Dozen High-Ranking Educators Accused Of Scamming School Lunch Program

July 13, 2012 12:00 AM " CHICAGO (CBS) – A dozen Chicago principals and assistant principals have been removed for allegedly scheming to obtain free or reduced-price school lunches for their own children.

The dozen are accused of falsifying forms to make it appear that their children were eligible for the lunches, which are reserved for students from low-income families.

CBS 2 Investigator Pam Zekman and the Better Government Association exposed school lunch fraud at North Grand High School in July 2010. They found teachers there not reporting their salaries in order to obtain free lunches.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Mike Krauser Reports

Download: principals-v2.mp3

“We have to be able to trust these individuals to educate our children and to teach them values and to be honest and ethical,” BGA President Andy Shaw said Friday. “For them to be overseeing a scam in which they’re ripping off a federal poverty program is scandalous. It’s disgraceful, it’s absolutely reprehensible. Thank goodness a courageous group of employees came forward and said something.”

Better Government Association logo. (Credit: BGA) "

Click here to read the whole article