Magnolia Science Academy charter schools

“Audit Report – Magnolia Science Academy-Charter Schools.” Los Angeles Unified School District, Office of the Inspector General, 8/20/2012

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report contains the results of our audit of Magnolia Science Academy –Charter Schools (“MSA Schools”). The MSA Schools referred to in this audit were the Magnolia Science Academy-1, Magnolia Science Academy-2 and Magnolia Science Academy-3. The MSA Schools are part of twelve Magnolia Public Schools (MPS) operated by the Magnolia Educational and Research Foundation (MERF)...

Our audit found that the MSA Schools were not in full compliance with the selected provisions, standards and procedures outlined in their respective Charter Agreements. We also noted that the MSA Schools needed to strengthen their internal control systems and their oversight of fiscal and financial operations.
Some of the significant conditions we noted during the audit included:

• The governing board needed to review its existing governance structure to allow for the increased participation of parents, community members and other parties in the Charter Schools’ policy decision areas and other school advocacy.
• The MSA Schools did not maintain all employment documentation in the employee files as prescribed by the California Education Code and the Charter Agreement.
• The MSA Schools did not maintain all the enrollment documentation required by the written enrollment procedures and by the provisions of the Charter Agreement.
• Review of the financial statements and accounting records noted: non-disclosure of related party transactions; failure to maintain required fund reserves; failure to appropriately apply accrual basis of accounting; lack of monitoring of cash receipts and deposits process; lack of documentation for disbursements; lack of control over journal entries, and lack of adequate training for the accounting staff.
• The processes and controls over the bank reconciliation were inadequate. We found one Charter School that dated all reconciliations three days prior to this audit. We also noted that some deposits in transit remained outstanding in bank reconciliations from five months to almost a year.

Conclusion: Our audit noted control weaknesses in governance structure, employment documentation and qualifications of staff, admission/enrollment requirements and various financial control issues managed by the Magnolia Public Schools Central Office at the MSA School sites visited...

Potential Impact

The conditions described above, along with their underlying causes, may have increased the risk of fraud, waste and abuse of the MSA Charter Schools’ funds that could potentially result from the inability to detect irregularities, improper use of public funds or misappropriation of assets. Also, the questioned costs and questionable accounting practices identified in the course of the audit may have resulted in misstated and inaccurate financial statements of the MSA Charter Schools...

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NOTE: Although this internal audit report of these three Gulen charter schools was released in August 2012, the serious findings have not been presented to the public by the media, nor publicly discussed by the LAUSD school board as of 12/1/2012. It is also not known who ordered the audit, or why. If you live in LA, I urge you to pressure your local media to cover the story. More on the Magnolia chain HERE.

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NorthStar High School

“Sentinel Watchdog: Failed charter school paid principal's husband $460K.” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 12/1/2012

The failed Orange County charter school that gave its principal a payout of $519,000 in taxpayer dollars after closing in June also paid her husband more than $460,000 during a five-year period, audits show.

The payments to Steven A. Young, which averaged more than $80,000 a year, were for performing "certain management services," according to annual audits paid for by the school. The total included about $41,000 for services to be performed after the school closed, according to one of the audits.

Young, husband of NorthStar High School Principal Kelly Young, helped establish the charter school 11 years ago and was its first board president. He resigned from the NorthStar board in August 2008, the same month he was arraigned on charges of soliciting prostitutes while on duty as an Orange County sheriff's commander. He was ultimately adjudicated guilty of three charges and lost his law-enforcement job. He is now a divorce attorney.

The payments to Steven Young appear to violate state law prohibiting public officers and employees from doing business with family members, according to legal and charter-school experts. The law states that no employee or officer may purchase services "from any business entity of which the officer or employee or the officer's or employee's spouse or child is an officer, partner, director, or proprietor."...

Between 2010 and 2012, the school also paid at least two of its five board members a total of $48,000 to do clerical and administrative work for the school. Those payments also appear to violate state law and conflict with NorthStar's contract with Orange County schools, district officials say...

Under Florida law, charter schools are run by independent governing boards. Although the schools use public money, state and district officials have little to no control over how the money is spent. According to an August report by the state auditor general, a third of state charter schools had accounting problems, legal violations or other problems in their 2011 audits...

According to former teachers, the school should have been shut down years ago.

Some classes were taught by uncertified teachers, several former staffers said. Scott Simmons, who taught history and art at the school from 2002 to 2007, provided a document showing that the school submitted class schedules that made it appear that only certified teachers were being used. It showed Simmons teaching health, a class he never taught.

The school had inadequate books, overcrowded classrooms, no library and a cafeteria without food service.

Simmons also said the principal routinely forced out troublesome students after they were counted for funding purposes...

Simmons said he reported problems, including cheating on a Stanford Achievement standardized test, to the administrator who oversaw charter schools for Orange County in 2006, but the complaints never led anywhere. The school's charter was renewed in 2007. The Orange County school district was poised to close down the school for poor academic performance and other issues when the NorthStar board voluntarily closed the school this year...

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“Principal's Golden Parachute Infuriates Lawmakers.” Associated Press, 10/28/2012

A failed Florida charter school's principal is getting a $519,000 departure payment, and that has some state lawmakers outraged.

An evaluation by the Orange County School District shows NorthStar High School's directors paid Principal Kelly Young more than twice as much as they spent on teachers and students in the 2011-12 school year.

The Orlando Sentinel reported that Young received $824,000 in taxpayer funds. That includes the departure payment but not money she's still getting for winding down the school's operations. Meanwhile, the school spent $366,042 on instruction, including teacher salaries last year...

"I have never seen an act that egregious in 15 years of working with charters," said Rep. John Legg, a Port Richey Republican who's a charter school business administrator.

A recording on Friday said the phone number listed for the school had been disconnected.

While Young was getting a handsome salary, the school, made up of concrete portables, lacked computers, a library or a cafeteria for some 180 mostly at-risk and underprivileged students...

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“$500,000 payout to charter principal sparks outrage, call for probe.” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 10/24/2012 

The principal of a failed Orange County charter school took home a check for more than $500,000 as the school closed down in June and is still being paid thousands of dollars a month to wrap up the school's affairs.

The check for $519,453.36 in taxpayer money was cut to Kelly Young, principal of NorthStar High School, two days after the Orange County School Board accepted the school's plan to close in lieu of being shut down for poor performance.

The payment, which was authorized by the charter school's independent board, appears to be legal...

Young's payout was based on a contract that called for her to be paid about $305,000 per year through 2014, even though the school's contract was up for renewal in 2012. She was paid 85 percent of her remaining contract.

Her yearly pay and bonuses to run the school, which served about 180 largely at-risk students in east Orange County, was higher than that of Barbara Jenkins, superintendent of the 181,000-student Orange County Public Schools...

Because charter schools do not have to report their principals' salaries in Florida, it is unclear how many might have contracts or salaries similar to Young's...

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“Struggling NorthStar charter in Orlando is closing.” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 3/2/2012 

NorthStar High School in Orlando will close at the end of the school year, a move Orange County school administrators recommended because of declining student achievement.

The charter school's principal said it has decided to shut down voluntarily.

Orange staff recommended NorthStar not be renewed when its current contract ends this year because student test scores and graduation rates have dropped since 2008 and the school's grade has not been better than a D...

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Arizona charter schools (analysis finds insiders made $70M)

“Insiders benefiting in charter deals, Board members, school officials did more than $70mil in business.” The Arizona Republic, 11/17/2012 

Board members and administrators from more than a dozen state-funded charter schools are profiting from their affiliations by doing business with schools they oversee.

The deals, worth more than $70 million over the last five years, are legal, but critics of the arrangements say they can lead to conflicts of interest. Charter executives, on the other hand, say they are able to help the schools get better deals on services and goods ranging from air-conditioners to textbooks and thus save taxpayers money.

The Arizona Republic reviewed thousands of pages of federal tax returns, audits, corporate filings, and records filed with the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools. The analysis looked at the 50 largest non-profit charter schools in the state as well as schools with assets of more than $10 million. For-profit schools were not analyzed because their tax records are not public.

The Republic’s analysis found at least 17 contracts or arrangements, totaling more than $70 million over five years and involving about 40 school sites, in which money from the non-profit charter school went to for-profit or non-profit companies run by board members, executives or their relatives...

Arizona’s regulations on charter schools are relatively lax. The state allows charters to seek exemptions from state laws that require schools to obtain competitive bids for goods or services. Nearly 90 percent of the state’s charter holders have gotten permanent exemptions from the state Board for Charter Schools, according to the state’s database.

The schools’ purchases from their own officials range from curriculum and business consulting to land leases and transportation services. A handful of non-profit schools outsource most of their operations to a board member’s for-profit company. The transactions are legal provided schools report the relationships on their federal tax forms and board members abstain from voting on their own contracts...

Educators and ethicists say the arrangements raise questions about whether the schools are being used partly for personal gain...

A for-profit company paid by a charter school, even a company that operates most of the school, does not have to disclose spending details or how much profit it makes. Some board members who did business with their schools told The Republic they made a profit on the transactions. Others said they lost money. Some refused to comment...

An ethics expert says it’s generally problematic to have board members also doing business with the schools they govern. The transactions — even if well-intentioned, as many are — can erode public trust when people find out, said Judy Nadler, a senior fellow in government ethics at Santa Clara University. The perception may be that the board members received the contract because of insider knowledge or relationships with their colleagues, she said.

In the end, a board member needs to differentiate between being a businessperson from being a policy maker, she said. Boards that oversee non-profit schools are there to serve the public, she said.

“If you’re tempted to get involved in the business end of the deal, you have to really look at which one of these will you give up,” she said...

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California Department of Education's failure to properly monitor charter schools' compliance

“Auditors cite lax oversight of charters by CDE, as enrollment grows.” SI&A’s Cabinet Report, 10/24/2012 

As advocates for California charter schools celebrated Tuesday another double-digit increase in enrollment – news arrived from Washington disclosing serious flaws in state oversight of the sprawling charter movement.

A stinging audit of the U.S. Department of Education’s management of charter school grant money also sharply criticized the California Department of Education for failing to properly monitor charter schools’ compliance with federal law.

The review team, from the Office of Inspector General, also noted that the CDE failed to provide required oversight of charter authorizing agencies and frequently assigned unqualified evaluators for site visits...

The audit focused on nearly $1 billion in federal money awarded to states for charter schools between 2007 and 2011. Three states were identified for audit review – Florida, Arizona and California.

The main target of the audit was the Office of Innovation, which investigators said “did not effectively oversee and monitor” targeted states and “did not have an adequate process to ensure” states “conducted effective oversight and monitoring” of local charter schools...

California, the largest recipient of federal charter money during the review period at nearly $182 million, was called out by federal auditors for some of the same short-comings as those of the federal education department.

At least part of the problem here was the result of high turnover within the CDE’s charter oversight division and lack of training for those remaining...

The review team also found fault with CDE’s record-keeping and its monitoring tool, which was found to be incomplete.

Left unanswered was the question of whether the poor oversight has led to any misuse of federal charter school money or what further steps might be taken...

To read the audit report on the Office of Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education, click here:

http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/auditreports/fy2012/a02l0002.pdf

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Robert Treat Academy

“Department of Education Cheating Investigation Implicates Two More Schools - Report claims that improvements in test scores at Robert Treat Academy, a high-profile charter, defy all odds.” NJSpotlight, 11/14/2012 

The state Department of Education’s year-long investigation into testing irregularities in a handful of public schools in 2010 and 2011 has leveled serious accusations against two more institutions, including a Newark charter founded by one of the state’s preeminent power brokers.

Late yesterday the department released critical investigative reports of the Robert Treat Academy Charter School in Newark...

Investigators cited testing and security breaches by administrators and teachers at both schools during the 2010 and 2011 cycles of the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJ ASK). The department claims that staff members coached students to correct wrong answers and allowed for security lapses with answer sheets.

State officials last night added nothing to the late afternoon release, saying they would let the reports speak for themselves...

Robert Treat has been among the high fliers in the state’s charter school movement, one of the original 13 approved under former Gov. Christie Whitman and making headlines ever since.

It has consistently posted well-above-average scores both in Newark’s mostly Hispanic North Ward and in the state itself -- some of the highest...

In each case, scanning analysis revealed that an inordinate number of student had erased wrong answers, changing them to correct ones. The state first asked the schools to look into the issue and then sent in their own investigators. Erasure analyses are now common in testing security...

Among the evidence gathered by the DOE were numbers of correct answers that did not make statistical sense, investigators said. Erasure rates were six or seven times the averages of other schools. Nine of 24 students got perfect scores on the math test. And the rate of improvement for students in the sixth grade over previous scores defied all odds.

“The odds of 64.0 percent of sixth-grade students having a higher MATH score in 2011 compared to their scores in 2009 [fourth grade] and 2010 [fifth grade is less than one out of one million,” the report said...

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Read the NJDOE report @. http://www.njspotlight.com/assets/12/1113/2158 (235KBpdf)

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Connections New Century Public Charter School

“Connections Charter School Employee Subjectof Hearing.” Big Island Now (HI), 11/26/2012

A charter school employee accused of violating state ethics laws will be the subject of a hearing to be held Tuesday in Hilo by the Hawaii State Ethics Commission.

The commission has accused William Eric Boyd, an administrative assistant for Connections New Century Public Charter School in Hilo, with having a conflict of interest for having transactions with the school using his own private company...

The complaint issued in October 2010 charges Boyd with 26 counts of the state ethics code dating back to 2007. Most involve accusations that Boyd represented his company in a transaction with the school.

Many of the charges involve school lunches the school purchased from Boyd Enterprises, a business operated by Boyd and his wife, Erika. The school also did business with Boyd Enterprises operating under other names including Tropical Dreams, Tropical Dreams Ice Cream and Just Fabuloso.

Six of the charges allege that Boyd took “official action” on behalf of the school with a business in which he had a financial interest by either signing as a “requestor” or “approver” of purchase orders to his wife for business in the couple’s Amway distributorship...

According to Les Kondo, the commission’s executive director, this is the first contested hearing the commission has held since 1985...

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The counts are detailed in this document: http://hawaii.gov/ethics/hearings/boyd/02-ChargeExhibits.pdf

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Georgia Cyber Academy

“Georgia Threatens To Close K12-run Online Charter School.” StateImpact, NPR, (GA) 11/26/2012 

The Georgia Department of Education is threatening to close an online charter school run by K12, the nation’s largest online education company, over issues with special education students.

The agency issued a report last week that the K12-run Georgia Cyber Academy has repeatedly failed to comply with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and has violated student civil rights by failing to provide services required by the law.

The school has 1,100 special education students, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The 12,000-student school is the largest public school in the state.

The agency will begin the process of closing the school in April unless the concerns are addressed.

The Florida Department of Education is investigating whether K12 online programs used teachers who were not properly certified and then asked other teachers to help cover it up. In addition, company documents show student-to-teacher ratios of 275-to-1 in some K12 classes, while some Florida school districts have raised concerns about a network of K12-run online charter schools which have applied across the state...

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“Georgia DOE blasts Georgia Cyber Academy, threatens to pull charter in report.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA), 11/20/2012

The Georgia Department of Education has told the Georgia Cyber Academy that it will begin proceedings in April to shut down the online charter school if it fails to address numerous issues in its handling of special education students.

Those concerns, spelled out in a report delivered to GCA on Tuesday, include failure to obtain individualized education plans special education students are taught from, problems in resolving parental complaints and failure to offer the individualized instruction special education students are eligible to receive under federal law.

With 12,000 students, GCA is the largest public school in the state. The report says GCA’s special education problems stretch back to 2009, when the scores of its special needs students were among the lowest in the state...

During an October review of GCA, department officials found “continuing and significant failures to comply with federal and state laws and regulations,” according to the report...

GCA’s charter was granted by the state, and the state board has the authority to revoke it. Some board members have expressed frustration with what they described as GCA’s ongoing problems and said they will pull the school’s charter if those problems are not resolved.

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Primavera Technical Learning Center

“4 charter-school organizations where insiders benefited.” The Arizona Republic, 11/17/2012

... Damien Creamer and Vanessa Baviera Rudilla run one of the largest online schools in Arizona, and the non-profit school contracts with a for-profit company, American Virtual Academy, for its curriculum and software. Creamer and Rudilla are officers of the non-profit and earn salaries. American Virtual Academy also is owned by Creamer and Rudilla. From fiscal 2007 to 2011, the non-profit paid $42.3 million to American Virtual Academy. The non-profit is exempt from state purchasing laws...

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Basis Schools (eight schools)

“Insiders benefiting in charter deals, Board members, school officials did more than $70mil in business.” The Arizona Republic, 11/17/2012

... Basis Inc. charter schools are nationally recognized for their rigorous curriculum.

The schools are the brainchild of Michael and Olga Block, who envisioned a college-prep curriculum that would rival the best countries. The first school opened in 1998 in Tucson. A second followed in 2003 in Scottsdale.

For years, the Blocks worked for and were paid by the non-profit schools. Michael was the chief operating officer and treasurer, Olga the chief executive officer.

The Blocks later formed a separate, for-profit company and in 2009 signed a service agreement with the non-profit that provides Basis’ six schools with most everything they need to operate: school directors, teachers, accounting, technology, human resources, public relations and Michael and Olga Block...

Basis Inc. denied a request from The Arizona Republic to review a copy of its agreement with the Blocks’ company.

The state also is limited in what it can find out about management companies. The state charter board can audit only the charter school, not the private company hired to run the school’s operations...

A few of the Blocks’ relatives also received money for work performed for the schools, including a relative who performed accounting services for the schools in the Czech Republic, as recently as fiscal 2009.

The tax returns no longer include these details because the Blocks work for the privately held company, not the non-profit. Michael Block said the company is a private business and declined to discuss salaries or whether family members are performing work for the schools...

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U.S. Department of Education Office of Innovation's failure to monitor federal spending

“Audit: US oversight of charter school funds lax; Audit assails US education department's monitoring of federal spending on charter schools.” Corrected version, Associated Press, 11/1/2012

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An audit of the U.S. Department of Education's division overseeing hundreds of millions of dollars in charter school funding has criticized the office for failing to properly monitor how states spend the money.

The report released in late September by the department's inspector general also singled out state education departments in California, Florida and Arizona for lax monitoring of what charter schools do with the funds and whether their expenditures comply with federal regulations.

The education department's Office of Innovation and Improvement spent $940 million from 2008 to 2011 on charter schools, which are autonomously operated public schools. Most of the money is funneled through state education departments, although some is given directly to charter schools...

The inspector general said the innovation office has not given proper guidance to states on monitoring the use of the money and does not have policies to ensure that states corrected deficiencies when they were found...

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Ignite Public Schools, formerly IRRA Charter Schools (six schools)

“Valley Charter School System on Probation.” KRGV 5 News (TX), 10/15/2012

MISSION - IRRA Charter Schools remain on probation with the Texas Education Agency, the schools superintendent said in a letter to parents.

The schools current status with TEA means they have not addressed major financial and education concerns. The school recently changed its name to Ignite.

The letter was not the first of its kind sent to parents. TEA first put the charter system on probation in 2009. That's when the state started investigating the schools.

The investigations concluded that the schools changed attendance records and got funding based on bad information.

TEA ordered IRRA to repay nearly $900,000. The schools fired the superintendent and brought in new leadership to fix the problems.

A CHANNEL 5 NEWS investigation revealed the problems were not fixed...

"Accredited probation is the next to worst level you can get on an accreditation status. After that, if you can't improve we have the authority to revoke the accreditation and at that point you'll cease to be a Texas public school," said Deetta Culbertson, with TEA...

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“Valley school administrator accused of sexually harassing student, employees.” KGBT-TV Channel 4 (TX), 8/22/2012

Claims of sexual harassment followed a South Texas school administrator, several female co-workers came forward at his current workplace, Ignite Public Schools (IPS) -- accusing him of unwanted attention and continued harassment.

Rigoberto Abrego is the current chief financial officer for IPS, formerly known as IRRA, Inc...

Before working for IPS Abrego worked as assistant superintendent at Edinburg CISD.

However, he resigned in 2010 amid an investigation into sexual harassment at that district...

... [several women] filed grievances back in May against Rigoberto Abrego for sexual harassment...

But it was not just employees; a student also filed one of the grievances...

Raymundo Valdez, the legal counsel for IPS, said one of the three grievances had been resolved, but that the school board was looking into the other two.

In the meantime, Abrego has continued working at the central offices and has not been placed on leave or under any sanctions, according to Valdez.

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More at “IRRA Charter School Under Investigation.” KRGV 5 News (TX), 9/20/2012

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Quest Academy (NV)

“Quest Academy board considers disciplining other school employees.” KTNV 13 News (NV), 1/30/2013

Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) -- It was another late night on Tuesday at Quest Academy...

Principal Connie Jordan was fired for abusing her authority and using taxpayer dollars for personal gain...

A former employee wrote a letter to the board saying the high school administration is incompetent and self-serving...

Also facing action Tuesday night was business manager Robin Vitiello and office manager Melissa Hester. Board members told Hester that school video cameras caught her and Jordan destroying records in Jordan's office last Monday when the school was closed for Martin Luther King Day.

The auditor that Quest hired found checks cut to Robin Vitiello that appeared to be unapproved bonuses. There are also allegations that she was forced to kick some of that money back to former principal Jordan.

Board member Linda Kuhn pointed out, however, that they're not the only entity investigating allegations and that this may be far from over as the case is in the hands of the Attorney General...

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“Quest Academy audit sparks emergency action.”KTNV 13 News (NV), 1/22/2013

Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) -- ... Contact 13 began reporting on Quest in November amid allegations from Miller and other parents and staff about misuse of school money.

Though the State Public Charter School Authority investigated the allegations and found evidence of fiscal malfeasance and abuse of authority, the Quest governing board hired a private auditor to investigate further.

Almost $270,000 tax dollars are in question.

Contact 13 obtained the just-released forensic audit of Quest's finances...

Some of the report centers around Quest Principal Connie Jordan and $15,000 she took in June 2011. The auditor found her explanations for that money are bogus...

In October, 2011, Quest credit cards show more than $4,300 in travel expenses and more than $500 at Walmart for three Kindles, food items and gift cards.

On Connie Jordan's card in November 2011, he found more than $1200 spent on meals, postage, travel, gift cards, a frame, food and tools.

And Jordan spent $5600 more of your tax dollars. At Barnes and Noble she bought eight Nooks and Nook accessories.

At Best Buy: DVDs, a Nintendo DSi and two Turtle Beach Call of Duty video game headsets.

At Walmart: a blu-ray player, movies, clothes, board games, music, Wii games and a lava lamp...

The auditor also found tens of thousands in irregular payments to Jordan and several other school administrators: checks that circumvented the normal payroll process and the board.

The auditor says those checks may indicate that Jordan forced a few employees to kickback money to her from their paychecks...

Reacting to the auditor's findings, the Quest board took emergency action Monday to secure and protect the school.

They took away Principal Jordan's ability to hire and fire, and froze all of her access to school money...

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“You Paid for It: Quest Academy.”KTNV Las Vegas (NV), 11/19/2012 

Teachers quitting, parents enraged and demanding answers, and students caught in the middle. That's what's going on at a local school under investigation by the state. And it's raising issues of abuse of authority and waste of your tax dollars...

Teachers are quitting, citing a hostile work environment. Five have left in just the last month...

It all stems from allegations against Quest Academy Principal Connie Jordan and most of the school's governing board.

Multiple school employees and one board member have filed formal complaints with the State Public Charter School Authority.

In a Nov. 2 letter to the Quest board, the authority says the issues raised in those multiple complaints suggest "among other transgressions, fiscal malfeasance on the part of the school's administrator and a lack of governing body oversight of the school."...

Lucretia Glidewell was contracted as Quest's financial manager. She told the state in her complaint that she was forced to kickback $1,000 a month out of her paycheck to the principal in order to keep her contract.

She also told the state she was "asked to help cover up illegal practices" regarding three $5,000 checks, which she calls an unapproved "bonus" the principal gave to herself...

[Principal] Connie Jordan told the crowd to wait for the state's findings...

She's also facing allegations that she "falsified documents" to the state -- altering her contract to explain the checks as a payout of unused personal time off...

... One week after [assistant principal ] made allegations of wrongdoing to the board, she was placed on paid administrative leave...

While the Charter School Authority conducts its investigation, the Quest governing board will be spending more tax dollars to hire outside companies to audit and investigate their school...

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A website devoted to this situation @ http://questacademylvexposed.blogspot.com/

Letter (11/2/2012) to Quest Academy Governing Body President from State Public Charter School Authority:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/113454427/state-letter-to-QUEST-ACADEMY

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Stars Middle School

“Former Stars Middle School employee accused of molesting a minor.” WTXL ABC 27 (FL), 11/28/2012

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Tallahassee police say that a former employee of a local middle school, accused of molesting a minor, may have had inappropriate contact with other children.

The woman, Rosa Lee Stephens, is listed as an employee of Stars Middle School in a police report. However, the assistant principal of the school, Mr. Ahmet Temel, says that Stephens hasn't worked there since October 1... [please see below]

Stephens is charged with Lewd and Lascivious Molestation of a Minor. She is in the Leon County Jail with a $25,000 bond. Police are concerned that she may have had inappropriate contact with other children...

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The charter school administrator denies Stephens was an employee at the time of her arrest, but the arrest document clearly shows her employer as "Stars Middle School”  https://twitter.com/CASILIPS/status/274423264493854721/photo/1

More about Florida Gulen charter schools HERE.

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Online schools (extreme spending on marketing)

“Online schools spend millions to attract students.” USA Today, 11/28/2012 

Virtual, for-profit K-12 schools have spent millions in taxpayer dollars on advertising, an analysis shows...

An analysis by USA TODAY finds that online charter schools have spent millions in taxpayer dollars on advertising over the past five years, a trend that shows few signs of abating...

The USA TODAY analysis finds that 10 of the largest for-profit operators have spent an estimated $94.4 million on ads since 2007. The largest, Virginia-based K12 Inc., has spent about $21.5 million in just the first eight months of 2012...

A look at where K12 is placing the ads suggests that the company is also working to appeal to kids: Among the hundreds of outlets tapped this year, K12 has spent an estimated $631,600 to advertise on Nickelodeon, $601,600 on The Cartoon Network and $671,400 on MeetMe.com, a social networking site popular with teens. It also dropped $3,000 on VampireFreaks.com, which calls itself "the Web's largest community for dark alternative culture."

Kwitowski declined to say what percentage of K12's per-pupil expenses goes to advertising, but Kevin Welner, a University of Colorado professor who tracks virtual schools, estimated that K12 is on pace this year to spend about $340 per student on advertising, or about 5.2% of its per-pupil public expenditures...

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