ADELANTO—The Adelanto School District has revoked the Adelanto Charter Academy’s charter, based on a laundry list of operational shortcomings...While charter schools are by law non-profit entities, it appears that those involved with the school in some cases formed for-profit companies that were devoted to providing the charter academy with materials, ranging from furniture to computers to visual aids to books to writing materials that were sold at inflated prices.A similar circumstance developed with the failed California Charter Academy a decade ago...Involved in the California Charter Academy debacle but avoiding indictment was former county supervisor and assessor Bill Postmus. Postmus was a member of the Snowline School District Board of Trustees that had granted the California Charter Academy one of its charters, was later a board member for the Charter Academy and in the heyday of the California Charter Academy was riding high as chairman of the county board of supervisors and the chairman of the San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee. He dictated the California Charter Academy’s hiring policy, insisting that Cox hire several of his associates and family members who had no real educational qualifications. And Cox and the California Charter Academy made political donations to Postmus campaign funds totaling thousands of dollars.The Sentinel has learned that Postmus and two of his associates, John Dino DeFazio and Jennifer Ruiz, sought to emulate in many respects the California Charter Academy/Educational Administrative Services Corporation/Maniaque Enterprises/Everything For Schools operation.... Ruiz, a former educator with the Hesperia School District, was registered as the Adelanto Charter Academy’s principal. DeFazio, like Cox and Honeycutt, created two corporations, Professional Charter Management Inc. and Educational Development Inc. Hidden in the operation was Postmus, who advised Ruiz in the set up of the enterprise.Postmus, whose political career foundered in January 2009 when he was arrested for possession of methamphetamine and the hallucinogen Extacy, advised Ruiz to bill the Adelanto Charter Academy as one embracing conservative and Christian values to build character in students that were to be drawn mostly from impoverished home settings...In November the audit was released. It showed the academy was plagued with fiscal mismanagement, poor or non-existent record-keeping, problems with the teacher to student ratios and unsanitary or unsafe food handling that put students at risk. Moreover, according to a summary of the audit put together by the Adelanto School District, DeFazio and others making money off the district were not providing what they were obliged to provide...
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“Politicians & Their CroniesLooted Adelanto Charter Academy.”San Bernardino County Sentinel (CA), 6/12/2012
A number of current and former office holders, their associates and other politically connected figures, including ones currently facing charges in San Bernardino County’s corruption scandal, siphoned off money from the now shuttered Adelanto Charter Academy, documents obtained by the Sentinel show...During the school’s operation, indicted and now convicted former San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus, current Hesperia School District board member Anthony Riley, indicted former California Charter Academy founder Charles Steven Cox, Peggy Baker (Cox’s sister-in-law), San Bernardino County Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt’s campaign fund, Mitzelfelt’s field representative Jessie Flores, indicted former assistant assessor Adam Aleman and indicted local businessman John “Dino” DeFazio all received money from the Adelanto Charter Academy or entities deriving money from the academy...
[More on California Charter Academy @ http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/2010/05/california-charter-academy-60-schools.html]
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