Lakewood schools officials spent millions in questionable deals

 http://www.app.com/viewart/20121028/NJNEWS2003/310280019/lakewood-schools

The Lakewood Board of Education’s dealings with some of its largest vendors have been plagued by lax oversight and questionable contracts over the years, an Asbury Park Press investigation has found.

In one case, the school board paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for grounds-keeping and school custodial services — before work was done.

In another instance, the district paid $10,000 to Michael I. Inzelbuch, the school board attorney, for an unspecified reason as part of the sale of a former public school building used for the district’s administrative offices to Beth Medrash Govoha, a prestigious rabbinical college in Lakewood, according to the settlement statement.

In addition, it appears that the school board paid tens of millions of dollars to an educational company that provides nonpublic students with a wide variety of services without anyone in the district verifying the accuracy of the company’s bills, according to the current school board attorney, Stephen J. Edelstein.