Posted on 05/16/2015 10:52:29 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Sources from Oak Grove School District in San Jose want the superintendent to do something about a middle school principal with what they say are questionable spending habits.
The sources came to the NBC Bay Area Investigative after they say the Superintendent’s office didn’t do enough to address their concerns about Bernal Intermediate School Principal Kristina Clecak.
“Someone has to listen. Someone has to look at this,” said a district employee who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. “Our job is to protect the public’s money to educate these children.”
In October, the Investigative Unit requested Clecak’s expense reports based on an insider’s tip.
“That scared them,” the source said. “That was an ‘oh dear, someone is finding out about this’ moment for them.” The records revealed 17 charges in 2012 to a web-based jewelry company, Stella and Dot. According to its website, Stella and Dot is “a social selling company that creates flexible entrepreneurial opportunities” in addition to a retail portal.
Our insider sources say they’re frustrated with Clecak’s attempt to use district dollars in her side business as an independent stylist for Stella and Dot. Records show the district flagged the charges as “not allowable” when she submitted her expense reports.
The district forced Clecak to reimburse the charges, but did not remove her credit card privileges until more than two years later. “It’s happened within the last four months,” the source said. “I truly believe it happened because of your investigation.”
Sources inside the district say they’ve questioned Clecak’s expenses for years since she was a principal at an elementary school in the district. “Six years of this type of stuff, being brought to the administration and nothing being done. It continues year after year,” the source said.
In 2014, The union created a survey for Bernal teachers to evaluate Principal Clecak. Nearly two-thirds of the teachers answered 60 questions. Some of the comments included, “…she’s the absolute antithesis of a leader,” and “My principal is unethical and picks on or bullies teachers.”
According to the Survey, there were 309 unsatisfactory responses.
“That’s huge. That’s an alarming number,” said Josie Carillo-Johnson, the former teachers union president, who conducted the survey. “Our teachers are held accountable and there was absolutely no accountability for her behavior.”
“They call her the ghost, the ghost principal,” said Lynne Martinez, the President of the Oak Grove Educators Association Union. “She’s not seen on campus. She’s not seen in the classrooms.”
The teacher’s union just completed another survey on Principal Clecak’s performance. This time, less than half of the teachers completed the survey. The numbers do show an improvement, but a number of teachers still raised similar concerns about their principal.
The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit requested an interview with Superintendent Jose Manzo to discuss the expense reports and the teacher’s survey. Citing private personnel matters, the district declined to answer the questions raised by staff, teachers, and the union, but did release a statement saying in part, “The credit cards in isolated situations were not being used consistent with (district) policy and it took appropriate action.”
The Investigative Unit also requested an interview with Principal Kristina Clecak. In an email, she referenced the district’s statement and added, “Furthermore I do not have any comment.
Maybe he thought he was an elected official.
Don’t school districts have accounting departments? Doesn’t the local Board of Education require periodic audits of the books by an independent accounting firm?
If not this story shows that they should.
If I read this correctly, she was only found out due to an ‘insider’s tip’. Not a great way to manage the store.
(the memories still send a shudder!)
No pictures found. Is she black? Inquiring minds wish to know! Bets are riding...
The headline is a little misleading. From the article, it appears that she was using her district credit card to fund a home-based jewelry business.
Speaking of education, remember the “School of No” principal Marcella Sills, wrapped in her fur coat, with Michelle Obama’s patented racial-entitlement scowl? Well, she’s still employed by the NY public schools, as of a couple of months ago:
http://nypost.com/2015/03/15/school-of-no-principal-accused-of-fraud-still-collects-paycheck/
Czech? Looks like she could be Slavic with a blond dye job. Definitely didn't look Black if I was looking at the right picture.
Could be CZ, heard she was fat white big time. I couldn’t find any pix, figured the internet ate them or something. I thought sure as hell she was 0 colored the way they were tiptoeing around taking her card away in the face of her obvious theft. Looks like I owe myself a drink. What a way to lose the bet!
Now THERE'S your weapons-grade deterrent!
Good grief.
I check up on her story every few months, to see whether she’s been fired. Not yet, and probably never will be. She’ll be employed at full salary, doing nothing - no change there - until she retires with full benefits or dies.
Oh, those whacky “educators”. Everything they do is “for the children”.
For convenience, fully disclosed and promptly repaid, no problem. Undisclosed and not repaid, big problem.
"They call her the ghost, the ghost principal," said Lynne Martinez, the President of the Oak Grove Educators Association Union. "She's not seen on campus. She's not seen in the classrooms." The teacher's union just completed another survey on Principal Clecak's performance. This time, less than half of the teachers completed the survey.An image search turned up three images in which she's wearing some bling around her neck, different bling in each pic.
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