DeKalb throws the book at author/educators selling their stuff to the school system
The AJC is reporting today that DeKalb County is firing two principals and demoting two other officials after an internal investigation found school funds were used to purchase thousands of dollars worth of books that school administrators had written.
I am delighted to point out the the investigation into the book sales followed an investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (This is for all those folks on the blog who continue to ignore the AJC’s watchdog role efforts.)
I think the public is getting fed up with schools asking for money while at the same time doing very little to ensure that money is well spent. I also question how DeKalb could allow such purchases with no oversight.
Every year, thousands of educators publish books. Thousands more would publish books if assured they could sell hundreds of copies to their own school systems.
DeKalb superintendent Ramona Tyson deserves credit for acting on this issue once the AJC exposed it. But every system in the state ought to be examining whether it is also buying books from its staff members without due consideration of whether the books are necessary and legitimate.
According to an excerpt from the AJC story:
All told, the school system found three educators-turned-authors raked in a total of almost $100,000 in sales to district schools. One principal used her school’s funds to buy more than $11,000 worth of copies of her own book.
Interim Superintendent Ramona Tyson said the investigation uncovered a misuse of school funds that was “alarming,” “disturbing” and “unethical.”
In addition to the firings and demotions, Tyson outlined policy recommendations to the school board so the problem won’t happen again.
The AJC first wrote about the bulk book purchases on July 25, when it reported Assistant Superintendent Ralph Simpson had sold more than $15,000 in books to the district.
Through further investigation, the AJC recently found two more school officials had done the same thing. As the AJC was investigating those cases, Tyson took action.
“As the information started unfolding and the dollar amounts started to appear, for me, it was disappointing,” Tyson said in an interview Thursday.
In each case, the school official wrote books — one of them wrote three — and got schools’ funds for bulk purchases of their books, turning public money into personal profit.
Tyson said two sisters, both of them principals, are losing their jobs, while two others are being demoted to assistant principal positions. Both are on paid leave and are entitled to a tribunal hearing that could uphold or reverse the terminations.
She credited the AJC with bringing the purchases to light.
“Because of your work to bring it to the district, it has placed me in a position to do the best thing and the right thing for the district to address it,” Tyson said.
District officials said those punished include:
● Yvonne Sanders-Butler, a “principal on assignment” filling in for schools with principal vacancies. She is being terminated from her $105,615 annual salary position. Between 2002 and 2009, she sold $63,184 worth of copies of three health and nutrition books she has written — $11,494 of which she authorized herself while serving as principal at Browns Mill Elementary School.
● Sanders-Butler’s sister, Rainbow Elementary School Principal Annette S. Roberts. She also is being fired because she refused a demotion to assistant principal. She purchased $14,184 worth of copies of her sister’s books for Rainbow.
● Simpson and Miller Grove High School Principal Selina Carol Thedford. They were demoted to assistant principals and had their salaries cut. Simpson wrote an autobiography, titled “From Remedial To Remarkable.” He sold $15,260 worth of copies to six DeKalb schools. Thedford purchased $9,680 worth.
The district cut Simpson’s salary from $115,405 to $89,599, and Thedford’s from $105,615 to $93,168, district Chief of Staff Alice Thompson said.
Tyson said Simpson agreed to pay back $11,800 of his book sales revenue.
“Dr. Simpson … has owned the responsibility and the importance of assuring that the taxpayer dollars come back to the district,” Tyson said. “I accept what he has offered.”
● Former Assistant Superintendent Lonnie Edwards, who wrote “A Teacher’s Touch: Reaching Beyond Boundaries,” about mentoring a disabled student. He sold $12,745 worth of copies to the district while employed there. He also sold $3,424 worth of copies after he left. Edwards now works as the superintendent of the school system in Jackson, Miss.
Thedford and Simpson could not be reached for comment. Edwards declined to comment.
Sanders-Butler, reached by phone on Friday afternoon, said the district’s chief financial officer, Marcus Turk, approached her in 2007 about the book sales. He told her that “it didn’t look right,” but the district did not pursue it, according to Sanders-Butler.
“It stopped right there,” she said.
Though she acknowledged the sales, including the ones for her own school, Sanders-Butler said she did not do so to get rich. She said she sold her health books to improve student nutrition and to fight childhood obesity.
She added that she did not solicit sales and that principals came to her because they were trying to adopt wellness programs.
She said she was stunned officials asked her this week to resign.
“I said, ‘What? Are you crazy?’ ” she said. “So I said, ‘Well, if you’ve got something on me, fire me.’ … I’m not worried because I know I’ll be vindicated.”
Her sister, Roberts, acknowledged buying Sanders-Butler’s books but said she was unfairly targeted because the two are related. She questioned why other principals who purchased books are not getting demoted or fired as well.
“There are other people who made just as many purchases as I made,” Roberts said. “My thing is, I didn’t do anything any different from anybody else.”
Roberts added that it was common knowledge throughout the school district that schools were buying her sister’s book and believes the school district is taking action now only because the purchases have attracted media attention.
“If somebody said this is not allowable, I would never have done it,” Roberts said. “I don’t care if it was my sister.”
She also said she did not know she was being terminated, and that school officials did not tell her she would be fired if she refused to be demoted.
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157 comments Add your comment
Wayt
August 15th, 2010
12:39 pm
Why are these bureaucrats all making six-figure salaries with their correspondence-school “doctorates?” The DeKalb school system is a cesspool of corruption and featherbedding. But the teachers’ unions will continue to defend these parasites while they are on “paid leave.” Meanwhile, the education provided to our children continues to slip. Wake up, folks: most school systems are driven by money, jobs for bureaucrats, fat pensions, and mutual back-scratching. DeKalb is just the most-visible offender, but the same crap goes on at other school systems too.
Thank you AJC for doing the investigative work to uncover this. If not for the AJC, nobody would know about any of this and Crawford Lewis would still be in power.
Here’s an idea: take the $10,000 per student currently spent by the DeKalb school system, and give it to the students in the form of a voucher to be used for tuition at the private school of their choice.
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August 15th, 2010
12:48 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by The One and Only, Maureen Downey. Maureen Downey said: DeKalb throws the book at author/educators selling their stuff to the school system http://bit.ly/93vXq1 [...]
Maureen's choice
August 15th, 2010
12:54 pm
After today’s AJC it is crystal clear that Maureen has a choice. She can either be an advocate for Dr. Hall or an advocate for the children of Atlanta.
You can no longer be an advocate for both and have any credibility.
Lee
August 15th, 2010
1:02 pm
Sunshine is the best disinfectant. Too bad that school districts refuse to post a detailed Paid Vendor Detail register online so the taxpayers could really see what their hard earned money is being squandered on.
But really, if you don’t have the common sense to know that buying your own book is an ethics violation, you really do not deserve to be in that position of authority.
Maureen's choice
August 15th, 2010
1:02 pm
“I am delighted to point out the the investigation into the book sales followed an investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (This is for all those folks on the blog who continue to ignore the AJC’s watchdog role efforts.)”
No Maureen, people aren’t questioning the AJC reporters in their watchdog efforts. In fact they frequently get credited on this blog. They are questioning your self proclaimed “single minded focus on what’s best for Georgia’s students” with your continued defense of people like Beverly Hall.
While you seem “delighted” to point out the work the AJC reporters did in regard to DeKalb, you seem somewhat less “delighted” to point out the work the AJC reporters did in regard to the NAEP and APS don’t you?
Or do you just express your highest levels of “delightedness” with complete and total silence?
J.B. STONER
August 15th, 2010
1:02 pm
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW !!! ??
J.B. STONER
August 15th, 2010
1:03 pm
Enter your comments here
wayt not
August 15th, 2010
1:05 pm
But you would vote for Karen Handel who dropped out of high school!
steve
August 15th, 2010
1:11 pm
I don’t necessarily think it is wrong for a school to purchase books written by someone employed by the school. We just need to make sure that the purchase is appropriate. I can’t tell from this story if these book purchases in question were appropriate. However, I wonder if the district have any system through which such a purchase may be judged more objectively.
Ray
August 15th, 2010
1:15 pm
Does this mean the $300,000 Nathan Deal stole from taxpayers was a bad thing?
Maureen’s Choice – Maureen is also part of the ‘GOP educational puppet’ that supports clowns like Chip Rogers and Judson Hill, both of whom want reduce public education opportunity, as well as end teacher retirement as we know it.
Maureen shills again?
August 15th, 2010
1:16 pm
“DeKalb superintendent Ramona Tyson deserves credit for acting on this issue once the AJC exposed it.”
Wasn’t Ramona Tyson some sort of financial officer for DeKalb before being named superintendent? So does she deserve credit for acting on it once the AJC reported it, or does she deserve condemnation for not acting on it before?
Yes, maybe in her previous position she didn’t have the authority to act on it, which is why it’s posed as a question, not a statement.
no mas
August 15th, 2010
1:18 pm
Maureen,
While I am glad to see the AJC continuing to shine a light on DeKalb schools – heaven knows we need it – I agree that other systems need equal time. The front-page story in today’s AJC regarding graduation figures for APS certainly deserves a citation. I believe with all my heart that DCSS (and probably other school systems – numbers are so easy to manipulate) is doing the same sort of fudging, but let’s be sure there is no appearance of protecting APS.
@no mas
August 15th, 2010
1:20 pm
No mas, it doesn’t seem like Maureen is nearly as “delighted” about the excellent work of the AJC reporters on the NAEP scores in regard to APS as she is on the DeKalb story does it?
J.B. STONER
August 15th, 2010
1:24 pm
WHATS NO-MAS??
Maureen the disco singer
August 15th, 2010
1:26 pm
To the Tune of “I’m So Excited” by the Pointer Sisters
I’m so “delighted”
I just can’t hide it
I’m about to shill for Hall
And I think I like it
@ J.B.
August 15th, 2010
1:29 pm
No mas = no more.
Aquagirl
August 15th, 2010
1:32 pm
Sanders-Butler’s brain is astonishingly devoid of any personal responsibility. She needs to be put where she belongs—out on the curb with the trash. The Superintendent needs to join her if she thinks a “sorry” and giving the money back is acceptable. And some of these thieves’ punishment is making $90,000 instead of $100,000 per year? WTF? Sadly, whoever is elected as Governor must kowtow to educators who value protecting their own rear ends over anything else. They proved that in the 2000 election.
I think with this story I’m finally going to join the voucher crowd. Our educational system is so corrupt it can’t be fixed. Board members who threaten to slug reporters, indictments, nepotism…anyone who is not a traditional classroom teacher is pretty much in it to feather their own nest. They wield a big voting stick at politicians and they aren’t afraid to use it, the rest of the State be damned.
As a DeKalb taxpayer, I appreciate the efforts. If somebody has a stick up their butt about Beverly Hall, you’re welcome to go to school, get a journalism degree, get yourself hired, and write every column about your own preferred subject. Maureen is not your personal servant. Get a friggin’ life.
say what?
August 15th, 2010
1:32 pm
How about BOEs across the state create policies to address purchasing of materials from employees, former employees, and their friends? When an employee leaves or retires, there should be a clause that no work would be given to the new employer for at least 24 months. Had a similiar policy been in place America’s Choice would not have received over $8M from DCSS for its plan. This is not indicative of DCSS only, just an example of a public education policy problem throughout GA. If ajc and other media outlets questioned spending practices in Hall, Gwinnett, Cobb, Henry, and other metro counties more problems would be found. If they looked at nepotism at the state DOE, the creation of jobs with federal funds that should have trickled to LEAs, and purchasing, counties could claim that they are following the people at the top. And the state DOEs would claim they are following US DOE.
So goes the life of politics in education.
TG
August 15th, 2010
1:34 pm
I don’t condone the profiet part of the issue but have any of us read the books they are talking about? If an educator writes a book in regards to issues in their profession, it is not something that will fly off the shelves in the bookstore to doctors or the general public. If the book is relevent to educators as tools to teach or as profession development then it should be available to for purchase in the system, *BUT* it should go through the normal bidding process as all text book/book purchases do. We under cut the knowledge of teachers and their abilities to educate…this is just another kick in the stomach that as professionals writing text books/professional journals are nothing but bound paper that can just sit in our hard drives and rot….all would of been fine if they would of just sold their books to the counties next door.
@Aquagirl
August 15th, 2010
1:38 pm
Or Aquagirl, if someone disapproves of Hall’s actions, they are more than welcome to use this blog as medium to express that.
Last I heard, Maureen was the moderator, not you.
Ray
August 15th, 2010
1:39 pm
Voucher system is nothing but a subsidy for the wealthy.
@Aquagirl
August 15th, 2010
1:40 pm
Aquagirl, if Maureen found the posts about Hall to be without merit, she obviously has the authority to delete them. Obviously she chooses not to, despite your protestations to the contrary.
d
August 15th, 2010
1:41 pm
I am curious as to which laws have been broken. I don’t see any. The DeKalb County School System does not have a written policy prohibiting sales to the system by employees – yet…. Mrs. Tyson is asking the Board of Education to suspend the rules and vote immediately on a policy rather than wait the normal 30 days for a policy to sit on the table before it is adopted. I truly believe that people are being thrown under the bus here.
Burroughston Broch
August 15th, 2010
1:48 pm
@ Maureen shills again. At least Ramona Tyson acted and acted decisively; unlike Beverly Hall. Hats off to Ramona for this.
It will be interesting to see what happens in Jackson MS when they learn that their superintendent is implicated in this mess, and that the mess is going to the DA and to Professional Practices.
irisheyes
August 15th, 2010
1:52 pm
“But the teachers’ unions will continue to defend these parasites while they are on ‘paid leave.’ ”
And what teachers’ unions would those be???
Maureen shills again?
August 15th, 2010
1:55 pm
Burroughston Broch, when you compare Tyson’s actions to Hall’s it goes without saying they look better. However, I think it is still worth asking if Tyson knew about this in her previous position, and if she did, did she have any authority to do anything about it?
But yes, give her credit for not going into full blown denial and hiring someone to do a report that claimed there’s no evidence that it happened.
Crooks Rule
August 15th, 2010
1:57 pm
More crooked school “officials” trying to make big money off book scams. This lowlife should be in jail, not just fired. Are there any honest people working in these school systems who are not cheating or trying to rip off taxpayers?
The referee has stopped it!
August 15th, 2010
2:00 pm
The referee has stopped today’s posts about Maureen, saying that, in boxing parlance “Maureen was no longer able to defend herself intelligently.”
The ref made the right decision. The damage being done to Maureen’s credibility today may have been long term, even permanent, otherwise.
Aquagirl
August 15th, 2010
2:06 pm
@ me—sure, anyone is free to use this blog to whine their pet subject is not being covered to the exclusion of all else. And I’m free to point out those people are whiners who may need medication for OCD. Or that they may have an interest in Maureen not poking around in this matter.
Oh, look, an AJC story busting Beverly Hall, right on the front page! Jeff Dickerson ghost-writes reports for her, and that’s why she missed critical information? I guess Maureen missed sabotaging that story. My God, the AJC would need an entire army to dredge up all the dirt on Beverly Hill. That doesn’t mean other stories should receive no coverage.
If Maureen deleted those posts I’m sure the poster would be screaming that Maureen is part of Beverly Hall’s censorship committee.
Back on topic: These self-serving “educators” should be gone. Why does the DeKalb School System need a written policy to explicitly say “you can’t use your own connections to make a profit?” If their books are that wonderful, there are literally thousands of school systems in the U.S. Selling your books to your school is a clear conflict of interest. These people should be under the bus. Frankly, they should be under the jail.
Paulo977
August 15th, 2010
2:07 pm
Right , leave the bookselling function to the billion-dollar industry that is selling more books on how to prepare for tests!!!
Maureen Downey
August 15th, 2010
2:08 pm
@The referee, I am not worried about my credibility. I am worried about a single poster under a plethora of names repeating the same points that have limited interest and that may run off people who want to talk about the issues at hand. I have shown great tolerance because I think you are well read on the issues, but you can’t drive off other posters. And you are doing so with your single themes repeated dozens of times.
Maureen
The referee has stopped it!
August 15th, 2010
2:15 pm
So Maureen, you are saying that there is only limited interest to the multiple stories your reporters have done on the largest cheating scandal in Georgia’s educational history, and limited interest in the AJC’s reporting of the true meaning of the NAEP stories you have so often referenced in defense of Hall?
I would think the most excellent reporting done on both topics, that frequently ends up on the front page of the Sunday paper, would be of a bit more than “limited interest.”
Be that as it may Maureen, I have a standing offer, if you think posts critical of your stands on certain issues detract from the overall attractiveness of the blog, I will take a self imposed sabbatical for the rest of the month, so that you may restore a sense of balance.
You just give the word, Maureen.
J.B. STONER
August 15th, 2010
2:17 pm
??
Concerned
August 15th, 2010
2:20 pm
Maureen, can you investigate Cindy Loe and her activities in Fulton County Schools? Dr. Loe has managed to hire and promote people without interviews. She also has looked over veterans of the system for promotions. Instead, she plays musical chairs with principals that she likes. She cut counselors, social workers, and assistant principals approximately a month’s salary when she herself didn’t take much of a pay cut. She furloughed teachers and paraprofessionals. She says do more with less, but she herself is not an example of this saying. Principals complain among each other, but are scared to voice their opinions for fear of termination. It appears as if she runs only the north county and Linda Anderson runs the south county.
Maureen Downey
August 15th, 2010
2:22 pm
@The referee, Taking a month off isn’t the issue. Your posts are interesting and witty and well-informed. But I don’t get the point of repeating the same exact sentiment so many times in a single period. I am getting e-mails from folks complaining that you are hijacking the topics.
I would suggest moderation in how many times you make the same point.
And as I have said to you before, feel free to e-mail me your complaints about me rather than repeat them here to the point that other posters are getting annoyed. Again, your comments are well done but they lose their flavor after the fifth posting.
Maureen
Aquagirl
August 15th, 2010
2:25 pm
Also from the AJC story….”The school district is referring the book purchases to the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, which investigates and disciplines educators[.]” Is the referred-to tribunal which will be reviewing this a PSC entity?
Maureen Downey
August 15th, 2010
2:29 pm
@no mas, I will post on the APS story, which only went up online this afternoon. I am trying to add a great DOE link that allows you to compare freshmen classes with senior classes four years later in all Georgia high schools. The number of students who disappear is amazing. I have the link in one of my files and I am looking for it now.
Maureen
Bob
August 15th, 2010
2:29 pm
After reading today’s article re graduation rates, I don’t understand why Ms. Hall and the rest of the admin staff are allowed to remain in their leadership positions. This is pretty bad.
Angela
August 15th, 2010
2:34 pm
@ Dr. John Trotter,
If you are out there reading the blogs I have a question that you might be able to answer. Who & What is the take on DCSS’s Dr. Beasley? He seems to have come back (which he was not gone very long to our understanding) and taking the system in a direction (I am not sure what the direction is at this time). If you can shed some light it will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Welcome to our little World of Dekalb
August 15th, 2010
2:40 pm
Maureen
Do you realize that this article also exposes additional nepotism with- in DeKalb? The two sisters are first cousins with Lonnie Edwards, a former official in DeKalb and also they all are first cousins with James Berry, the cheating principal. I commend Tyson for attempting to clean house. This is just the beginning to other types of problems in DeKalb. Administrators are abusing their powers to control staff members any way that they feel. The staff morale is very low and lots of employees are complaining about this type of working enviroment. She needs to produce a more fair and positive enviroment. The reality of this that its hurting our children. Tyson needs to get into the schools and have more school climate control workshops. It would also help to have it with all system administrators.
Other Suggestions Ms. Tyson:
1. Take financial control way from principals/administrators. Get rid of the p cards.
2. Ethics workshop (already requires it PSC)
3. Only hire within human resources (slows down nepotism)
4. School Climate control workshop (lift up the morales within DCSS)
If Ms. Tyson continues to expose corruption at this rate, by the end of the year she’ll clean up DCSS.
Angela
August 15th, 2010
2:45 pm
Well, Ramona, I praise your efforts and how straight forward your comments and remarks are during the eluminates(sp) however, ………………..
Welcome to our little World of Dekalb
August 15th, 2010
2:47 pm
@d
Have you taken the code of ethic workshop that is require by Professional Standard Comission? If all these allegation are true, the law has been broken. It is written.
You go girl
August 15th, 2010
2:51 pm
It is about time Maureen told these losers to get a life. I wouldn’t waste another second on the likes of Trotter and his buddy who post the same drivel over and and over. It is boring.
Welcome to our little World of Dekalb
August 15th, 2010
2:57 pm
@ Angela
Nepotism
Dr. Beasley was brought to DCSS during the Johnny Brown era. He was hire as principal at Stephenson High School. Left the state and came back to DCSS last year. I don’t know him personally. But I have heard good and bad things about him. I am just concern that he has jump over all the other aspiring administrators in DCSS to get a promotion. DCSS has a principals with 30 plus years experience who wants promotions too. From my understanding he is not that old either. So how much experience could he possibly have in education before he became a principal? This is another big concern in DCSS.
Joel Healy
August 15th, 2010
2:58 pm
Outstanding work on the part of the AJC in reporting this story and exposing those Public “Officials” for using their positions to enrich themselves. Given their education and experience, one would think that, at some point, one of them would have asked the School District Counsel and or the Board, for guidence and approval. However, given what has been said by the media and the Board, that was not the case. Ms. Tyson in her comment that she found the conduct of those educator’s “alarming”, “disturbing” and “unethical”. That, to put it mildly, is an understatement. One can only hope that the investigation will be given a complete review by the District Attorney and the appropriate Federal Agency which over sees the School District funding. With the exception of Dr. Simpson who has acknowledged his involvement and will be returning his profits to the District, the rest of those individuals have “circled the wagons” and are going to play hard ball. As a former law enforcement officer (California 31+ years), I handled my share of investigations. Some involving Public Officials. Quite clearly, Roberts, Saunders-Butler, Thedford and Edwards knew what they were doing was very questionable and possibly illegal. However, they had the “Golden Goose” and they were not about to kill it. Of all those involved, Ms. Annette Roberts has displayed a level of arrogance and sense of “entitlement” that is unbeliveable and insulting. In establishing strict guide lines to insure that something like this (embezzelment of public funds) does not happen again, Ms. Tyson will have successfully closed the gate on those future/current employees who would have Ms. Roberts same sense of entitlement. Well Done AJC, the Community is proud of you.
majii
August 15th, 2010
2:58 pm
There are some things you just don’t do, and these educators should have known better than to sell books they’d written directly to others in the system that they knew rather than getting the sales cleared through the BOE. This is something that we as parents emphasize to our kids all the time as we are rearing them.
justbrowsing
August 15th, 2010
3:06 pm
@concerned- I believe that Cindy Loe is right to bring in new blood- there is a great deal of corruption in the old order in Fulton County
justbrowsing
August 15th, 2010
3:09 pm
@Concerned- I also believe that she is trying to stop the “friends and families” promotions that also happen in Fulton.
jo bee
August 15th, 2010
3:10 pm
So much pressure on Dekalb Teachers to pass failing students. The principalat my school threatens to write you up if you fail to many students.
fed up in DCSS
August 15th, 2010
3:10 pm
Keep up the good work. These issues have been festering for a long time and are finally getting dragged out in the open for all to see. Please follow up on Morcease Beasley, a Johnny Brown croney, who is back and suddenly seems to be calling the shots in the county office in terms of what goes on in the schools. I believe he was a principal for only 1 year before moving up almost to the top of the chain of command. His web sites are numerous and interesting. He seems to be a preacher, motivational speaker, consultant, author, and, oh yeah, educational administrator in his spare time.