"As long as the district got what they paid for. Who cares who owns what. I agree with the good grief, do the police really not have anything better to dO??

I would say ' GO GET HIM' if he had out right stole money, and the district had nothing to show for what he bought. But for the sounds of this article that is not the case."

First off, if you actually read the entire article it states that this guy's deliberate decision to use his friends' company may have cost the school district (in other words the taxpayers) an extra $161,000. Second, no, the police do not have better things to do, this would be part of what they are paid to do. Gotta love your attitude of "who cares". I, for one, care as a taxpayer if an extra $161,000 was spent that could have been used elsewhere. You, on the other hand, could care less where tax dollars get squandered. With folks like you casting votes its no wonder we're in the situation that we're in not only state wide but nation wide. Hope and change, eh buddy.

No big surprise with this mess because the Janesville School District has been mismanaged for years. Why else are the taxes covering eduaction so high? But don't worry about this and other missteps because the board will just pass it along with your next property tax hike!

bellagio. peeps here already know your level of ignorance...i suggest you stop highlighting it for them.

good luck keeping thekid on topic; the only thing he can discuss is his little crack pipe and how everybody should be able to sell whatever ILLEGAL drug that they want.

It's all a vast right wing conspiracy

This is clearly a breakdown in an essential business process at the school district, and the process needs to be addressed beyond the obvious criminal activities. The purchasing procedure was flawed, and the School Board authorization to purchase was flawed. How do taxpayers know that the broken process has been fixed?

irishbychoice, good luck getting people to understand that.
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While fraud is fraud and this was clearly two bad actors working in concert, I think the school district needs to ask some tough questions about how this purchase was vetted. A shell company should not have been able to be selected as the vendor, with the amount of money at stake.
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This could also lead to federal charges. This guy is due for some ... detention.

My question to the JSD is how did the business manager ok this spending? Didn't now retired, Doug Bunton, check with other software companies or look into this Avontur company before spending this huge sum of money? Seems to me to be a bit suspicious overall, or as though a lot of people aren't/weren't really doing their job.

Zoom, thank you. That is what I meant just got ahead of myself. This is an important topic to me and I was a little over enthusiastic with my comment like so many others! I really hope he burns for this.

"The city" was not overcharged, and those funds could NOT have gone to the ice rink. The School District of Janesville is a separate entity from the City of Janesville, and they have separate budgets and tax levies.

Hey, this city is all about "creative financing" and under-the-table hidden agendas, so what's the big deal?

Here's an idea -- for restitution, maybe he should be forced to become an investor in the ice rink (like all the the taxpayers were forced to become), but then he's probably a geek who doesn't give "two sheets" about hockey (nor do I)!

and the Wisconsin corruption continues..... burn him at the stake tie him to a tree and spank her relentlessly. OR just slap his hand as usual and let him go.

That money could have went to the new Ice rink, what a shame..

I have always said the board needs to pay more attention to what they are spending money on then just to continue to spend money. Were there is smoke there is fire for sure.

That is what happen when you do not promote fiscal responsibility. The board keeps spending like there is no tomorrow with people unemployed, and suffering.

** Once something shows up ten other things arise at the same time.

i appreciate you taking the time to reply to my post again spark. i dont think my post was a rant but the time and place for my drug rant, in case you havent noticed is everywhere. so despite your advice i do believe ill continue doing what im doing. i REALLY cant believe i have to say this AGAIN(my 7 year old would have got it by now) im not gonna stop...if you dont like what i say DONT EXPLETIVE RESPOND. good day. i said good day.

Isn't the fired IT the son of one of the recently retired principals?

What is our district doing? The article states that our district could've saved a bunch of money by using a less expensive company. Who makes these decisions to ok such large purchases?

The recent news about the JSD does not look good for our community. It seems that every day the Gazette prints an article that makes our district look very unattractive.

Seems like this kid had too much leway and not enough supervision. He should have to obviously pay it all back to the TAX PAYERS and work it off. Make him sell that pretty little Milwaukee Condo. Does the lady in Arizona get in trouble too??

"He took the money, bought a much cheaper system and pocketed the rest!!!!! "

No, the monthly payment from the city would not go directly to Keirns, it would go to the company set up by his friend (Fermanian at Avontur). Avontur then provided overpriced software and server use. It looks like he was then allowed to take money out of the Avontur account by his friend (Fermanian). That's a kickback. The city was basically overcharge by more than $161,000, according to the article.

Kid - Seriously, give me a break. That is just stupid and you know it. There's a time and a place for the drug rants, this has nothing to do with it. Let's stay on subject. There's dopes that have posted that don't see anything wrong with this and that's alarming as hell.

maybe they could have looked and found him last night rather than using resources arresting adults for selling adults drugs(not in a bar).

really in our society there is to much ease in spending tax payer money. The daycare funding , medicare/medicaid payments. It seems like some people think if you have a college degree it automatically makes one trust worthy.

Maybe the school should have more check and balances as to where and how district money is being spent. How many people had to sign off on this huge check? How many people questioned for where and what the money was going for? With the school budget as tight as it is , you think it would be ' hard' to spend so much money and would have to get several approvals along the way.

how might this be connected to the janesville school district not having up to date computer systems and software?

You people can't understand what your reading. He took the money, bought a much cheaper system and pocketed the rest!!!!! Had they used a reputable company the same software and server would have been way less. HE SCAMMED the district.

CallitasIseeit: Thank you for noting the $161,000 overcharge. After reading some of these comments downplaying the incident, I thought I'd misread the article. I hope they catch this little crook and prosecute without a plea deal. Macdaddy: You are so right about "political donations".

I think NVGRF fell and hit his head.

If he is charged, sentence him to clean the high schools and work cleaning until the money is paid back.

All the Bush family's fault!

Yes, the business manager retired. Word of his planned retirement was out long before any computer issues surfaced.

It's all Obama's fault!

curtaincall - What part of using the schools money to buy a condo did you not understand? If you think this is acceptable, I hate to see what else you think is acceptable. Wow.

Wow.

Curtaincall-Are you serious? A $161,000 overcharge is criminal. Wake up.

my_3_kids, it could be two counts of the same charge. Per the article, Keirns bought software AND the use of an outside server.

curtaincall, Keirns apparently got a kickback. That's illegal when it's arranged by a government employee.

Who was the districts business manager? Isn't he gone too?

>>"Brandon M. Keirns, 31, Milwaukee, is accused of transferring money the school district paid the companies into his personal bank account and using some money to buy a condo."<<->>"Keirns is wanted on an arrest warrant charging two felony counts of being a public employee entering into a contract with private interests."<< !! It looks like more than "Being a Public employee" charge here.. (this being just one part of the criminal felony reports..) I really don't think the police are just looking at the Software Purchase!!! It looks like they may investigate possible Embezzlement charges too (from what I read)

curtaincall:

Get a copy of the paper and read the whole story. You might change your mind on the whole police involvement issue. I have a HUGE problem with a public employee using money from public funds that is earmarked specifically for a specific project, not using all of the money that was "budgeted", and then pocketing the difference. Do you honestly still feel the same way? What this clown did with OUR tax money is downright criminal.

As long as the district got what they paid for. Who cares who owns what. I agree with the good grief, do the police really not have anything better to dO??

I would say ' GO GET HIM' if he had out right stole money, and the district had nothing to show for what he bought. But for the sounds of this article that is not the case.

i am not saying this is right, but this happens way more than you hear of. Especially involving "Political Donations". Hope the police (with my tax money) are investigating more people than just this one person. That is why in Washington they are called "Special Interest Groups".

Good Grief