BALTIMORE, Md. – Two former Baltimore City Public Schools employees face felony theft charges for allegedly stealing school funds and electronics through multiple schemes.
The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted former Baltimore Community High School Principal Leslie Lewis, 44, on a total of six theft counts on Monday – three for theft, two for misappropriation by a fiduciary and one charge of conspiracy to commit theft.
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According to the Office of the Maryland State Prosecutor:
The charges allege that in one scheme Lewis, while employed as Principal of Baltimore Community High School, stole approximately $13,409.28 from a PNC bank account which she set up on behalf of Baltimore Community High School. These funds were the proceeds of the sale of school uniforms, school supplies, snacks, class dues payments, and graduation fees. Lewis used an ATM/ Debit card associated with this PNC account to make 49 ATM withdrawals at Maryland Live Casino.
A second scheme charges that Lewis used deceptive purchase orders to steal over $40,000.00 worth of technology from Baltimore City Public Schools through their internal purchasing system.
Lewis’ colleague, 45-year-old former Community High teacher Albert Fluker was also charged with theft and conspiracy to commit theft for allegedly scheming with Lewis to swipe four flat screen televisions from the school.
“There is no more trusted and relied upon in the school system than a school principal,” State Prosecutor Emmet Davitt said. “That betrayal of trust by Ms. Lewis is monumentally offensive and cannot be tolerated.”
Perhaps not surprising, students at the now closed Baltimore Community High School didn’t learn very much.
Data from the Maryland High School Assessment tests show a mere 26 percent of students are proficient in math and only 23 percent are proficient in English, according to U.S. News & World Report.
The statewide average for both subjects is about 80 percent proficient.
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U.S. News & World Report analyzes student performance data to award medals to deserving schools, and the process depends in part on the “Gap Between Actual and Expected Performance Index.”
“This measures the distance from statistically expected performance on state assessments given the school’s student poverty level,” according to the site. “A positive value means a school performed better than expected.”
Baltimore Community High School received a negative 42.5.
U.S. News & World Report listed the school’s graduation rate at 34 percent.
It did not receive a medal.
The school was finally shuttered in June 2016 after years of dismal academics and complaints from neighbors who allege things got so bad they locked themselves inside their homes when school let out each day, WBAL reports.
The final straw came after students at the alternative school beat a Dundalk man nearly to death.
“We’ve all seen and heard of reports about kids leaving the school and destruction they’ve caused in the neighborhood over the years and years and years, and it had finally came to this,” local resident Jack Stuprich told the news site.
“For years, vandalism, burglaries, there have been beatings, this is the worst one,” Barb Ferguson added. “The next step is someone is going to get murdered.”


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