False claims suit filed against Los Angeles Unified School District
A former teacher, with a reputation as a whistleblower, has filed a false claims suit against Johnathan Williams, the founder and co-director of Accelerated School, a charter school, and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Mr. Williams is also a candidate for the Los Angeles County School Board. The suit alleges improper use of state school construction funds. The lawsuit, filed by Dennis Dockstader in Los Angeles Superior Court last summer, was kept under seal until late last week. According to Michelle Meghrouni, a senior LAUSD attorney, Mr. Dockstader has made at least two similar, unsuccessful allegations against the school district. He brushed aside allegations that the suit was politically motivated, noting that it was originally filed months before Mr. Williams declared his intention to seek office. False claims suits seek the return of government funds from a person or entity that improperly used or obtained them. If successful, Mr. Dockstader and his legal team would be entitled to 25% to 50% of the recouped money. Such suits are filed under seal until the attorney general decides whether to dismiss, participate in or stand aside during the litigation. In this case, state prosecutors chose to let the suit proceed without their active involvement. The lawsuit alleges that the land and construction contract violated numerous state rules and bidding requirements and seeks the return of all state money applied to the project, estimated in court documents at more than $12.5 million. Mr. Dockstader charges in the suit that, among other things, the school project was designed to bilk the state out of $2.8 million it paid the district to help defray the costs of the campus land. According to the lawsuit and LAUSD documents, the district and Accelerated pursued and then abandoned the idea of Accelerated donating the land to the district. The land had originally been given to Accelerated by the previous owner. LAUSD instead bought the nearly four-acre site. The move qualified the district for the additional state funds, which were used to help build the modern campus. The suit argues that the state was defrauded of money for which the school district and Accelerated had no legitimate claim. State officials had no immediate response on whether they were fully notified about the land transaction or what difference that could have made. "The Office of Public School Construction takes the allegations very seriously," says Rob Cook, a deputy director for the California Department of General Services, which supervises the construction agency. He adds his agency staff "will take a close look at this matter."
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By Joel Rubin and Evelyn Larrubia
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