SAN ANTONIO – Following a forensic review that revealed IDEA Public Schools leaders misused funds for their personal gain, IDEA’s Executive Committee Chairman Al Lopez announced that CEO JoAnn Gama and Chief Operation Officer Irma Muñoz have been fired.
Lopez made the announcement in an open letter Tuesday after the board voted to fire the two. In the interim, Lopez will serve as acting CEO of the charter network while Vice Chair Collin Sewell will be acting COO.
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Over the course of last spring and summer, IDEA received anonymous tips about allegations of “inappropriate expenditures and other misuse of IDEA resources,” Lopez wrote in the letter.
The Board then directed IDEA’s outside lawyers to retain a special counsel who was charged with carrying out “an in-depth legal and forensic review” of financial transaction and activities of IDEA senior executives. Evidence that was uncovered during the audit was then independently reviewed by an accounting expert, Lopez wrote.
“In summary, the review uncovered substantial evidence that in the year prior to 2020′s reforms, a small number of IDEA senior leaders directed the use of IDEA financial and staff resources for their personal benefit on multiple occasions,” Lopez wrote. “Furthermore, their actions appeared to be done in a manner to avoid detection by the standard external audit and internal control processes that the Board had in place at the time.”
The board voted to fire Gama and Muñoz, and the board has pledged to cooperate with the Texas Education Agency, which may end up appointing a monitor or a conservator to help ensure the school system runs smoothly.
Lopez would not specify the findings further, citing the potential “involvement of the authorities.”
IDEA Public Schools has seen controversy before related to questionable expenses. In 2019, IDEA CEO Tom Torkelson had plans to sign an eight-year lease on a private jet. Though Torkelson maintained that public funds would not have been used for the aircraft, leaders decided not to move forward with the lease.
Another controversial purchase IDEA leaders chose to discontinue was buying tickets and a luxury box for events at San Antonio’s AT&T Center. Though those purchases were also paid for with private funds, Torkelson had acknowledged that the purchases were “really dumb and unhelpful.”
In April 2020, Torkelson resigned, leading to the appointment of co-founder Gama as the new CEO.
Lopez said he and Sewell will rely on the support from the community to help steer the ship until they find new leaders to hire.
“In closing, let me assure you of this: I will give my all to make sure the founding mission of the organization is honored and our students thrive through these challenging times,” Lopez wrote.