DC Anchor Goes From Reporting the News to Being the News

WUSA Anchor J.C. Hayward has gone from reporting the news, to becoming the news. 

The station's noon anchor is among several people being sued by District Attorney General for their alleged roles in taking more than $3 million from a D.C. public charter school.

The Washington City Paper reports that former officials at Options Public Charter School, including the chief executive officer and chief operating officer, are accused of extracting money from the 17-year-old school through extravagant salaries and sweetheart contracts with companies they controlled. The District wants the school to be placed in receivership, with the assets of some defendants—although not Hayward's—frozen.

The scheme allegedly centered around two for-profit companies: Exceptional Education Management Corporation (EEMC), which was owned and incorporated by Options CEO Donna D. Montgomery, and Exceptional Education Services at Options Public Charter School (EES), a company that was incorporated by Hayward, the chair of Options' board of trustees. The companies had other ties to the school, too—Options paid for their office space, which they shared, according to the attorney general.

At one point in April 2012, according to the attorney general's complaint, Hayward signed off on a $159,000 loan to EES. Later that year, she allegedly agreed to a $981,250 transportation agreement between the school and EES—a hefty deal for the latter, considering that another company had been paid only $70,000 for a similar contract a year before.

The largest unusual contract Hayward was allegedly involved in went to EEMC. In February 2013, Hayward agreed to a $2,801,721 payment to EEMC as a "management fee," according to the attorney general's complaint, even though the contract had not been open for competitive bidding.