Florida Keys News
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Grand jury eyes school scandal

The Monroe County schools finance director testified before a grand jury in Key West on Wednesday.

Kathy Reitzel is an important witness for the State Attorney's Office's prosecution of Monique Acevedo, former adult education coordinator and wife of Schools Superintendent Randy Acevedo.

Reitzel arrived at the Freeman Justice Center around 10 a.m. and ent...

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The Family with all that Stoff

There is no way you could tell me that he didn't know or was not a part of what his wife was doing, there just know way, I know that he had a lot going on but lets get real, He just looket the otherway but he new and what part of it as we are finding out! As for the news paper reporting this, there are doing what the press do and that all, putting the fact out there, just the fact. As for the School system they Should have taken the Steps and suspentent Him tell the out come and for His wife she should have not got out of jail, the student are laughting at the system,the money where is it, put them in jail leave them there and take everthing they have that what need to happen!

What's sad!

What's sad is the fact that this person writing this little statement has so many misspelled words and incorrect punctuation. I'm really thinking our school system really fails us in so many ways, not just this one.

Just blaming Mr. Acevedo is wrong

Most of you voted for Randy. You most likely berated the other candidate because you believed in Randy's Hype. It did not matter to you that Randy failed to pay his own mortgage and was in forclosure, it did not matter when all the school real estate adventures failed, you looked away when it was obvious that Randy had to spend more money then what he had to keep the school running, you all embraced Challenge day and paying its founder Sunny more and more money to keep her gainfully employed. There was no outcry when he put Monique in charge and raised her pay for a position she was not qualified for. Hell no one cared when he gave his son $6000.00 for some bull**** job. Nepotism at its finest!!! Now, all you once, Randyites turn your back on him and are feeding him to the Lions. You should all be ashamed of yourselves for voting without checking these FACTS. You voted for "hope and change". Sounds almost like why you voted for OBAMA too! His affiliations with Chicago mobsters, domestic terrorists, racist black revolutionary ministers, and his obvious Marxist background was by no means alarming to any of you was it? We will pay and pay for these mistakes. Oh well back to watching re-runs of American Idol. I bet you voted for that too

I agree (about Randy, not

I agree (about Randy, not Obama). Don't blame me; I voted for the other guy :P

IF RANDY ACEVEDO GETS INDICTED

will he be arrested, chained and dragged down Duval street? Will SA Dennis Ward ride in a chariot with Marc Kohl holding a wreath over his head? Will a wagon load of the treasures that Monique accumlated with her thievery follow? If so will all of Rome, oops, I mean Key West be out waving palm fronds and throwing turds at Randy? Just think Ben Hur ain't got nothing on the Key West Empire! Rome burned and the band at Sloppy Joes played on.

What drugs are you on?

And why does this make no sense whatsoever?

and he did

Thanks Dennis - we have had enough!

Aftermath of Testimony

Let's assume, for arguments sake that a deal was cut with the SA and Reitzel got immunity from prosecution for her testimony. Will this episode restore integrity to the finance office? Do you think for one minute that she will be repentant and in the future act with extreme prejudice to report instances of public corruption and administrative malfeasance? Given her track record of demonstrated past performance and reluctance in the first place to step forward when she knew about the waste and corruption? I pray that this was instruction enough to her and others to learn that as public servants there is an obligation to report it when it happens and persevere through the intimidation and fear of reprisal for being "disloyal" to the hand that fed you. JFKulick

School Board

It is time for the Board to do what it was elected for --the education of our children. Our State Attorney did his job --- so lets educate our children without corruption, without politics, without lies and without losing sight of our goal

Well...

I guess you could say this is a part of their education. Classify it as Criminology 101, Business Education 102, Ethics 103, and Political Science 104... Wow! what a *field trip* this has been for the students!

If You're going to blame Kathy Reitzel, then

you need to throw out EVERYONE who kept quiet for all these years: R. Acevedo, Mike Henriquez, Frankie St. James, Fraga, Andola, and the list goes on.

Anything better to do...

I am a conch and have been reading this scandal since the beginning. This is the first time that I have made any comment to any article. I think about the kids that this scandal affects and not about all the people who have wined and cried and thought they knew what they were commenting to. The online paper comes out around 1:00 am. I have noticed comments to articles as early as 1:10. Do you people have a life. Sometime when I am reading these comments I think that I am on the Rome show on AM 1600 listening to the smack off. This scandal will affect everyone who lives in this community for a long time and i think instead of beating each other up we should try to let this scandal play out, and then maybe try to support the real victims of this soap opera, the kids. I do not live a perfect life, and I guarantee that 99.9% of the people commenting online to these articles also do not. I think that what Monique did was disgusting, but there are allot people in this world that cannot help what they do for mental reasons. For someone to steal as rampant as Monique did she has big mental problem. Monique has done something wrong in the eyes of the law and God, she has been caught, she has been arrested and hopefully she will be convicted and spend enough time behind bars that will make everyone in this community feel good again about the prople that run it. I know Randy Acevedo personally, and I think the he is an overall good person. Now these are my thoughts about this scandal. I think that instead of firing one of the best high school principals that I can remember, Randy should fire some of the adminitrators that are making huge salaries and also stealing from this community. I think that if Randy did not know about the stealing going on at the school board, and you notice I said stealing in gerneral, that he is an incompetent adminitrator and should step aside so people will respect him again. The Finance director and all parties involved in this cover up should be fired, includig any board members that have held office for more thatn 4 years. Mike Henriquez is also incompetent and should resign his post. Bookie should enjoy his retirement and leave the school board alone, we have had enough of you. I have made my comments known and will now go on with my life, like the majority of you should.

She did report it to her boss

He chose to allow his wife to continue and ignore Kathy. You also don't understand that if Kathy had went to Andy Griffiths with only a few examples he would probably try to cover it up seeing as he has ALWAYS done whatever Randy wants him to do. Then Randy would fire Kathy at the end of her contract period and guess what- none of this would have been uncovered and they would still be spending YOUR money like no tomorrow. Think about it. Andy had to take it to the authorities because of the shear volume of inappropriate charges.

aftermath of testimony

What sanctimonious drivel-- you ever been in that situation and have a mortgage to pay? You're blaming the wrong person -- a classic bait and switch.

Many of us have mortgages to pay but that doesn't mean we

take a dishonest road to do so. That's not a good excuse for illegal behavior or for condoning thievery.

I say they all need to go!

Given what was presented at the last School Board Meeting by the auditor, ALL of the members of the Finance Department need to go and we need to start over. They did not do their jobs. They did not know what their job was. They did not follow policy and procedures. And, when they had a question about something, they did not ask or seek out the answer. Clean house and redecorate!

Yes, clean house!

Very much agree. Everyone in the Finance Department is equally responsible for not complying with the policies, instead they all took the easy road of covering up for their superiors.
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