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The Pendulum

Principal Sonya Swanbrough in the 2013 Poe Middle School Yearbook.

Poe Middle School Principal Sonya Swansbrough, 46, has been charged with the embezzlement and money laundering of over $130,000. Since late September, she has been under investigation with  J.E.B. Stuart High School Administrator Bethany Speed.

According to Cluster 3 Superintendent Douglas Tyson, Speed is Swansbrough’s former finance technician.

Swansbrough and Speed allegedly  falsified timesheets for personal financial gain in incidents that began as early as May 2010. The Financial Crimes Unit detectives from Fairfax County and Fairfax County Public School human resources have led the investigation.

The investigation began when school finance employees found irregularities in Poe’s records and authorities are currently auditing Poe’s finances. It is believed that Swansbrough, and a finance specialist who worked with her until June 2011, took over $100,000 from accounts used to pay employees, and some of the stolen money was taken from federal grants used to help students at the school.

The police have also charged Swansbrough’s  son, 20-year-old Brenton Rusnak, with allegations of receiving stolen property related to the case.

Rusnak, a sophomore studying marketing at Virginia’s Radford University, began working at Poe in July of 2009 working in the after-school program, while performing clerical duties forcing the administration to question if Swansbrough went against the FCPS policy of nepotism.

It is believed that Swansbrough allegedly used county funds and federal grant money to pay her son for work that authorities think he never did. 

Almost 950 students from grades 6 to 8 attend Poe Middle School, which feeds into AHS.The school in considered to reach the federal level of poverty with over 65 percent of students on free or reduced lunch.

For many Poe Middle School now attending AHS, these allegations come as a shock.

“She was so nice, I would’ve never seen it coming,” senior Kowthar Said said.

Swansbrough began working for the school system in 1990 as an art teacher at Glasgow Middle School. She became an assistant principal at Poe in 2003 before taking over the top job three years later making $127,731 annually as a principal. Schools officials said Swansbrough arrived at Poe for work Monday but was arrested off of school property.

According to School Board member Sandy Evans, Swansbrough was considered a “key member of the community” and had been considered for a promotion to Assistant Superintendent.

“She has been terrific, involved and a warm principal,” Evans said. “She knows the families and cares deeply about the kids at the school.”

Swansbrough was more than just a principal at Poe. She also served on a task force team that set out to close the minority student achievement gap in FCPS. Additionally, she was one of over 40 members of the  FCPS Professional Renewal and Assessment of Principal’s committee which created the performance evaluation handbook. This committee established the standards and procedures by which school-based administrators are evaluated.

Senior Lily Montes de Oca and sophomore Anya Montes De Oca look back on their time at Poe surprised by Swansbrough’s actions.

“I would have never expected it ever from her. She was one of the nicest people that has ever worked there,” Lily said. “She used to help our Girl Scout troop with community service and she always wanted us to help clean up the old courtyard.”

Swansbrough also took a keen interest in helping the arts at Poe.

“It’s crazy, the fact that she steals the money from other the school  to help herself is obviously wrong,” Anya said. “She used to give a lot of money to the drama department which is ironic,” Anya said.

Assistant Principal Dr. Colleen Noone will the Acting Principal for the time being.

Tyson sent an email out to parents of Poe Middle School parents that read:

“We regret to inform you about an unfortunate situation but we wanted the Poe Middle School Community to learn of this news first as you may be reading or hearing about this in the media over the next few days.

This morning, Principal Sonya Swansbrough was charged by law enforcement in connection with financial impropriety with school funds. She has been temporarily relieved of her duties while an investigation is under way. Our current assistant principal, Colleen Noone will be the administrator in charge for the time being and we ask that you give her your full support during this difficult time.

Principal Swansbrough’s former finance technician, Beth Speed, is also facing similar charges. We are not at liberty to discuss in greater detail the specifics related to these charges as this remains an ongoing Fairfax County Police Department investigation. However, internal processes brought these issues to light which were then turned over to law enforcement for further investigation.

As hard as this situation is, we ask that our parents keep a positive focus for their children and their continued academic success. We as a school staff are committed to our mission to continue to provide the very best educational services for our students. Thank you for your understanding and support.”