11 more face criminal charges related to Detroit Public Schools

Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy has charged 11 people with crimes against Detroit Public Schools.

Only three of the people charged are former district employees. They include two cafeteria workers accused of pocketing lunch money, and an ex-teacher who failed to report drunk driving offenses.

The other cases involve laptops stolen from Detroit schools.

Roy Roberts is the district’s Emergency Manager. He says these types of infractions, while relatively small, hurt larger efforts to reform city schools.

“At a time when we are working to drive even more resources to the classroom, with almost 90% of funding going directly to schools and school-related programs, why would we let any funds flow out of the classroom for personal or illegal use?”

The Wayne County prosecutors office and the Detroit Public Schools Office of the Inspector General have been working together to root out crime in the school system since 2009.

DPS has made more than 40 criminal referrals to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office Public Integrity Unit since the collaboration between DPS and the prosecutor's office began in 2009.