Head Start Agency Accused of Fraud

One of the largest providers of Head Start child-care programs in Los Angeles County has launched an internal investigation into accusations by employees and parents of fraud and mismanagement, officials said Thursday.

Under the supervision of the county Office of Education, the nonprofit Latin American Civic Assn. is looking into numerous complaints of misconduct, including pressuring teachers to falsify documents about the number of hours parents have volunteered at the agency’s 24 campuses.

Each hour is worth about $15 in funding credits to the association. The in-kind contributions are factored toward its obligation to match 20% of its $9.76 million in annual federal funding. The association receives the money through its contract with the Office of Education.

Irene Tovar, the association’s executive director, dismissed the allegations against her agency, which serves 1,385 mostly poor preschoolers in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys. Tovar, 63, said she has made enemies by raising educational standards in the 300-member agency, prompting some to fear for their jobs.

In addition to allegations of mismanagement, Tovar, the association’s leader since 1993, is accused of having used the agency as a platform to fight Valley secession by sponsoring a symposium last May exploring city breakup.

Tovar, a prominent figure in the Democratic party and in Latino politics in the region since the 1960s, said she always made it clear that her advocacy was personal and did not represent the views of the association. She said the symposium was an educational forum, not a rally.

But officials said they are concerned about all of the accusations levied against Tovar and the agency and will ensure that a thorough investigation is conducted.

“They’re fairly serious” allegations, said Frank Kwan, a spokesman for the Office of Education. “It has our attention, without a doubt.”

Kwan said the allegations came as his office was nearing completion of its annual audit of the nonprofit group. He said no glaring problems have been discovered so far, but that the audit’s release will be delayed at least a month because officials “were going back and being much more thorough.”

Tovar said some of the agency’s troubles center on the fact that some staff members are uncomfortable about Head Start’s requirement that half its teaching staff hold bachelor of arts or associate of arts degrees by September.

“There’s a fear factor that they’re going to lose their jobs,” said Tovar, who was a high-profile aide to former California Gov. Jerry Brown and who was disqualified in her bid for a Los Angeles City Council seat in 1993 after failing to collect enough voter signatures to keep her name on the ballot. She currently is on the board of Los Angeles Mission College and is president of Cal State Northridge’s alumni association.

Ruben Zacarias, chairman of the association’s nine-member board, said he expects Tovar to file a written response to the allegations by next week. After that, the board will conduct its own investigation.

“We have a responsibility to look into these allegations and take corrective or disciplinary action if need be,” he said.

Tovar is being blamed for the bitter relationship between the teachers union and the agency.

Adrianne Lerma, a steward in the teachers union, said morale is low and many want Tovar to resign. Lerma complained about crowded conditions at the agency’s North Hills school, where classes run from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., rather than the standard 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. She said the shift violates a union agreement.

“We have teachers standing and eating their lunch because there’s nowhere to sit,” Lerma said. “They’re holding their class material in the back of their car because there’s no desks. They’re also going home late at night in unsafe neighborhoods.”

Some teachers accuse Tovar of verbal abuse, intimidation and ignoring requests for meetings.

“I was wrongly terminated,” said Blanca Mendez, a teacher for 25 years who was fired last year for leaving her North Hollywood campus without permission. Mendez said she went off-site to laminate classroom material and was never given a chance to dispute her dismissal.

Tovar said she cannot always be accessible because of her workload, and she has assistants to handle personnel matters.

Some teachers and parents say the agency’s employees work in fear of being reprimanded and are controlled by a handful of supervisors loyal to Tovar.

“It’s a nonprofit mafia,” said Susan Lopez-McKinney, whose mother was a former personnel administrator who left the agency after a dispute with Tovar in 1993.

Lopez-McKinney’s 5-year-old daughter attended the agency’s Granada Hills site and is one of several children who have recently been denied mental health services advertised by the agency as a free provision, she said.

The North Hills resident also said she signed blank forms that teachers would later fill out “creatively” to show she had volunteered 16 hours a month. In reality, she volunteered an average of three hours a month, she said.

Such practices are widespread, said Oralia Mongue, who was fired over a dispute with a supervisor in October 2001, after 15 years with the organization.

“Even if a parent spent half an hour taking out the trash, I have to put down lies and say they were doing something for six hours,” she said.