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he stole PCs, iPads and food from school. That’s how she got funds

It is the story of a betrayed hope, of a light in decay that goes out in the worst way. The carabinieri arrested Daniela Lo Verde, 54, principal of a…

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It is the story of a betrayed hope, of a light in decay that goes out in the worst way. The carabinieri arrested Daniela Lo Verde, 54, principal of a comprehensive school. Not just any school, but the “Giovanni Falcone” of the Zen district, in the degraded and forgotten suburbs of Palermo.

Daniela Lo Verde, funding

The prosecutors of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office Calogero Ferrara and Amelia Luise dispute the allegations of corruption and embezzlement. They literally caught her with her hands in the pantry, and more. The principal allegedly stole food, but also tablets, computers, televisions, board games purchased for students with European funds. Many of them arrived, and in rain, at the school. There is talk of about 600 thousand euros on which the investigators will dig again. They were supposed to snatch the Zen kids from their condition of marginality and instead they would have become an irresistible temptation for the principal who ended up under house arrest together with her deputy, Daniele Agosta, and Alessandra Conigliaro, an employee of an electronic equipment company. In the mind of the architect Vittorio Gregoretti who designed the Zen (north expansion area) there was certainly no failure and ruin of today. Changing the name – and what a name, San Filippo Neri – was of no avail. The degradation, drug dealing, the piles of waste are there to remind us every day. That’s why the voice of Daniela Lo Verde, passionate about legality, always ready to shout her no to the mafia, was listened to a lot. The school that he directed until yesterday – the minister Giuseppe Valditara has ordered the immediate suspension – over the years has become a destination for anti-mafia pilgrimages. An almost obligatory stop for education ministers and authorities. In 2020 the principal was appointed Cavaliere della Repubblica by the head of state Sergio Mattarella, a recognition for the commitment shown in favor of students and families during the difficult days of Covid. Lo Verde had launched a fundraising campaign to donate food to some families in need. She is also the appeal to recover the tablets needed by the students to follow the lessons remotely. “We’re getting money from all over the place,” the deputy principal (intercepted) said to the manager. That she took all the credit: «Thank you, you have to say, because no one had known about it. You have to say that I’m the special one.’ After receiving the title from the hands of the President of the Republic, the principal declared: «I work in silence and try to do what is necessary, nothing more. I will use the recognition to rekindle the spotlight on this suburb for which I always hope for redemption, not only economic but also social. It’s not easy”.

In June 2020, the principal Daniela Lo Verde received the honor from Sergio Mattarella as a Knight of Merit “for the commitment shown during the pandemic”

Planning

Whenever the school suffered a theft or vandalism – there are many episodes – Daniela Lo Verde went on TV to reiterate that she would not back down a single millimeter in the path of legality. The investigation today would reveal its dark side. According to the judge for the preliminary investigations who signed the order for pretrial detention, the headteacher would have planned the media overexposure “precisely in order to ride the wave, advertise even more her character as an upright headmaster on the front line and obtain attestations of esteem, solidarity, but above all money and economic aid from the institutions ». It is the money financed by the European Union for activities outside school hours: from soccer to cooking, from schooling to integration. Projects that the neighborhood kids deserted. And then it would have become necessary to falsify time sheets in order to obtain funding. Everything went smoothly until a teacher, who had meanwhile gone to work in another school, turned to the police. The military have placed the cameras and bugs a la “Giovanni Falcone”. The images are merciless. The school canteen was allegedly looted, the woman was filmed as she loaded the shopping into the car and took it to her home, where computers, tablets and a 65-inch TV were found. There are also cell phones resulting from the corruption pact with the third person arrested: latest generation iPhones received in exchange for supplies for other projects entrusted directly. Other times the principal was filmed in front of a bar in Palermo as she filled her car with goods. From first courses to desserts, from wraps to martorana fruit. European money had to be spent.

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2023-04-21 21:43:33
#stole #PCs #iPads #food #school #funds

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