither Fearon, McDowell, nor Miller would sell out the children of Scarsdale or Eastchester by robbing them of an education.  It’s easy to beat up on black and brown children.  We  also doubt that Sarver, Silver or Costello, would bring the same pain to Yeshiva students and Jewish taxpayers as they do to the poor people of Mount Vernon. A federal investigated is needed.  Where are the feds?

CORRUPT FORMER BUSINESS MANAGER
TIM COSTELLO

Where are the good Clergy Members? Why has the only mobilization of our religious and political officials been over the control of this proposed bond. When was the last time our churches and leaders galvanized to bring an end to the educational genocide that has occurred in this city? Where is the outrage about our imprisoned and uneducated former students? Why don’t churches open their doors to help school children and other youth stay out of trouble? What are our churches doing besides lining up to get their hands on bond money? Trustee McDowell should take time out of his day to visit Valhalla’s jail so he can learn that almost all inmates from Mount Vernon are former dropouts. He also needs a history lesson to learn why so many former students are in jail.  

CORRUPT FORMER TRUSTEE
ELIAS GOTZEIT

Prior to the Black Church takeover in 1997, Mount Vernon had one of the best vocational programs in the country. Academically challenged students learned carpentry, plumbing, auto repair, cosmetology, etc., which kept them in school. As a revenge pay back to Italian Civic Association member Ralph Tedesco, the church controlled board eliminated the entire vocational program, which Tedesco ran. Once the program was gone, academically challenged students dropped out in record numbers and ended up in jail.  Where are the feds?

Mount Vernon Exposed looked up The Scarsdale School District’s Mission Statement. It is as follows:

The Scarsdale Public Schools seek to sponsor each student’s full development, enabling our youth to be effective and independent contributors in a democratic society and an Interdependent world. To this end, we endeavor to help them to think and express themselves clearly, critically and creatively; to understand themselves and others within the broad fabric of human experience and the natural universe; to appreciate their rights and responsibilities as citizens; and to become people of integrity, maturity and generous spirit. A measure of our success is the degree to which they fulfill their potential for the common good. Valuing our individuality, we unite to keep the flame of learning.

Unfortunately, The Mount Vernon School District’s mission statement can easily read as follows;

The Mount Vernon School District seeks to make Political and Religious leaders happy by giving them full control of contracts and jobs.

Sad but true, educating children is not a priority of our district. The Mount Vernon School District should be embarrassed at what they have done to the children of this city.  Parents who are fortunate enough, send their children to private schools. They can look forward to double taxes, by paying property taxes as well as tuition. Unfortunately, all others are forced to send their children to a district that sends more children to prison than to college. What we need is the district to call in the feds to investigate the district finances. We also need the Clergy, Political leaders, former board members, and former employees, to stop beating up on minority children.

Almost every school board candidate in the past 3 years promised an audit. Where is it? History will not be kind to people who are responsible for Mount Vernon’s Educational Genocide. Everyone who has sat quiet while it took place is just as responsible. Where are the so-called good board members? Open an investigation. No Audit, No Bond.  Bring in the Feds.

SCHOOLS OFFICIALS HIRE ADMINISTRATOR WITH SHADY PAST; DID NOT DO BACKGROUND CHECK

THE CABAL OF CORRUPTION

FORMER SCHOOL ATTORNEY DEVERAUX CANNICK
CONTROLLED BY BLACK CHURCHES

FORMER SUPERINTENDENT W.L.SAWYER
CONTROLLED BY BLACK CHURCHES

CORRUPT CURRENT SUPERINTENDENT JUDITH JOHNSON
CONTROLLED BY BLACK CHURCHES

CORRUPT SCHOOL C.F.O. TIMOTHY COSTELLO
CONTROLLED BY BLACK CHURCHES

CORRUPT SCHOOL BOARD TRUSTEE FRANCES WYNN
CONTROLLED BY BLAC CHURCHES

CORRUPT SCHOOL BOARD TRUSTEE ELIAS GOOTZEIT
CONTROLLED BY BLACK CHURCHES

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History tends to always repeat itself.  If one would look into the history of the Mount Vernon Board of Education administration, you will find that it is infested with corruption.  Hiring frequently circumvents civil service law, there is little to no oversight on how public funds are spent, and elections are rigged year after year.  The system is a mess by design. 

Trustee Elias Gootzeit self-anointed himself as the go to go-through person for the Superintendent search.  His partner in crime Judith Johnson who is joined by their enforcer, Len Sarver, joins him.  These three are protégé’s and supporters of former Superintendent Dr. Sawyer’s failed policies.  These three have adopted Sawyer’s practice of hiring unqualified, scandal plagued individuals to high paying positions. 

Trustee Elias Gootzeit was on the board when former Superintendent of Curriculum Shelly Jallow was hired.  This was right around the time Gootzeit began to strengthen his bond with the black clergy.  Gootzeit began to let resolutions pass that were financially harmful to the taxpayers of Mount Vernon.  Gootzeit, at the helm of oversight when Jallow was hired, missed quite a few things in Jallow’s background that even Ray Charles could see.  We are here to fill in Mr. Gootzeit on what he missed.

A simple search in Google inserting Shelly Jallow’s name would point you to her pervious employment stint in Prince George’s County, Maryland where she was employed prior to joining Mount Vernon Public Schools.  Sources have told Mount Vernon Exposed that Sawyer and Jallow were also alleged to be “close friends” prior to Jallow joining the Mount Vernon School District.

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT SHELLY JALLOW'S CREEPY PAST WITH PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY SCHOOLS

Jallow was hired in Prince George County by Andre Hornsby, the Prince George County school chief who was convicted in 2008 on Federal charges for steering millions of dollars worth of contracts to his long time pal that worked for him while he was the Yonkers school chief, and to his girlfriend, who worked for LeapFrog, a technology company that sells tablets and other educational toys for children. 

If a proper background check were done on Ms. Jallow, a red flag would have been raised when she was questioned about her former employer.  Jallow was a high-ranking official in the scandal plagued Prince George County school system, so it would be hard not to believe that she did not know what was going on.  Jallow then brought her criminal behavior to Mount Vernon and teamed up with Timothy Costello, Dr. Sawyer, Trustee Gootzeit and proposed high abusive tax increases year after year.  Property values sunk to an all time low while Sawyer and his cronies received hefty compensation packages that included a take home car amongst other perks. 

Today, we fast forward to the present day board of education.  The same shenanigans continue to play out day in and day out.  There is no accountability and no oversight.  The fox is watching the henhouse. 

One such act of no oversight was the creation and execution of an employment contract for Timothy Costello, Assistant Superintendent for Business.  The contract given to Timothy Costello was the third biggest act of fraud committed on the taxpayers of Mount Vernon.  The other two acts of fraud committed upon the people of Mount Vernon was the hiring of former Superintendent W.L. Sawyer and the hiring of current Superintendent Judith Johnson. 

For starters the contract executed between former embattled Board President Frances Wynn and Timothy Costello calls for Mount Vernon taxpayers to pay 100% of Costello’s medical coverage for three years after his separation from the Mount Vernon School District.  Thereafter, taxpayers must pay 60% of his medical coverage while other administrators of the district only receive 50% medical reimbursement from Mount Vernon taxpayers.  Timothy contracts also calls for him to receive 100% medical coverage for him his family while he is working full time for the Mount Vernon City School District.  Timothy is the only such person in the Mount Vernon City School District that receives such a perk. 

Deveraux Cannick of Aiello & Cannick, the previous law firm that represented the Mount Vernon School District, prepared the contract.  Cannick, was involved in corruption himself, as he had himself improperly listed as a district employee and was receiving pension credits he was not entitled to.  As a result, Cannick had to pay a $75,000 fine to the New York Attorney General. 

Costello also received quite a hefty compensation package that saw pay raises year after year, higher than the cost of inflation.  In Costello’s first year, in 2007, he received a salary of $172,000 then $177,160 in 2008, $182,445 in 2009, $187,918 in 2010, and  $193,556 in 2011.  Prior to Costello’s stint in Mount Vernon he earned about $90K per year after working for about 15 years in an upstate school district.  What special talent did Costello possess that earned him the right to nearly double his salary? 

Costello’s special contract also included a stipulation that said that he couldn’t leave his position until a new person is hired.  Ironically, board members did not seek a new person for Costello’s position and he therefore was rehired after his initial contract ended.  Costello continues to abuse the public till with his shady, Bernie Madoff style accounting practices. 

School Board members must remain diligent and bring in competent people for any positions that may open up in the future.  Background checks and drug tests must not be waived as Superintendent Judith Johnson did for Rene Davis.  To be continued…

VOTER FRAUD ALLEGED AT SENIOR ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY; TOP CITY OFFICIALS INVOLVED

CITY OF MOUNT VERNON HUMAN RESOURCES COMMISSIONER
JUDY WILLIAMS

THE GREAT LIE

Pass the budget for the children, was the rallying cry of Judith Johnson and her cronies during the 2013 revote of the budget. There is just one problem; the Mount Vernon City School district hasn’t been in the business of educating children since 1996. Millions of dollars were stolen from the district. Stopping the theft of public funds was not an option in bringing the budget down, so a campaign of fear was unleashed by the district, and preached from the pulpit from CEPA churches. “Children will be hurt” was heard all over the city. The same people who had been hurting children for 17 years, were saying,  “don’t hurt the children” to scare the public into approving the budget.

School Superintendent Judith Johnson, Assistant Superintendent of Business Timothy Costello, and School Trustee’s Len Sarver, Francis Wynn, and Elias Goodzeit knew the June 18, 2013 budget revote would be close. School officials resorted to a common voter fraud tactic.

The scene of the crime would be the Wartburg; an assisted living 34-acre assisted living facility located in Mount Vernon off of Lincoln Avenue near the Pelham border. Fabricating absentee ballots at The Wartburg is a tradition in Mount Vernon politics. This closed community is ripe for voter fraud, because the campus is purposely closed to opposition groups. Cheaters have full reign to steal elections. Sources have informed Mount Vernon Exposed, that Judy Williams, currently Commissioner of Human Resources at City Hall and a close   associate to the Mayor, and a Wartburg board member, helped arranged access to people who intended on stealing the election. Residents were coerced to vote yes for the budget, and absentee ballots were fabricated. Federal investigators need to look at the absentee ballots from all school elections for the past 20 years. 

As the votes were being counted at the Board of Education building on the night of the revote, Jeff Yonkers, UFT (United Federation Of Teachers) President, was worried about the outcome. Mount Vernon teachers are the most over paid Teachers in America. Jeff Yonkers wanted the budget vote passed, so he could continue the gravy train for his members. With almost 100% of the votes tallied, the “no” votes to defeat the budget were leading the “yes” votes to pass the budget, by a small margin.

Tim Costello then walked over to a very worried Jeff Yonkers and said “don’t worry, we have The Wartburg absentee ballots”. Mr. Costello knew what he was talking about because out of nowhere the budget was passed overnight, and the absentee ballots at The Wartburg made the difference. Machine votes, and absentee votes citywide were about 50% for, and 50% against the budget. The Wartburg’s absentee ballots were almost 100% “for” passing the budget. It is impossible for this to occur without election fraud and inside help at the Wartburg.

After the budget was passed in Judith Johnson’s favor, a special concert was then held for The Wartburg residents to thank them for their overwhelming help in getting the budget passed. One can come to the conclusion that Judith Johnson owned the Wartburg community dearly. It was also reported that school building workers who helped with the absentee ballot plot were promoted. Once the budget was passed, Judith Johnson went on a spending spree with taxpayer funds. Friends of church and City officials were hired at an alarming rate and as usual, the children were ignored.

Mount Vernon Teachers are one of the highest paid teachers in New York State, yet Mount Vernon Schools perform at the bottom of school districts in New York State. How is this possible? Most teachers employed by the Mount Vernon City School district do not live in the City of Mount Vernon, and therefore, take their money out of the city, leaving homeowners with the burden of paying for Mount Vernon’s awful school system. Where in America can the lowest performing workers, become the highest paid?

Is it too much to ask our teachers to perform better and take less?

With 75% of our middle school children performing below grade level, where is the accountability? Eighty percent of the school budget goes to teacher salaries, benefits, and pensions. Judith Johnson continues to hire and promote teachers outside of Mount Vernon even though qualified people live in Mount Vernon.  By hiring local Mount Vernon talent one would ensure that those hired to work in the community would have a vested interest in the children and taxpayers of Mount Vernon.

The median salary for Mount Vernon teachers is close to $100,000; not inclusive of benefit and pension costs.  Do Mount Vernon teachers understand what their contracts are doing to this city? The suffering is everywhere. Mount Vernon has the highest foreclosure rate in the State of New York. On a daily basis families are being tossed out into the street, because they cannot pay their property taxes. The elderly are constantly faced with the choice of eating, buying medicine, or simply paying their property taxes.

Before being hired into the Mount Vernon School System, all prospective employees should be required to witness the misery that many people in this city go through, each and every day. If the UFT and their members care about the city of Mount Vernon, they should have their members take an across the board 10% salary cut. Maybe charter schools are the answer. Mount Vernon is collapsing under the weight of school taxes.  When it does collapse, everyone loses. Corruption is destroying our schools and the teacher’s contract is bankrupting it.

Mount Vernon Exposed has been repeatedly denied information that was requested under the Freedom of Information Law (Foil). Judith Johnson and Mount Vernon City school district is breaking the law by not releasing this information. Is Ingerman Smith, the law firm hired by the Mount Vernon City School district advising the district to break the law?

Furthermore, is Ingerman Smith, aware of illegal activities occurring throughout the district?  Is it unlawful for a law firm to have knowledge of illegal activities in the school district and not report it? Finally, is attorney Gus Mountanos putting Ingerman Smith in jeopardy of major lawsuits and the loss of their law license?  To be continued………