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Monday, January 6, 2020

Fraud, waste, misconduct: Inspector General’s report details year of cases in Chicago schools

Fraud, waste, misconduct: Inspector General’s report details year of cases in Chicago schools

Fraud, waste, misconduct: Inspector General’s report details year of cases in Chicago schools


Chicago schools’ investigative office discovered a swim coach who pocketed nearly $30,000 in pool-rental fees, the district’s failure to collect nearly $2 million in pre-kindergarten payments, and school employees underreporting their income to obtain free preschool. And the office opened nearly 500 investigations into alleged sexual abuse.
The board of education’s Office of the Inspector General details those and other findings of waste and misdeeds in a 72-page report released Monday summing up last school year’s cases in Chicago Public Schools.
By far the largest portion of complaints, more than one-fifth, that the independent office received dealt with alleged sexual abuse. That may be because of heightened public awareness from stories in the Chicago Tribune detailing school-related sexual assaults, and the inspector general forming a specialized unit to deal with them. 
The report from the office of Nicholas Schuler details the district’s response to the findings, which included termination and debarment in some cases. 
“We take seriously our duty to hold accountable any individual who commits serious breaches of district policy or seeks to cause harm,” said a school district spokeswoman, Emily Bolton, in a statement.  “The district appreciates the Office of the Inspector General’s continued efforts to investigate wrongdoing as we work to CONTINUE READING: Fraud, waste, misconduct: Inspector General’s report details year of cases in Chicago schools