By Bob Walsh
The Stockton Unified School District has just received
the word from the state Audit and Investigations Division head, Alice
Lee, that they have until the end of July to get their shit together and
enact meaningful policy changes around conflict of interest and
procurement questions or else they may end up losing significant
funding. The district still faces the possibility of being forced into
receivership over financial issues..
The
district was required to make major changes by the findings of the
Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistant team in a report issued on
February 14. Those changes were supposed to have taken place not later
than May 31. Many of the issues involved possible fraudulent use of
Covid-19 funds.
Board President AngelAnn Flores has asserted that she was surprised by the letter from Alice Lee on June 30th.
In
a related issue the district announced that they may sue IAQ
Distribution, Inc. over a 2021 deal for $6.6 million dollars worth of
air filters for school facilities. The District Attorney and the FBI
are looking into the deal as potentially fraudulent.
This
deal began life at a party hosted by former Stockton Mayor Anthony
Silva and attended by a passel of SUSD board members. A highly
questionable contract was let after the party which bypassed some of the
normal policies and procedures and even law in support ofthe IAQ
contract. Two high-ranking staff members resigned rather than going
along with the program.
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