MOUNT VERNON HAS TOO MANY SCHOOLS; SCHOOL CLOSINGS WILL SAVE TAXPAYERS $15M ANNUALLY

CORRPT MOUNT VERNON SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT JUDITH JOHNSON

Mount Vernon Exposed has gathered evidence that suggests that public monies  have not always been used in the best interest of Mount Vernon taxpayers.  Instead, public monies are expended to fulfill one’s greed and further build corrupt criminal enterprises.

Earlier this week, Mount Vernon Exposed revealed that over $100M in bond money intended to repair and build schools was squandered away with little to no oversight at all.  Although two new schools were built with the so-called bond monies, data collected by Mount Vernon Exposed suggests that the two new schools built were not even necessary. 

CEPA controlled candidates voted in 2002 to abolish the position of Building’s and Ground Superintendent so that the great heist could begin.  It would begin with the selection of an architect, who would be user friendly to City Hall, the Black Churches, and the crooked school officials who wanted to line their pockets.  The architect of choice would be Peter Gaito, close friend of Mount Vernon Mayor Ernie Davis and Rev Franklyn Richardson.  In 2007, Peter Gaito designed every major project approved by city officials.

The schools built with the $100M bond money were Longfellow Elementary School and Grimes Elementary School.  Peter Gaito was the architect for Longfellow Middle School and it could not be determined at press time if his firm also was responsible for the design of Grimes Elementary School. 

Data collected by Mount Vernon Exposed also suggests that the Mount Vernon City School District has too many buildings for its students compared to neighboring school districts with the same demographics. 

The Mount Vernon City School District operates 16 schools with a student enrollment of 8,009 students in 2011-2012 school year.  The average class size during this period was 22 students per classroom. 

The New Rochelle City School District operates 11 schools with a student enrollment of 10,540 students in the 2011-2012 school year.  The average class size during this period was 23 students per classroom.

The White Plains City School District operates 7 buildings with a student enrollment of 6,957 students in the 2011-2012 school year.  The average class size during this period was 22 students per classroom.

Evaluating the date presented, it is evident that Mount Vernon has way too many buildings.  It costs on average $5-6 million per year to operate each school building.  Many of the elementary schools, particularly on the North Side of Mount Vernon are underutilized with the exception of Lincoln Elementary School, which is over capacity. 

For example several elementary schools in New Rochelle which is about 20 times larger land wise than the City of Mount Vernon, has an enrollment of over 600 students with one elementary school clocking in over 1,000 enrolled students.  Pennington School considered being the best elementary school in Mount Vernon had just 293 enrolled students in the 2001-2012 school year.  This is unacceptable. 

Mount Vernon can immediately close several buildings, at least three, and there will be an immediate savings to the taxpayer.  Cecil H. Parker, Mandela School, and Traphagan can be closed.  This will amount to an immediate saving of $15-18 million per year. 

Critics and the naysayers will say that the children will not be able to get to school.  This is 100% false.  Bus service will be immediately restored at a cost of $750,000 per year, which is a drop in the bucket because of the immediate saving of $15-18 million per year.  The City of New Rochelle and the City of White Plains provided buses for their children to get to school.  It is embarrassing that the City of Mount Vernon due to the greed of City officials and the black preachers do not provide buses for the children to get to school. 

The schools in the City of Mount Vernon have been neglected for such a long time that any repair short of a complete demolition and rebuild would be just like flushing money down the toilet. 

Just last week, Mount Vernon Interim School Chief Judith Johnson admitted that Mount Vernon must look to alternate revenue streams because they can no longer propose insane property tax hikes due to the 2% tax cap.  Judith should look to her counterparts in Chicago, New York City, and Philadelphia because they are closing schools there as well. 

The buildings not needed for public use should be auctioned off to a private developer that will restore that property to the tax roll and will add to the schools surplus funds. School officials must begin to think of the schools as a business and not a personal piggy bank or slush fund.  For example, if Apple starts to lose business, the first thing they are going to do is close Apple stores and lay off employees.  They are not going to open new stores until they stabilize their business.

Furthermore, there is an abandoned school building on South 11^th Avenue, the site of the former Mandela High School.  This building has remained neglected for years and still remains abandoned.  Drug addicts and homeless people now call this place home.  Mount Vernon taxpayers would shoulder the burden if someone were to sue due to someone getting hurt or even killed on the property.  

Mount Vernon City School District Enrollment School 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Average Class Size Cecil H. Parker 357 333 309 19 Columbus  550 527 535 20 Davis Middle School 825 792 819 28 Edward Williams 452 457 498 22 Graham  476 464 433 17 Grimes 497 504 484 20 Hamilton 386 350 380 19 Holmes 385 379 360 17 Lincoln  758 791 773 24 Longfellow Middle School 479 436 557 27 Mount Vernon High School 1502 1475 1406 31 Nelson Mandela 193 203 208 17 Pennington School 319 306 293 19 Thorton High School 697 758 659 26 Traphagen School 315 323 551 19 Total Students in District 8191 8098 8265 22

New Rochelle City School District Enrollment
School	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	Average Class Size
Albert Leonard Middle School	1240	1228	1221	23
Columbus Elementary	816	825	846	23
Daniel Webster Elementary	526	544	541	22
George M. Davis Elementary	629	665	672	23
Henry Barnard School	301	300	287	21
Isaac E. Young Middle School	1141	1153	1155	26
Jefferson Elementary	568	601	618	21
New Rochelle High School	3454	3413	3364	26
Trinity Elementary	856	856	833	21
William B. Ward Elementary	1020	1011	1003	24
	10551	10596	10540	23

White Plains City School District Enrollment
School	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	Average Class Size
Church Street School	663	679	691	21
George Wasington School	694	696	735	22
Mamaroneck Avenue School	604	624	622	21
Post Road School	527	545	534	21
Ridgeway School	669	677	703	22
White Plains Middle School	1506	1504	1523	24
White Plains Senior High School	2202	2211	2149	25
	6865	6936	6957	22

BLACK CHURCHES LOOT OVER $100M FROM SCHOOL DISTRICT COFFERS

CEPA RINGLEADER
PASTOR W. FRANKLYN RICHARDSON

CEPA CONTROLLED
CORRUPT SUPERINTENDENT JUDITH JOHNSON

CEPA CONTROLLED
CORRUPT SCHOOL VICE PRESIDENT LEN SARVER

CEPA CONTROLLED
CORRUPT SCHOOL TRUSTEE ELIAS GOOTZEIT

CEPA CONTROLLED
CORRUPT SCHOOL TRUSTEE FRANCES WYNN

CEPA CONTROLLED
FORMER SCHOOL TRUSTEE CAROL BEN-REUBEN

CEPA CONTROLLED
FORMER SCHOOL BOARD TRUSTEE LYNN MCBRIDE

There has long been speculation that there has been severe mismanagement and corruption plaguing the Mount Vernon City School District.  Upwards of over $250 million dollars have been squandered away over the past 15 years. School officials have remained silent on this issue. Mount Vernon has the highest property taxes in the nation, yet Mount Vernon schools remain one of the worst in the state.  

 School Board Vice President Len Sarver has said on many occasions that past Board Members were corrupt, and the $100 million Bond that was approved in April 2000, and made available in 2002 was stolen.

When CEPA (Black Ministers) took power in 1997, CEPA and City Officials were determined to provide jobs for their friends and family members. However, their main goal was making themselves rich. Educating children was not going to be a priority of the CEPA administration. A golden opportunity to cash in on this moneymaking scheme came when voters approved a 100 million bond. This bond was to be used to build Longfellow Middle School and Grimes elementary school.

Prior to 2002, Mt Vernon schools were immaculately maintained. They had a very good buildings and grounds department headed by Buildings and Grounds Superintendent Robin Cole, and Maintenance Foreman, Steven Lewis. These two gentlemen performed their jobs effectively, and supervised the employees who cleaned and maintained the schools in the City Of Mt Vernon.

CEPA was not happy with Robin Cole because he demanded production and accountability from the workers. CEPA hired people who had no intentions of working. This caused friction between Robin Cole, CEPA, and the CEPA backed board members.

It is difficult to steal money earmarked for the construction and repair of school buildings with an honest Buildings and Grounds management in place. Sources have informed Mount Vernon Exposed that members of CEPA and City Hall officials asked Robin Cole and Stevin Lewis to be part of the heist, or turn their back on the robbing of children and taxpayer’s monies.

Mr. Cole and Mr. Lewis wanted no part of any illegal activity. CEPA, City Hall and its board members had to get Mr. Cole and Mr. Lewis out of the way. Civil Service law prevented the firing of them, so on June 30, 2002; the last day the current board could vote in that school year, and at the direction of CEPA, the board terminated the entire position of Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds. The Maintenance Foreman position was also terminated. The resolutions were 02-406, and 02-405. This action opened the way for people to get their hands on the $100,000,000 bond earmarked for the repair of the aging school infrastructure.

After the elimination of the aforementioned positions, no one was watching the spending of the $100 Million bond. Mt Vernon schools began to deteriorate, and some became dangerous, as witnessed by the wall collapse at the high school. The board members who terminated these positions in 2002 were, Rev Darin Moore, Francis Wynn, Carol Ben Rubin, Gerald Coleman, Diane Munro, Marleen Dandridge, Lynn McBride, and Gloria Colman.

With the positions eliminated and their hand picked puppets in place on the school board, the path was now cleared for CEPA to come in and steal the money. Money then went missing.   So much money went missing that additional bonds totaling $28 million were obtained at the expense of taxpayers to finish projects. Longfellow Middle School and Grimes Elementary School were poorly planned, and poorly built. Longfellow Middle School doesn’t even have an auditorium, which is unbelievable and inexcusable in this day and age.  

With the Buildings and Grounds management gone, the black ministers and City Officials began to hire a slew of unqualified and sometimes dangerous people to maintain school buildings. Some of the hires were alleged to be convicted felons and sex offenders. The district still presently employs some of these CEPA hires. Because management was terminated, there was no oversight of workers in the building. Workers slept on the job, had late night parties in the schools, and alcohol was consumed. A portion of the workers did not show up at all to work, yet they continued to get paid. This type of behavior continues to exist under the direction of Judith Johnson.  Mount Vernon schools are falling apart, and we now have dangerous people on payroll roaming our schools. To this day, no one is supervising school workers, because officials refuse to bring back a Buildings and Grounds department. For over 13 years, workers have not been properly supervised.  

In 2007, the Mount Vernon City School district hired Aramark, an inept company, who employed an employee who was just convicted for stealing $35,000 from the school district. When is Amarak going to pay back the stolen money from the people of Mount Vernon? Aramark has been horrible. Lenny Sarver is very close to Aramark, a company that rakes in huge amounts of money from the district.

Another relationship that Federal investigators might be interested in is the uncanny connection between Lenny Sarver and D’Angelo and Fuller, an Architectural Company who has a long-standing relationship with Rev Franklyn Richardson. D’Angelo and Fuller gets a 10% premium from contracts of work performed in the school district. No one knows why. This has taken millions of dollars away from the education of the children of Mt Vernon.

A Superintendent search committee has been established.  Trustee Gootzeit and Judith Johnson head it, which is not proper protocol. A member of the search committee is Pastor Stephen Pogue of Greater Centennial Church in Mount Vernon. Greater Centennial has long been involved in the meddling of Mount Vernon schools. Greater Centennial and Grace Baptist Church are the main culprits in the ruining of the Mount Vernon School System, and the destruction of a generation of our children. Former Centennial Pastor Darin Moore preached politics from the pulpit, and was a member of the school board when $100,000,000 was stolen. Pastor Pogue has continued the illegal politics of Darin Moore, and is in violation of United States and IRS law. Pastor Pogue has only been in Mount Vernon for one year, however he is on the committee to pick a Superintendent. What a shame.

The Superintendent search process is a total scam. It is designed to hire a Superintendent who is favorable to the churches and City Hall. The interest of children and taxpayers are again dismissed. This process is such a scam, that many board members are prevented from reviewing the resumes of the candidates. This is outrageous and illegal. Judith Johnson and the school attorney have purposely, willfully, and illegally kept the resumes from the other board members. 

Greater Centennial continues to suck the school district dry. Year after year Greater Centennial uses the Mount Vernon High School to host and annual New Year’s service. This year it will cost ten thousand dollars, which will be billed to the school district. This is illegal. The ten thousand dollars the district will incur should be used to educate children. Whatever happened to the separating of church and state?

As per NY State law, a school board has fiduciary responsibility for the operations of the school district. It is responsible for ensuring that a School district meets all legal requirements, operates in accordance with its mission, and uses its assets appropriately.

Our school board members are being “set up” to become personally responsible for the illegal activities of the district. Most board members don’t read, or investigate what Judith Johnson has them voting for. Board members can be held responsible for approving illegal contracts. Board members need to spend proper time to investigate what the Superintendent, or Lenny Sarver is putting in front of them. They need to stop rubberstamping illegal activity. The New York State Department of Education performed an audit of The Mount Vernon School District, which covers the period between July 1, 1999, and March 31 2001. Several issues were uncovered, including board members not having proper insight on monies spent. It seems as if nothing has changed. Where is the new audit? It should be a priority.

Yes, Lenny Sarver, they stole the money, and with your help, they continue to do so.

  Illegal Termination of Buildings and Grounds Employees

MOUNT VERNON SCHOOL SYSTEM PREPARES STUDENTS FOR PRISION; NOT COLLEGE

POVERTY PIMP
PASTOR W. FRANKLYN RICHARDSON

CORRUPT SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT JUDITH JOHNSON

Valhalla Prison Preparatory School District

Earlier this week Mount Vernon Exposed how the black churches destroyed a generation of youth and the school district is the City of Mount Vernon. Evidence discovered by Mount Vernon Exposed reveals that Mount Vernon does not prepare their students for college; they prepare them for jail.

Mount Vernon has become a feeder system to the Valhalla prison system. Instead of preparing our youth for college, Mount Vernon prepares them for incarceration. Studies have shown that children, who can read by the third grade, seldom become involved with the criminal justice system.  Four out of five incarcerated juvenile offenders read below grade level, and majorities are functionally illiterate. New York State forecasts future prison growth based on third grade reading scores. In other words, they know how many prisons will be needed for third graders in the future.

The following are the percentages of third grade children who read below grade level, and who Mount Vernon is preparing to offer to the prison system in the future.

Graham       63%

Grimes        72%

Longfellow   62%

Parker           68%

Williams        68%

Columbus     24%

Hamilton       60%

Holmes         36%

Lincoln          25%

Pennington    26%

Traphagan      25%

As you can see most 3^rd graders enrolled in schools on the south side of Mount Vernon are failing. Most of these children will drop out of school at some point. The State of New York will be forced to build larger and more penitentiaries to accommodate the criminals at the taxpayer’s expense. Furthermore, 85% of all juvenile offenders nationally have reading problems. If these same children with reading problems were afforded an opportunity to learn a trade, they could be saved from a doomed future, and become productive and useful members of society while making positive contributions to their communities and families.

The Black Ministers (CEPA) has removed the opportunity that every Mt. Vernon child deserves. They have eliminated the vocational program, despite tripling the school budget. Where did that money go? CEPA and The United Black Clergy (UBC) have destroyed the future of our children. They have created a Valhalla Prison Prep School District in Mount Vernon. If anyone wanted to devise a plan to destroy a good school system, and send its students to jail, they can follow the CEPA and UBC plan.

What about the poor performing 3^rd graders who don’t go to jail?

•   3 out of 4 food stamp recipients perform in the lowest 2 literacy levels

•   90% of welfare recipients are high school dropouts

•   16 to 19 year old girls at the poverty level and below, with below average reading, are 6 times more likely to have out-of-wedlock children than their reading counterparts.

Five thousand children dropped out of school since the Black ministers rescued the district from the ICA. Statistics suggest that 4,250 of those children are either in jail, on welfare, on food stamps, had children in their teens, and/or live in poverty.

Our middle school children act out every day, causing mayhem, to and from school. 75% of our middle school children read below grade level. Based on proven statistics, 3 out of 4 of them are at risk of having a troubled future. Therefore, it should be no surprise that they are lashing out. Their educational system has failed them. Their political and religious leaders have failed them.  The failure of the educational system is all around them, with past students in jail, or just having a life of hell.

Judith Johnson may not be aware of the history of the destruction of Mount Vernon Schools. However, she has aligned herself with the same people who have destroyed a generation of our children. She is very close to the Ministers and City Officials who have destroyed the school system. When Church or City Officials, use funds needed for the education of children, and hire unqualified friends and acquaintances, they force kids into the prison system. When contracts are inflated to grease a palm, a child is not being educated and is destined for a ruined future. When Judith Johnson spends money unwisely, and follows the lead of Ministers and City Hall officials, another generation of children will be lost. Judith Johnson is now the leader of the Valhalla Prison Preparatory School District.  To be continued…

More to come, including how parents are sending their children to neglected, run down, structurally dangerous buildings every school day and how affordable housing and their associated P.I.L.O.T. programs have destroyed the City of Mount Vernon and the Mount Vernon School district.