The Bayonne Board of Education unanimously approved (6-0) a corrective action plan in response to a bond reimbursement review of $11.8 million by the State Department of Education’s Office of Fiscal Accountability and Compliance at Tuesday’s meeting.Â
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The three-part corrective action plan first addressed the school district’s alleged failure to pay the city $11.8 million in school development authority improvements.
The allegation was inconclusive due to a lack of “verifiable, factual documentation of their respective representations.†As a result, all future bonded SDA funds will be sent to the city to reduce bond debt, which will be memorialized by board resolution.
On the same note, to verify the amounts of any SDA funds transferred to the city after May 15th, 2015, these transactions will also be memorialized by board resolution.
The final and most comprehensive measure regarding future agreements with the city says: “the agreements are to be executed in accordance with applicable statue regulation, and according [to] best practices.â€
The action also calls for “an appropriate written agreement,” whether it is intra-local, shared services or a memorandum of understanding that is, once again, memorialized by board resolution.
While the meeting was packed, with residents hard-pressed to find a seat at the venue, only Gina Irizarry – a former teacher in the school district and recent BOE candidate – questioned the board about the situation.
Board President William Lawson quickly clarified that the school district isn’t in any “bad standing with the state†since a good portion of the report was favorable to the Bayonne BOE.
The two then spent a few minutes going back-and-forth on the subject.
Trustees Mary Jane Desmond, Chris Piechocki and Ava T. Mitchell, the board vice president, were absent.
City made a “claim†(this is crazy) that the BOE owed them 11.8 million? (with no substantial evidential matter). BOE makes a “counter claim†City owes them 6.2 million, same deal. The state with can’t vouch (starting from the financial records down to the source documents) either side. I know why? Who wants to keep records when you are stealing money. This is why we need a forensic audit of the BOE & City Hall. We need proper controls put in place and we need to find all the missing millions & claw them back! The “â€Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting†by the Association of School Business Officials International †is like being a 5 Star Realtor, you buy it. People in Bayonne have to “hope†Law Enforcement gets involved. Generally in Public Worker world you get a pa$$. Broadway is now a shanty town. Why is Bayonne not working? Well when you have to keep paying for the same things over and over again just so the public worker clan and criminal attorneys don’t have to work the system is broken. The system should serve you, you are serving it and this has to stop. Semper Fidelis, Bobby from Bayonne