Sunday, September 5, 2010

Now that Monique Acevedo has been sentenced to eight years in prison and ordered to make restitution of $413,000 during 22 years of probation and her husband, deposed Schools Superintendent Randy Acevedo, also has been sentenced, there seems to be satisfaction in Monroe County and a feeling that justice has been done; that the book is closed.

That is not the case. There still is a lot of work to be done in regaining the public's trust.

Monique Acevedo's acceptance of her sentence, while Randy Acevedo's appealing of his probation and community service, offers an anti-climax in a chapter that has not yet been completed.

The Monroe County school district was brought to a standstill because of their crimes. For months, School Board meetings were dominated by discussion of the School Scandal.

The Scandal was not only directed at the Acevedos, but administrators up and down the chain of command. Numerous administrators lost their positions or had to defend their actions. The actions of Monique Acevedo, who served as Adult Education coordinator until resigning 18 months ago, and Randy Acevedo affected hundreds of families throughout the Keys.

While Monique Acevedo was making thousands of dollars' worth of personal purchases with a school credit card and holding onto cash receipts from a school dance as well as from adult class fees, teachers and staff were having to use their own money to buy school supplies because the school budget couldn't handle them.

The money she stole was a meaningful sum. While she has been ordered to repay the money, there is no assurance that even a small percentage will find its way back into the school district accounts. During her 22 years of probation, she would need to pay more than $18,000 a year to remove her debt.

She hurt a lot of people, and her husband has been convicted of knowledge of her crimes.

The School Scandal, no doubt, led the electorate to approve the measure that will allow the School Board to hire a superintendent in two years' time, rather than continuing to have the people elect one. It was a measure that had failed several times at the polls, but not this time.

After Gov. Charlie Crist removed Randy Acevedo as superintendent in June 2009, he appointed Joe Burke, who will serve at least until the board makes its appointment in late 2012.

As we have said previously, Burke has proved to be a worthy appointment.

But doing a "good job" is not enough.

We need a proactive superintendent who will make certain that no one ever again dips his or her hands into the cash box.

We are heartened that the school auditors will be just as thorough.

Unfortunately, we will also be selecting School Board members who first will promise to carry on the financial safeguards that have been put in place, then say they will look out for our children's best interests.

But, in the end, how will we know all of this has happened?

It could take years for us to trust our educators again. We have been let down. We have to recover, too.

When that trust is earned once again, we can close the chapter on the School Scandal. The rest of the book on Educating Our Children has yet to be written.

-- The Citizen