Board of Education President Peggy Cooper Cafritz and Vice President Carolyn Graham tried to discredit a whistle-blower whose allegations of wrongdoing in the D.C. charter schools office started a grand jury investigation, sources tell The Examiner.
Financial analyst Steve Kapani went to the D.C. Inspector General’s office in mid-March, alleging that his boss, Brenda Belton, was giving no-bid contracts to relatives and friends.
A month after Kapani told Cafritz about his concerns, Cafritz and Graham met with District Council Member Kathy Patterson, who criticized Belton in a budget report.
Sources familiar with the investigation tell the following story:
In the meeting with Graham and Cafritz, Patterson stood by her report. Her staff had already been briefed by Kapani, and Patterson had also called the Inspector General’s office, urging them to move quickly on their investigation.
In fact, the Inspector General’s office had already called the FBI and the U.S. Department of Education.
Patterson then sent a confidential letter to D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi, dated April 14, asking him to trace all the money going out of Belton’s office. The letter mentions the Inspector General’s office.
“I have been provided with sufficient information that I am concerned about expenditures going forward,” the letter states.
Finally, Patterson sent a letter to the members of the school board, asking them to account for some of Belton’s expenses.
The Education Committee had to write its budget report by the end of April, and Belton not only had not followed up on promisesto send details on, but had grown belligerent about it.
A few days before the Education Committee’s budget report was due, the Public Charter School Board sent Belton a sample Excel spreadsheet.
She copied the spreadsheet and filled it in with some of her expenditures — the night before the budget report was due.
A few days after the Education Committee’s budget report came out, schools Superintendent Clifford Janey’s staff called and asked for a meeting with Patterson.
Janey missed the meeting, but Graham and Cafritz were there and they defended Belton.
A few days later, in a closed-door meeting of District Council members, Marion Barry opened a copy of Patterson’s budget report and said he got complaints Patterson was picking on Belton.
On May 31, federal agents raided Belton’s office and home and the offices of the D.C. Public Charter School Board. Kapani told investigators Belton put No Child Left Behind Act dollars into a joint account with the Public Charter School Board — an account she kept hidden from the Board of Education.
A few days after the raid, the Board of Education met. Members JoAnne Ginsberg, Victor Reinoso, Robin Martin and Tommy Wells all pushed to have Belton fired.
But Cafritz, Graham, William Lockridge and Jeff Smith resisted.
Cafritz and Graham focused on Kapani and criticized him for not coming forward sooner. Graham again called Kapani “disgruntled.”
It was finally settled: Belton and Kapani would be put on paid administrative leave.
Wells insisted that the board send a letter to Kapani explaining that he was being put on leave to support him and to protect him from “interested parties” in the Board of Education offices.
A few days later, Graham called another special meeting. She said she had something to tell the Board.
She explained that a motivational speaker who had addressed staff from Graham’s private ministry had been paid with school funds. Graham said that Belton had given the payments as a “mistake.”
Kapani has given a conflicting account. He told investigators that Graham herself had intervened with the board’s finance office to have the motivational speaker paid $12,000.
Graham has denied Kapani’s version of events, The Examiner’s recounting of events and vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
The Board of Education is in the process of firing Belton from her $98,000-per-year job.
Reinoso, Wells and Martin have said that they will ask the Board to abolish the charter school office.
Belton told staffers in her office that she gave contracts to people who she thought were right for the job.
Cafritz is gravely ill and has stepped away from much of the day-to-day business at the Board of Education. She could not be reached for comment for this report.
William Lockridge, whose uncle, former Board member Calvin Lockridge, was paid by Belton, has also denied any wrongdoing.
Lockridge didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Russell Smith, the executive director of the school board, has submitted his resignation to the board. His last day on the job is Friday.
