Jamaica-born US school superintendent reassigned amid federal probe

The Mount Vernon School board voted Monday to reassign its Jamaica-born superintendent amid a federal probe into the awarding of federal grants amounting to some eight-point five million dollars.

A release from the school board said that at a special meeting of the board Monday night it voted to administratively reassign Dr Waveline Bennett-Conroy, superintendent of schools, until further notice and/or action by the board. Her duties, while reassigned, have not been stated.

Dr Bennett-Conroy will receive her full pay and benefits during the period of reassignment.

At the same time the district school board acknowledged that Bennett-Conroy and the school district face a federal investigation over their handling of federal grant money.

The school board said that the US Attorney's office for the northern district of New York was seeking records from the district and Bennett-Conroy associated with grants that the federal government previously issued to the district.

At the heart of the investigation is the awarding of contracts totalling over eight million dollars in federal grants since 2016 made to a single agency, the West Nyack-based Just Inspire.

Until recently, Bennett-Conroy's son, Marlon Stephenson, was working for the Mount Vernon School district on a 13-month contract as director of business and grants. It is reported that in 2016 Stephenson worked at the same company as Susan Maher, who started Just Inspire shortly after.

The Jamaican-born Dr Bennett-Conroy was appointed school superintendent on July 1, last year but previously served the school district as assistant superintendent for school improvements, overseeing grant-related programmes.

Since last year, she has faced questions over the district's awarding of the federal grant contracts to Just Inspire.

Dr Bennett-Conroy was born in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, and taught for 10 years in Jamaica before migrating to the United states in 1989.

As superintendent of the Mount Vernon school system, she oversees a staff complement of some 1,500 people, including 693 teachers, three high schools and several other schools from Pre-K to grade 8.

She also manages a school budget of some US$266 million and supervises the welfare of some 8,000 children in the school system.

- Lester Hinds

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