Kudos to Clare Jellick for her investigative report on the Roosevelt Magnet School field-trip scam. Her persistence in getting information through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has brought to light a very disturbing situation — shaking down district parents for money that they don’t owe:
The requested information shows that the district considers there to be a “total outstanding balance” of $17,391 to cover the cost of the trip – even though the figures provided show Roosevelt families actually owe only about $8,800. […]
With all the contributions from kids, families and community members added together, $40,491 has been raised to cover the trip. This is about $8,800 short of the total cost.
So the district is saying the parents owe $17,391, but the numbers reveal the families only owe $8,800 — a difference of $8,591. That’s a huge chunk of change. Who is going to be held accountable for this? Where is Mr. Hinton’s public statement on this issue?
The school board members should be demanding an explanation from the school administration. Will anyone have the cajones to confront Hinton at the next board meeting?
Even the numbers they released don’t add up. They raised $24,903 from students including $1511 in fundraising and they say 35 kids still owe some amount of monaye ranging from $61-$790. That should mean that approximately 25 kids paid the full $850 which comes to $21,250 of the $24,903 raised. It apparently didn’t take $100 to get on the bus since at least one student owes $790 of the $850 for the trip. If they had each actually paid $200 to get on the bus the shortfall would closer to $4000. Roosevelt and/or 150 also raised the price of what the trip cost from $46,450 to $49,299 in this accounting.