The city official in charge of D.C. Public Schools’ heavily criticized efforts to obtain and manage hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants wasremoved from his job Thursday by the city’s top education officials.
Victor Vyfhuis, the executive director of the schools’ federal grants office, was put on administrative leave, school spokeswoman Mafara Hobson said.
She declined to elaborate, citing employee privacy laws.
The $1 billion-plus school system has been rated “high risk” for federal funds because of years of neglect, mismanagement and corruption.
Vyfhuis could not be reached for comment Thursday.
The office of federal grants is responsible for managing about $120 million in grants every year.
On Wednesday, Vyfhuis’ staff published a “corrective action” plan that synthesized years’ worth of outside audits and federal reviews. The audits found that D.C. schools broke federal law when they shifted grants around for other purposes, had no systemic way of tracking its grants and weren’t properly screening the contractors who were paid with federal monies.
Top sources within the government say that Vyfhuis has been a special target of Victor Reinoso, the deputy mayor for education. Reinoso is a former member of the D.C. Board of Education and last year publicly condemned Vyfhuis’ agency for playing fast and loose with federal money.
“Every time there was budget pressure, they would come back and say, ‘Oh, we’ve reprogrammed a grant,’ ” Reinoso said at the time.
He called for jurisdiction over Vyfhuis’ office to be switched from the school board to the State Education Office.
The suggestion was adopted in legislation that gave Mayor Adrian Fenty control of the stricken schools earlier this year.
Reinoso has been urging schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee and State Superintendent of Education Deborah Gist to replace Vyfhuis, a source said. The source said that Gist deputy Cynthia Bell is the top candidate to replace Vyfhuis.
Gist sent a statement through a spokesman that did not discuss Vyfhuis directly. But she said that Bell is “well-regarded” and “has an extensive federal grants management background.”
“It is very important that we have accountability, transparency and efficiency,” Gist added. “This is among the highest priorities I have in the months ahead.”
