Public School: A Thrift Store for Thieves

 

Theft of government property is a crime, and when it comes to stealing something that was purchased with federal funds, it’s a federal crime. We often see these crimes in the news and many of them are happening in public schools everyday by the very same people who work there.

The public schools today are a virtual thrift store for thieves. Employee’s taking what they want, when they want, even in broad daylight. Using personal vehicles and government vehicles to transport, trade, or turn in for cash their bounty. Recycle centers and pawn shops that otherwise don’t know, or don’t care that these items are stolen, also fuel this problem because they too are part of a system of ignorance, corruption, and concealment for profit. When these people are arrested, we often see their names placed in the news. But hardly a mention is made of the final determination or prosecution of these individuals. And it’s not because of privacy laws, or due process laws. It’s often because of the system, a culture of concealment, transfers, and resignation.

Each year, copper and other metal thefts amount to $1 billion dollars in the U.S. In the state of Florida recently, a school electrical supervisor allegedly stole $271,000 worth of copper wiring from the Broward County School District. In Detroit, prosecutor Kym Worthy stated she was surprised at, “how rampant, how overt and how conspicuous and downright bold-faced the corruption is” Ms. Worthy recently prosecuted five school employee’s including a clerical worker at an elementary school who wrote herself 15 checks and made 17 withdrawals from district accounts that netted her more than $25,000, also charged were a high school teacher’s aide, a food service coordinator at an elementary school, a truck driver and a district controls office worker for various thefts in the public school system.

As a career educator I have witnessed the theft over and over again from schools and offices in the public school systems I have worked for, and in each case I have reported it to my supervisors and the police. We have plenty to read about in the newspaper, our schools being pillaged by employee’s from nearly every branch of government. And for some public school system employees, it’s not the property they want, they go straight for the cash, stealing from student funds, tens of thousands of dollars going out the door and in many cases never being reported or even prosecuted. Every district court would likely have a full calendar and the jails cells would be filled if public school systems actually chose to prosecute every individual no matter who they may be related to. But the public school systems are seemingly designed to conceal their own dirty laundry.

The irony with theft in schools is that when a “student” is found guilty of stealing school property, whether it is from another student or from a classroom, they are immediately suspended out of school for their actions. Following that, the case is immediately forwarded to the police department. But yet, if an employee steals something from public school and even admits to it, they are often afforded the privilege of staying in school, of continuing to work, or to quietly resign or transfer to another school or position to seemingly continue the cycle again in another location.

Why does this happen? Perhaps to insure that they are being provided protection under the cloak of due process, or perhaps more accurately out of fear of bad publicity for the school system, or just a plain unwillingness by the system .

Whatever the reason, it has to stop. Yes, indeed theft is rampant among public school and it’s up to us as professionals, supervisors, and citizens to stop it in its tracks because every dollar lost is a dollar that’s taken away from our children’s education. And in the U.S. that’s $1 billion a year.

If you know someone who is stealing from your school…do the right thing…call the police.