By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
July 1, 2011

Forget a summer vacation. Former staff and faculty of Don Bosco Charter High School just want to be paid.

Unless Don Bosco finds additional funding, the staff and faculty will not be paid for June, July and August.

Since permanently closing its doors in May due to lack of funding, the school has encountered a snag with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).

In May, DESE notified the school that more than $256,000 in Title I federal funds were in question and needed to be returned. That figure was later reduced to $214,824.33. In their audit, DESE staff stated that Don Bosco Charter High School misallocated Title I federal monies to fund portions of staff salaries and benefits, and materials for the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years.

DESE extended the deadline to submit any data corrections to June 10. Don Bosco never sent corrections.

To recoup the federal monies, DESE withheld state aid payments from the school for May and June, which totaled $191,280.26.

However, that leaves a balance of $6,500.90 for the 2009-2010 school year and $17, 043.17 for the 2010-2011 school year. And it leaves Don Bosco unable to pay its faculty and staff.

Nick Scielzo, then-president of Don Bosco Centers, sent a mass email June 28 asking the public to send donations to help pay the school’s teachers and staff. Scielzo retired the next day and has been replaced by Benjamin Cascio. Calls to Scielzo and Cascio were not returned.

“Without those (state aid) funds, the Charter High School cannot pay teacher and staff salaries for the remainder of June, July and August,” Scielzo wrote in his email. “That’s why the school is asking for your help. They (teachers and staff) worked hard educating and helping Charter High School students overcome issues with homelessness, behavioral problems, youth parenthood and violence they experienced in their everyday lives. The school’s teachers and staff deserve to be paid.

“Please call 816-691-2901 if you can help!”

Northeast News contacted DESE to explain the situation.

“First of all, there was no thievery. There’s nothing about fraud,” said Ron Lankford, deputy commissioner of DESE’s Division of Financial and Administrative Services. “It really boils down to the fact that federal monies are made available to school districts to meet special purposes.”

To receive Title I funding, schools must submit an application to the state education department that states how the school plans to spend the money.

“If a school district does not spend according to that plan, they would have the option to file for an amendment and alter their plan, but all of that stuff has to be approved (by the state education department),” Lankford said.

For the 2009-2010 school year, Don Bosco Charter High School stated it would spend the Title I funds on “supplemental services” to provide additional support to students who “have needs outside the normal school day,” Lankford said. However, Don Bosco failed to spend the funds as stated.

“The spending was for things that did not have prior approval and for things that could not have been approved according to the Title I program,” he said.

Several of the expenditures included library books, totaling $2,329.87.

“Title I’s not (meant) to support libraries,” Lankford said.

A majority of the funds were spent on staff salaries and benefits for the 2009-2010 school year. One expenditure listed salaries for George Keary, Theodore Thomas and Megan Kurtz, totaling $119,200. Benefits for that group totaled $34,568.

Asked why he thought Don Bosco spent monies on other items not listed in their application, Lankford said it boiled down to cash flow issues. He also said, “The school indicated they just didn’t understand that’s the way the rules were.”

For the 2010-2011 school year, approximately $17,000 is still in question. However, that could change if Don Bosco Charter High School submits a Final Expenditure Report (FER), Lankford said. Submitting an FER could “wipe out” the remaining balance, he said.

Breakdown of Don Bosco Charter High School spending
Don Bosco 2009-2010 Unallowable Expenditures:
Title I.A.
Salaries – George Keary, Theodore Thomas, and Megan Kurtz – $119,200
Benefits – George Keary, Theodore Thomas, and Megan Kurtz – $34,568
Material & Supplies:
Textbooks – $4892.85
Textbooks – $11,065.32
X-Pedex – $2,710.53
Misc. Science – $2,237.85
Quill – $5,440.54
Misc. Supplies – $1,251.54 (No Vendor)
Misc. Supplies – $369.53 (No Vendor)
Total: $181,736.16

Title II.D
Material & Supplies – Phones – $500
Total: $500

School Improvement(s)
Salary – Kimbrough & Lehman – $10,500.00
Benefits – Kimbrough & Lehman – $3,045.00
Purchase Service – Darryl Burton – $1,688.30
Material & Supplies – Darryl Burton Books – $311.70
Total: $15,545
2009-2010 Total Expenditures: $197,781.16

Don Bosco 2010-2011 Unallowable Expenditures:
Title I.A.
Invoice #30416 – Tyler Technology – $1,433.35
Invoice #945863784 – Houghton Mifflin Harcourt – $304.20
Invoice #IN1878652 – Barnes and Noble – $402.40
Invoice #811093F-3 and Invoice #811095F-6 – Follett Library Resources – $786.57 & $382.50
Invoice #81424 – Jr. Library Guild – $454.20
Total: $3,763.22

Title II.A
Invoice #8847529 Hy-Vee – $51.98
MO. Assoc. Elem. Principals – $95
Teacher Stipends – $1,080
Stadium 66 – $0.99
Total: $1,227.97

SIG (a) (g) Grant – $12,000
2010-2011 Total Expenditures: $17,043.17