What an outrage! At a time when we as individuals and together as families are having to make tough economic decisions, our hard earned tax dollars are mismanaged so carelessly. And on top of that, the school system is coming with open hands asking for yet more money. They can not even properly manage the money they have now. We are not talking about a school system the size of say Fairfax here. We are talking about a school system which has ONE high school, two middle schools, and thirteen elementary schools. A school system where all central office staff, including those responsible for budgeting and financial decisions, are in the same building, supposedly meeting on a regular basis. A school system which has 10,000 less students than neighboring Arlington, yet almost twice as many school board members (Arlington has 5, Alexandria has a whopping 9). So with all of these administrative positions and the astounding number of school board bureaucracy who dropped the ball here? This falls squarely on the shoulders of the school board and Mr. Sherman. All must go or we as tax payers are not doing our job in these fiscally challenging times.

Perhaps we should reserve judgment until we have actually had an opportunity to review the audit report. As someone who works for the Commonwealth of Virginia, I can attest to the bureaucratic and byzantine paperwork requirements and processes associated with the simplest of transactions in a government organization. What this article suggest to me is sloppiness rather than misappropriation, but it is difficult to know without more information. In the meantime, I think the Superintendent is to be commended for requesting the audit rather than trying to sweep the issues under the carpet.

I miss our previous School Superintendent, Rebecca Perry. I believe our school standards have fallen precipitously since her untimely departure.

Acting within the scope of one's job, that is to be commended? You must be kidding right? The fact that this is a government agency (local albeit) does not excuse it from following proper protocol and the LAW. Sloppiness, mismanagement, indifference, incompetence, call it what you will, yet the fact remains that this gross misappropriation of public funds should not occur. Mr. Sherman just recently allowed such unbelievable incompetence when he permitted one of his underlings, Deputy Superintendent Margaret Byess, to overspend during a simple office renovation by $40,000. Small change compared to the numbers thrown around in this article, but worth noting since it was over twice what Mrs. Byess was budgeted. And how was that problem dealt with? Not in any manner which should be commended, seeing how Mrs. Byess is still employed by the school system and is still in charge of, get ready for this...Financial Services and Educational Facilities within ACPS! Hmmm, makes you wonder just how this sort of thing could have occurred right? What a sad, sad joke this school system has become.