Top school officials have asked the District of Columbia to investigate allegations of fraud leveled against a private consulting group paid millions of dollars to train young teachers in the city’s schools.
On Friday, a special assistant to new schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee asked the city’s inspector general to investigate The Teachers Institute, according to a memo obtained by The Examiner. The institute has a $3.1 million “professional development” contract with the D.C. schools that goes back to 2004, records show.
“The allegations against Teachers Institute … include: misuse of funds, waste and fraud,” wrote Rhee’s assistant, Richard Nyankori.
A source familiar with the investigation said Rhee has been asking questions about where the group got its startup money and how it used the millions of public dollars it has been paid.
Sheila M. Ford, the institute’s executive director, did not respond to requests for comment. According to its Web site, the nonprofit institute was founded in 2004 by a handful of former D.C. schoolteachers and principals. Its mission is to train young teachers in literacy programs. The group works in 22 D.C. schools and claims to have trained more than 300 teachers since it began its work.
Ford is a former principal at Mann Elementary, one of the schools that has an institute contract.
The D.C. schools have spent tens of millions of dollars on teacher training but continue to fail federally mandated tests in reading and math.
Rhee was the head of her own nonprofit group, dedicated to recruiting and training young teachers for struggling school systems.
Rhee wasn’t the only person to ask questions about The Teachers Institute.
Theresa Bollech, the mother of a special education student and a community activist, said she saw the group on the schools’ contractors list but couldn’t figure out what the District was getting for its money.
She sent a letter to Rhee in early August.
“No one could tell me what they were doing,” Bollech said. “Who is monitoring these contracts, and where’s the money going? My concerns are still unanswered.”
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