It was shortly after the administration at the Coatesville school district noticed irregularities with the time sheets submitted by two teachers now charged with falsifying instructional logs that tighter controls were put in place by Superintendent Richard Como.

Patricia Jones, 51, of 312 Barclay Court, Thorndale and Maryellen Winn, of 107 Larson Lane, Coatesville, were charged last week on multiple forgery and theft-related charges for allegedly falsifying instruction logs and forging the signatures of their homebound students in order to collect thousands of dollars for tutoring they never performed.

Como said the Jones and Winn were both suspended with pay following the finance department discovering problems with their instructional logs and time sheets. An investigation by the county detectives determined the two teachers allegedly collected payment for a combined 196 hours of tutoring never performed. Both Jones and Winn were paid $24 an hour for those hours that was in addition to their regular teaching salaries.

The alleged incidents took place during the 2004-05 school year. It was after Como became superintendent that the finance department discovered problems with the instructional logs and time sheets submitted by Jones and Winn.

Como said the two teachers were then suspended with pay for the entire 2005-06 school year. Following a lengthy internal investigation, he said the two teachers were fired at the start of the 2006-07 school year. He said information collected by the finance department was turned over to the district attorney's office.

Como said tighter controls with multiple levels of review of homebound instructional logs were put in place shortly after the district first discovered problems with Winn's and Jones' time sheets.

"There is no room for dishonesty and a lack of integrity in public education," said Como.

A preliminary hearing for Jones and Winn is scheduled before District Justice Robert Davis on June 4.