Dear Commons Community,

The New York Times, the Daily News and several other news outlets are reporting that the Federal Government has filed a lawsuit against the test-preparation company, the Princeton Review, accusing it of fraudulently claiming millions of dollars in reimbursement for tutoring services that they said it never delivered to hundreds of underprivileged schoolchildren in New York City.

“In the suit, which was brought against the company and a former supervisor, Ana Azocar, the government said the company submitted false claims between 2006 and 2010 for reimbursement for providing tutoring services under a federally financed program. “The company and certain of its employees forged student signatures, falsified sign-in sheets and provided false certifications in order to deceitfully profit from a well-meaning program,” the United States attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for Princeton Review, Denise DesChenes, said that Ms. Azocar no longer worked for the company and that the current management was “working closely with the U.S. attorney’s office to resolve this matter expeditiously.”

“The activity allegedly occurred within the company’s former Supplemental Educational Services division, which the company discontinued in 2010,” Ms. DesChenes said. “No former S.E.S. employees or executives are with the company today, and current management — most of whom joined the company after the division was shuttered — had no involvement or role in the affairs of S.E.S.”

The suit charges that students participating in Princeton Review tutoring sessions under the Supplemental Educational Services division were required to fill out attendance sheets that were used as part of the record to apply for reimbursement for the federal money. In New York, site managers were instructed by Ms. Azocar to falsify attendance records, the suit claimed. For example, it said, an invoice was submitted for 74 students who were signed in for a class in the Bronx on New Year’s Day in 2008, when there was no class.”

What a travesty that a company supposed to be helping children in need instead sees them as way to unscrupulously increase their profit margins.

For shame!!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Thousands of protesters converged on Lower Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon in the culmination of May Day demonstrations organized by the Occupy Wall Street movement, resulting in occasionally bloody clashes and the arrests of more than 30 demonstrators.

All the arrests were on disorderly conduct charges, and most were of people who were blocking traffic or resisting arrest, said Paul J. Browne, the chief spokesman for the Police Department. Protesters were arrested near Bryant Park in Midtown, on the Williamsburg Bridge, at a park on the Lower East Side and near Washington Square Park.

The New York Times reported:

“In other cities, including Los Angeles and Seattle, demonstrators snarled traffic and smashed windows. Protesters in Oakland, Calif., clashed with officers in riot gear, who fired tear gas. May Day protests were also held around the world, with large crowds marching in Manila and Tunis.

Near Washington Square Park, demonstrators carrying a banner that read “On Strike” disregarded police warnings to stay on the sidewalk and stepped onto Avenue of the Americas. Several officers tackled and arrested them.”

Tony