This is interesting. Any bets that there’s a relationship to someone in the central office (or formerly of) somewhere here?
Payment records released by Norwalk Public School District reveal inconsistencies between the invoices submitted to the district by Stacy Lore, executive director of Spectrum Kids, LLC., and hourly time sheets maintained by Spectrum therapists. The schools contracted with Spectrum Kids, an agency that provides therapy for children with autism, to supplement the services available through district employees.
The district released the documents in response to Freedom of Information requests filed by parents of children receiving special services.
Reviewing invoices from March through August of 2008, parents noted billing for days when their children were hospitalized for surgery, on district-wide snow days, when Lore had e-mailed the parents to cancel a session and on the Fourth of July. Appointments that therapists recorded as lasting an hour and a half were frequently billed to the district as two-hour sessions.
“In looking through these records, it is clear that Stacy was very free-wheeling with her record keeping,” said one parent who requested that her name be withheld.
Documents provided to The Hour include the invoices submitted to the district, log sheets maintained by therapists and e-mails. The invoices show that Lore itemized children’s therapy appointments noting dates, the names of the therapists assigned to the appointments, and hourly fees. Parents compared these invoices with log sheets maintained by the therapists as part of their children’s programs. Several different therapists recorded the dates and times of their visits and signed their names to their entries on the logs. A former employee of Spectrum Kids provided e-mails of some of the weekly time sheets that therapists were required to submit to Lore. These correlate to the entries on the children’s logs.
“We are looking into this,” said Janie Friedlander, director of pupil personnel for Norwalk schools. She said that the district has stopped using Spectrum Kids.
Parents first raised concerns about frequently missed therapy appointments in late 2007 and brought these concerns to the attention of school personnel. They repeated their complaints over the next several months. The parents have shared copies of these e-mails with The Hour.
Several families allege that Stacy Lore defrauded the district when she provided services for their children without evidence that she holds the appropriate credentials. The parents contacted the universities and the national credentialing organization listed on Lore’s resume and all parties state that they have no record of Lore. Their inability to verify her credentials, which Lore has repeatedly failed to provide when asked, led to the parents’ suspicions regarding the agency’s billing practices, as well.
Norwalk schools paid $75 an hour for therapists’ time. E-mails exchanged between Lore and Spectrum therapists reveal that they were paid $25 an hour. The therapists received no benefits. Each of the invoices was initialed by a representative from the district’s special education department before it was submitted for payment.
“The hours we billed were taken directly from therapist time sheets and attendance sheets kept in program books at the clients home,” said Lore in a written statement to The Hour. “Policy states any session canceled by a parent with less than 24 hours notice were also billed. Billing was done by our bookkeeper and information taken again from time sheets. All hours billed were for services that were rendered!”
Lore’s statement went on to say, “Consult hours were based on direct instruction, phone calls (which amounted to far more than hours billed) and program writing, data analysis, report writing, and team meeting time. The hours put in were more than the hours billed and the time spent on each child in and out of direct instruction were again above and beyond those billed to the school.”
Billing records indicate occasions when Lore charged for her consultations. Her fee ranged from $125 to $150 per hour.
Hey it looks like the Hour did some old fashioned investigating reporting. Nice job.
Dissatisfied with the response they have received from school officials who have not provided all the documents listed in the FOI requests, including the district’s files verifying Lore’s credentials, the parents have scheduled an appointment with Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. A representative from the parents’ group will meet with Blumenthal accompanied by Suzanne Letso, public policy liaison between the Connecticut Association of Behavior Analysts and the Behavior Analyst Certification Board, the national credentialing organization.
“If there has been misuse of state funds, we will investigate,” said Blumenthal. “If there is evidence of fraud, we will investigate.”
The Hour filed its own Freedom of Information request last month, seeking proof of Lore’s professional credentials and evidence that the district verified these credentials before it hired her. In a letter to The Hour, the district verified it recieved the request on Sept. 5 and said it would notify the newspaper when it compiled the information. The Hour has not yet received the information requested.
The Hour has repeatedly invited Lore to submit her own documents. She has not done so.
source: The Hour, Special ed payment records reveal inconsistencies, By JOAN GAYLORD, October 7, 2008
