The Sacramento County Grand Jury issued its report this afternoon on the Natomas Unified School District’s purchase of land for a new high school in the West Lakeside area of Natomas. The report can be viewed at www.sacgrandjury.org.
Following is a statement from NUSD Board of Trustees President B. Teri Burns in response to the report:
“The Board thanks the Grand Jury for its thorough and diligent investigation of this issue. The District was pleased to fully cooperate with the Grand Jury and appreciates its thoughtful recommendations, particularly those with regard to oversight of professional staff contracted to advise the district.
The District has been, and is in, sensitive ongoing negotiations with all parties involved in the purchase of the site to hopefully resolve and remedy the problems associated with having relied on an erroneous appraisal for the West Lakeside site. The District is not in a position to comment on those ongoing negotiations except to say that they continue to be ongoing, and may prove to be successful for the District and its taxpayers.
The District does not want to jeopardize those negotiations in any way when they could result in an equitable resolution outside of litigation. This would be consistent with the original understanding of the District that it was paying less than “fair market value” for the property, and therefore we cannot comment further.
Once the Board has had the opportunity to review the report, I anticipate that the District will prepare a response and action plan within the next 90 days to address the findings and recommendations.”
Wow. I am glad that the Grand Jury investigated the Westlakeside issue, which as a Natomas homeowner, parent, and teacher, has stuck in my craw for quite some time. While I like Dr. Farrar as a person, I believe this report shows that he is WAY out of his depth when it comes to dealing with the sharks that swim in development waters. I am curious to see what the ultimate resolution here is, and how well (and if) NUSD can negotiate a settlement. What galls me most is AKT donating a few hundred grand to NSF on the one hand while taking back millions with the other unloading undevelopable land… Is there such a thing as a public shaming ceremony? Stocks? Tarring and feathering?
I would also like to hear about how the board let this all roll by with nary an objection.
Good job NUSD Board Members – any questions on why our schools are failing?
Anyone?
There is an article in the Sac Bee also referencing this grand jury report and interesting comments that follow the article. The question is, what, if anything, will happen now? Business as usual, or will there be some accountability finally?
How was it possible that millions were wasted on a fraudulent land deal, and the best comment from a board member is “thank you for a thorough investigation”, she should be fired along with the Superintendent. It always seems education administrators can screw us, and nothing will happen to them. There was quid pro quo, involving the NSF, I wish Will Craig were here to shed light on the matter, he knew how wrong the deal was, imagine what the schools could do with the extra cash??
Who was the attorney involved? Was it Greg Thatch? long time Tsakopoulos attorney.
Who was the appraiser?
There was a flood zone building moratorium and land values plummeted why would they pay this much?
I smell a crime. Someone was paid off, follow the money.
The law states that the appraisal must be done by an independent appraiser…once the Boards lawyer notified them of a conflict of interest they should have backed up and had more appraisals since his appraiser was not independent. One of the most important questions of everyone involved…..what did they know and when did they know it. Was the full Board aware that the lawyer told the Superintendent or Assistant Superintendent that there was a conflict of interest, I don’t think they knew, but this would be easy to prove. If they were not informed…someone needs to be fired and investigated. If they knew, they were complacent with the scam.
There needs to finally be a criminal investigation of Tsakopoulos and his shady deals in Sacramento.
Unfortunately this matter will never be properly investigated.
The locals are controlled by Tsakopoulos.
The Attorney General is controlled by the California Democratic Party which is controlled by Tsakopoulos and Angelides, his nephew.
Don’t vote for these people anymore:
Teri Burns
Sue Heredia
Lisa Kaplan
And Lisa is an attorney (she should know better) AND she says she is running for higher office…
NO WAY!!!!!