A former member of the Burbank Unified School District Board of Education is facing criminal charges following allegations that she approved a contract with a company registered to her daughter and then funneled $93,000 worth of payments into her own bank account, authorities said.
In the same meeting that the alleged embezzlement scheme came to light, the district’s superintendent suddenly resigned.
Former board member Charlene Tabet was recently charged with one count of having a financial interest in a contract or purchase made in an official capacity, according to the Burbank Police Department. Police said Tabet signed documents and endorsed checks in her daughter’s name, then deposited the money into her personal account. Tabet did not respond to a request for comment.
The school board announced in a June 5 meeting that a contract with a vendor called Specialized Support Services, which was proprietorially signed by Tabet’s daughter, was under investigation. Tabet resigned effective Sept. 4.
Also on June 5, the board announced that it had accepted the resignation of Superintendent John Paramo. Paramo was accused of knowingly facilitating the payment scheme with with Tabet, according to a June 3 memo to school board members detailing an internal investigation into Specialized Support Services. He has not been charged with any crime.
A staff member claims that Paramo said, “Ms. Tabet was having money troubles and this would help her out.” He also allegedly said “it will create red flags if they hire her while she is a board member, so they would create the contract with her daughter,” according to the memo.
Paramo did not respond to a request for comment and the Burbank Police Department would not comment on whether authorities are currently investigating him in connection to the scheme.
The alleged misconduct began in September 2024, when Tabet and her fellow board members voted to approve a contract with Specialized Support Services to complete a two-year backlog of meeting minutes. Tabet did not disclose that the company was registered to her daughter or recuse herself from the vote.
The district paid Specialized Support Services $93,000 from December 2024 to May 2025, but during that time only ten meetings worth of minutes appear to have been completed, according to the district’s internal investigation.
“At a clerical sub-rate, this would equate to less than $1,000 in compensation,” the investigation memo states. “Even at a generous consulting rate of $50/hour, the total should not exceed $2,500. The district has paid over 25 times that amount.”
The LLC associated with the vendor was not legally formed until after the first payment was issued, according to the memo. The company’s phone number, email address and mailing address were redacted on the version of the contract posted with the agenda, but the unredacted version shows the address to be Tabet’s home, according to the memo.
The contract was up to be renewed for another $45,000 on June 5; however, prior to the meeting a concerned individual reached out to the school district’s human resources department about the contract and an internal investigation was initiated.
On June 11, the board passed a resolution to formally censure Tabet and call on her to resign. On June 18, the board approved a contract with third-party investigators to further probe the affair.
“To ensure the integrity of this ongoing process and to avoid any interference, we respectfully may not comment further at this time,” Interim Superintendent Oscar Macias said in a statement.
The same third-party investigators are also looking into a possible conflict of interest related to a $30,000 athletics contract authorized by Paramo, according to the Burbank Leader. The district contracted with Paramo’s personal trainer Isaiah Knoll to provide athletic training services despite the fact that Knoll does not hold any credentials in sports medicine, the Leader reported.
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