This is FU

This new timeline is accurate insofar as is based on info available, but not all the info that is out there. In our FOIA request, we could not get more than what we did from the McAuliffe Charter School as there was pushback as they claimed each email would need to be redacted and it would take hundreds of hours to get through the 5000 emails and correspondence and they wanted to charge us thousands of dollars. So we have what we have, and its limited to a few people and a limited date range.

On Sept 26 we are expecting a FOIA response from DESE on what they knew and when. They have been pushing back the dates that they plan on responding and are out of compliance with the public records law. Additionally the charter school claims exemptions on some documents claiming legal privilege. We have appealed this matter to the state, requesting an in-cam review of the documents. That appeal decision is due Sept 28.

We have an additional FOIA to Mcauliffe on some folders referenced related to an internal investigation, and a handful of email threads. This FOIA is due Sept 29, but we expect push back from the school and we may need to start the additional 25 day appeal process at that point.

We are 100% above board on our investigation of a series of events that was done to conceal a crime. The victims are the people of Framingham, the taxpayers of Massachusetts, all students and their families of the McAuliffe Charter School, the handful of Board of Trustees members who were not told what the leadership Board of Trustees members were doing, and the teachers and staff who were lied to… to name a few.

THE NEW TIMELINE
LINKS WITHIN THE POST BELOW WILL TAKE YOU TO SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS

September 2021 Dayshel Reid became the president of Northeaster U Graduate Student Education Research Assoc.  She is expected to be a student at NU through 2023.

November 24 2021 Dayshel Reid, then Director of Business and Operations for the school, she used a city business account to wire over $54,124 to two lenders – Freedom Financial and Lending Club. (per 3/18/22 police report)

December 10, 2021 Dayshel Reid closed on a house in Marlborough, with a private lender and a HUD loan. (per Middlesex Registry of Deeds)

Jan 28 2022 – Dayshel gives a VIDEO presentation on the school finances to the Finance Committee of the Board of Trustees. 5min-43 seconds in to the video presentation it looks like Reid increased the consulting costs by about $50k.  There was also a line item for “other fees” for the $50,000, shown but not discussed in detail. Notes and further links for documents attached to this meeting are HERE.

February 16, 2022 Bob Berman, Chair, Board of Trustees, he was notified by accountant that irregularities were found in one of their bank accounts. He met with Executive Director Frank Tipton that day (per Bob Berman statement to the SOURCE)

In regards to his statement to the SOURCE – His timeline:

Wed 2/16 – Issue discovered and Berman met with Tipton
Thurs 2/17 – Reid was met with in the morning and put on administrative leave.
Friday 2/18 – Reid tendered her resignation.
“That same week” – Berman called all board members to update them on the situation

FU has found faults in this timeline as evidence does exist that Bob Berman in fact kept the board in the dark on the actual situation.

February 17 2022 As stated above – we don’t believe Bob Berman was honest with the timeline of events in the SOURCE. Per Bob Berman, on this day Reid was met with and put on administrative leave. The first email below indicates a very small group of people aware of the matter. According to this email, in the know is the following 7 people: school accountant Ron Pierre Lewis, board of trustees chair Bob Berman, board of trustees Treasurer John Buckley, board of trustees vice chair (and at the time Framingham’s city solicitor) Chris Petrini, school executive director Frank Tipton, Bonnie (?) and the school lawyer. They go on to talk about a top secret investigation folder only accessible by this small group of people.

The Board of Trustees is comprised of 9 people. We believe only three knew the real deal.

In the second email below, we learn that Frank Tipton wanted to try to avoid a paper trail, and work off text or phone calls. Tipton also was creating shared folders for just the small group of 7 people.

February 18, 2022 Per the police report Dayshel Reid put on administrative leave. Per Berman that happened the day prior. On this day Reid writes an email to Frank Tipton stating that she doesn’t need an investigation, and claims her theft of over $50k was a mistake. Tipton passes the info back to the internal people in the know and states he is not going to respond pending a legal consult.

Earlier in the day on February 18 2022 Dayshel tries to organize an emergency meeting starting at 9:49am the day she was put on leave. She writes that it will be a quick 10 minute meeting at 4:30pm.  Is she on administrative leave this day? She reaches out to the board of directors Tarek Tabbara, Richard Voos (unknown), Bob Berman (board), John Buckley (board), Frank Tipton, Jeff Gonneville (board). 

This throws Bob Berman’s timeline into question again as Dayshel is not acting like a person on administrative leave. Had she been in the know and trying to tell her friends secretly – she invited people who at this point per Bob Berman’s timeline – already were in the know, and Dayshel would have known this. It is believed that on February 18th – late in the day Dayshel may have been put on administrative leave. In the email below you will see Dayshel using her work email address, and in the email above – she is using gmail. In this email – Dayshel is seen expecting to be in the office at 4:30 in the afternoon for this meeting she is trying to set up. In the email above at 3:25pm – she appears to be on leave.

As stated above we believe that Dayshel Reid was notified about the issue at some point on 2/18/2022 and immediately put on administrative leave as recommended by the school lawyer per the 2/17/22 letter between Bob Berman and the secret 7.

February 19, 2022 Dayshel Reid resigned from her position per the email below. Her last day employed by the school per other notes that we will get to – was February 18, 2022. This is confirmed by an email to the accountant by Frank Tipton below. This could agree or disagree with Bob Berman’s timeline depending on how you read it. Berman stated that Dayshel resigned on the 18th, when the resignation letter was received by the school Saturday the 19th, retroactive to the prior day.

February 22, 2022 The Executive Director Frank Tipton accepts the resignation.  The preliminary amount listed that she “owes to the school” is about $30k, which is different from the amount they later report to the police.  The letter below seems to indicate an agreement between the school and Reid to not press charges or contact police if the money is returned. 

Feb 24 2022 Discussions between Frank Tipton and board member/Framingham city solicitor Chris Petrini seem to indicate that he wants to make sure that the March 1 deadline for return of funds letter was sent to Dayshel.  Tipton confirms that she received it.   Also that there was a $11k check left at the school, leaving $42k owed per the police report – which does not correspond to the $30k in the letter.

Feb 25 2022 Dayshel’s admin leave and resignation announced to school as “unforeseen incedent”

March 1 2022 Dayshel emails Frank about issues with payroll, COBRA coverage, and deducting her paycheck to her owed money.  Asking for end of week extension.

March 1-2 2022 In the know board members try to organize a zoom call between board member Bob Berman, Chris Petrini, board treasurer John Buckley, Colby Brunt – a labor lawyer, and Frank Tipton.  Meeting appears to have taken place on March 2.

March 18, 2022 Police were called to file a report of a theft with then Executive Director of school, Frank Tipton. Police Report: “Mr. Tipton stated that they did not want to file criminal charges.” The police report is not being posted here because nobody knew about the police report until July 5 2022.

This is the recording of the call to police from Frank Tipton – listen to how they state that they waited for their investigation to be complete and they were made whole before calling police: https://www.facebook.com/HAMUNFILTERED/videos/1428698014277549

April 2022 Dayshel Reid is hired to be the Director of Operations at American Promise, a Concord based, civic and social justice organization which aims to “combat money corruption of our political system” (per LinkedIn)

June 23, 2022 Last day of school for Mcauliffe and last day of employment for Tipton

June 24, 2022 Frank Tipton filed a FOIA request for a specific police report.

July 5, 2022 Police report released via FOIA request system

July 2022 Her employment at American Promise ended. (per LinkedIn). 

July 9 2022 we filed a FOIA to the school for emails and documents.

July 14 2022 we filed a FOIA with DESE.  In the Framingham source article there is a quote from Bob Berman president of the Board of Trustees stating that they took the incedent seriously from the start and as required by law they reported the incident to police and DESE.  We know now that the police were notified a month after the crime was discovered, we do not know when and if DESE was notified.  We aim to find that out.  Due date for this FOIA has been delayed to 9/26.

July 19 2022 The school acknowledges our request and asks for thousands of dollars, we fought it, lost, and narrowed the scope of our request to obtain the most critical pieces of information.

July 22, 2022 McAuliffe Charter School Finance Committee meets and makes changes to its policies to prevent a theft like this from happening in the future  (per Shared McAuliffe Google Doc).   Also in the meeting minutes – from 9:55 am – it is noted that DESE has referred matter to the Attorney General and Inspector General as a referral (per Shared Meeting Munutes Google Doc)

Sept 12 2022 Mcauliffe releases documents in relation to the FOIA request, and the new information has been included in THIS timeline.

Sept 14 2022 We filed an appeal on the foia response below for the atty client privilege documents to go to in-camera review with the sec of state. We believe the atty was Chris Petrini who is a Board Member and therefore a conflict of interest.   CC’ed the Mass Bar, Mass ethics committee, the AGO and OIG which were recently referred this matter by DESE, to the OML team at the AGO office in relations to conference calls with board members outside of posted meetings, and emails with members of the board, as well as to the city council.

Sept 26 2022 Anticipated FOIA response from DESE.