Mobile Home Sales in DeKalb, SC

The chief executive officer of the Greenville Housing Authority is on paid leave after she was indicted on a number of crimes alleged to have taken place while she worked in DeKalb County, Georgia.

Shawn Williams, 60, has held the Greenville position since 2020. Previously she was the executive director of the Housing Assistance Division of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs where she managed over $300 million in federal and state funds and a staff of 148 employees, the Greenville Housing Authority said when her hiring was announced.

This week, DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announced that Williams and three others were indicted “in connection with an alleged scheme to steal money from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs through fraudulent contracts.”

The others charged were Corey Alston, 45, Toyao Andrews, 49, and Quinton Tate, 41.

The charges are violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, conspiracy to defraud the state, false statements/concealment, theft by deception, three counts of theft by taking, six counts of theft by receiving and six counts of bribery.

The charges allege that Williams and Andrews approved a contract for cleaning services with a company Andrews owned. From 2017 to 2019, the Georgia agency paid $64,000 to the cleaning company despite cleaning services being provided by the building’s landlord.

In addition, $120,000 was paid for development of an online tool in 2018 that was never implemented.

“The former state employees named in this indictment were supposed to help low-income Georgians find safe, affordable housing. Instead, they allegedly used their positions to enrich themselves,” Boston said. “Anyone who violates the public’s trust and takes taxpayer dollars as their own will be held accountable and brought to justice.”

Williams is from Pittsburgh and has worked in housing agencies there and in Woodbridge and Richmond in Virginia and Charlotte.

Board Chair Pete Byford could not be reached for comment.

He told WYFF that the Greenville Housing Authority was conducting an internal review and was cooperating with Georgia authorities.

The agency’s Director of Finance Beth Clark was named interim CEO.

“We want to assure our community that The Greenville Housing Authority remains committed to transparency and accountability,” Byford told the television station.

Former Mt. Pisgah Elementary was consolidated back in October with two other schools' forming North Central Elementary.

KERSHAW COUNTY, S.C. — Kershaw County Council will cast their final vote on Tuesday evening for the July 2022 to June 2023 budget.

One of the items in the budget is to use a portion of ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) a total of $300,000 dollars to transform Mt. Pisgah Elementary School into a community center.

The school was consolidated with Bethune Elementary and Baron-Dekalb to make what is now North Central Elementary, which has left that area with an empty building.

Tom Gardner, Kershaw County Councilman for District 6 says, "The Old Mt. Pisgah school it's been there for ninety-eight years in that community, it means a lot, and everything is centered being very rural around the churches and that school."

Councilman Gardner says it was an idea that came to mind months back and won't cost taxpayers, "It is the ARPA fun we're setting it up three-hundred thousand and basically, it's one hundred for renovations, then two years of operating money, and then at which time we will be creating a non-profit to operate the community center."

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The building has brought in several entities to tour and explore options, "We talked to some of our agencies here, the Medical Clinic, United Way, Food For The Soul, Arts Center, Library, they all actually took a tour of the building and they felt like that could provide services that are twenty-five miles away."

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Donny Supplee with United Way of Kershaw County is one of those people who came out to see what the building offered, "A bunch of folks who really care about that community and want to make a difference, and so I agreed and we wanted to help as well."

Gardner hopes the process will begin soon, "Hopefully we can get it going once everything gets transferred."

GREENVILLE, S.C. —

The CEO of the Greenville Housing Authority and two other employees have been placed on leave.

The Greenville Housing Authority (TGHA) said CEO Shawn Williams and two other employees are on paid leave following William's indictment on financial fraud charges in DeKalb County, Georgia.

The housing authority says the charges are related to William's prior employment with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.

The indictment says Williams, along with Toyao Andrews, Corey Alston and Quinton Tate were indicted on June 27 by a DeKalb County Grand Jury on charges of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, conspiracy to defraud the state, false statements/concealment, theft by deception, three counts of theft by taking, six counts of theft by receiving and six counts of bribery.

It said Williams and Andrews "conspired to defraud the agency by approving a contract for cleaning services at a DCA satellite office with a company owned by Andrews. The DCA paid more than $64,000 to the cleaning company from 2017 to 2019, even though the office already had cleaning services provided by the building’s landlord. In 2019, Defendant Alston learned the DCA was looking for a vendor to develop an online tool for the agency. When the state rejected his company’s request to be an authorized vendor, Defendants Alston, Andrews, and Tate agreed to use Tate’s company instead. Defendant Andrews then allegedly submitted invoices from Tate’s company for the online product totaling $120,000. DCA leadership paid the invoices after Defendant Andrews and Defendant Williams told them the web service was completed and in use, though the online tool was never created. "

Read the full indictment here.

“The former state employees named in this indictment were supposed to help low-income Georgians find safe, affordable housing. Instead, they allegedly used their positions to enrich themselves,” said District Attorney Sherry Boston. “Anyone who violates the public’s trust and takes taxpayer dollars as their own will be held accountable and brought to justice.”

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“The Housing Authority’s Board met Wednesday morning to discuss and take action in this matter,” said Board Chair Pete Byford. “We take these allegations seriously and will be conducting our own internal reviews.”

Byford said the TGHA’s Board is in full cooperation with the authorities and committed to assisting in any way possible to bring resolution to this matter. The organization said it's working diligently to ensure that the operations and services provided to the residents of Greenville remain uninterrupted during this period.

TGHA’s Director of Finance, Beth Clark, has been named interim CEO. The Board of Directors has also initiated a comprehensive review of internal controls and processes with an outside consulting firm.

“We want to assure our community that The Greenville Housing Authority remains committed to transparency and accountability,” said Byford.

KERSHAW COUNTY, S.C. (WIS) -This week, the Kershaw County School Board voted to close down three elementary schools in the northern part of the district: Baron-Dekalb, Bethune and Mt. Pisgah Elementary Schools. The schools will be consolidated and moved into a brand new elementary school, which the district plans to have built.

District leaders say the plans for consolidation will not mean any job losses. They also say this is being done at no cost to the taxpayers.

Kershaw County School Board votes to consolidate 3 elementary schools

A few years ago, the county sold about $130 million in bonds. After interest, the county received about $150 million. They’re using the excess funds to pay for the construction of the new elementary school, which will be located near North Central Middle and North Central High Schools. District leaders hope that this will make it easier for families with students in multiple grade levels because the elementary, middle and high schools will all be in one central location.

The superintendent of Kershaw County Schools, Dr. Shane Robbins, tells WIS-TV that the schools on the list to be closed are old and they’re looking to provide students with a modern, 21st century environment.

“The three schools in question are quite old. One was built in the 1920’s. The amount of money it would take to renovate and bring those buildings up to current code is an extraordinary amount of money,” Dr. Robbins said.

Based on numbers provided by the district, it would cost about $15 million dollars to bring each of the three elementary schools up to compliance codes – totaling almost $45 million. That’s compared to an estimated $20 million to build a new elementary school.

ESTIMATED COSTS:

Code Compliance Renovations -

Baron-Dekalb $15 Million

Bethune $14 Million

Mt. Pisgah $14 Million

Construction of New School -

$20 Million

Dr. Robbins says members of the Kershaw County School Board considered every single student before making this decision. The district also provided the number of bus riders who will be affected, and say most students will have a shorter ride on the way to school and heading back home with the location of the new school.

The superintendent says the new school will also create smaller class sizes.

“Because the buildings are so small, sometimes our class sizes are really large because you can’t split one, and by pulling them together we actually will have multiple sections where it will lower our class sizes proportionately across the county.”

School leaders say they anticipate moving students into the new building by the 2021-2022 school year.

Copyright 2019 WIS. All rights reserved.

WATERLOO — DeKalb Central schools are creating hands-on computer science opportunities for students in kindergarten through grade 5.

The school district is in its second year of offering a computer science class at all of its elementary schools. The 35-minute class takes place once a week and is lead by paraprofessionals Renee Buehner, Jennifer Caylor, Isabella Hal and Sally Pease. Kelsey Wertz is the district’s innovation coach and computer science coordinator.

This year’s curriculum involves the use of read aloud books, Wertz said.

The “Hello Ruby” book series is used, where the first part of class is used to read a chapter of the book, with the second part of class used for hands-on activities that solidify and reiterate what was going on the the chapter.

After reading “Hello Ruby: Journey Inside the Computer,” students created their own paper computer, learning its different components, what they do and where they are in a computer, Wertz explained.

The tech team also brought in a dissected tower and students got an up-close look at a tower and identified its parts.

First-graders used the “Hello Ruby: Adventures In Coding” read aloud with corresponding activities for each chapter, Wertz said.

Students learned about loops and collaborated to create dance loops and communicated their dance loop to the class.

Students also learned vocabulary terms relating to computer science and used picture books to learn about famous computer scientists.

“With activities like these, we have found that our kids really are understanding now … after we’ve gone some of these unplugged activities, or activities that don’t require a device, kids are really zooming through the … curriculum,” Wertz said.

“Kids are really recalling.”

Students use Vex Go robotics kits to engineer and build a design. Third-graders have used the kits to look at simple machines, Wertz said.

“They were able to build simple machines and were able to test them,” she added.

Wertz said using the design process, students are provided an environment to practice critical thinking, collaboration, communication, perseverance, adaptability and integrity.

Students in grades 3-5 use Ozobot Evos to design and create models to a given task. They coded an Ozobot to travel on a path on a U.S. map, Wertz said.

In the future, students in kindergarten through second grade will use Sphero smart devices to learn coding, she added.

Wertz said the district will continue to work toward computer science integration, noting is can be used as a tool to learn science, math, English language arts, social studies, art, music and more.