D.C. Public School Money Vanishes, but Few Are Punished

The Washington Post reports:

The fundraising drive by the Moten Center chess club had an underdog appeal. Most of the elementary school children had been removed from other D.C. schools for behavioral problems. Through the discipline of chess, they were learning life lessons: patience, focus, strategic thinking.

In the spring of 2003, they were selling hot dogs and candy to try to pay their way to a national tournament. After their efforts were publicized in a newspaper column, money poured in from businesses, school officials, the public and even the principal's mother -- more than $72,000 in all, according to records and interviews. Eleven students, from some of the District's poorest neighborhoods, flew to Nashville.




Days after they returned home, somebody began raiding their leftover money. Most of it was stolen. Last week -- four years after the theft and following inquiries from The Washington Post -- authorities filed criminal charges against a former employee at the school.

The theft from the chess club is among dozens of instances in which D.C. public school employees or others have stolen or misused student activity money, a Post investigation has found.

Don't public schools care about the children? I guess not.I guess Enron didn't have enough politicians in their pocket.