Parents: Rock Terrace Staff Bilked Students Out of Work-Study Earnings

Montgomery County Public Schools is investigating allegations that staff at Rock Terrace School set up bank accounts for money students earned through a work-study program and then withdrew the earnings for themselves.

The allegations are tied to money students earned through the Rockville school’s Transition to Work program, MCPS spokesman Dana Tofig told Patch in a written statement. Rock Terrace teaches work-life skills to special education students ages 12 to 21.

“While these are just allegations at this point, we are taking the matter very seriously and are conducting a thorough investigation,” Tofig said in the statement. “Appropriate action will be taken based on the facts of the case, once the investigation is completed. In order to protect the integrity of this investigation, we will not comment further at this time.”

WTOP, which broke the story Friday, reported that parents, who were unaware that their children were being paid for school-related work, discovered that bank accounts had been set up for the students—with statements being sent to Rock Terrace School. The parents allege that their children were taken to Montgomery County Teachers Federal Credit Union to make withdrawals, but gave the money to staff,WTOP reports.

Lyda Astrove, an attorney helping parents at Rock Terrace, told The Washington Post  that MCPS issuedW-2 tax forms that parents had never seen.

Several parents applied for public benefits, but were told their children weren’t eligible because they were earning income, The Post reports.