State looking into Mount Vernon school contracts; district hires 'independent' audit firm
The state Education Department is looking into grant contracts awarded by the Mount Vernon school district after activists raised concerns about millions of grant dollars going to a single company to provide a wide range of services.
"NYSED has reached out to the district and is seeking additional information related to the awarding of contracts associated with this (vendor for federal School Improvement Grants)," the Education Department said in a statement to The Journal News/lohud.
The department said it has had "initial conversations with the district" about the matter.
This action comes as the Mount Vernon school board has chosen a Long Island-based accounting firm to conduct an "independent comprehensive audit" of the district's grant program. The school board and Superintendent Waveline Bennett-Conroy issued a promise on Oct. 27 to do so, saying that questions raised about grants "deserve answers, and not merely reassurances."
At issue are about 50 grants worth more than $8 million that have been awarded to a West Nyack-based limited liability corporation called Just Inspire since 2016, the year Just Inspire was formed. The grants have been largely federally funded School Improvement Grants that are provided by the state Education Department to school districts and individual schools that are classified as needing improvements.
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Activists have also questioned whether Bennett-Conroy's son, who works for the school district, has any connections to Just Inspire. Marlon Stephenson worked with Just Inspire's owner, Susan Maher, at a different company that had contracts with the Mount Vernon school district in 2015 and 2016 before Maher formed Just Inspire.
Late Wednesday, the school board issued a statement saying it had appointed Cerini & Associates to review the district's use of grant funding and its process for selecting vendors to deliver programs and services with grant money. The firm will first focus on contracts awarded to "one particular vendor," the statement said.
"I feel confident they will resolve any questions we have and the community has," board President Adriane Saunders said Thursday morning. "They are concentrating on this one vendor and then probably others."
Saunders was unaware the state Education Department was looking into the contracts. Bennett-Conroy did not respond to a request for comment.
The board voted on hiring Cerini & Associates in public session Wednesday evening after holding an executive session, a spokesperson said.
The state awards School Improvement Grants, using federal funds, to schools and districts that have been identified by the state as needing improvements. The Mount Vernon district is classified as a "target district" needing extra supports to increase student achievement, making it available for certain grants.
The state Education Department reviews applications by school districts for School Improvement Grants but does not normally review or approve "local contracts between districts and vendors" for use of the grants, said a statement from the Education Department.
It's unclear who are the staff people who have provided Just Inspire's programs and services to Mount Vernon schools or how many other school districts Just Inspire has contracts with to provide services. Neither Bennett-Conroy nor Maher have responded to these questions and others from The Journal News/lohud.
A statement from Maher through a lawyer this past weekend said Just Inspire's programs are carried out by certified teachers and administrators and that "All funding that was provided to carry out specific contractual programs and/or grants have been completed."
Just Inspire's website was taken down early this week but previously listed six Rockland County school districts among the company's "partners." Websites for those districts did not show any contracts with Just Inspire. Maher, a veteran teacher in the South Orangetown school district, is on administrative leave, a spokesperson for the district said.
The school board approved the hiring of Stephenson as director of business and grants, with a 13-month contract at a salary of $157,500, on May 4. Bennett-Conroy was named superintendent at the same meeting, after serving as assistant superintendent and in other roles.
Gary Stern is a veteran editor/writer covering K-12 education in the Hudson Valley. Reach him at gstern@lohud.com. Twitter: @garysternNY.
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This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Mount Vernon grant contracts under Education Department review
