Tresa Baldas

Detroit Free Press

Ronald Alexander is angry.

And he wants the world to know why.

In a federal courtroom this morning, the charismatic principal, who cried on national television when his school won a $500,000 giveaway on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," got choked up again, this time lambasting the government for portraying him as a criminal.

The former Spain Elementary principal is headed to prison for a year for taking $23,000 in kickbacks from vendor Norman Shy as a reward for approving fraudulent invoices for school supplies that were paid for but never delivered.

►Related: Detroit principal whose school won 'Ellen' prize gets 1 year in prison

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►Related: Ex-DPS vendor Norman Shy gets 5 years in prison in $2.7M scam

Alexander, who faced up to nearly four years in prison under his sentencing guidelines, wanted to stay out of prison so that he could care for his elderly mother. But more than that, Alexander argued, he doesn't belong in prison, not given all he's done for DPS in the four decades he worked there.

Here is what he told the judge before learning his punishment:

He started by saying that in his 40 years at DPS: "All I've ever done was service the children of the Detroit Public Schools."

Alexander then spoke of inheriting Spain Elementary, a school that was plagued with drugs, fighting and low test scores and turning it around.

Then he talked about burying children.

"I buried three students because the kids' parents didn't have money, out of my own pocket," Alexander said. "I buried those children ... only because I loved" the school and surrounding neighborhood.



Then he brought up the businessman whose fraudulent invoices he approved.

"Mr. Shy, he did me wrong. He was saying he gave me donations," Alexander said, referring to the gift cards and checks that Shy gave him over the years.

Alexander said he used the gift cards and checks on the kids.

"I did not pad my pockets .. some of the gift cards are still at home," he said, later blaming Shy again. "He's a known crook and he's been doing it for years."

►Related: $27K in gift cards = 1 year in prison for DPS principal

He also talked about the pain and embarrassment he's suffered since being charged in March, alongside 11 other principals, one assistant superintendent and Shy, who was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday for billing DPS $2.7 million for supplies that were never delivered. He did it, prosecutors said, with the help of principals like Alexander.

"Nobody knows how bad I feel to have to go out from my job like this," Alexander said, noting he was not allowed to return to Spain to collect his belongings after being charged. He also wasn't allowed to attend the eighth-grade graduation ceremony.

"I love this school. It think it's unfair," Alexander said. "I have buried children ... I have done nothing but serve God ... It's just unfair to me, and your honor, I don't deserve it."

Alexander also noted he has scores of supporters: his students, staff, family, religious leaders, famous musicians. Perhaps most notable is the Parent Association at Spain Elementary, which wrote the judge a letter saying it wants Alexander back.

"They know the intent of my heart," Alexander said of his supporters, including a few dozen who packed the courtroom, nodding their heads as he spoke.

"I'm sad. I'm hurt. I feel bad," Alexander said. "I should be judged by the life I have lived."

He continued: "I don't even have a parking ticket ... I'm not the bad person that the federal (government) has accused me" of being.

U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts conceded that Alexander had done plenty of good in his life and helped many people. But he pleaded guilty to taking kickbacks from a vendor and cheating his students out of paid-for supplies, she reminded him. And the crime warranted a prison sentence, she said.

"Mr. Alexander has admitted that he took bribes," Roberts said. "The crime that Mr. Alexander committed was serious."

Despite the one-year sentence, Alexander did get a break. His sentencing guidelines called for 37-46 months. Prosecutors recommended 19-24 months, arguing Alexander used some of the kickbacks on himself, on things like new carpet and purchases at Foot Locker and Nordstroms.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Frances Lee Carlson, who urged the judge to send Alexander to prison, called it a "modern-day Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" story. She said in the public spotlight, Alexander presented as a man who cared for his students and the conditions of his school, noting he expressed such concerns on national TV, when he cried on the 'Ellen DeGeneres Show' in February. One month later, he was charged.

"Behind closed doors, the defendant was lining his own pockets with funds that should have gone to the school," Carlson said.

Tresa Baldas can be contacted at tbaldas@freepress.com