Iriquois Job Corps Center has recently undergone an OIG audit. The audit results will be posted to the OIG Website here when the investigation is complete. As you will notice, The Semi-Annual Report to Congress comes out in September and April each year. If you start checking this web site in April, make sure that you refresh the page after landing on it. All audit reports are a matter of public record.
Please Email me privately the name of your center if there is an OIG Audit going on. I can research it for you. I will never use anyone’s name or information without permission.
Filed under: Iriquois Job Corps, Iriquois Job Corps
Job Corps Fraud Blog 
This place is mixed with people (staff) who truly want you to have a bright future and staff who get a kick out of sleeping with students.
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Does anyone know what has happened with the OIG report for the Iroquois audit? Did ETR ever pay damages or has the info gotten conveniently “lost” in the system?
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The OIG spent about nine months auditing Iroquois Job Corps . Ideally they should take around a month to perform an audit. This indicates to me that there was a great deal of investigation done. They uncovered number fudging schemes with the Records Department there. There were students on the roster that were never actually enrolled at the center. Unfortunately, as is common with most OIG audits, the center just received a slap on the wrist. All that ETR had to do was say that the negative findings were administrative
oversights and promise to do better next time.
It is really a shame that no matter how much wrongdoing is exposed at the center, ETR continues to reap the benefits of all of their corrupt practices.
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I’ll bet the records manager gets a big bonus every year for successfully hiding the truth! More taxpayer dollars wasted.
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Charlie, you are correct. The records manager at Iroquois along with the other participants in the weekly OMS meetings receive huge quarterly bonuses which are kept secret from the rest of the staff. These are the people responsible for manipulating the numbers. They do a good job of this at Iroquois which led them to rise about 100 spots in the national rankings.
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IJCC sits on a wildlife refuge I remember one incident of animal cruelty which was done on a geese who was pregnant, The incident happened in front of the Wellness – Education Complex the person who did it was supposed to be arrested by the state Wildlife & Game Police but instead they terminated the person never calling the Police on the person, how do I know this you ask I was there when the incident happened cause we had to move the geese but technically we werent supposed to move it & we took care of it in the WC until Wildlife & Game Police arrived, they took pictures of it asked if we had a suspect & at the time we never knew who did it, so they left the case open but told us to notify them if we have a suspect. About 2 weeks later we found out who it was & instead of calling Wildlife & Game Police to do their investigation & make an arrest, They called me in the S&S office to get a security staff ready for transport to the Bativa Bus Station, in which I did but never knew till later that afternoon that the student that security was transporting to the Batavia Bus Station was the student who did the abuse to the pregnant geese
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You write that you transferred to Shriver Job Corps. What has happened in your life after leaving? Did you graduate from the Advanced Training program and were you placed in a job? What job are you working in now? I would be interested in hearing about the positives that you gained from the program, not the negative details about Iroquois and Shriver. In your opinion, did Job Corps prepare you to earn a good living?
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Graduated from Advanced Training Program, left with no job due to expiration in job corps, I work as a On-call night club bouncer, Job Corps did help me with my resume skills, but Job Corps is basically on ur own program where u have to want to push the envelope in order for things to happen but u always got to watch for the watchdogs who in this case are always trying to keep you from completing your course, But overall its a good program, I live in NYC the reason I went outside of NYC is because I feel the closer u are to home the more u wont be focused in the program
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I used to work at IJCC under the old management which was satellite the CD during that time was Getz he was very open into getting students to have more time to have leisure trips & educational trips I enjoyed working with him & another person named T when ETR came on center I was approached by the CD at that time named SB he asked me what did I do there at the time I used to be the evening phone receptionist he asked me why did I have a radio it was always a requirement for the evening phone receptionist to have a radio for deliveries & emergencies he then said I have been checking the books u have been receiving money for what u have been doing almost too much so I am not going to ask you to pay back but I will tell you ur post is no longer paid & I will be soon installing a computer automated switchboard which will eliminate ur position, I was shocked that a person who is new on center would call my job obsolete so then as time went by I went into my new post which was SSD where I was in control of the center vehicles, log books & had a radio made sure I had a radio on me during the whole shift never would work without one, the radios we used sometimes the battery was depleted it couldnt charge then some of the buttons never worked it was in desperate need of repair or just new radio purchases as a student who held these 2 positions I knew of things that staff knew but deeper & when the contractor bosses came to center they used to always try to send me on a mission fearing that I would talk to them but one day they screwed up & thats when I asked my question on why was I not being paid for my posts anymore you can tell they were confused & then I told them they were filed under WBL & they said if u were already receiving some incentive for what u were doing & for taking time out your day to care of the center why would they stop it we will talk to them & then we will do a follow up which never happened later during that year I went to Shriver where the radios they used were a better quality than the ones used at Iroquois cause it enabled staff members to whether use the radios the center issued or use personal radios which I like cause not everyone can operate the same radio cause of the buttons etc the center during my time was ok but they were certain people that got protected when they did the same exact things that other students did, the CSO told me to forget about the things I learned at my old center cause they way they enforced rules was wrong cause repeat offenders get second chances other than a person who was transferred over here to take an Advanced Training Course which only get one chance to screw up & we will run them in Both Job Corps were based on Numbers but also told us to criticize or not talk to a person that wasnt getting a high salary after completing the course which I feel is wrong cause no matter how much money the person is getting why stop talking to them because they are not making what the Job Corps Center has trained them to make. But I will always remember what one staff told me that every job corps center has a PRH but as long as 2 sections out of each chapter is followed then they will be no issues, I feel if the PRH is written as a standard for all job corps to follow it should be enforced instead of a select of the policies to be followed
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Well, I’m glad you’re not working as a phone receptionist anymore – this posting is such garble- it makes no sense. SB did a good thing by replacing you with an automated system.
What’s this about two sections of the PRH? Is this posting for real?
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I also wonder about this posting, I worked for satillite with getz and T, students manned the phones at night. To the best of my knowledge no one person was in charge of log books in transportation. This is very odd.
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I was actually a student who was able to penetrate into the staff system there was only a couple of us who were able to pull it off I was one of them & the thing about the PRH is actually true cant release who told me that one but I was forced to read the PRH to found out why certain things happened let me tell u that was the longest book ever written but in order to understand the PRH u must read from the first section forward going to a certain section will not help, The center at times left me in charge to check vehicle extinguishers expiration dates & also manned the vehicle issuance, as far as flirting oh that happened alot when ETR arrived one actually think I was the one spreading it wasnt me came from someone else who had questions about u, ladies loved SB that was GA man with so-called manners tried to get the whole center to call everyone sir & ma’am I told him in order for that to happen here in the North u gotta be trained from when u were younger, I said it cause it was more professional in the role I did on the center, my id i used in this post identifies what position I held just gotta look at slowly
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Given your apparent communication skills, I wonder if you could even understand the PRH. Your post is evidence of confusion regarding your role on center and lack of academic programs that should have taught you how to express yourself in writing. Your writing is a lot of nonsense. There are people reading this blog who are well versed in the contents of the PRH and in the administration of centers – they know you have a naive understanding of Job Corps, and a poor command of the English language.
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Reading the PRH from cover to cover does not make a lot of sense, especially for a student. It can be used in individual parts, to cover individual problems. I’m sorry but it’s very hard to follow what you are stating. Where did you perform this service(location) what PRH were you using?(from which office) I’ll assume you were there in”04 and’05, did you per chance get transferred to Boston? Did you know Mrs. King?
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I did know of a staff member named Ms. King & I got transferred to Boston to Shriver Job Corps in August of 2005, I do apologize if my grammar isnt correct for I type these paragraphs very fast & I know I am missing alot of periods commas etc, Besides job corps being on a income lottery I came in with my High School Diploma already & just needed a course & during my time there I was recognized by students & staff who divulged their secrets they came to me as a vent box that is where they told me things & knew I would never repeat it, but some people told me things & decided to publicize it like I feel if you are the CD you should act like a CD, the CD at times believed everything the students said instead of going to get 2 sides of the story, then at times just because staff werent in agreeance with what was told for them to do he build his own judgement I seen that at times, he kinda used the female students to promote him as this awesome guy kinda like a celebrity gets his or her name around, remember a celebrity is just like all of us the only difference is his or her name goes around & that is why the person is popular, I was a student on both of these job corps center but because I held roles that no other students could hold sutdents & staff thought at times I was a staff but I was just a student who acted like himself & got the popular attention & respect, The PRH I read was on the jobcorps website & which I had to print out to update all the booklets on center in every office, it tells about every position in the foundation of job corps from administration to safety, but I will also divulge this information on IJCC instead of having people who were really ready to take their GED test they randomly selected people & the people who were really ready to take their test & made noise about it were termination & or not given an extension, They were some people who failed the GED test & werent granted a second chance instead they told them they will have to do it elsewhere. Extensions in JC term are for the students who expiration date doesnt meet their course completion date, in this scenario a meeting has to happen with the following people in the meeting CD, administration staff, Trade Manager, Trade Counselor, WBL Instructor & the student, each one examines the TAR while examining the TAR each one asks a questions if they are any questions, after the meeting there is a vote that goes on after that vote goes in it is decided on if you will receive another year or 2 years to complete your course in Boston it worked differently if you were going to JC & attending their partner college programs you would received an extra 3 years when everyone know the max year in JC is 3, What ETR did on IJCC was created a chart called core values in which the staff & students was supposed to follow but not the direct ETR staff & administration at times when they used redirection they went back to what core value was violated & used it in a way to highlight that we were the bad people for standing up for what was right, when in fact they were also bad people cause they continue to allow the same patterns of bad judgement to continue, I remember one morning b4 I left to go to Boston to Shriver Job Corps SB approached me at the WC he told me to pick up some trash that was in front of the WC, now they are students that are assigned center maintenance that is their job to do it, so I told him I will call center maintenance to take care of the problem in a matter of seconds he told me “You know I never liked you but if you dont do what I tell you to do I will have so terminated to the point you wont ever receive your trade completion certificates” & I knew I worked hard for those trade completion certificates & to have someone try to take them away from me was going to be a problem so I just complied with what he said, but guarantee this he had a vehicle request later that afternoon & I assigned his vehicle to a last minute vehicle requestor & then assigned a mini van to him, which then he wind up taken the maintenance vehicle. Reading the PRH from page to page really didnt make sense but that is how they used it to explain to me why certain things happened instead of just telling me
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I hear that the “SB” you refer to in your post is now working at the Oneonta Job Corps. What’s going on at Oneonta? Haven’t seen anything posted here for a couple of weeks.
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oh really I heard SB went back to GA to Turner Job Corps
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SB went back to Georgia as CD for Turner, then became a corporate liaison for Turner, then went to Oneonta as CD. Check it out on Google.
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wow I just saw a newspaper interview with SB online he is actually poor staff members & students cause he going to try to change how people talk & how people conduct things when everybody knows change will happen if u are ready for change cant make anyone change if they dont want to
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I understand the concept that all of the accusations on this blog need to be substantiated by evidence. Many staff including myself, have submitted evidence to the proper authorities. I believe e-mails are allowable as evidence.
Some of the practices that were documented in e-mails from upper management are endangering the welfare of the students. One includes emergency health care for students.
I e-mailed DOL on this matter twice and received no response. Others in the past had concrete evidence but nothing was done. Even OIG acknowledges that they have evidence of number fudging and unauthorized purchases at Iroquois. I have spoken to them several times. The most they can do is give them a slap on the wrist. No one has been terminated or reprimanded for anything they have done.
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There in lies the truth of JC. This goes all the way to the steps of Washington, and that’s where it will stay’ Our government seems to be crawling with thieves and some how someone is making money. DOL won’t and OIG can’t.
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I read all replies tonight i just applied as a student to go to Iroquois.Thank you all it is not the right place to go and i am sorry you all had to face that as a staff i feel you just saved my life.Someone needs to do more you are good people to have explain it all to me i was shocked by the stories i have an appointment tomorrow it will be cancelled i will not let the money go to people who do not care espectially if i am not going to learn anything.I thought it was just some nice place to go i read up on it and looked forward to it and feel i was let down by Job corp they talk all that bull and it an’t about nothing.See i am 24 and this was my last shot to get in so i tried but even the people i was talking to seem to only care all about the money.This is a shame i will be on here often to comment just say the word and i will take it to the T.V i have all my paper to show but will not let the website nore the names be expose.
thanks again 🙂
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the truth, if JC is your last hope to a good future, then go. keep your nose in books and trade. the teachers will go out of their way to help true students. Stay away from management and stick to your program. IT CAN WORK 4 U.
You can also consider community college. Please do not drop a better future because of lousey management. Many are there to help you.
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There are other avenues as well. There are vocational schools that will help you with tuition ect. There are so many programs and agencies. Don’t overlook the armed forces either. I am a counselor and know for a fact there is alot out there for you!!! Keep your chin up and look forward the future will be there. Keep working at it .
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There are other options besides Job Corps. First, go to your nearest One-Stop Career Center and ask for help. You can search by computer for locations by googling “One Stop Career Centers NY State” or go to your nearest library and ask a reference librarian for help. They will be more that happy to assist you. Second, check the county’s web site where you live – it probably has an Education and Training Department and a Work Force Development program. Third, If you live in NY State, the community colleges have all kinds of training programs, and so does BOCES.
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I think we all get the general idea about the CD and her upper level staff. I hear awful things about the academic supervisor. Why is the GED success rate so low? Why is the staff turnover so high? Why is there always chaos in academics? Word is that he wants to be the students’ friend, plays both sides, and is ineffectual. Take a look at this guy!
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Here is a question for you.. how can Unity pass health inspections..how can the stench from the septic be overlooked. It comes up through the drains and stinks the whole place up. I know ..SKIP SKIP SKIP to my loo. It pays to have local politicos on the payroll.
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You are singing the right tune there!!!! Conflict of interest. You either work for the taxpayers of your town that pay you and put their trust in you, or the corporation that buys your loyalty. Maybe it’s time to SKIP town!! I hear the weather is warmer in Kentucky. Can any of you hum the theme song to Dueling Banjo’s? LOL
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Amazing. Absolutely amazing! Listen, I placed my heart and soul into IJC. There was not a a day that I did not look foward into going into work. Did I know management was corrupt? YUP, and for awhile I looked past it and just kept doing my job because I was not there for the management, I was there for those kids. Did I shy away when management told me I wasn’t doing it right, or writing me up? Nope, I just kept on keepin on and did the best that I could for my students. Until one night we were short staffed and I was placed in a different dorm. No big deal. I had been working there long enough to know all 255 students on center. By the end of my shift (which theperson replacing me was late) there was a incident in the bathroom. The student said that he was jumped and that he did not see the kids who did it. I called my super ( who BTW should have come over to help sort it out but didn’t) and let her know about it. All I got was fill out the reports and leave them on the LD’s desk. That whaat I did. That super never came over to make sure that everything waws filled out, that super never came to talk to the student, that super left work that night before I did. The next morning the student that was hurt took a mop handle to the student that hurt him. GUES WHO WAS WRITTEN UP AND SUSPENDED? GUESS WHO WHEN SHE CAME TO WORK THE NEXT DAY GOT TOLD BY MANY STUDENTS THAT I WAS LUCKY THAT I STILL HAD A JOB AND THAT MY STUDENTS TALKED THE CD OUTTA FIRING ME! The superviosor got nothing. The girl who worked the shift after me got nothing. I got three days supension without pay.. Did it bother me? NO! Because it was the day that the students were leaving to go home on summer break.
What Justify does not realize is that not only do we have storied, but we have proof. Because we still care about the students that we helped. We do not just use them for a good time, and throw them away like last weeks gucci purse! Think about that.
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Your emotions in this response show the passion you had for your job!!! Congratulations on being someone who really cared. Management be damned. Maybe they could suspend themselves?? They fire their children and brag that they would fire their own mothers. That says it all.
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Worried about evidence-NO-(SORRY WRONG PERSON) Because im hear just to read facts and only facts! lets not get angry! just show us facts!
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God first of all could you please proof read your comments before you send them. The word is “here” not “hear” it just makes you look even more ignorant now than just from your comments. If you have not walked in any of these peoples shoes as an employee at Iroquois and intil you feel the dread of driving up to that center to go to work every day then you have no clue what any of these people are talking about. By making these comments that you are makes me believe that you are one of the poor little bugs under Volpes pathetic thumb. So when you do actually work there and be treated like sh*t for the amusement of the CD then you need to stop using those freakin caps and get a grip.
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You might want to read your comments first!!!!!!!
Anyone can talk the talk but can you walk the walk!
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I believe that we all have been walking the walk. In fact we have walked so far that in our good consious we are bringing this to the publics attention. What is being done to some of those students up there is deplorable. How is it at night that the higher ups can close their eyes and go to sleep, without thinking about who they have robbed, cheated or lied too? I know that there is one person that I have to answer to in the end. Will you be able to hold your head up and be able to say that you did the best not to hurt or endanger others? Children? What have you done to prevent what is happening to the youth there on center? Being wined and dined, but not without something expected in return?
Job Corps would be a great program if it was ran the way it was suppose to be ran, and not ran to line the pockets of the upper management. If Job Corps was ran on honesty, and not on the backs of children, then maybe the program would work.
What have you done JUSTIFY to help the student. The one who comes on center from an abusive home who doesn’t even know how to do laundry or use a microwave. What have you done to teach them how to live within their means, and not to over extend themselves? What have you done to teach them that there is a time to work, and learn, and then there is a time to be social?
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?
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The Facts my dear friend are being sent to the people who will do something about it. You will see when that trash they have for a center dirctor and her minions are taken out in cuffs the the proof WAS in the pudding.
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Justify you sound like you are trying to save your job in management. It makes sense that you can’t admit the place is totaly out of control . A nice paycheck is hard to lose, but, it happens. When OIG fines you that will be the tip of this ice burg.
The truth is coming out now and there are so many stories from all of the centers and IJCC all with the same manipulations of rules , finances and numbers. Tough economic times make people speak out. That s a good thing for the youth we serve. It does suck to be at the top. When you fall no one wants to catch you. They will all sqeal then.
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Lessa,i do hope you are right. i fear that pockets are lined and nothing can be done.
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I DONT BELIEVE MOST OF YOU HAVE EVIDENCE, IF YOU DID YOU WOULD OF GAVE IT UP!!! I THINK ITS HEAR-SAY, GOSSIP, AND YOU’RE JUST PISSED OFF THAT YOU WERE FIRED! AND THOSE THAT ARE STILL THERE/ WHY HAVENT YOU LEFT!!!!!! (HOW MUCH DO YOU REALLY CARE FOR THIS STUDENTS?????
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What makes you think we are not still working there? We couldn’t possibly think of leaving without some bling or a very special tattoo. Actually, we are here (or have been) for the students. With the hope of some honesty, integrity and values being brought forward to help them become productive citizens.
You seem to be worried about evidence. Perhaps it has already been turned over to the proper authorities. Remember, the wheels of justice turn slowly.
Management has been very abusive and harassing towards staff and students. The Human Resource Department does not address these issues, it has to go somewhere. Hence, the material in this blog.
Some people have quit, some were fired, however, we heard they are enjoying 90+ weeks of unemployment and educational benefits. None of them were angry (p**’d off), in fact, they seemed relieved not to be there anymore. Although saddened that they can’t be there for the students.
Your post seems so angry and upset. Remember, the truth shall set you free. That is what this blog is all about–the truth. These issues are widespread among most of the Job Corps Centers. Please continue to visit the blog. Maybe venting your anger here will help.
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Evidence has been given to OIG. Now we have to wait for their audit report to be published. Unless you work or were a student at Iroquois, you really don’t know what you are talking about. The people who have written on this blog care a great deal for the students and the Job Corps program as it should be run, not how it is presently being administrated at Iroquois and other centers. Jobs are scarce, that’s why people try to stick it out – they have to pay bills and put food on the table.
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An instructor at the center I was at was assaulted twice by a student that should have been terminated long before he had a chance to attack the instructor. This student was written up many, many times and nothing ever came of it. Some of the instructors were sub-contracted through a state agency, and when the instructor’s supervisor heard of the assault, pulled the instructors. This student was allowed to stay on center for weeks after the incident. So much for the zero tolerance policy!
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This “significant event” was not reported to Regional Job Corps within the required time frame either. Both the Center Director and the Corporate Liaison know the rules, but they deliberately chose not to follow them.
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While I believe you all have experienced what you say you have, I have a few questions/comments. Do any of you have tangible evidence other than your stories? Also, some of you do seem more interested in closing/punishing the center rather than worried about the students experiencing this abuse. Other than concern for your jobs, why wasn’t anything done while you were working there? Just voicing what other people may be thinking.
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Believe it or not is up to you. There is tangible evidence. It’s not about closing the center down, it’s all about the students for most of us. Being treated so inappropriately by an employer is disgusting. Students are treated the same way by upper management, unless they are a favorite child. I agree some are angry and want the center shut down. Maybe that is not such a bad idea after all, if it can’t be run the way it was intended. Why waste money on the upper management when it should be spent on the students? The center s should be run the way the government intended. Students are not coming away employable in their chosen trades. There is lots of evidence to prove that. These concerns were addressed at centers where a lot of us worked. Most of us were smart enough to save copies of our paperwork and management replies. Files can be deleted any fool knows that. So hard copies have great value : ^ ). This blog is evidence that people are looking for a change that will turn the centers back into what they were intended for. Private contractors can take their contracts that are only self serving and leave. Numbers can be manipulated. Most of us have had lots of time with the students while there and since leaving. It is sad to waste this program the way the contractors are. They reap the cash flow and the students come away with very little.
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Why would you think everyone posting on this site is not employed at a job corps center? It is very likely people have tried to do something, but it has fallen on deaf ears. From what I have been reading on other fraud sites and in the OIG reports, these things have been going on for years on a lot of centers. Tangible evidence or not, hundreds or even thousands of job corps employees, past and present, have first hand knowledge. And all these people with the same story would be credible.
Closing a center may be the best way to protect these students from the abuse and manipulation they experience while there. Perhaps the whole program should be scrapped and a new one put in place.
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we have tangible evidence.
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copy some of those to your phone or computer, 1 should be enough. If you are worried about it e mail to me.
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The situation at Iroquois sounds remarkably similar to what is going on at Shriver from what I have read. For some reason, our center went over two years without a DOL review, which I understand are supposed to occur yearly.
When we finally had one, there was an e-mail sent by the CD stating that our jobs were in jeopardy if we spoke to the DOL. Curiously, around the same time we recieved an e-mail from DOL stating that staff should feel free to discuss things with them without fear of repercussions from center management. I think most of the staff was afraid to talk.
About a year ago, OIG began conducting an audit at the center. Once again we received an e-mail instructing staff not to discuss anything with them. While they were there, they discovered fraudulent student enrollments. One of these phantom students appeared on the roster for six months and never set foot on center.
They also discovered an instance of the CD making a purchase for personal use. I saw the documentation for this purchase . When asked about it, she jokingly responded that the president of ETR was buying it for her.
Who knows how many other of these type purchases went undiscovered.
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Thanks for your story.
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I have read alll of the comments from the concerned citizens and want to thank them for sharing the facts about Iroquois Job Corps Center. The fact is, not even half has been revealed.
It is sad because the students who come there to change their lives have to deal with the same environments that they left in the cities. There is drug use (weed, oxycoton, alcohol and minors smoking cigarettes), sex and numerous pregnancies.
Students are warehoused in education classes without supervison or structure. There is an incredible rate of teacher turnover because those staff receive very little training for the job and no support from the incompetent manager who knows nothing about education or the learning process. Teachers are not respected or valued.
Along with the teachers, mostly all of the staff are extremely over worked and underpaid. Some line staff have not received a cost of living increase in a number of years. These hard working staff have had their positions terminated or changed so that managers can receive raises.
Good staff come for employment at Iroquois but soon are wrongfully terminated or decide to leave because of bad management and poor work conditions. Students are suffering and being cheated out of the right to a quality education and a true example of positive leadership.
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How come no other Job Corps post? I hear bad tings about this one. CD is leopard–likes young girls. I don’t want go to this Job corp! No teachers – how you learn? no hot water how you clean youself? Bad Bad place
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Sadly enough there needs to be more young adults and students from Iroquois to comment on this site about the going ons at that center. But as I have heard the CD is threatening any student if the dare go on this site for any purpose. Again the hag is threatening everyone. Tell anyone you know about Iroquois. Warn them. For all the crap that is happening there its a shame our hard earned tax dollars are gonig just to line the managements pockets and doing no good for the students.
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When I worked for the largest state univiersity I processed the reimbursements for the department. The controller required me to turn in recipts, state the purpose of the purchase, meal or trips. Sometimes I had to turn in a memo stating the faculty member used his personal credit card or a bank statement, because the university issued credit cards to the department and to make sure there was no duplicate payments. I was dealing with state and federal funds and the university was audited all the time, so the controller’s office was super strict of having all the paper work in order before they would cut a check. Even when I met all the requirements there were times I had to get more information before the controller would okay the purchase, because of a recent audit. Jasper from my knowledge of dealing with federal grant money it sounds like there is lots of graft at Job Corps. The rumor at the Job Corps I worked at is that they had two books one for the auditors and one to keep track of the stolen money. Right before OIG came out the administration told us that the students broke into someone’s office and a stole a 4 drawer filing cabinet in broad day light while school was on. As if none of the Job Corps employees would notice students carrying a huge cabinet across the grounds and how would they transport it once they got it to the parking lot? I wonder what was in the filing cabinet and why it was missing before OIG showed up.
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Thanks for your comment. I really appreciate your taking the time to post.
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Thanks for your post… please check back often.
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I was employed until recently at the Iroquois Job Corps in Medina, NY.
The current contractor, Education & Training Resources, (ETR) took over the
operations of the center on January 2005.
During their tenure, policies regarding the issuance of checks and the
distribution of Petty Cash have become extremely relaxed. Checks are frequently
issued to staff members for which no receipts are obtained. The Finance Manager
does not hold them accountable for the receipts. This is due to the fact that ETR
does not require any accounting for them other than a log of the checks written.
Other contractors that I have worked for required a copy of the checks and
receipts to be sent weekly to the corporate office.The staff member receiving
the check was always held accountable for the receipts.
If staff members are not held accountable, the potential for unlimited fraud and
abuse exists. I would estimate the number of staff checks written per week to be
around 50 for an average total amount of around $20,000.
The corporate office at ETR also does not look very closely at what items these
checks are used for. Recently an OIG audit uncovered several questionable
expenditures used for personal items for staff members.
In addition, Petty Cash is distributed without appropriate staff signatures
approving the expenditures and without the signature of the Finance Manager who
is the Petty Cash custodian.
There is also an inordinate amount of funds being used for the Job Corps
students. I believe there is nothing wrong with rewarding them for a job well
done. However, it has now gotten to the point that they are being rewarded for
things that they should be doing.They are rewarded for coming back on time from
vacation by having costly parties upon their return. They also receive awards
for not going AWOL and cleaning their dorm rooms. The students are also taken
out to lunch during class time by the Center Director for no particular reason
at the taxpayer’s expense.
There are many other examples too numerous to list here, but I think you get the
idea. I used to believe that Job Corps was a good program, but during the last
several years, I have seen it deteriorate significantly.
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Thanks so much for your thoughtful post. We appreciate your taking the time to bring these issues to light.
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We should come up with form letters that we can send to our Congressmen, President Obama and the national media telling what a rip off it is. One reason why Job Corps has survived from being cut is that main goal is to not draw attention to itself. I’m sure that all of us have felt like we worked in a strange movie when we were employed at Job Corps. I kept telling my co-workers and the students this isn’t normal or sane. Job Corps isn’t a safe place to work at nor is it safe for the students and the program needs to be shut down.
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Yes we need a national format. The individual centers keep it muffeled. as a group we are as big as job corp itself. How on earth do we unite?
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That’s why this website was started… a one-stop place for people to come to in order to see the results of audit reports (which for some strange reason have never been published in the news media.) I also hoped it would be a forum for people through out the US to comment on their Job Corps experience. I think if we have enough people commenting from Job Corps centers, the media will notice. Thanks for posting.
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I’ve been waiting 5 years now, and I know some very good very smart people are on the job. Eventually there will be an explosion. Does anyone know the National budget for job corps, or how to find it? Govt waste is bigger than it ever has been, I’ll bet Job Corp is bigger than medicade fraud. Kudos to Bruno for his statement.
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The total budget of this program is 1.7 Billion dollars a year.
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One of my Bud’s knew where to look, the budget for this year is 1.7 BILLION. if that’s correct, we are talking major interest for tax fraud watch dogs
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There are lots of ideas on how to do this that we will be discussing. This is growing now more in the open and that is how the information gets out. More and more people are hearing about this blog and soon the little rats will start reading this as well. When people get scared they make mistakes. Lies covering other lies and then they will trip themselves up. It just takes time and I’m sure the media will be finding it more interesting soon !!!!
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You’re right OJ! I’m hoping more Job Corps Centers throughout the US will post their stories too! Thanks for being here!
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Thanks for posting Juanita…
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It is my hope that through this website, enough people will comment, reply and discuss their stories. Our stories are all we have. With all of us working together to bring these mis-deeds to light, someone might listen. We can’t do it alone. If people are willing to post factual, unemotional vignettes of specific incidents of what they saw or witnessed, it will help. Just as you are doing now. And, as I did on the “Our Story” page. There is power in numbers. If there are too many of us… soon we will not be ignored. Thanks to all for your courage to speak.
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but tiny mosquitoes carry big, bad diseases… even for elephants…
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Good point!
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All of this seems so big… I sometimes feel like we are all like a tiny mosquito biting an elephant…a tiny annoyance…
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The CD there intimidates both the staff and students. At one DOL review several students filled out affidavits on the activities going on and nothing was done about it. There are several positions that have never been filled. Where is that money? If the administration thinks you know too much or that you are on to them, you are fired. If they need a scapegoat for some accusation, you are fired. Recently they have done away with the English Language Learning class and cut that instructor’s pay.
It seems it is all about how much $$$ the contractor can put in it’s pockets.
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The secrecy is the fear; fear of losing your job, then you are a disgruntled worker. So no one listens. The power is in the group, and this is our forum. Around our area, unemployment dept laughs at another Job Corp worker out on his ear. That’s how frequently they see us. OIG will make it’s statement and our Job Corp will get a fine, small compared to what they rake in, and the corruption will continue.
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I was working for Iroquois about 2 years, and I loved the job and what we were doing. Watching the kids go through the program and watching them grow as people. We had good management. Too good, some crook in the higher ups wanted a change and we got ETR. I know of people that broke the law and were promoted. Reverse discrimination, lies deceit, if it’s poor business and bad management, these folks wrote the book. i am pleased to see this in writing, and looking foreward to more. Why hasn’t any news show taken this up. The fraud is outragous, and that’s the tip of this ice burg.
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I question why all of this negative information is “hidden” also. Where is it? I know Shriver, Kittrell and Iroquois are not the only centers with problems! Why the secrecy?
All of this reminds me of the fairy tale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Only one little child said, “Hey, the Emporer is naked.” Everyone else was under a form of hypnosis called “the bystander phenomenon.”
Read the story here… http://deoxy.org/emperors.htm
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When I first started I worked (on average) about 45 – 50 hours a week, and paid for 40, I still could not get all my work done. Management kept giving me more and more tasks, many of which had nothing to do with the job description of Employment Coordinator. I did weekly recreation duty and lunch monitoring. Once while I was in the middle of preparing for a big corporate audit I was pulled away to drive a van to Boston to help pick up students from a disabled bus. I was extremely frustrated because if I my audit came out with “findings” there were repercussions for me. After taking the precious time to drive to Boston, my assistance wasn’t even needed at all. Someone mis-judged how many vehicles would be needed.
Our center was short-staffed. Many times I had to stop what I was doing (setting up goal plans with a student, teaching a small group of students employability skills etc.) and immediately leave to pick up a student who needed a ride. I was still expected to have a certain number of goal plans completed despite these constant interruptions. And, remember, I still had to find a place to put the assigned students… I couldn’t leave them in the office alone… these were the occasions I had to tell the students “you’ll have to leave, I have no where to place you, please find somewhere to go.”
Female students often destroyed the ladies bathroom (which was right next to my office) which necessitated the door’s being locked. My office mate and I had a master key and were constantly disrupted during our work routine in unlocking the door for students. Although the students were supposed to use the key from the deputy director’s office, many times the secretary was sent on an errand off center or to another building so the key was not available.
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We need National Coverage. The average tax payer should be out raged. What do you think about sending the OIG report to papers or TV stations, in each area covered. Iroquois would go to Buf/Roch. So on and so forth. Ideas anyone?
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National coverage would be great, but we have to be careful how we get there. We have to be sure all of our t’s are crossed and our i’s dotted. This is a great way to get ALL the info we need, but we have be organized, united, and careful.
Remember “good things come to those who wait”
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I hope you are right. It’s a scandle on a national level
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“Core Values” was a club to use against staff and students. They could pull it out and slam you with it. A core value infraction was any comment asking about what are they doing. IJC management generally finds out about anything being said about them. Please be cautious about using names at this time. I say this for your protection.
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I feel like I opened Pandora’s Box beginning this blog. People have been sending me Emails and telling me stories of their experience at their Job Corps Centers. We need to talk about about it… anonymously or publicly and I believe the truth will prevail. It has to… history has proven it will. Thanks for writing.
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I thought this program was about enriching the lives of young adults who otherwise would not have an opportunity to better themselves. It has turned into a “what can I get out of this” program for the contractors. Students are pushed through 2 year vocational programs in approximately 10 months, with no social or employability skills. Staff are fired and not replaced, and a very, very high turnover rate for staff as well as students.
The policies and procedures set forth in the PRH are disregarded. Data integrity, staff/student fraternization, accountability, attendance, required programs, are all disregarded. Monthly statistics are manipulated to make it look like the center is doing. Students are bribed to be on their best behavior when there is a corporate or regional review.
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That’s what I thought also when I worked at two Job Corps Centers. I really wanted to make a difference in the lives of our kids. sadly, this is not so… I saw an emphasis on “numbers, numbers, numbers” instead of “How can we make this a quality program?”
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An interesting pattern emerges. Shriver has an unusually high turnover rate also… I remember HR used to send out the notices for job vacancies and the center used to be “abuzz” with employees saying, “Did you hear? So and so got fired? Or, did you know so and so quit without notice?”
It is said that the best companies in America have the lowest employee turnover rates. All these records are part of the public domain when a person files for unemployment. I wonder why no one has ever asked for the employee turnover rates for all the Job Corps and then compare this rate to the average turnover rate for a companies of the same size? The facts will tell the story.
Kittrell also had a very high employee turnover rate! We are paying for these programs!!!
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When corporate auditors came to Shriver we were warned not to tell the auditors anything. In my case, a new auditor gave me his card with his contact information on it. I Emailed him with a benign question. I was called into the deputy director’s office and was chastised for communicating personally with an auditor. I remarked, “Why would he give me his card if I wasn’t allowed to use it?” I was warned not to contact any auditor ever again. It was not my “place” to do so.”
There was another auditor from Adams Corporate Headquarters who gave me her cell phone number. I knew she would help if I ever had any questions. I was told that all my questions to auditors had to be “screened” through management, as, I was not allowed to contact them.
The DOL also came for a routine audit one time and all staff were told that we were not to speak to the auditors and if staff wanted to speak to an auditor, we had to submit a note to the CD telling her why we wanted to speak to the auditor and what our question was about. Only if our question was “approved” by the CD would we have permission to speak.
I was hoping that the DOL would speak to me because I will not be silent when I know the truth. However, they never approached me and I chose not to approach them at that time because I was still somewhat afraid of being harassed by management.
For me, the subsequent harassment and inflated written warnings I started to receive gave the impetus to not be afraid. For some reason, the more I was harassed, the stronger and more determined I became to do something about the wrongdoings there.
Thanks for your comment. Please continue to visit this site, I plant to try to update daily.
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