Judge sentences 4 principals in Detroit school scandal

(Photo: Tresa Baldas, Detroit Free Press)

DETROIT — One by one, the convicted principals pleaded for mercy, insisting they lived for their students and had suffered enough already.

One called himself “a hero.”

But the judge sentenced them all to prison for helping a millionaire businessman cheat the state’s poorest schoolchildren out of $2.7 million in supplies.

“They need to know that they all deserve better than what these principals gave us,” U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts said Thursday in sentencing four more Detroit principals to prison for stealing from the students they were supposed to protect.

In a sensational school corruption trial that has triggered public outrage and planted a bull's-eye on Detroit’s struggling schools, Roberts handed down sentences that ranged from six months to one year to four ex-principals who took kickbacks from vendor Norman Shy as rewards for approving his phony invoices. The scheme, prosecutors said, cheated Detroit’s schools out of $2.7 million in supplies that were paid for but never delivered.

Prosecutors had argued for stiffer penalties — in some cases double what the defendants got — but Roberts took into account the principals' otherwise clean records and years of good deeds.

For Spain Elementary Principal Ronald Alexander, whose school won a $500,000 giveaway on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in February, any prison sentence was too severe. At least that’s what he argued to the judge as he called himself “a hero” who lived for his students and school community.

“All I have ever done is give my best to these children,” Alexander said. “I buried three students because the kids’ parents didn’t have money — out of my own pocket ... I love this school. It think it's unfair."

Alexander, who received a one-year prison sentence for accepting $23,000 in kickbacks from Shy and a $23,000 restitution order, blamed his legal troubles on the vendor.

"Mr. Shy — he did me wrong. He was saying he gave me donations," Alexander said, referring to the gift cards and checks that Shy gave him over the years.

Alexander said he spent it on the kids.

"I did not pad my pockets ... some of the gift cards are still at home," he said later, blaming Shy again. "He's a known crook and he's been doing it for years."

Alexander also stressed that he needed to stay out of prison so that he could care for his 87-year-old mother. He talked about his army of supporters — students, staff, religious leaders and the parent association at Spain Elementary School, which wrote the judge a letter saying it wants Alexander back.

"Nobody knows how bad I feel to have to go out from my job like this," Alexander said.

Gerlma Johnson, 56. (Photo: REGINA H. BOONE, Detroit Free Press)

Roberts reminded him that he had pleaded guilty.

"Despite your guilty plea, it sounds to me that you think you're guilty of nothing," Roberts said.

Roberts also rebuffed Alexander’s claim that he was hoodwinked by Shy.

"You had everything in your hands," Roberts said. "Mr. Shy did not make you commit a crime."

Roberts also handed down a one-year sentence to former principal Gerlma Johnson, who sobbed after learning her punishment for accepting $22,884 in kickbacks from Shy.

Johnson, 60, the former principal at Charles Drew Academy and Earhart Elementary-Middle School, pleaded guilty to bribery in May and said she spent her kickbacks buying jewelry, perfume and clothing for herself and helping her school.

In addition to the year behind bars, Roberts ordered Johnson to pay $22,884 in restitution to DPS.

Johnson said she was sorry.

"I apologize to DPS, and most of all, I apologize to my students,” she said.

Former principal Tanya Bowman also was apologetic as she received a nine-month prison sentence for accepting $12,500 in kickbacks from Shy.

The former principal of Osborn Collegiate Academy of Mathematics, Science and Technology also was ordered to pay $12,500 in restitution to DPS. Bowman said she failed her students after spending her life trying to do the right thing and teaching students to do the same.

“I accept full responsibility. ... I am at peace with whatever decision you decide to make,” Bowman said.

Tanya Bowman. (Photo: Jessica J. Trevino, Jessica J
. Trevino, Detroit Free)

Former special education principal Tia Von Moore-Patton received the lightest sentence handed down Thursday — six months — but she also took the smallest kickback from Shy: six gift cards totaling $4,000.

Moore-Patton, 46, principal at Jerry White Center High School, pleaded guilty to bribery in May and faced 12-18 months in prison under the terms of her plea agreement. She admitting to helping Shy bill DPS for goods that never reached her school, which educates students who are autistic, visually impaired, hearing impaired or severely cognitively impaired.

"I made a poor decision," Moore-Patton said in court. "And I apologize. I'd like to apologize to my students, because my students mean everything."

Tia Von Moore-Patton,
46. (Photo: Tresa Baldas,
 Detroit Free Press)

Moore-Patton was among 14 defendants charged in March with participating in Shy’s kickback scheme. Of the 14 defendants, 13 have pleaded guilty. Eight have been sentenced.

Shy, the mastermind, received the stiffest sentence: five years. He also has to pay $2.7 million in restitution. Assistant superintendent Clara Flowers received a three-year sentence on Tuesday for accepting $324,785 in kickbacks from Shy. She also has to pay the kickbacks back to DPS as restitution. That was the stiffest sentence so far out of any educator.

Ronnie Sims, ex-principal of Fleming Elementary and Brenda Scott Middle School, was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in prison for pocketing nearly $59,000 in kickbacks from Shy.

Nina Graves-Hicks, ex-principal at Davis Aerospace Technical High School, was sentenced to one year in prison for accepting $27,385 in kickbacks from Shy. Her kickbacks included gift cards to Bed Bath and Beyond, Dress Barn and Perfumania.

Three more principals will be sentenced next week; one in October.

The only defendant who has not pleaded guilty in the case is Josette Buendia, 50, of Garden City, principal at Bennett Elementary School. She is charged with accepting $45,775 in kickbacks from Shy.

None of the accused DPS principals work at the district anymore.