Judge Dario Gomez Herrera did an unusual thing yesterday. Since the public school teachers union (ADP) president Olimpia Gonzalez did not comply with his summons to court to answer his questions about the case of a RD$15 million fraud in her union, he personally went looking for her. He visited her home and the hospital where she had been, but found she had been released prior to his visit. He then requested that she be prevented from leaving the country. As part of the fraud case, the former financial director of the union, an accounting clerk and her mother are all in jail. The judge ordered the presence of Gonzalez in his courtroom after evidence showed that she had opened an account in the Banco de Reservas without the consent of the board and had issued dozens of checks for around RD$2 million using Ministry of Education funds. The court hearing coincides with demands from the teachers union for a 100% increase in teachers wages. Several sectors say that only qualified teachers should receive wage increases, and they demand that the unionized members work the full number of hours they are contracted for. The many strikes are driving public education quality to an all time low.
