IDEA Public Schools received more than 70 reports during the past six months through a system designed to solicit information from whistleblowers.
The system, which includes both a website and a whistleblower hotline, received 72 reports from June 24 to Dec. 6, said Director of Internal Audit Javier Campos, who briefed the IDEA Audit Committee on Wednesday.
“The goal of the hotline is to ensure that IDEA’s resources are used in the best interest of students,” Campos said. “And that employees and the public have a safe way of reporting any concerns.”
The whistleblower system, which is called Lighthouse, allows people to report concerns anonymously.
IDEA previously had an ad-hoc system for reporting concerns, said board Chairman Al Lopez. Problems with that system became apparent in 2020, when questions surfaced about improper spending by senior executives.
“Subsequent to the departures of IDEA’s former CEO and the Chief Financial Officer over the course of last spring and summer, IDEA received emails from an anonymous sender that included detailed allegations about inappropriate expenditures and other misuse of IDEA resources,” according to a message Lopez sent to IDEA employees in May. “Upon reviewing these emails, the Board directed IDEA’s outside counsel to retain special counsel to undertake an in-depth legal and forensic review of financial transactions and activities of IDEA senior executives over the past several years.”
The investigation concluded that “a small...
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