D.C. School Board officials are moving to fire an executive whom top school and federal officials say is a central figure in a grand jury investigation into questionable spending habits at the public schools’ charter school office.
Brenda L. Belton is currently on administrative leave with pay as federal officials sift through thousands of documents and files seized in a June raid.
Sources say that agents want to know whether Belton, who was supposed to oversee the 17 public charter schools and their 4,000-plus students, used federal and local money to give no-bid contracts to her friends and to herself.
Among the funds that Belton controlled was a batch of money that the school board didn’t even know about, sources said.
Board members have told The Examiner that Belton has to be fired.
“I think the office has not been running effectively for a long time,” Board Member Robin Martin told The Examiner on Tuesday.
Fellow Board Member Jeff Smith agreed. “They haven’t shared the results of the investigation yet. Even without that, there wasn’t the proper level of oversight from her,” he said.
“There’s been either poor judgment or impropriety, and she should be let go.”
Neither Belton nor anyone else has been identified as a target of the investigation, but a source said the investigation is wide-ranging and is examining not just Belton’s conduct but the conduct of those who were supposed to supervise her.
That puts the spotlight on the school board and in particular, board Vice President Carolyn Graham. Federal officials are also examining the $3,000 Belton paid to a motivational speaker to cover a training seminar for staff of Graham’s private ministry.
Graham said she quickly repaid the money to the school board and told her fellow board members about the fee, which she called “a mistake.”
But Graham has also been a defender of Belton’s.
In a subcommittee meeting earlier this year, board member JoAnne Ginsberg moved to have Belton fired. Her colleagues — including Graham — voted against Ginsberg.
“There was no evidence presented. It was just, ‘let’s get rid of her,’” Graham said Tuesday.
“The board members said, ‘We have an established procedure for dealing with people under our purview. And we have to follow that procedure.’”
Graham, who was appointed to her position by Mayor Anthony Williams, is running for board president.
There is momentum on the board for getting out of the charter school business altogether.
“I think we should be focused on turning around the D.C. public schools,” member Victor Reynoso said. “If wedon’t turn around our ‘core business,’ there’ll be more demand for charter schools.”
But District Council Member Kathy Patterson, who chairs the Council’s education committee, wants the school board to act fast.
The board has had “ample time to address the apparent mismanagement of public funds,” Patterson said.
“Four months, five months is certainly enough time to make a determination of whether or not to terminate or keep somebody,” she said.
The board is scheduled to meet again in mid-September.
