蜜桃影视

Just four days after her abrupt resignation as Puerto Rico鈥檚 education secretary, Julia Keleher went to Yale University to deliver a highly charged and unusual speech. The subject was leadership, an apt one for an education management conference, but it was also Keleher鈥檚 own story 鈥� a defiant and sometimes bitter narrative of pushing for change against the island鈥檚 culture of corruption.

Before she became secretary, Keleher told the hundreds of people assembled at New Haven鈥檚 Omni Hotel in April, getting things done in Puerto Rico鈥檚 tangled education system amounted to 鈥渂asically political favoritism.鈥�

鈥淲ho you knew determined what job you had, irrespective of your experience or your capacity to perform,鈥� she said. Ending that practice 鈥渨on me armies of people that literally would have been happy to take my head off.鈥�

But even then, Keleher was the target of a large-scale corruption probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that threatens to upend that portrayal.

In July, as part of an alleged conspiracy to illegally direct more than $15 million in federal funds to organizations with personal and political connections. The charges helped bring down the administration of Gov. Ricardo Rossell贸, who, although not implicated in the case, had appointed Keleher to revolutionize the island鈥檚 education system in 2016. Keleher and her co-defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges, and her attorney stressed that she is not accused of benefiting financially from the scheme.

At the Yale event, Keleher, 44, dismissed a reporter鈥檚 question about rumors of federal investigations then swirling around her departure. 鈥淚 have no comment on the investigations,鈥� she said. 鈥淚nvestigations have been happening at the Department of Education since forever.鈥�

What may have sounded like a brush-off hinted at a deeper irony. Years before becoming education secretary, Keleher worked on a U.S. Department of Education team tasked with fixing compliance problems involving waste, fraud and mismanagement of federal funds in Puerto Rico鈥檚 school system 鈥� issues that had led to the conviction of another former education secretary nearly two decades earlier.

Her role on the other side of the island鈥檚 federal education probes is one of many lingering riddles to have emerged since her arrest. Friends and former colleagues describe Keleher as a fierce advocate known for 2 a.m. emails and sometimes little sympathy for those lacking her single-minded work ethic. But they also recall her as someone too smart to cut corners and too tough to get ensnared in someone else鈥檚 scheme.

鈥淪he just wants to cut through all of the crap, essentially, to get something done,鈥� said Ellen Forte, CEO and chief scientist at edCount, an education consulting firm. The two met while working to correct compliance issues on the island 鈥� meetings that left Forte feeling that Keleher would never 鈥渆ngage in anything that wasn鈥檛 above board.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 so bizarre,鈥� she said. Speaking of Keleher鈥檚 monitoring duties on the island, she said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 surreal in a way that someone who was doing this is suddenly charged with being the criminal.鈥�

鈥楤ig data鈥� whiz

As Puerto Rico鈥檚 education secretary, Keleher portrayed herself as being on a mission to rescue the island鈥檚 moribund school system. In 2017, she seized on Hurricane Maria鈥檚 devastation to close hundreds of schools and embrace new charters and private school vouchers. Amid the ensuing protests and online ridicule, Keleher didn鈥檛 back down.

A look at her life and career reveals that her frustration with the status quo started early.

Keleher grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs and, after graduating from Cardinal O鈥橦ara High School, a Catholic school, attended the University of Pennsylvania for her bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degrees.

It was during grad school, after spending time with struggling students in North Philadelphia, that she observed that 鈥渨e could probably do this better,鈥� according to by Penn鈥檚 alumni magazine.

That drive carried into a seven-year stint at the Red Clay Consolidated School District in Wilmington, Delaware, 听 guidance counselor to special assistant to the superintendent.

Delaware colleagues took note of Keleher鈥檚 long hours and tireless work ethic.

鈥淚f there鈥檚 such a thing as a workaholic,鈥� Keleher was it, said Deborah Fetzer, a retired teacher who worked with her at a district middle school.

Jennifer Shields-Russell, a former district administrator and elementary school principal at Red Clay, remembers well Keleher鈥檚 middle-of-the-night emails. On one occasion, Shields-Russell submitted a proposal to Keleher and, because the two belonged to the same gym, later observed her on an elliptical, reading the document while working out.

鈥淪he鈥檚 articulate, she鈥檚 definitely very bright, and she doesn鈥檛 have a whole lot of empathy for people who don鈥檛 share those traits,鈥� said Shields-Russell, who left the district in 2012 and is now retired. 鈥淚f you want somebody to work really, really hard on something, she鈥檚 the go-to kind of person. But if you鈥檙e trying to balance some other things in your life, and you don鈥檛 work that much, perhaps you weren鈥檛 in her favor all the time.鈥�

Though Shields-Russell felt Keleher was young for her level of responsibility, she admired her drive to help other young women land leadership roles. Keleher鈥檚 biggest achievement at the district, in Shields-Russell鈥檚 view, was an effort to streamline the top-heavy school system.

鈥淪he definitely had a business model in mind,鈥� Shields-Russell said. 鈥淵ou couldn鈥檛 come to her with just an idea. You needed to come to her with a full-scale business plan.鈥�

Keleher鈥檚 reputation as a data whiz continued when she came to the federal education department in 2007. Alan Ginsburg, who worked there for 40 years before retiring in 2010 as director of policy and program studies, said he and Keleher helped create an internal system to compile data from a variety of sources to assist federal monitors. The system offered pinpoint information about state performance, school demographics and audit findings.

鈥淪he was terrific at big data. She also had a laser focus,鈥� he said. 鈥淪he was the best down there in terms of focusing on what a data system should look like.鈥� During her tenure at the department, Keleher also worked as part of a team that monitored compliance in Puerto Rico鈥檚 school system, which had a lengthy history of financial mismanagement.

鈥淭hey just couldn鈥檛 track the money,鈥� Ginsburg said. 鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 have accounting systems set up, and the school system wasn鈥檛 doing very well.鈥� Her work in Puerto Rico may have informed Keleher鈥檚 data-wrangling, he said, giving her 鈥渟ome experience, I think, as to what would be needed.鈥�

An 鈥榠nternal civil war鈥�

The atmosphere in Puerto Rico鈥檚 education department at the time resembled an 鈥渋nternal civil war,鈥� according to a former Obama administration political appointee who worked with Keleher at the federal agency. Puerto Rico鈥檚 department lacked nonpartisan civil servants and was dominated by political cronies, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the criminal charges against Keleher. Turnover was rampant, and the department frequently lacked critical expertise to help itself.

Keleher, the official said, was tasked with providing technical assistance on oversight and recognized that the department lacked the know-how to properly handle some of the obstacles it faced managing federal grants. She understood federal rules and knew the island鈥檚 troubled track record of compliance failures.

Many of those challenges stemmed from the tenure of previous education secretary Victor Fajardo, convicted in a with some parallels to the indictment against Keleher and her co-defendants. Fajardo, the island鈥檚 education secretary from 1994 to 2000, was convicted in 2002 of leading a $4.3 million theft, extortion and money laundering scheme. Much of the money had been earmarked for computers and teacher training on new technology. Instead, officials said, Fajardo to pocket the cash and directed about $1 million to the New Progressive Party, helmed by then-Gov. Pedro Rossell贸, the father of recently resigned Gov. Ricardo Rossell贸. (Neither Rossell贸 was implicated in the case.)

Months after the indictments, the U.S. Department of Education designated Puerto Rico鈥檚 school system , a much-feared label given to departments deemed financially unstable. The label places special conditions on federal grants and is designed to trigger stricter, more frequent federal oversight, with the worst offenders unable to receive federal funds. As a result, federal officials provided Puerto Rico鈥檚 education department with technical assistance on grant requirements and fiscal issues .

Federal and island education officials didn鈥檛 respond to requests for comment.

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鈥淵ou鈥檇 look at things and say, 鈥榃ell, I guess there were people who are up to no good and taking inappropriate steps and actions and maybe even personally benefiting.鈥� And then, in other cases, you thought it was just complete incompetence.鈥�

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Forte, the education consultant, said she met Keleher when the two worked to resolve those issues. Forte was helping Puerto Rico meet Title I requirements around standards and assessments, and Keleher was on a team focusing on a host of issues, including financial management. In those interactions, and in subsequent meetings when the two lived in Washington, Forte found Keleher to be 鈥渙ne of the most intense people I鈥檝e known professionally.鈥�

鈥淪he really did seem to be almost always on the job, always thinking about stuff, never satisfied with just letting things go,鈥� she said.

At the time they met, Puerto Rico鈥檚 education department 鈥� the territory鈥檚 largest government agency 鈥� was in chaos, Forte said. At one point while she was there, she said, officials were taken out in handcuffs for mismanaging money. The department also frequently without drawing down the funds.

鈥淚t was a mess in all directions, really,鈥� Forte said. 鈥淵ou鈥檇 look at things and say, 鈥榃ell, I guess there were people who are up to no good and taking inappropriate steps and actions and maybe even personally benefiting.鈥� And then, in other cases, you thought it was just complete incompetence.鈥�

In her interactions with Keleher, however, Forte saw someone capable of standing up to the island鈥檚 culture of corruption.

鈥淪he鈥檒l rub people the wrong way, for sure, but if you鈥檙e doing something wrong, then I might be a little scared of her because she鈥檚 going to figure that out,鈥� Forte said.

While at the federal department, Keleher an agreement to address the island鈥檚 unresolved compliance issues. In 2015, she co-authored a about the episode with a professor at The George Washington University, where she worked as an adjunct. The report focused on how districts and the federal department could work together to overcome 鈥渟ystemic problems that gave rise to repeated and unresolved audit findings.鈥� Officials at Puerto Rico鈥檚 education department 鈥渄emonstrated tremendous commitment and hard work throughout this process and were ultimately successful in addressing the identified risks,鈥� the report noted.

Her work on the island got noticed, and it made some believe she had the requisite skill to be secretary.

Eleuterio 脕lamo, who led the department鈥檚 regional office in San Juan, recalled to Penn鈥檚 alumni magazine how he met Keleher in 2010, when she helped oversee the agreement between Puerto Rico鈥檚 department and the U.S. Department of Education to improve the island鈥檚 management of federal grants. Those interactions, he said, gave him confidence in Keleher鈥檚 leadership.

脕lamo praised Keleher鈥檚 ability as education secretary to combat political influence leveraged by union leaders and government officials. 鈥淛ulia has made it clear,鈥� he told the alumni magazine, that politics must be 鈥渙ut of the system.鈥�

Inside The Matrix

Those qualities endeared her to Ricardo Rossell贸, elected Puerto Rico鈥檚 governor in 2016. The son of the former governor, he , and the island鈥檚 bloated education department 鈥� essentially a third of its budget 鈥� was an easy target.

He expressed a desire for someone who understood Puerto Rico鈥檚 education bureaucracy yet was willing to 鈥渂reak the system and rebuild it again.鈥�

That鈥檚 what he saw in Keleher, who by that point had worked with the island鈥檚 education department under three administrations. During her tenure, Keleher 鈥� a white woman from Philadelphia without personal ties to the island 鈥� was criticized as an outsider. But for Rossell贸, her status was an asset.

鈥淚f you take somebody inside of the system, it鈥檚 kind of like The Matrix 鈥� it already owns you,鈥� Rossell贸 told the alumni magazine.

As Keleher told the Yale audience in April, the view from inside The Matrix often wasn鈥檛 pretty.

School buildings were crumbling. Many had mold or lead paint. The bureaucracy was large and unwieldy. Because the island operated as one giant school district, all 1,296 principals reported directly to Keleher. Transparency was difficult to come by. For example, she said, a student information system would place teachers in one location while a staff database put them in another. And only 5,000 people routinely registered in a time-and-attendance system meant to track 50,000 school employees.

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鈥淚f you take somebody inside of the system, it鈥檚 kind of like The Matrix 鈥� it already owns you.鈥�

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On top of that, she told the Yale crowd, she found 鈥� and fought 鈥� a pervasive system of political favoritism, earning her a slew of enemies.

鈥淚 stopped the practice of providing contracts to people who funded campaigns because the way it used to work was that after the campaign, the secretary would take office and there was a series of people who鈥檇 line up to sell something,鈥� she said. Puerto Rico鈥檚 education secretary has traditionally been a political appointee, she said, and contractors who worked on campaigns expected to secure contracts. 鈥淚 would call that out,鈥� she said, 鈥渋n a place where no one would call that out, no one was indignant, no one was upset about that.鈥�

The indictment against Keleher and her co-defendants, however, lays out a different story.

According to prosecutors, Keleher鈥檚 attempts to steer contracts to close acquaintances began the month she became secretary in January 2017. That鈥檚 when Glenda Ponce-Mendoza began working as Keleher鈥檚 鈥渟pecial assistant,鈥� though she wasn鈥檛 employed directly by the department, according to the indictment. The two allegedly helped Glenda鈥檚 sister, Mayra Ponce-Mendoza, secure an education department contract for her company, Col贸n & Ponce, in what prosecutors describe as a 鈥渃orrupted bidding process.鈥�

For Forte, news of Keleher鈥檚 indictment triggered old memories. She immediately recognized the name of Glenda Ponce-Mendoza, who attended several meetings in Puerto Rico during Forte鈥檚 time there.

鈥淚 was never really sure if she was a staff member in the department or how she was connected,鈥� she said, but 鈥渟he seemed like a right-hand person to Julia.鈥�

Reached by phone, Keleher told 蜜桃影视 that she would not comment on the specifics of the indictment. But she said she was frustrated with 鈥渋ncredibly damaging and hurtful鈥� news stories that are 鈥渃ompletely inconsistent from the facts.鈥�

Keleher鈥檚 attorney, Maria Dominguez, and lawyers for the Ponce-Mendoza sisters also declined comment, citing an expansive gag order placed July 12 by U.S. District Judge Pedro Delgado-Hern谩ndez. In previous comments to 蜜桃影视, Dominguez called the charges against Keleher 鈥渟ignificantly different鈥� from other public corruption cases because she isn鈥檛 accused of accepting kickbacks or bribes. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 believe this is a meritorious prosecution,鈥� she said.

鈥業ndividual A鈥�

As Col贸n & Ponce worked to secure an education department contract, prosecutors allege, an official at the consulting firm Keleher founded in Washington helped craft the proposal. The firm, Keleher & Associates, had multiple contracts 鈥斕齮otaling nearly $1 million 鈥斕齱ith the department dating to 2013, pertaining to issues ranging from flexibility waivers on federal requirements to accountability under the Every Student Succeeds Act.

Named only as 鈥淚ndividual A,鈥� according to the indictment, the official from the firm was 鈥渁uthorized to execute all legal and administrative documents鈥� related to ending Keleher & Associates鈥� business on the island. The indictment says that document was signed 鈥渙n or about鈥� Jan. 25, 2018 鈥� the same day, according to filed with the island鈥檚 state department, that Vanessa Monroy 听. Monroy, listed in a as the firm鈥檚 president, has extensive links to oversight in Puerto Rico. She helped the island鈥檚 education department navigate federal efforts to correct 鈥渓ong-standing and serious compliance deviations that placed at risk billions in federal funding,鈥� .

Six days after Keleher鈥檚 resignation, and two days after her speech at Yale, reported that in August 2018, FBI agents raided Monroy鈥檚 Puerto Rico home, seizing her phone and computer. Her husband told local reporters that Monroy and Keleher years earlier had worked together to resolve long-standing issues stemming from the corruption scandal that had brought down Fajardo, the previous education secretary.

Monroy didn鈥檛 respond to multiple requests for comment from 蜜桃影视. Neither did officials at the FBI nor the U.S. Attorney鈥檚 Office in San Juan.

Though Puerto Rico鈥檚 education department hadn鈥檛 yet requested the services Col贸n & Ponce was offering, prosecutors allege that Keleher instructed the agency鈥檚 director of federal affairs to award them a contract for $43,000, an amount later increased to nearly $100,000. An island official, the indictment said, determined it was 鈥渢he only company not qualified for the contract, and was the worst applicant.鈥�

posted on the website for the island鈥檚 comptroller indicated that the company鈥檚 duties included helping to manage federally funded projects, implementing school improvement plans and evaluating student performance.

Prosecutors went on to accuse Keleher of another form of patronage. In June 2017, Keleher received an email from an unidentified 2016 gubernatorial candidate that included the r茅sum茅 of his campaign director. Former candidate Manuel Cidre 鈥斕齱ho ran unsuccessfully against Rossell贸 in 2016 鈥� on behalf of his former campaign director, Marie Estela Cestero. Because hiring Estela Cestero as a government employee 鈥渨ould not be feasible,鈥� according to the indictment, Keleher told her she鈥檇 be paid for her work as a 鈥渟pecial assistant鈥� by Col贸n & Ponce, totaling $15,000.

When the contract with Col贸n & Ponce expired, the auditing and accounting giant BDO continued the payments, awarding Estela Cestero $46,000 to continue her work as Keleher鈥檚 assistant, the indictment said.

Reached by phone, Estela Cestero 鈥斕齱ho confirmed she did communications work for Cidre鈥檚 independent gubernatorial bid 鈥� said she was surprised to see her employment with Keleher referenced in the indictment. She said she was hired by Keleher to design a safety plan for the island鈥檚 schools, and though she received payment from Col贸n & Ponce and later from BDO, she said that wasn鈥檛 suspicious because she worked as an outside consultant. According to the indictment, however, she had an official education department email address and represented herself as Keleher鈥檚 special assistant in emails with government officials.

Attempts to contact Cidre for comment were unsuccessful.

As laid out in the indictment, Keleher鈥檚 involvement with BDO represented a far more expansive scheme. Consultants diverted more than $13 million in education department contracts with help from 鈥渋ndividuals with government influence鈥� in order to 鈥渂enefit and enrich themselves,鈥� the indictment said. BDO subcontracted with the company Azur, granting it a 10 percent commission to help secure contracts, thus inflating the cost of services.

Keleher put her thumb on the scale during the process, the indictment said, by using a personal email account to help company executives write their proposals, agreeing in one message to general language that wouldn鈥檛 limit the scope of BDO鈥檚 work.

The BDO official, Fernando Scherrer-Caillet, resigned from his position as managing partner following the indictment. Citing the gag order in the case, his attorney declined to comment. BDO officials didn鈥檛 respond to calls to discuss the case but said in to local reporters that it takes the allegations seriously and will continue to cooperate with federal officials.

An attorney for indicted Azur owner Alberto Vel谩zquez Pi帽ol also didn鈥檛 respond to requests for comment.

An online search of island documents revealed 听 pertained to resolving audit findings, as well as improving teacher evaluations and professional development.

But they also covered topics that would soon make Keleher nationally known and infamous in some corners of the island: large-scale school closures and education reform initiatives.

Hurricane鈥檚 impact

In September 2017, Hurricane Maria ravaged the island, leaving Puerto Ricans without power for months in what would become the worst blackout in U.S. history. More than a million people were left without clean water. Neighborhoods were ransacked. Thousands of people were killed.

With schools shuttered islandwide, Puerto Rican children missed months of classroom instruction while thousands of others fled to states such as Florida, New York and Massachusetts 鈥� to the mainland.

Amid the destruction, Keleher saw an opening.

The island鈥檚 education system had failed its students for years, she said, and change was long past due.

鈥淥f the things I need to worry about 鈥� the buildings, the poisoning from rats being around, the flooding, moving kids, transportation, sliding roads 鈥� the thing that worries me the most is that somehow I鈥檓 not going to deliver on this learning opportunity, this transformational opportunity for us to start to think fundamentally differently about what it is to be in school, and how one goes about getting an education,鈥� Keleher told 蜜桃影视 in October 2017.

But the education reforms 鈥� and her $250,000 salary 鈥� brought her under a constant barrage of criticism. Montessori school leaders were among the loudest critics, speaking out against Keleher鈥檚 plan to convert their campuses to charter schools. Such an arrangement, Keleher told 蜜桃影视 in 2018, would have allowed them to apply for additional federal money. While the schools 鈥渉elped a lot of kids,鈥� she said, their low enrollment made them ripe for closure.

When the government announced a plan to shutter nearly 300 campuses, 15 Montessori schools were included. Ana Mar铆a Garc铆a Blanco, executive director of the nonprofit Instituto Nueva Escuela, which promotes the growth of Montessori schools in Puerto Rico, discussed the proposal on several occasions with Keleher and officials from BDO, which she said helped carry out a haphazard closure plan.

During the meetings, Garc铆a Blanco said Keleher seemed intent on following through with her plan no matter what. But members of the Montessori community successfully fought back, Garc铆a Blanco said, and in the end, none of their schools were closed.

The charter push was a major goal of former governor Ricardo Rossell贸. In October 2018, he at the Center for Education Reform鈥檚 25th anniversary gala in Miami, where he encouraged participation in Puerto Rico鈥檚 reform efforts. Jeanne Allen, founder and CEO of the nonprofit school-choice group, said center officials and charter school leaders made several trips to Puerto Rico, where they met with Rossell贸 and Keleher. Jay Rossell贸, the former governor鈥檚 brother and an attorney at the Chicago law firm Hogan Marren Babbo & Rose, helped facilitate the meetings, Allen said.

Because Puerto Rico had limited experience with charter schools, the island鈥檚 new education reform law provided an opportunity for 鈥渟easoned operators鈥� interested in participating in the 鈥渘ascent reform effort,鈥� according to by Jay Rossell贸. For interested parties, according to the post, the law firm 鈥渟tands ready to assist.鈥�

But to Allen, Keleher seemed to be on a different path. At a time when many Puerto Ricans vilified Keleher for embracing school choice, it seemed to Allen that the former secretary resisted charter school growth. Mainland charter operators who expressed an interest in Puerto Rico鈥檚 reform efforts 鈥済ot zero help鈥� from Keleher, Allen said, 鈥渁nd, in fact, were discouraged.鈥�

鈥淪omething was fishy when great people that are willing to actually spend time and resources to open up schools on behalf of Puerto Rico鈥檚 children are basically told 鈥業t won鈥檛 work, they can鈥檛 do it, it鈥檚 the worst place,鈥欌�� Allen said. 鈥淪he would even say, 鈥業t鈥檚 the worst place, you have no idea. This place is worse than any other place to open schools.鈥欌��

Jay Rossell贸 didn鈥檛 respond to requests for comment. In on the island, he acknowledged working briefly on behalf of the center and attending a meeting between the nonprofit and his brother, but he denied that his work presented a conflict of interest.

Allen鈥檚 depiction of Keleher鈥檚 arm鈥檚-length approach to school choice comports with the recollections of others.

David DeSchryver, senior vice president and co-director of research at Whiteboard Advisors, a strategic consulting and communications firm, said he got to know Keleher through the education policy scene in Washington, D.C. Though she often discussed the challenges that faced Puerto Rico鈥檚 education system, she didn鈥檛 come off as a school-choice 鈥渋deologue,鈥� DeSchryver said. Because of the island鈥檚 logistical challenges, he also expressed skepticism that charter school leaders were clamoring to open campuses there.

In interviews with 蜜桃影视, Keleher said she wanted charter schools there to be 鈥渦niquely Puerto Rican鈥� and voiced reservations about working with established mainland operators. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not the same as inner-city Baltimore,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think you can take it from the States and plop it down鈥� in Puerto Rico.

Last year, just one charter school opened in Puerto Rico, and a

鈥業t seems impossible鈥�

In April, as Keleher spoke to the Yale education management conference, she noted some key lessons from her tenure as secretary, including 鈥渂eing comfortable with ambiguity, having 65 percent of all the information you need.鈥�

In the wake of the indictment, much of that ambiguity remains. At Yale, she spoke little of the expansive plans for charter schools and vouchers and more of simple gains: a planned salary increase for teachers, resources such as laptops and nurses, and the division of the island鈥檚 giant education bureaucracy into seven geographical regions.

Although she acknowledged being hurt at times by her outsider status 鈥� shortly after Maria hit, the hashtag #juliagohome became ubiquitous on Twitter 鈥� she remained unapologetic.

鈥淭here was nothing, absolutely nothing, that was going to deter me from accomplishing what I set out to do,鈥� she said.

But she also spoke of 鈥渢he vast and powerful array of enemies鈥� she faced. Critics mocked her through numerous memes and a satirical . After her arrest, Los Rivera Destino, a Puerto Rican band, dedicated a of one of its more popular songs, 鈥淭e Bot茅,鈥� to 鈥渃orrupted politicians,鈥� naming Keleher and Rossell贸.

Despite the long-percolating news that Keleher was the target of an investigation, her arrest sent shock waves across Puerto Rico and in mainland U.S. communities where Keleher previously worked.

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鈥淭here was nothing, absolutely nothing, that was going to deter me from accomplishing what I set out to do.鈥�

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鈥淚鈥檓 retired, not dead,鈥� said Shields-Russell, who worked with Keleher in Delaware, when asked if she鈥檇 heard of the indictment. For Shields-Russell, and others, the news came as a surprise. 鈥淚 never saw or would suspect her of being dishonest,鈥� she said. However, she added, 鈥淚 would find it very difficult to believe she was the victim of someone else because she is so thorough.鈥�

Forte, the education consultant who worked with Keleher on the island, was similarly at a loss. She acknowledged her own challenges navigating Puerto Rico鈥檚 dysfunctional educational bureaucracy: It was 鈥渘early impossible,鈥� she said, 鈥渢o get contracts through.鈥�

鈥淢aybe there鈥檚 a level of frustration there that, to really get stuff done, the typical channels may not work,鈥� Forte said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the only thing that would come to mind. Otherwise it seems bizarre. It seems impossible.鈥�

Keleher鈥檚 indictment was just the first act in what escalated into a full-blown government crisis. Days later, reporters with the Center for Investigative Journalism in Puerto Rico between Rossell贸 and people in his inner circle. Among the messages, often laden with profanity, were statements mocking Hurricane Maria victims and a are 鈥渢errorists.鈥� After huge protests hit San Juan, Rossell贸 resigned on Aug. 2.

Still, as the island鈥檚 government stumbles to recover from controversy, federal education officials warn that more challenges lie ahead. A week after Keleher鈥檚 indictment, the inspector general鈥檚 office at the U.S. Department of Education released a new salvo in its ongoing critique of the island鈥檚 school finances, echoing reports that date back more than a decade, to Keleher鈥檚 tenure in federal government.

Puerto Rico鈥檚 school system, , lacks 鈥渃ritical mechanisms for safeguarding鈥� funds 鈥渇rom fraud, waste, and abuse.鈥�

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