The teacher who reported fundraiser money stolen from a filing cabinet will not be responsible for replacing the cash, according to Fort Bend Independent School District Officials.
According to sources, the money was raised through a recent cookie dough fundraiser for the volleyball department. Sources say checks were turned in, but more than $1,000 in cash is unaccounted for.
The district has released limited information on the alleged theft, but has appealed to the Attorney General’s Office concerning the release of the entire police report. The Attorney General’s Office has 45 days from the date of the appeal to rule on the issue.
According to the limited information released, the theft was reported Oct. 2 by Kempner High School English teacher Chivonne Kiser. The money was allegedly stolen from a filing cabinet.
District policy states that fundraiser money “must be turned in daily to the school bookkeeper,” who will place the money in the campus vault each night until it is ready for deposit. Policy also says that “keeping money is a desk drawer or at home is not appropriate and strictly forbidden,” and the fundraiser sponsor will be held responsible for any missing money if district policy has not been followed.
“Can you think of anyone who would be against value in our local government?”
I can’t in all good conscience, especially during these economic times, believe that we can continue the current self-destructive path we are following of padding our budgets on the taxpayers (our) dime. It is even worse when the children suffer because some entities are more engaged in the “business” (vendor feeding) of education than in the real academic outcomes. Hopefully we can correct some of that this coming spring. A $20 million dollar budget deficit is ridiculous and when the problem impacts what is going on in the classrooms, it is time to act!
We need to all consider and expect “value” in our local government. This can only be done with transparency and accountability.
Can you think of anyone who would be against value in our local government?
I believe it was just last year cons1 and PM when we read reports of nearly 15 million in no-bid contracts were approved by this board. I’m not sure if those were food vendors or other, but that is pretty significant. Non-competitive bids create defacto pricing and is very anti-free market, it also ends up costing the taxpayers more over the long haul. Further, I believe there was a piece on this new site only a month ago that showed the new food contracts including many high sugar soft drinks and reintroducing soda and other junk food back into the district after previous state level bans that have since been dropped with certain lobbying going on in Austin. I’m sure we will see a return soon of the fast food joints to the district too. Not good with the inactivity of the current generation of kids and obesity problems they are displaying (as schools have also cut back on recess and other performance area classes).
Tax value and food value can both be tricky Mr. Con when the concept of “value” is not understood. We don’t get value by allowing vendors to be the tail that wags the dog. Taxing and spending does not create value.
patriot, just in case you might have my attention, what are you talking about? overcrowded schools and crapy food? well, I don’t have exact facts but I would guess the food contract goes to the lowest bidder, you would need to raise the rfp specs and maybe fake OJ and other vending machine stuff would get better, but I am sure all would raise the price point. Big sticking point these days.
only an idiot would take a thread from missing fund raiser money to healthy lunch choices.
Who can argue with providing healthy choices and the lunch timing to support healthy choices… ?
Who can argue with making healthy choices? I too would like to see the police report mentioned in this article though.
My feeling is this: ‘figurative’ finger- pointing at the teachers’ expense is where in the dietary pages in The Texas Educational Agency’s manual? Sure all school lunchrooms are over crowded, but schools are always continuing to be built, to meet the demands of our future & present ” fruits of our labor”; our children. And yes I have had the pleasure to enjoy lunch with my boys at school, at a variety of times, but to downplay physical fitness is not my kind of thing. Quite obviously, who here is actually promoting eating sugar anyways? Have your kids drink milk. It’s nutritional value is awesome, and look at that bone structure…building muscles everywhere!
Empirical awareness is the best approach to learning. If you pay taxes, go to any public school in FBISD (schedule with the principal) and sit through a breakfast or lunch and take note of the seating capacity, vending machine use, and indeed the use of fried and subsidized farm surplus that is dumped on our children. It is impossible to not get fat under these circumstances, and the teachers certainly know it. That is why the one’s who care ALWAYS bring their own lunch. Always.
There is always work to do around here Patriot, as you know. Just keep the chin up and headed in the right direction. Maybe one of these days the superintendent will release information on time and when it is appropriate. Using Feldman and his bunch to constantly challenge public access is a poor PR strategy to say the least, especially when the public is footing both bills and his salary.
Mmm, mmm, mmm: I love Naval’s… !!!… If I eat too much dessert–which is not often– than my diet consists of the sweet, tangy stuff for a week. Dancing it all off is fun too. No excuses’ for lazy eating habits. I’m just sayin’
That would absolutely be true, anthony, but like Nietzsche says, “If it don’t kill ya, it’ll make ya stronger…” Don’t we have work to do next week…?
Welcome back from the deep recesses of he__ Patriot! I know doing the right thing isn’t always easy, but standing firm by your beliefs is always right in the eternal search for truth. Sometimes that search takes us to some pretty off beat places, but I’m sure you have a thousand stories to tell from it. Nothing like “civilization” again!
Cookie dough? Let’s talk about real “fund raising” and school vending machines, because the schools are too crowded to seat everyone together for “school lunches.” And, let’s talk about school lunches and government “dumping” of farm subsidies.
All school lunches are fried and mega use of high fructose corn syrup is in nearly everything. That orange juice is not “orange” juice, it is instead high fructose, government-subsidized, corn syrup, with artificial flavors and colors, that is being dumped on our over-weight pre diabetic children, as we all sit back aghast, and simply can’t believe it’s all true. Wake up and demand reason and accountability! Fundraising for what….more vending machines?
I agree factually. It does seem to be the common practice with the central office when things hit the media. What is even more amazing is the lengths the leadership is going to keep the police record from the public.
b_tabor,
Your statement: “story doesn’t even confirm that the teacher who reported the money missing is the same who is responsible for the fund raising.”—is a good point and I hope neither one is on the district’s cow dung list because one of them could end up getting “goated”.
So true, so true. Your last question would be a good one too.
‘The district has released limited information on the alleged theft, but has appealed to the Attorney General’s Office concerning the release of the entire police report. The Attorney General’s Office has 45 days from the date of the appeal to rule on the issue.’
All of this is conjecture until the police report is allowed to be released. Too bad the district is going to such great length to cover this. It story doesn’t even confirm that the teacher who reported the money missing is the same who is responsible for the fund raising. Too much guess work.
I wonder how much it has cost us, the district, to cover this thing up?
mega, you are on to something.
question, if I was a teacher handling the money, and out of desparation I hid it in a file cabinet because I was working late and I didn’t want to be responsible for takeing the money away from school, and it got stolen out of the file cabinet, and I was told I couldn’t run the fundraiser anymore, am I going to be dissapointed or relieved that this task will be assigned to the next up and coming money handler.
It would appear, by the sparse info being released, she 1) didn’t turn in the money like she was supposed to, and 2)
didn’t properly secure it. I’ll bet she won’t be the one
handling the $$ in future fundraisers.
So someone needs $1000 just to make change? No.
It’s only guess work until the district allows the police report to be released. I wonder why they are going to such lengths to keep the report suppressed? One possible answer is that checks aren’t needed to make change so they get turned in.
Why did the checks get turned in but not the cash? Doesn’t add up.
Sounds like they need a policy change that covers after hours events, which are fairly common at FBISD campuses.
It does make sense, that if the fundraising is done after hours, how would the sponsor be able to give the funds to the school bookkeeper?
Well if it was in an unlocked cabinet in a classroom it sounds like just about anyone could have taken it, students included. I would have to agree with cons1 on this one.
(one of which is $1000 richer IMO)
Well who is responsible then for the loss?? Who was in charge of the money? Who is responsible for not following district policy?
Nobody is responsible for anything anymore. Nice lesson for the today’s students.
It certainly isn’t government by and for the people, that’s for sure.
Yes, a lot of money is wasted with appealing to these agencies for legal clarity. It is upsurd because a private school would see the size of the problem and devote the appropriate resources and not more than needed. But a public institution has people that have to justify their existence. Solution, vote. vote. vote. You have the power to put the right people in. Rising property values and test scores are not the only goals that should be coveted. Fiscal responsibility should be a priority as well.
What’s even more amazing is that the district may be spending more than the $1000 alleged theft to keep this out of the public, why? At least when they fought the multiple TPIA requests involving the $30 million dollar “Global Taj Mahal” (which they lost) it was for much, much more. Aren’t police reports public information?
If they really think she took it, they should keep after her. But if they really think it was stolen, then I see it as cost of doing business. And a business the school shouldn’t be in. Kind of like when someone walks a check in a restaurant, but with less attorneys involved.
Here is my take on this…when you deal with these fundraisers, it is usually after work hours, you know…all of those extra hours teachers work, anyway, usually they do not have access to the admin or admin’s safe which they are forced to hide the money or take it home. Classic case of a unfunded mandate, the rules say one thing but the reality is another. Personally, I would not keep the money in a file cabinet, but it is usually hard to carry around because as you can imagine its not all C-notes. So, solution, the fundraiser sponsor should always be the person that has access to the secure area of the school, or you remove fundraising from teachers plate and let them teach for a change. My opinion is.. teachers teach and admins do the other stuff. Disclosure, I don’t live in the district or I would be mad that my district is wasting time on this.
Looks like a continued pattern of deception by district officials. Just release the report.
“but has appealed to the Attorney General’s Office concerning the release of the entire police report. The Attorney General’s Office has 45 days from the date of the appeal to rule on the issue.”
How much is it costing us for the vendor lawyers to challenge this?
Was the filing cabinet even locked??