Government Employment Fraud - The "Mable Caleb"

In the previous Blog, OffHisMeds predicted that HISD (Houston Independent School District) would punt on punishment of principal Mable Caleb and her co-conspirators, variously accused of cheating, theft, misappropriation of funds, nepotism and racketeering. Also, that there would be no criminal charges referred despite clear evidence that all these charges were true.

So imagine my surprise - tinged as it was with suspicion - when the HISD panel recommended Caleb be fired. My suspicion was well-founded: her "firing" is a meaningless gesture, since she will be allowed to retire at $135,000 retirement salary at age 59, and will retain her subsidized health care and 4% COLA raises on her pay every year. Cost to taxpayers if she lives 25 years: $5,000,000.

HISD's internal investigation has been referred to the State AG's office for further investigation, but leave there no doubt: their finding will be to not pursue criminal charges, regardless of how richly they are deserved.

One last final act of cynicism on the part of Terry Grier and HISD is that they ruled on her eligibility for pension before the matter of criminal prosecution was resolved, thus locking her pension in regardless of the outcome of a criminal investigation. If this is Grier's idea of cleaning house, please let his tenure be a short one. We don't need another Saavedra.

That said, HISD has introduced into the lexicon a new term, and it is nothing if not auspicious to pedagogy: Let "Mable Caleb" forever after be the definition of rewarding criminal activity on the part of public sector employees, not with criminal prosecution, but taxpayer funds.......