In short, our school system is broken. The current City Council must lead and make tough changes to ACPS or get out of the way and let folks that are willing to make the choices the current crop hasn't been able too.

ACPS is beyond broken. We need a complete overhaul of the administration. Sherman should resign and we all need to find good people to run for school board. There is no excuse for this failure.

There is no time for tepid action in matters of education, and Sherman should be fired immediately as the head of our school system. "Dysfunctional and suffering from fragmentation" is only the result of poor leadership.

I was at the School Board Meeting last night to observe for myself, and there were some very good presentations by staff. I would encourage new candidates for School Board, because obviously tough questions need to be asked, and policies reviewed. There have been improvements in the budget and I am very excited about the new Jefferson Houston School, 3 blocks from my house, which will improve the neighborhood, and improve the learning enviornment for children in one of our most challenged schools. Unfortunately there is no funding to replace the head start classrooms, so hopefully we can find funding and a new location for the head start program since there is a backlog of 94 children waiting for placement.

Boyd-nice to hear a reasoned and informed statement about ACPS. The audit does reveal serious dysfunction in the accounting process and I am glad that swift action was taken to remove the staff involved. As an ACPS parent, I disagree with the assessment that ACPS itself is dysfunctional and, contrary to what the headline of this article asserts, that is not what the auditors said either. (Actual quote: ACPS has operated in a dysfunctional environment in relation to CIP related activities)

ACPS is in a state of dysfunction. Period. This audit is one more example of the failure of leadership within the school system. Mr. Walker- the newly proposed building for Jefferson Houston does nothing to address the underlying issues and is another example of window dressing for real problems in our schools. Jefferson Houston has seen a dramatic decline is student enrollment over the past ten years and this will continue, new building or not if the problems and needs of students are not addressed. Ms. Kelly, the staff involved have not been removed and as indicated in the audit, there is still much more review to be done. The head of the department in question, Margaret Byess, will not step down until May 25. This is unacceptable. This audit demonstrates once more that there is a failure to lead within the school system. There is also a failure to act in a timely and appropriate manner. As indicated on the document, this audit was completed on February 6. Why are we learning the results a month later? Within that month the only response from the Superintendent and the School Board was that the Deputy Superintendent would be stepping down, but not until the end of May, and only after a grilling by City Council! Mrs. Byess should be fired immediately, Mr. Sherman should be fired immediately, and members of the School Board who are on the facilities and budget committees should resign. This district is too small to allow such incompetence.

Agreed with Thomas. New buildings don't fix the problems inside. The ACPS leadership has failed, it's time for immediate change.

Nobody is suggesting we need new buildings to fix Jefferson Houston or any other school in the city. We need new buildings because we have severe space shortages due to a rapid rise in students in the last few years. Jeff Houston is a K-8 school now and needs more space to support that program and the students that go with it. Other schools in the city also need space expansion. The very distressing internal control problems over school finances are serious and have to be addressed aggressively, but it is faulty logic to say that those issues mean we don't have a space shortage in our schools. And while there is room to complain about how some it has been done, you also can't complain about the rising test scores and student achievement we are seeing in the schools.

Ok, but until internal issues are resolved (the buck stops with Sherman) it's very hard for the citizens (who pay for all of this) to trust them to do anything correctly. This is all about trust, and the ACPS has lost the trust of the people who fund it.

Lets look at it another way, if in a private company a board of directors found out that their company has been mishandling funds there would likely be wholesale change. The citizens of Alexandria are the board, and something serious must be done to return the trust.

It all starts with leadership! The fall elections cannot get here fast enough.

Boyd, Since you're running for office can you explain in how the new school, also three blocks from my house, "will improve the neighborhood, and improve the learning enviornment for children in one of our most challenged schools."

There have been some very thoughtful critiques of ACPS in local papers that outline declining enrollment, the failure to meet various education standards and our per student costs. As a parent of a young child with a decision to make in a few years I'm very interested in this question of an improved learning environment.

And, I just can't help but ask, why is increased density good in this neighborhood but not ok for the waterfront? I think its fair to say the Parker Gray area is a good bit more residential than the waterfront area which by intent is designed to attract visitors. A new school won't produce more revenue to help with city services or alleviate tax burdens which is ok if it's going to improve the learning environment but that would seem to be a big if. So to the extent you can tell us in more detail how that environment would be improved please do so. Thanks.

As you know Mr. Krupicka, quite the opposite is true concerning student achievement and the need for space within ACPS. Overall scores have dropped, not risen, across our district. That information is available to all through the Virginia Department of Education's School Report Card. And while it sounds like a solid reasoning, the truth is that there is not a space issue at Jefferson Houston, as there are open classrooms and an entire floor suitable to meet the educational needs of 6-8 students just a few blocks away at GW. Student achievement and space are not the issue here, leadership is the issue. Mr. Sherman has been here for almost four years at a cost of nearly $1 million dollars. For that kind of money the citizens of Alexandria expect measurable results and accountability, not the blame game, mismanagement of our tax dollars, and dysfunction within our school system. Mr. Sherman must go. Members of the Board and members of Council must send a clear message that the citizens can believe in those entrusted with, and paid by, our tax dollars.

There was $1.25 MILLION transfer when the School Board needs to sign off on anything greater than $50K? That is reprehensible. Neither Sherman nor the School Board are watching the "hen house." I sincerely hope that there is a clause in Dr. Sherman's contract that allows us to let him go for mis-appropriation of funds. We cannot allow this lack of management to continue.

ACPS is a multi-million dollar entity. When members of upper management arrive and leave via a revolving door, and the accounting practices appear to be non-existent, change must occur. Allowing Ms. Bayess to remain through May is insane. Allowing Dr. Sherman another five years to break down our school system is a recipe for disaster.

As a resident, and parent of elementary school children, I do not know how much more I can take of our broken system. Each Sunday, when I take my children to Blessed Sacrament for religious education, I am amazed by the work of the students in that school, and appalled by what my children are not doing at Mt. Vernon. Readable handwriting and proper spelling. Research projects. Essays written in proper grammar. Something has to change..NOW.

I pay for a talented and responsible school system. I am prepared to live bare-bones if parochial or private school is my childrens' only chance for a quality education.

I seem to recall Arthur Peabody saying “We hold him (Sherman) responsible for how he runs the school system.” Well Mr. Peabody, Mr. Sherman told the Washington Post that the blame does not lie with him. So now the citizens must ask "do your words to City Council carry any weight or will the blame game continue without consequence to those running the show?" The facade has collapsed, people must go.

Hasn't ANYONE figured out that this entire CIP fiasco - and many other ignored financial controls - have been caused by the ELIMINATION of ALL finance office employees who were controlling and monitoring CIP with DOCUMENTED PROCEDURES ALREADY IN PLACE from 1999 through 2009? Do you any idea how many former top-level administrators have been removed since M&M took over?
Give me a break! The Board and City officials have ignored all the warning signs for TOO LONG, and this is what we get. Please help, Somebody!

Very interesting and troubling comment on this issue in the Alexandria Times story. If these allegations are true, they must be examined by the Commonwealth Attorney. This appears to go well beyond the CIP funding fiasco. http://alextimes.com/2012/03/independent-audit-reveals-extensive-fiscal-mismanagement-by-school-employees-officials/

Our City Council and School Board need to step up and make it abundantly clear to Dr. Sherman that HE dropped the ball. Those "rogue employees" as he called them, reported to them. He was responsible for managing them and failed to do so. In the Washington Post article, he used the "they were here before I was here" excuse. That does not fly with me. Does that mean that he only supervised those who he hired and ignored the rest? Did he supervise anyone at all or allow them free rein?

Unless he offers a huge Mea Culpa to Alexandria parents and residents, I will find it hard to trust anything that he proposes. Will he hire good people? Will he fire undeserving people?

Again, why is Margaret Bayess staying though May? Why allow her to continue to collect a paycheck and benefits when she, while reporting directly to Sherman, made numerous mistakes? Can ACPS make another "accounting error" and not pay her $20,000 retirement annuity? Can we apply the same "error" to Sherman's annuity payment for failing to watch the bottom line?

Senior management should not receive annuity payments or other financial rewards when they do not meet their most basic job requirements; effective management.

Ask the School Board why Mrs. Byess, in the midst of all of this, is being allowed to remain at the helm until the end of May? If the Superintendent is pushing for her to stay, there is a reason worthy of suspicion. Something is amiss here and this may just be the tip of the iceberg. Independent auditors may have to examine other financial aspects within ACPS.

Does 5-year tenure have anything to do with the May 25th termination date? Allowing her to qualify for retirement, if this is the case, would be adding insult to extreme injury.

Part of the Super's email that was just sent out:
"I have wondered and asked over and over again how and why something like this happened within the facilities department." Just who is running the show here? This guy expects us to believe that he has no idea what is going on within a department the size of facilities. Isn't this the same department which is overseeing the planning and building of the Jefferson Houston school? Mr. Sherman has been working basically hand-in-hand with facilities all along and here he is now, left to wonder and ask "over and over again" what went wrong. So now the plan is to simply place blame on a few bad apples in this one distant department (bear in mind that ACPS is run out of one building and the parties involved here met on a regular basis). The Super will also have us believe that once the issue of improper spending was raised he immediately did the right thing. Well what about last fall when Mrs. Byess, the same Mrs. Byess at the center of this fiasco, overspent her budget on a simple office renovation by almost twice as much? http://www.alexandrianews.org/2011/2011/10/acps-administrator-on-the-hot-seat-over-office-renovations/ Why wasn't Mrs. Byess' ability to manage funds appropriately called into question then by the Superintendent? Why was she not fired? Why was she, and is she now, allowed to remain in control of these fiscal responsibilities? There is no wondering. This behavior occurred due to a failure of leadership.

Bring back Scott Newsham to the Alexandria City School Board. He served on facilities board, spoke up when on the Board about finances, CIP questions, and has publicly written editorials on these same questions and more since leaving. Bring him back if he will run. Scott will watch the hen house while on the Board. Shameful this has occurred under our current School Board's watch. Mort Sherman must not get away with passing the buck. Fire him.The buck stops with our Superintendent. ACPS needs a full change of guard.

Scott Newsham would certainly make a good candidate for school board. He raised the flag on this years ago. We need to recruit nine good candidates - three in each of the school board districts - get them elected in November, and completely oust the current school board. That's just my opinion and I speak for no one but myself.

What a mess ACPS has become since the School Board fired Superintendent Rebecca Perry and hired Morton Sherman.

Did the accounting firm have access to records that were under $50K or did the Sup. give instructions that they could only look at payments above 50 thousand. What about one consultant being paid $380,000 over the past 2 years? What about the original voucher for $22,000 being used over and over?

Mike Urena, I don't see that the new Jeferson Houston building is going to increase density at what is already a school site. I don't know an exact comparison between the current sqaure footage and the proposed, but it looks to me like the footprint will be smaller, the communnity open space improved, bus and parent dropoff improved, with no drop off's on Cameron or West Streets, but behind the school, and even though I am not crazy about the architecture as currently being proposed, I know this is the last element that is currently being worked on. The environment sutdents work and go to school in, I believe, can have a profound affect on achievement, and I hope it will become a neighborhood school, that neighbors like yourself, will truly want to send their kids too. Here is a link to the presentation given at the most recent communnity meeting which you may have been at: http://www.acps.k12.va.us/board/jh-project/meeting-20120508-presentation.pdf I saw the same presentation given to the school baord at the last meeting. As for a comparison with the waterfront, I would of been happy if some sort of school was proposed for the waterfront, especially one centered around science and the environment. Bottom line is I think those three parcels should have public uses, not private uses, and those alternatives should have been explored.

Back to schools in general, new school baord members who ask critical questions or have experitse in budgeting, or finances is essential.. I would certainly support school baord candidates who fit that profile. Capacity, as Mr. Krupicka mentioned, is a critical issue, and I recently heard that enrollments in Kindergartens are beyond the projections, and maybe more creative use of space, like that at GW is a short erm solution. City Council definitely has a role to play in overall management of the schools, their budget, and in helping to select sites and provide funding when new schools are needed. I have heard about issues of children not being able to go to their neighborhood school because it is full, but I also heard Mort Sherman tell the school board that money should go to teachers and making sure kids can go to their neighborhood schools. We will see if he and the schol board follow through on that commitment, and the school board elections in the fall will be a referendum on his leadership, as I am sure whether the candidates support or do not support Sherman will be the number 1 question. I supported Rob Krupicka's proposal of a city staff person to oversee the financial issues in the schools for the next budget year, but no members of council, that I know of, supported the proposal.