Mount Vernon school board sidelines superintendent amid probe of how district uses federal grant money
MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. -- The challenges are mounting for the Mount Vernon City School District.
Last month, the state comptroller reported the district has the most troubled finances in New York.
Last week, CBS2 learned of a federal probe into how the district handled grant money.
On Monday night, the school superintendent was sidelined, just months after taking the job.
It has been a head-spinning turn of events in Mount Vernon schools. Last summer, the nine-member board promoted Waveline Bennett-Conroy to superintendent. But on Monday night, it effectively sidelined Bennett-Conroy, "reassigning" her with pay but undefined duties and promoting her deputy to acting superintendent.
"The taxpayers of Mount Vernon are tired. They've been complaining for years about the city school district," said Jesse Van Lew, co-founder of Save Mount Vernon, an activist group that has been raising red flags about schools for 18 months.
That includes district spending on consulting services.
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Last week, the U.S. Attorney in Albany subpoenaed the district as it probes how Mount Vernon schools used federal grant money.
"We submitted paperwork, some documents that we had, to raise red flags. We sent them out to the Department of Justice. They must have seen something that wasn't in their eyes that was appropriate within the Mount Vernon City School District, and they're here. They're investigating," Van Lew said.
The school district obliquely referred to the troubles in a statement, mentioning "uncertainties associated with a number of challenges." Those challenges include a report from Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli that says Mount Vernon is the only district in the state facing "significant fiscal stress," in part due to a conflict between the district and City Hall over property tax collections.
It all adds up to a district that increasingly looks to be in crisis.
The probe into district handling of grant money is being handled by the U.S. Attorney in Albany, because that is where the state Department of Education is based.