THE IMAGE SEEN HERE SUMS UP WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON BEHIND THE SCENES IN ROCKWOOD: A VENDOR IN DEBT, WITH WARRANTS FOR HER ARREST. A ROCKWOOD DEPARTMENT HEAD, WHO EITHER MISSED IT OR IGNORED IT. AND, A BOARD OF EDUCATION THAT APPROVED ALL OF IT.
The department head is Dr. Terry Harris, Rockwood's Executive Director of Student Services.
The vendor is "Shante Duncan dba Sisters Helping Each Other Reach A Higher Height" (SHERAH).
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Shante Duncan is the owner of SHERAH. She was behind on bills, and became a Rockwood vendor under the district's Student Services department.
Records show, it was a backdoor to easy money from taxpayers:
No competition.
An almost certain approval.
THE RECORDS
What's written here is pieced together from court records, Rockwood records, and records from state agencies.
RECORDS SHOW
While Shante Duncan was contracted to empower Rockwood's students of color, in her own life: she was saddled with thousands in unpaid debts, she failed to turn in required government paperwork, and she also failed to show up to court for multiple traffic offenses, which led to warrants for her arrest. (see screenshots below)
It appears no one questioned whether she was the best person for the job.
THE DECISION TO INCORPORATE
SHERAH, Duncan's nonprofit, wasn't officially formed yet when her bills started piling up.
WAGES GARNISHED
In 2012, a judge filed the first of 5 garnishment orders against Duncan, for a used car dealer who was seeking payment. The orders were issued again in 2013 and 2014.
In 2015, another judge filed a garnishment order against Duncan for a second used car dealer.
In between these two court cases, Duncan started the process to incorporate SHERAH, in March of 2015.
By the time all her forms were filed with Missouri's Secretary of State, Duncan was $14,917.59 in debt from the garnishments.
We don't know Duncan's reason for incorporating, but, it may have been a way to avoid paying. Creditors generally don't take business assets to cover what people owe personally. They'd likely have to go back and get another court judgment against the new business.
HARRIS TO THE RESCUE: A CONFLICT OF INTEREST
As Executive Director of Student Services, Harris was allegedly involved in SHERAH since its "inception." He is quoted saying so, on the SHERAH website.
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| Note: Quote from SHERAH, Harris image from Rockwood website |
Additionally, Harris was on Duncan's board of directors for SHERAH. He quietly joined in August of 2016.
TWO MONTHS later, in October of 2016, Duncan got her first SHERAH contract with Rockwood.
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| SHERAH Rockwood contract 1 |
It doesn't say on the contract that Harris was on SHERAH's board of directors.
The approval happened on October 20th; ironically, the very same day that a judge issued a 5th and final garnishment order against Duncan.
Rockwood contract: $17,500.00.
It was pretty easy money to get.
NO BID--SINGLE SOURCE VENDOR
Harris' department submitted Duncan's contract. A designation on the contract ensured she had no competition for the job: "single source" vendor. No other bids are required for a job that has a "single source" vendor. The designation means the business is the only one that provides that service or meets that particular need.
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| SHERAH Rockwood contract 1 |
Note: SHERAH was designated "single source" on all 8 contracts, as were other businesses advertising similar services. If they provide similar services, it's not likely they can all be "single source" vendors.
CONSENT AGENDA ITEM
As a purchase item that is $7,500 or more, the SHERAH contract was lumped in with all the other consent agenda items on the Board of Education's meeting agenda. Those items are nearly always approved all together with one vote, with no discussion or even naming the contracts. The consent agenda item vote is really just a formality. It is assumed that whoever submitted the contract has vetted the vendor and the contract is considered reviewed and recommended, or, good to go.
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| The SHERAH contract is one of the contracts under Student Services |
In 2017, Terry Harris was still on SHERAH's board of directors. His department again submitted a "single source" vendor contract to Rockwood's BOE. The same process occurred. A contract for $20,000 was approved with all the other consent agenda items.
It continued this way every year, through 7 contracts totaling $120,350, from October 2016 through May of 2022. In October of 2022, Rockwood's BOE rejected SHERAH's 8th contract. More on that a little later.
MORE TROUBLE
Terry Harris left SHERAH's board of directors in 2018, but, he and his Student Services department kept submitting SHERAH's contracts.
As the contracts kept coming for Shante Duncan, so did legal and government actions against both Duncan and SHERAH. The Secretary of State warned Duncan three times to file missing paperwork or face revocation, and the Metropolitan STL Sewer district won a civil court judgment against Duncan and another individual in 2019.
With no garnishments "satisfied," court records show Duncan was now in debt for $20,854.25.
And, then warrants started being issued for her arrest.
THE ARREST WARRANTS
In February 2019, during SHERAH's 3rd contract with Rockwood, warrants were filed for Shante Duncan's arrest. The charges: failing to appear in court and failing to pay the fine for expired plates. Additional warrants were issued in 2019 and 2020 for other instances of expired plates, an expired driver's license, speeding, and, operating a vehicle without maintaining financial responsibility (no insurance.)
Link to court records; screenshots are below
HIRED 4 MORE TIMES
Through all this, Duncan kept, allegedly, empowering Rockwood's students. Harris and his administrators kept submitting contracts, and Rockwood's Board of Education kept approving them. The BOE voted to hire Duncan 4 more times after the warrants were issued. The 4th contract was approved in August of 2019, and additional contracts were approved in September of 2020, October of 2021, and an addendum in March of 2022.
We don't know what Rockwood's BOE directors knew about Shante Duncan, or SHERAH, when they voted.
BOE directors don't typically vet vendors or contracts. The people that submit them do. In SHERAH's case, that would be Terry Harris and the administrators he oversees in the Department of Educational Equity and Diversity (DEED). Either they didn't check the records we showed you, or they ignored them.
The situation with Shante Duncan's struggles became serious enough, that when Harris submitted the 8th and most recent SHERAH contract September 15th (later rejected by Rockwood's Board of Education), SHERAH wasn't even allowed to do business in the state of Missouri. This was, again, due to missing paperwork with the Secretary of State.
Note: That contract was submitted directly by Terry Harris, himself. Administrators he oversees submitted the previous contracts. This time, his administrator, Dr. Aisha Grace, was out, facing her own legal troubles. She was charged with a DWI this summer.
QUESTIONS, FINALLY
It wasn't until SHERAH's 8th contract that Rockwood's BOE directors started asking questions; at least publicly. BOE director Izzy Imig announced, during the September 15th meeting, that SHERAH was not allowed to do business in Missouri.
REMOVED, RESOLVED, RESUBMITTED
That contract was removed from the agenda during that meeting. Duncan later resolved the paperwork issue to get back in good standing, and Terry Harris resubmitted the contract at the October 6th meeting.
It didn't work.
Rockwood's BOE rejected the SHERAH contract by a close vote of 4-3.
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| Rockwood's Board of Education Kinder, Rhomberg, Imig, Midyett, Bayes, Clark, Miller |
UNLESS the vendor is a "single source" vendor.
With confidence in Terry Harris apparently shaken, in addition to the SHERAH contract, the BOE also rejected two other contracts from Harris at that October 6th meeting. They are the "single source" vendors referenced above: Sistakeeper Empowerment Center and Tony Thompson, Inc.
Again, the three yes votes were Bayes, Kinder and Midyett.
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| Link: warrant failure to appear/operating vehicle no insurance |
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| Link: warrant for failure to appear/expired driver's license |
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| Link: warrant for failure to appear/another expired plates |
UPDATE 10/21/2022:
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| Link: garnishment 2012 |
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| Link: garnishment 2015 |
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| Link: temporary dissolution by Sec of State |
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| 2016 |
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| 2017 |
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| Yoga contract |
Terry Harris' painted wall murals contract/"single source" vendor:
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| Painted wall murals contract |
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| Link: Contract 1 and the vote |
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| Link: Contract 2 and the vote |
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| Link: Contract 3 and the vote |
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| Link: Contract 5 and the vote |
CIVIL JUDGMENT not "satisfied."
GARNISHMENTS not "satisfied."
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| Link: Contract 7 and the vote; non-related item is excluded |
GARNISHMENTS not "satisfied."
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| Link: Contract 8 and one of the votes |
GARNISHMENTS not "satisfied."
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| The other 2 votes 10/6/2022 |