Here we go again.

They can't take your consumables fee and use it to pay for extra instructors for the courses. If they do they have to pay you back. (Hey McLean.)
The after school Marching rehearsals are part of the course.
If you sign a form agreeing to attend all rehearsals that means they are mandatory, whether you get a grade or not.
No mandatory fundraising for schools or Booster clubs. Either students or parents.
No mandatory dues/assessments/fees for Booster clubs.
All out of town trips are optional and at cost to you.
Summer rehearsals are technically optional. Really. No kidding.

Summary:

If you don't like The Plan, put your kid in private school.
illegal bills
very unsavory stuff
Shame on you
You should know better. Shame on you.
Staff can go to jail.
You people all need to hush up
gouging parents
QUIT WHINING AND COMPLAINING
cut that crap out.
It hurts everybody when you drive up to school in your Lexus
Get over it.
put your kid in Flint Hill or Madeira.
quit being difficult.
you just have to adjust your expectations and goals down a little.
quit wasting the time of the school officials with arrogant testing of the system.
there is probably more of this going on under the surface and off the record and behind the scenes.
we are all in the implementation phase of things.
raise Holy Hell. Immediately.
slush fund.
I think a lot of people just went totally overboard and got out of line
I think a lot of them don't care about doing what is right
They just want to be difficult and obnoxious
When people act like that it is usually for a reason.
I think there are some groups who are trying to skirt around the new system.
Whatever. It's just a Booster group. You don't run the world.
I am immune to the likes of you.
your arguments are futile.
loved the part about contacting the sheriff if a party ignores a court order
except for the Slush Fund problem
people who are doing shady stuff
Where the heck are you going to send the sheriff
It was impossible to press charges
we still needed critical records
I have never seen so many confused people in my life.
what went on was not appropriate.
there is still no excuse for what happened.
This whole thing smells fishy. Where there is smoke, there is usually fire. Just sayin'....
I am seeing a lot of efforts to circumvent the new processes
nasty stuff that went on.
Boosters also will no longer have to resort to ugly tactics
There were very obvious problems.
people are violating state and Federal laws
There were a lot of staff who were totally asleep.
This is utterly ridiculous.
should not be putting stuff out that is against the state and federal laws, violating school regulations
teachers just missed a lot of stuff.
You can't assume that a certain program is fine.
staff were not paying attention, or were choosing to ignore what they were told to do.
That is really, really, really bad.
it was totally off the wall.
They win the arrogance award.
Dr. Moniuszko, you're the best
very sad that the very people who are supposed to care about the children and families and doing their jobs properly
I didn't do anything.
You can pick from the Booster group who refused to release public records and publicly treated me like trash (and one of them verbally abused my child and made them cry), played games with trip money, the teacher(s) and administrator(s) who allowed this to happen, the school personnel who didn't know a public record from a hole in the wall, the Booster attorney who was encouraging their atrocious, abusive behavior and was totally obnoxious and threatening me inappropriately.
I am not tolerating any attitude from anybody.
DO NOT GIVE THEM ONE DOLLAR. Because they are probably acting like this for some not very good reasons.
And people who are being denied public records and records on financial transactions that they made with a Booster group have every right in the world to get very, very ugly.
Quit whining.
Justify what this was for. NOW.
WHY? That takes a lot of nerve.
These are problems for the school administrators to work out. I am staying out of it.
it was clear that things were not being monitored consistently.
I have demanded answers, for all of you
I am standing very, very firm.
Just shut them down and run all the money through the school system. THAT is what you do to people you are really ticked at.
We chuckled about a few other things regarding this.
why has this all been going on, and unless somebody reviews these, how is it going to get caught and corrected?
Why weren't a lot of the teachers doing this? Some of them were at the parent meetings where very inappropriate actions were being discussed.
violated school regulations, state and/or Federal laws,
inappropriate bill
I spent about 7 hours with senior level administrators
You never know when this is going to happen again. It happens all over the country. Every day.
Some of the school personnel also yelled at me and made fun of me in front of large groups
something is still seriously missing.
Why are people ignoring what they were told to do and NOT do?
It is NOT about anybody's ego. GET OVER IT.
so figure it out. NOW. Because you are being held accountable. All of you.
there are/were a LOT of people who aren't paying for their kids.
Who isn't paying for their kids? WHY?
You also sent a bill for it. You don't have the authority to do that.
How would you feel if you had two or three kids in this program, could barely afford it as it was, and then you were sent an inappropriate bill
You might actually be able to bill the parents for more
PAY UP. Keep your kid home. Plan. Do something. But, QUIT BEING FREELOADERS!!!
You are greedy, selfish, unrealistic moochers who think you are entitled to have a free ride, is what you are.
I do find it very interesting how people who are sending families bills for $230+ when they don't even have the right to do that don't seem to be a problem.
And there are quite a few programs that are not charging anywhere near what they could charge,
Somebody please explain to me how soaking families and children for money that you are not legally entitled to is NOT harmful,
You just can't send out a bill to parents for it.
Booster clubs don't have the right to send out bills
If you don't like it, put your kid in private school or go work in a private school.
you are screwing around with all this
So quit playing games. You are wasting their valuable time. I am not.
they all are being taken advantage of.
renounce your citizenship and get out of this country. Sooner rather than later.
violates school regulations, state, or Federal laws, it has to be squared away. And there was a LOT of that.
quit with the lame excuses when you are caught in the act doing this stuff.
Put your kid in private school.
You rebellious types can probably keep a good bit of this
not correct things when you violate public school regulations, etc.
This is not a scandal, but something that just needed to be fixed.
violations of school policy.
This was set up with Dr. Moniuszko when I told him I had seen enough messing around
Ask RM. We have discussed this extensively.
FCPS is not in charge of Booster organizations, and Booster organizations can't be in charge of FCPS activities. This has gotten very mixed up over the years.
Ask RM.
never really should have been managed the way they were for so many years. It did not follow written policy and state laws, or common sense
I could care less. Really.
QUIT BLAMING IT ON ME!!!!!!!!!!!! If you people started doing these, whatever happens is your own fault. Grow up!
The following groups will be identified in a separate thread if their issues don't get straightened out by Jan 15th
give the staff anything they need to fix this. RIGHT NOW.
This is a bare minimum list. I might add more.
You explain yourselves to the school system and your parents if you haven't already. Immediately. Quit playing games, folks!
when you are dealing with groups of parents scattered all over the county, that is a huge problem,
You people were eating it for a lot of scofflaws. As well as paying for the FRM kids.
The voice of reason.
you have until January 15th. Start coughing up some records. Now.
This is no time to be nice.
There should be no excuses this year. It is actually getting worse. They are getting more creative at dodging the requirements. I saw a lot of that. Hence, the deadline.
You never know when some of the accounting people can BE the problem. Watch out. Some of them like Dirty Little Secrets.
Time's up all around. Wrap it up. January 15th.
renounce your citizenship and move out of the country and make more room for us in the Land of the Free.
January 15th! These bills and issues are public records.
The true losers are the people who selfishly screwed over thousands of parents and children with their games over the years.
This is far more interesting and rewarding than watching Reality TV.
If people are going to continue to put out this trash, I will continue to look.
I think you people are getting hysterical for no reason.
January 15th!!!
Explain yourselves. Right here. I challenge you.
misuse of funds is not the point.
And if I don't hear how this was explained by January 15th, the names will be posted
There is nothing inflammatory about that, nothing insulting
As far as outing, the four groups in question have been handling public funds.
Why do you people want to put the licenses of the teachers and administrators in jeopardy?
Have fun with this one!!!!!!!!!!
all that matters is whether the existing laws and regulations were followed
Please treat these school officials with respect
Working out the details on just the Final Four is a ton of work.
The other areas are on their own. I could care less.
Get to work fixing the numbers and details. January 15th.
I don't mean to blackmail people, but most of the problems were reported in Sept/Oct.
I am merely setting a deadline.
I am not accusing anybody of anything.
get this worked out by January 15th. This is very basic stuff.
staff can't walk away from their responsibilities in this type of situation. So, team up and straighten this out.
You can't go sending out bills for $50,000-$70,000 to parents unless they are completely justified. And they aren't even close. And you are NOT waiting until next year to fix this. You are going to fix it THIS year.
January 15th.
I am giving these groups and schools the chance to work this out without being publicly fingered. The claims could be very defensible.
However, more analysis needs to be done
Right now. I am not accusing anybody of anything. I am merely pointing out that there might be problems.
right to go to Small Claims court,
January 15th. I am sure some of this will be fine. Some, maybe not.

The previous post reeks of entitlement, disillusionment, and rage.

is there a problem Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The previous post reeks of entitlement,
> disillusionment, and rage.


That about sums up the attitude at McLean. Particularly the entitlement part.

summaryofthesummary Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Summary:
>
> If you don't like The Plan, put your kid in
> private school.
> illegal bills
> very unsavory stuff
> Shame on you
> You should know better. Shame on you.
> Staff can go to jail.
> You people all need to hush up
> gouging parents
> QUIT WHINING AND COMPLAINING
> cut that crap out.
> It hurts everybody when you drive up to school in
> your Lexus
> Get over it.
> put your kid in Flint Hill or Madeira.
> quit being difficult.
> you just have to adjust your expectations and
> goals down a little.
> quit wasting the time of the school officials with
> arrogant testing of the system.
> there is probably more of this going on under the
> surface and off the record and behind the scenes.
> we are all in the implementation phase of things.
> raise Holy Hell. Immediately.
> slush fund.
> I think a lot of people just went totally
> overboard and got out of line
> I think a lot of them don't care about doing what
> is right
> They just want to be difficult and obnoxious
> When people act like that it is usually for a
> reason.
> I think there are some groups who are trying to
> skirt around the new system.
> Whatever. It's just a Booster group. You don't run
> the world.
> I am immune to the likes of you.
> your arguments are futile.
> loved the part about contacting the sheriff if a
> party ignores a court order
> except for the Slush Fund problem
> people who are doing shady stuff
> Where the heck are you going to send the sheriff
> It was impossible to press charges
> we still needed critical records
> I have never seen so many confused people in my
> life.
> what went on was not appropriate.
> there is still no excuse for what happened.
> This whole thing smells fishy. Where there is
> smoke, there is usually fire. Just sayin'....
> I am seeing a lot of efforts to circumvent the new
> processes
> nasty stuff that went on.
> Boosters also will no longer have to resort to
> ugly tactics
> There were very obvious problems.
> people are violating state and Federal laws
> There were a lot of staff who were totally
> asleep.
> This is utterly ridiculous.
> should not be putting stuff out that is against
> the state and federal laws, violating school
> regulations
> teachers just missed a lot of stuff.
> You can't assume that a certain program is fine.
> staff were not paying attention, or were choosing
> to ignore what they were told to do.
> That is really, really, really bad.
> it was totally off the wall.
> They win the arrogance award.
> Dr. Moniuszko, you're the best
> very sad that the very people who are supposed to
> care about the children and families and doing
> their jobs properly
> I didn't do anything.
> You can pick from the Booster group who refused to
> release public records and publicly treated me
> like trash (and one of them verbally abused my
> child and made them cry), played games with trip
> money, the teacher(s) and administrator(s) who
> allowed this to happen, the school personnel who
> didn't know a public record from a hole in the
> wall, the Booster attorney who was encouraging
> their atrocious, abusive behavior and was totally
> obnoxious and threatening me inappropriately.
> I am not tolerating any attitude from anybody.
> DO NOT GIVE THEM ONE DOLLAR. Because they are
> probably acting like this for some not very good
> reasons.
> And people who are being denied public records and
> records on financial transactions that they made
> with a Booster group have every right in the world
> to get very, very ugly.
> Quit whining.
> Justify what this was for. NOW.
> WHY? That takes a lot of nerve.
> These are problems for the school administrators
> to work out. I am staying out of it.
> it was clear that things were not being monitored
> consistently.
> I have demanded answers, for all of you
> I am standing very, very firm.
> Just shut them down and run all the money through
> the school system. THAT is what you do to people
> you are really ticked at.
> We chuckled about a few other things regarding
> this.
> why has this all been going on, and unless
> somebody reviews these, how is it going to get
> caught and corrected?
> Why weren't a lot of the teachers doing this? Some
> of them were at the parent meetings where very
> inappropriate actions were being discussed.
> violated school regulations, state and/or Federal
> laws,
> inappropriate bill
> I spent about 7 hours with senior level
> administrators
> You never know when this is going to happen again.
> It happens all over the country. Every day.
> Some of the school personnel also yelled at me and
> made fun of me in front of large groups
> something is still seriously missing.
> Why are people ignoring what they were told to do
> and NOT do?
> It is NOT about anybody's ego. GET OVER IT.
> so figure it out. NOW. Because you are being held
> accountable. All of you.
> there are/were a LOT of people who aren't paying
> for their kids.
> Who isn't paying for their kids? WHY?
> You also sent a bill for it. You don't have the
> authority to do that.
> How would you feel if you had two or three kids in
> this program, could barely afford it as it was,
> and then you were sent an inappropriate bill
> You might actually be able to bill the parents for
> more
> PAY UP. Keep your kid home. Plan. Do something.
> But, QUIT BEING FREELOADERS!!!
> You are greedy, selfish, unrealistic moochers who
> think you are entitled to have a free ride, is
> what you are.
> I do find it very interesting how people who are
> sending families bills for $230+ when they don't
> even have the right to do that don't seem to be a
> problem.
> And there are quite a few programs that are not
> charging anywhere near what they could charge,
> Somebody please explain to me how soaking families
> and children for money that you are not legally
> entitled to is NOT harmful,
> You just can't send out a bill to parents for it.
> Booster clubs don't have the right to send out
> bills
> If you don't like it, put your kid in private
> school or go work in a private school.
> you are screwing around with all this
> So quit playing games. You are wasting their
> valuable time. I am not.
> they all are being taken advantage of.
> renounce your citizenship and get out of this
> country. Sooner rather than later.
> violates school regulations, state, or Federal
> laws, it has to be squared away. And there was a
> LOT of that.
> quit with the lame excuses when you are caught in
> the act doing this stuff.
> Put your kid in private school.
> You rebellious types can probably keep a good bit
> of this
> not correct things when you violate public school
> regulations, etc.
> This is not a scandal, but something that just
> needed to be fixed.
> violations of school policy.
> This was set up with Dr. Moniuszko when I told him
> I had seen enough messing around
> Ask RM. We have discussed this extensively.
> FCPS is not in charge of Booster organizations,
> and Booster organizations can't be in charge of
> FCPS activities. This has gotten very mixed up
> over the years.
> Ask RM.
> never really should have been managed the way they
> were for so many years. It did not follow written
> policy and state laws, or common sense
> I could care less. Really.
> QUIT BLAMING IT ON ME!!!!!!!!!!!! If you people
> started doing these, whatever happens is your own
> fault. Grow up!
> The following groups will be identified in a
> separate thread if their issues don't get
> straightened out by Jan 15th
> give the staff anything they need to fix this.
> RIGHT NOW.
> This is a bare minimum list. I might add more.
> You explain yourselves to the school system and
> your parents if you haven't already. Immediately.
> Quit playing games, folks!
> when you are dealing with groups of parents
> scattered all over the county, that is a huge
> problem,
> You people were eating it for a lot of scofflaws.
> As well as paying for the FRM kids.
> The voice of reason.
> you have until January 15th. Start coughing up
> some records. Now.
> This is no time to be nice.
> There should be no excuses this year. It is
> actually getting worse. They are getting more
> creative at dodging the requirements. I saw a lot
> of that. Hence, the deadline.
> You never know when some of the accounting people
> can BE the problem. Watch out. Some of them like
> Dirty Little Secrets.
> Time's up all around. Wrap it up. January 15th.
> renounce your citizenship and move out of the
> country and make more room for us in the Land of
> the Free.
> January 15th! These bills and issues are public
> records.
> The true losers are the people who selfishly
> screwed over thousands of parents and children
> with their games over the years.
> This is far more interesting and rewarding than
> watching Reality TV.
> If people are going to continue to put out this
> trash, I will continue to look.
> I think you people are getting hysterical for no
> reason.
> January 15th!!!
> Explain yourselves. Right here. I challenge you.
> misuse of funds is not the point.
> And if I don't hear how this was explained by
> January 15th, the names will be posted
> There is nothing inflammatory about that, nothing
> insulting
> As far as outing, the four groups in question have
> been handling public funds.
> Why do you people want to put the licenses of the
> teachers and administrators in jeopardy?
> Have fun with this one!!!!!!!!!!
> all that matters is whether the existing laws and
> regulations were followed
> Please treat these school officials with respect
> Working out the details on just the Final Four is
> a ton of work.
> The other areas are on their own. I could care
> less.
> Get to work fixing the numbers and details.
> January 15th.
> I don't mean to blackmail people, but most of the
> problems were reported in Sept/Oct.
> I am merely setting a deadline.
> I am not accusing anybody of anything.
> get this worked out by January 15th. This is very
> basic stuff.
> staff can't walk away from their responsibilities
> in this type of situation. So, team up and
> straighten this out.
> You can't go sending out bills for $50,000-$70,000
> to parents unless they are completely justified.
> And they aren't even close. And you are NOT
> waiting until next year to fix this. You are going
> to fix it THIS year.
> January 15th.
> I am giving these groups and schools the chance to
> work this out without being publicly fingered. The
> claims could be very defensible.
> However, more analysis needs to be done
> Right now. I am not accusing anybody of anything.
> I am merely pointing out that there might be
> problems.
> right to go to Small Claims court,
> January 15th. I am sure some of this will be fine.
> Some, maybe not.


Barb's greatest hits.

Aah the memories-

1. "The check that you dropped off at the front desk has been missing for a week and we are just now notifying you." After Division Counsel, the FOIA lady, and the poor soul at the front desk were told to get their statements ready for the police detective that was going to be stopping by they found it.
2 Division Counsel- "We/I can't produce a bank statement for OUR BANK ACCOUNT because a Booster is out of town." When faced with explaining themselves in court, they figured out how to do it.
3. Classes are now "extension of a summer camp". Even though they are charging a course fee for the class. Hell, let's just charge for both. We will re-write the VAC for the General Assembly to justify this. Next year. Our teacher doesn't want to teach their classes by themselves so we will just make up our own rules and laws. Nobody will figure it out. And if they do, we will just stall around and tell lies and make up stories.

What does the future bring...........

Lots of Spring Concerts over the next month!

So true! Have fun.

HbhHm

"We are always looking at improving our processes."

FCPS statement Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "We are always looking at improving our
> processes."


In other words, McLean, they rooked you over at least the last couple of years, and are too cheap, unethical, and shady to pay you back. So, they are "improving their processes" after their "legal team said everything was fine". So their lawyer advised them that breaking the law was fine the last two years, but not next year.......

Nice.

http://www.fcps.edu/schlbd/Auditor%20General/October%202015%20School%20Activity%20Funds%20Audit%20Year%20Ended%2006-30-2015.pdf

They did an audit of School Activity Funds that was published last Fall. The Charms system and usage of the Booster clubs to handle the public funds and records was brought up many times. This audit covered the first year of the Charms setup (2014-15). Of note-

page 3-They were unable to verify/audit the Charms cash balances. Bank reconciliations were not being completed monthly by the school or reviewed by FCPS Financial Services. Lack of supporting documentation.

page 5-Charms disbursements were checked

page 10-the Charms system was the exception to the fair representation of the transactions.

page 26-three cases where Boosters did not obtain prior approval for disbursements. West Potomac Band Boosters is noted. Congratulations. There were probably lots more of these situations at other schools since they obviously could not check everything.

page 33 and page 34- There is a whole separate section for Charms. In spite of a manual, guidance, training, etc. documentation was incomplete and reconciliations were not properly completed. Schools that did not use an MOA fared better. Boosters who signed an MOA did not turn records in to the school system as required. Schools could not clarify some of the documents they did receive. Several schools had no or incomplete documentation. The schools did not properly monitor the Boosters that signed the MOA. There wasn't any centralized process set up to monitor the Charms accounts.

Financial Services (and the school personnel) spend a ton of time cleaning up this mess and recreating the reconciliations from the entire school year and are basically in the doghouse and on the Watch List. The auditors recommended that discontinuing the MOA be considered so that documentation could be controlled by the schools and to improve consistency. Otherwise, they were told they needed to get their act together pronto, to put it nicely.

Why "it isn't feasible to eliminate MOA's because they have already been submitted and approved" is a Huge Mystery because the school system has the right to terminate the MOA at any time for non-compliance or other problems, and there was lots of that going on. Since when does a non-profit sign a contract with a school system and then violate it? There were numerous cases of that.

It is also noted that several million dollars was run through the Charms system that year. There is probably a lot more than that now.

It is pretty amazing that nobody caught on to some of this considering how many records they had to pull that year for FOIA requests. Nobody (schools or Boosters) thought about how the records weren't making it to the school offices as required, or how bank statement checks weren't being done by school staff? Strange........

Some of the schools are bringing in part-time help to do all this. Probably not a bad idea. Looking at the money spent on staff clothing, working lunches, working dinners, parties, etc. they can well afford to do it, since the money for this comes from the same pot (the ECA). Let the parents be parents. They have enough to do without working for the school system for free and getting mentioned in audits, etc.

If you don't like The Plan, put your kid in private school
illegal bills
very unsavory stuff
Shame on you
You should know better. Shame on you.
Staff can go to jail.
You people all need to hush up
gouging parents
QUIT WHINING AND COMPLAINING
cut that crap out.
It hurts everybody when you drive up to school in your Lexus
Get over it.
put your kid in Flint Hill or Madeira.
quit being difficult.
you just have to adjust your expectations and goals down a little.
quit wasting the time of the school officials with arrogant testing of the system.
there is probably more of this going on under the surface and off the record and behind the scenes.
we are all in the implementation phase of things.
raise Holy Hell. Immediately.
slush fund.
I think a lot of people just went totally overboard and got out of line
I think a lot of them don't care about doing what is right
They just want to be difficult and obnoxious
When people act like that it is usually for a reason.
I think there are some groups who are trying to skirt around the new system.
Whatever. It's just a Booster group. You don't run the world.
I am immune to the likes of you.
your arguments are futile.
loved the part about contacting the sheriff if a party ignores a court order
except for the Slush Fund problem
people who are doing shady stuff
Where the heck are you going to send the sheriff
It was impossible to press charges
we still needed critical records
I have never seen so many confused people in my life.
what went on was not appropriate.
there is still no excuse for what happened.
This whole thing smells fishy. Where there is smoke, there is usually fire. Just sayin'....
I am seeing a lot of efforts to circumvent the new processes
nasty stuff that went on.
Boosters also will no longer have to resort to ugly tactics
There were very obvious problems.
people are violating state and Federal laws
There were a lot of staff who were totally asleep.
This is utterly ridiculous.
should not be putting stuff out that is against the state and federal laws, violating school regulations
teachers just missed a lot of stuff.
You can't assume that a certain program is fine.
staff were not paying attention, or were choosing to ignore what they were told to do.
That is really, really, really bad.
it was totally off the wall.
They win the arrogance award.
Dr. Moniuszko, you're the best
very sad that the very people who are supposed to care about the children and families and doing their jobs properly
I didn't do anything.
You can pick from the Booster group who refused to release public records and publicly treated me like trash (and one of them verbally abused my child and made them cry), played games with trip money, the teacher(s) and administrator(s) who allowed this to happen, the school personnel who didn't know a public record from a hole in the wall, the Booster attorney who was encouraging their atrocious, abusive behavior and was totally obnoxious and threatening me inappropriately.
I am not tolerating any attitude from anybody.
DO NOT GIVE THEM ONE DOLLAR. Because they are probably acting like this for some not very good reasons.
And people who are being denied public records and records on financial transactions that they made with a Booster group have every right in the world to get very, very ugly.
Quit whining.
Justify what this was for. NOW.
WHY? That takes a lot of nerve.
These are problems for the school administrators to work out. I am staying out of it.
it was clear that things were not being monitored consistently.
I have demanded answers, for all of you
I am standing very, very firm.
Just shut them down and run all the money through the school system. THAT is what you do to people you are really ticked at.
We chuckled about a few other things regarding this.
why has this all been going on, and unless somebody reviews these, how is it going to get caught and corrected?
Why weren't a lot of the teachers doing this? Some of them were at the parent meetings where very inappropriate actions were being discussed.
violated school regulations, state and/or Federal laws,
inappropriate bill
I spent about 7 hours with senior level administrators
You never know when this is going to happen again. It happens all over the country. Every day.
Some of the school personnel also yelled at me and made fun of me in front of large groups
something is still seriously missing.
Why are people ignoring what they were told to do and NOT do?
It is NOT about anybody's ego. GET OVER IT.
so figure it out. NOW. Because you are being held accountable. All of you.
there are/were a LOT of people who aren't paying for their kids.
Who isn't paying for their kids? WHY?
You also sent a bill for it. You don't have the authority to do that.
How would you feel if you had two or three kids in this program, could barely afford it as it was, and then you were sent an inappropriate bill
You might actually be able to bill the parents for more
PAY UP. Keep your kid home. Plan. Do something. But, QUIT BEING FREELOADERS!!!
You are greedy, selfish, unrealistic moochers who think you are entitled to have a free ride, is what you are.
I do find it very interesting how people who are sending families bills for $230+ when they don't even have the right to do that don't seem to be a problem.
And there are quite a few programs that are not charging anywhere near what they could charge,
Somebody please explain to me how soaking families and children for money that you are not legally entitled to is NOT harmful,
You just can't send out a bill to parents for it.
Booster clubs don't have the right to send out bills
If you don't like it, put your kid in private school or go work in a private school.
you are screwing around with all this
So quit playing games. You are wasting their valuable time. I am not.
they all are being taken advantage of.
renounce your citizenship and get out of this country. Sooner rather than later.
violates school regulations, state, or Federal laws, it has to be squared away. And there was a LOT of that.
quit with the lame excuses when you are caught in the act doing this stuff.
Put your kid in private school.
You rebellious types can probably keep a good bit of this
not correct things when you violate public school regulations, etc.
This is not a scandal, but something that just needed to be fixed.
violations of school policy.
This was set up with Dr. Moniuszko when I told him I had seen enough messing around
Ask RM. We have discussed this extensively.
FCPS is not in charge of Booster organizations, and Booster organizations can't be in charge of FCPS activities. This has gotten very mixed up over the years.
Ask RM.
never really should have been managed the way they were for so many years. It did not follow written policy and state laws, or common sense
I could care less. Really.
QUIT BLAMING IT ON ME!!!!!!!!!!!! If you people started doing these, whatever happens is your own fault. Grow up!
The following groups will be identified in a separate thread if their issues don't get straightened out by Jan 15th
give the staff anything they need to fix this. RIGHT NOW.
This is a bare minimum list. I might add more.
You explain yourselves to the school system and your parents if you haven't already. Immediately. Quit playing games, folks!
when you are dealing with groups of parents scattered all over the county, that is a huge problem,
You people were eating it for a lot of scofflaws. As well as paying for the FRM kids.
The voice of reason.
you have until January 15th. Start coughing up some records. Now.
This is no time to be nice.
There should be no excuses this year. It is actually getting worse. They are getting more creative at dodging the requirements. I saw a lot of that. Hence, the deadline.
You never know when some of the accounting people can BE the problem. Watch out. Some of them like Dirty Little Secrets.
Time's up all around. Wrap it up. January 15th.
renounce your citizenship and move out of the country and make more room for us in the Land of the Free.
January 15th! These bills and issues are public records.
The true losers are the people who selfishly screwed over thousands of parents and children with their games over the years.
This is far more interesting and rewarding than watching Reality TV.
If people are going to continue to put out this trash, I will continue to look.
I think you people are getting hysterical for no reason.
January 15th!!!
Explain yourselves. Right here. I challenge you.
misuse of funds is not the point.
And if I don't hear how this was explained by January 15th, the names will be posted
There is nothing inflammatory about that, nothing insulting
As far as outing, the four groups in question have been handling public funds.
Why do you people want to put the licenses of the teachers and administrators in jeopardy?
Have fun with this one!!!!!!!!!!
all that matters is whether the existing laws and regulations were followed
Please treat these school officials with respect
Working out the details on just the Final Four is a ton of work.
The other areas are on their own. I could care less.
Get to work fixing the numbers and details. January 15th.
I don't mean to blackmail people, but most of the problems were reported in Sept/Oct.
I am merely setting a deadline.
I am not accusing anybody of anything.
get this worked out by January 15th. This is very basic stuff.
staff can't walk away from their responsibilities in this type of situation. So, team up and straighten this out.
You can't go sending out bills for $50,000-$70,000 to parents unless they are completely justified. And they aren't even close. And you are NOT waiting until next year to fix this. You are going to fix it THIS year.
January 15th.
I am giving these groups and schools the chance to work this out without being publicly fingered. The claims could be very defensible.
However, more analysis needs to be done
Right now. I am not accusing anybody of anything. I am merely pointing out that there might be problems.
right to go to Small Claims court,
January 15th. I am sure some of this will be fine. Some, maybe not.

()()()() Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> http://www.fcps.edu/schlbd/Auditor%20General/Octob
> er%202015%20School%20Activity%20Funds%20Audit%20Ye
> ar%20Ended%2006-30-2015.pdf
>
> They did an audit of School Activity Funds that
> was published last Fall. The Charms system and
> usage of the Booster clubs to handle the public
> funds and records was brought up many times. This
> audit covered the first year of the Charms setup
> (2014-15). Of note-
>
> page 3-They were unable to verify/audit the Charms
> cash balances. Bank reconciliations were not being
> completed monthly by the school or reviewed by
> FCPS Financial Services. Lack of supporting
> documentation.
>
> page 5-Charms disbursements were checked
>
> page 10-the Charms system was the exception to the
> fair representation of the transactions.
>
> page 26-three cases where Boosters did not obtain
> prior approval for disbursements. West Potomac
> Band Boosters is noted. Congratulations. There
> were probably lots more of these situations at
> other schools since they obviously could not check
> everything.
>
> page 33 and page 34- There is a whole separate
> section for Charms. In spite of a manual,
> guidance, training, etc. documentation was
> incomplete and reconciliations were not properly
> completed. Schools that did not use an MOA fared
> better. Boosters who signed an MOA did not turn
> records in to the school system as required.
> Schools could not clarify some of the documents
> they did receive. Several schools had no or
> incomplete documentation. The schools did not
> properly monitor the Boosters that signed the MOA.
> There wasn't any centralized process set up to
> monitor the Charms accounts.
>
> Financial Services (and the school personnel)
> spend a ton of time cleaning up this mess and
> recreating the reconciliations from the entire
> school year and are basically in the doghouse and
> on the Watch List. The auditors recommended that
> discontinuing the MOA be considered so that
> documentation could be controlled by the schools
> and to improve consistency. Otherwise, they were
> told they needed to get their act together pronto,
> to put it nicely.
>
> Why "it isn't feasible to eliminate MOA's because
> they have already been submitted and approved" is
> a Huge Mystery because the school system has the
> right to terminate the MOA at any time for
> non-compliance or other problems, and there was
> lots of that going on. Since when does a
> non-profit sign a contract with a school system
> and then violate it? There were numerous cases of
> that.
>
> It is also noted that several million dollars was
> run through the Charms system that year. There is
> probably a lot more than that now.
>
> It is pretty amazing that nobody caught on to some
> of this considering how many records they had to
> pull that year for FOIA requests. Nobody (schools
> or Boosters) thought about how the records weren't
> making it to the school offices as required, or
> how bank statement checks weren't being done by
> school staff? Strange........
>
> Some of the schools are bringing in part-time help
> to do all this. Probably not a bad idea. Looking
> at the money spent on staff clothing, working
> lunches, working dinners, parties, etc. they can
> well afford to do it, since the money for this
> comes from the same pot (the ECA). Let the parents
> be parents. They have enough to do without working
> for the school system for free and getting
> mentioned in audits, etc.

Sounds like a win for the Democrat regulatory state. Force out the private sector. Implement complicated new rules and regulations. Hire new staff to comply with regulatory regime. Hire new staff to monitor compliance with new regulatory regime. And people wonder why their taxes keep going up.

"Sounds like a win for the Democrat regulatory state. Force out the private sector. Implement complicated new rules and regulations. Hire new staff to comply with regulatory regime. Hire new staff to monitor compliance with new regulatory regime. And people wonder why their taxes keep going up."

Actually, what was going on was against the law. No new rules. No new regulations. These were long-standing laws regarding public education and the school system was blatantly allowing the rights of citizens to be violated and ignoring their responsibilities under the Code of Virginia and the responsibilities they had to the School Board and the public. This was gross negligence and total incompetence on their part. The regulations and procedures are (and were) in place to protect public funds from misuse and to protect the students and their parents from being taken advantage of by the private sector and out-of-control staff and parents. If you don't like the state educational laws or the idea of public education then you need to contact your legislators or put your child in private school. If you want to give these programs more money than they are allowed to ask you for you are certainly free to do so.

Private sector has nothing to do with this and they should not have control over a public school educational program. They have no legal right to do that. The fees are determined by state law and how much things cost.

They can pay people to do this. They are currently choosing to throw parties and take certain people out to eat, etc. instead of spending their time and money on doing their jobs. The money to pay the additional staff does not come from taxes. It comes from student fees, building rental, etc. They don't need and don't deserve a meals tax or any additional money. They don't handle what they have (both time and money) very well. If they clean it up, they should have plenty of both.

Has anyone looked at the Westfield finances? And chantilly and Fairfax bands? They all are far worse than McLean.

ParentWHS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Has anyone looked at the Westfield finances? And
> chantilly and Fairfax bands? They all are far
> worse than McLean.

Go right ahead!!!!

ParentWHS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Has anyone looked at the Westfield finances? And
> chantilly and Fairfax bands? They all are far
> worse than McLean.


What do you want to see?

(I am focusing on epi pens right now. I am in charge of those.)

ParentWHS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Has anyone looked at the Westfield finances? And
> chantilly and Fairfax bands? They all are far
> worse than McLean.

I don't think so. The South Lakes and Herndon are out of control. Even far wrose is Woodson.

shit show

A description of an event or situation which is characterized by an ridiculously inordinate amount of frenetic activity. Disorganization and chaos to an absurd degree. Often associated with extreme ineptitude/incompetence and or sudden and unexpected failure.

Similar:
fiasco clusterfuck

"The picnic turned into a real shit show because that bozo decided to throw rocks at that hornet's nest."



by Burnov September 18, 2003

So they flunked the audit due to the Charms arrangement?

Pete H. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So they flunked the audit due to the Charms
> arrangement?


Yes. They totally and completely flunked in a stellar way. This was epic. They went up and down in flames. One can only imagine the conversations between the Auditor General and Kristen Michael and the Comptroller and everybody else. When you have to retroactively create records or can't find any records for an entire year on millions of dollars at multiple schools because you contracted with volunteers to manage your money for you and then you all rolled over and took a nap, waking up every now and then to sign checks on bank accounts belonging to you that you WEREN'T EVEN LOOKING AT..................

No wonder John Foster AKA "Division Counsel" couldn't produce some things like bank statements. Nobody probably even knew where the Hell they were or how to get them! He came very close to having his sorry ass and everybody else's dragged into court over that.

Frigging unbelievable.

http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/9HEVQA6A5705/$file/P1530.pdf

%

Who is paying for the many FOIA requests by one angry person over the course of 6 or 7 years?
If taxpayers are helping to fund this effort, is there any way to cut the waste and actually use the money for education?

taxpayer here Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Who is paying for the many FOIA requests by one
> angry person over the course of 6 or 7 years?
> If taxpayers are helping to fund this effort, is
> there any way to cut the waste and actually use
> the money for education?


The requester pays the FOIA costs.

If the school system hadn't been in flagrant violation of numerous state laws and abusing families for many, many years, and had gotten their act together immediately when they realized they had been caught at it instead of stalling around and trying to dodge their responsibilities, it would have made things much simpler. It was their choice to wander around for 6 or 7 years.

In particular, if McLean HS had apologized to all the families they illegally charged the last two years and paid them back, the school system might have gotten a break this year. But, they chose to be assholes. Oh well.

FCPS is really messed up.

What a joke. "The requester pays the FOIA costs."

The requester pays a fee but it does not anywhere come close to accounting for the time and effort of staff to comply with most FOIA requests. You clearly know nothing about FOIA compliance to even pretend to make such an assertion.

People complain about Boosterthon wasting taxpayer money/hours - try accounting for FOIA compliance. It's a freaking boondoggle that is being abused for political purposes only.

wMbt7 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What a joke. "The requester pays the FOIA costs."
>
>
> The requester pays a fee but it does not anywhere
> come close to accounting for the time and effort
> of staff to comply with most FOIA requests. You
> clearly know nothing about FOIA compliance to even
> pretend to make such an assertion.
>
> People complain about Boosterthon wasting taxpayer
> money/hours - try accounting for FOIA compliance.
> It's a freaking boondoggle that is being abused
> for political purposes only.

If they do their jobs properly there should be no reason to FOIA.
But, they don't. They in particular love to do financially abusive things to kids and their parents, which is vile. They are basically incapable of self-monitoring, greedy, abusive, and unethical. A fine role model for the children. So, FOIA it is.

It also didn't help that a whole bunch of principals, admins, and volunteers completely ignored what they were supposed to do the first year and got caught red-handed. It was very obvious and the auditor ate them all alive. Oh well......

Since when do you sign checks on a bank account that you are responsible for but aren't even monitoring?

Since when can't you produce very simple public records from a year ago because a Booster volunteer is "out of the country"? Records that should be in a cloud that YOU OWN? Records from a bank account that YOU OWN? Records that were supposed to be turned in every month?

Marching on...........No pun intended.

Abolish football, then band will collapse. If people want it, let them pay for it, 100%. A few more cuts like this, there will be no need for a meals tax.

Mark your calendar. Vote against the meals tax on November 8.

All the work and pressure on band directors is a disgrace. Just let them teach. WTWs director quit this week. He was great for the kids and families. Sad what this profession has come to.

Can I vote yes on the meals tax and no on football?

Wtw parent Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> All the work and pressure on band directors is a
> disgrace. Just let them teach. WTWs director quit
> this week. He was great for the kids and families.
> Sad what this profession has come to.


Seriously? That's horrible. WTW has had one of the best band programs in the country for FOREVER. Band directors need to be paid double for all of the garbage imposed on programs of late.

This is a travesty that he is leaving. The kids took to him quickly and really loved him by the end of the year.