Adelaide L. Sanford Charter School

“With Adelaide L. Sanford Charter School closing, Newark families must move on.” The Star-Ledger (NJ), 6/25/2013

NEWARK — Bobby and Troy Shanks saw the handwriting on the wall last year with the Adelaide L. Sanford Charter School in Newark when federal officials filed a lawsuit against the school...

The embattled charter school, opened in 2007 by longtime activist Fredrica Bey, had been on probation for more than a year. The school is also facing a complaint by the U.S. Attorney’s office which contends Bey took $345,325 in federal grant money earmarked for programs to keep "at-risk" youths off of the streets and instead used it used it to pay bills for the Women In Support of the Million Man March, a non-profit community group she started in 1995.

The state also expressed concerns about the conflicts of interest between the school’s leadership and the school’s agreement to lease space from WISOMMM...

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“Special report: Born in hope, Newarkcharter school now embroiled in controversy.” The Star-Ledger (NJ), 5/5/2013

NEWARK — Linda Newton enrolled her 8-year-old son at Adelaide L. Sanford Charter School to shield him from the ills that afflict many of Newark’s regular public schools.

She has regretted that decision every day since.

Last summer, nearly all of the troubled school’s two dozen teachers resigned, and students were hastily relocated to a downtown building that parents say is not equipped for their children. Some students climb five flights of stairs to reach their classrooms in the hulking former church.

Other kids have no classrooms at all, sharing space in a vast multipurpose room where academic instruction is often interrupted by the clapping and stomping of a dance class some 50 feet away.

Parents and teachers complain of a shortage of textbooks, an insufficient heating system and a lack of discipline for rowdy students, leading to fights and bullying.

At least half of the 339 kids enrolled on the first day of school have left, though some have been replaced with new recruits, the parents and teachers said. Test scores are among the bottom 10 percent in the state...

But a Star-Ledger examination of the school and its leadership reveals a faltering institution that provides bare-bones learning facilities while using millions of dollars in state and federal aid, bolstering a real estate fiefdom controlled by the school’s founder, Fredrica Bey.

A fiery community activist with political pull, Bey has come under intense scrutiny by both the state Department of Education and the U.S. Justice Department, which accuses her of fraud in a civil suit. That case, unrelated to Adelaide Sanford, is expected to come to trial later this year, barring a last-minute settlement.

The Star-Ledger review found that school officials — including Bey’s daughter and longtime friends — approved hugely inflated rental payments to Women in Support of the Million Man March, a community group Bey founded, for space the school doesn’t use. An attorney who specializes in nonprofit law said the arrangement smacks of a "sham transaction."

At the same time, investigators with the state Education Department determined Bey may have broken the law by using a possibly invalid school lease as the bedrock document to obtain an $8.27 million loan. The investigators recommended that the Division of Criminal Justice look into the matter.

The newspaper’s examination — encompassing court records, Education Department reports, financial documents and dozens of interviews — also found a pattern of recalcitrance by Bey and school officials, who repeatedly ignored state directives, according to documents obtained under the Open Public Records Act.

In particular, the state has accused Adelaide Sanford for more than a year of refusing to comply with regulations, turn over records or eliminate clear conflicts of interest, chiefly the dual roles Bey held as executive director of both the school and her group, known in the community by its acronym, WISOMMM...

Revered by some and feared by others, Bey, 68, has built a reputation as a powerful figure in New Jersey’s largest city, with friends in political, cultural and activist circles, along with a direct line to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

But she has also periodically drawn scrutiny from law enforcement officials investigating allegations of fraud. Most recently, the U.S. Attorney’s Office last year sued Bey and WISOMMM, alleging violations of the False Claims Act...

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Atlanta Preparatory Academy

“Atlanta school board considers own police force.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA), 1/14/2013

“... The board on Monday also decided the fate of Atlanta Preparatory Academy, voting 8-1 (Byron Amos dissenting) to follow Davis’ recommendation not to renew the charter of the school. APS executive director of innovation Allen Mueller told the board the school has underperformed academically and has financial problems.

According to Mueller, the K-8 school with about 450 students ranks in the bottom 20 percent of schools statewide in academic performance; its enrollment is 45 percent lower than originally projected; and it owes $801,384 to for-profit education management company Mosaica Education, Inc.

Atlanta Prep board members and Mosaica co-founder and president Gene Eidelman said afterward the school will take its case to the state charter commission, which was approved by voters last November in part to consider charter proposals rejected by local school boards...”

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“Atlanta school facing loss of charter.” Atlanta-Journal Constitution (GA), 1/2/2013

The Atlanta school board will hear arguments in January whether to renew the charter of Atlanta Preparatory Academy or follow a staff recommendation to terminate it in June...

The dispute over renewal illustrates the dynamics and nuances of charter school relationships with local school boards, especially charters run by for-profit management companies that collect taxpayer funds from the district and extract hundreds of thousands of dollars in management fees.

Allen Mueller, APS’s executive director of innovation, told the board Dec. 3 the case against Atlanta Prep’s renewal is clear-cut and the school’s failings manifold. Atlanta Prep ranks in the bottom 20 percent of schools statewide in academic performance; its enrollment is 45 percent lower than originally projected; and it owes $801,384 to for-profit education management company, Mosaica Education, Inc., he said.

Mosaica has agreed to restructure the loan to eliminate a $568,000 balloon payment due in June, said Mueller. But the financial arrangement is still “untenable” because it’s a potential threat to the autonomy of the board, he said. The state of Georgia recommends charter boards have the independence to overrule their management companies...

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“Charter Founder Profits; Students Struggle.” East Atlanta Patch (GA), 12/11/2012

...In December 2006, Mosaica’s President Gene Eidelman filed a charter petition to open the Atlanta Preparatory Academy (APA).  The charter application indicates that non-profit APA intended to contract with for-profit Mosaica to provide all services.

Unlike Grant Park’s community-based Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School, APA was not founded by a group of local parents seeking better options for their kids. Instead, Gene Eidelman was joined by a team of three outsiders, none of whom live in the community where APA planned to operate its school and none of whom send children to the school...

The application acknowledged a conflict of interest as APA’s President was also the founder, owner, and President of Mosaica.

Undeterred by this conflict, the APS Board of Education approved the application...

Since the Board of Education approved the school’s charter five years ago, APA has been a revolving door for board members who join then leave the organization... None of the individuals who have served as CFO appear to have earned a degree in finance or accounting...

This instability and lack of financial experience stands in stark contrast to the consistent financial leadership seen at Atlanta’s successful charters...

Much like Mosaica’s other schools, APA’s students rank among the bottom of the pack on Georgia exams...

Importantly, the school’s highest performing students are 7th graders who received their K-4 educations elsewhere, prior to APA opening...

In addition to the charter’s dismal academic achievement, a review of APA’s financial statements raises questions about whether the school has been a good steward of public resources...

The Management Agreement between APA and Mosaica calls for a fee of 12.5% of per-pupil revenue received by the school, which in 2012 amounted to $577,716. It goes on to say that this fee “will not preclude the payment of additional consideration,” paving the way for Mosaica to charge more for any services not covered under the Management Agreement...

Only 36.2% of APA’s revenue for the year ended June 30, 2012 actually went toward instruction. This was the lowest percentage of expenses allocated to instruction among all of Atlanta’s charter schools...

To date, APA has spent close to one million dollars of public money on a site which in no way contributed to education...

[READ THE WHOLE PIECE]

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Boys Preparatory Nashville

"Case of Boys Prep shows charter schools face same startup challenges."  The City Paper (TN), 6/21/2013

Dozens of students have left the school. Parents have accused the executive director of assaulting two students. And although the year-end test scores have yet to be released, school leaders say they won’t be pretty...

Rivalries within the leadership at the school shifted attention from the kids in the building to the adults in the boardroom. Meanwhile, handling the school’s 100 seventh-grade boys — a third of whom have some form of learning disability — proved tougher than the founders fathomed...

The Boys Prep board also began hemorrhaging members. In the charter’s short history, 18 people have left the board, some of whom said they felt forced out or were exhausted from dealing with the school’s internal politics.

While The City Paper reached out to current and former members of the Boys Prep board, many never responded, and almost all who did reply refused to talk about their experience on the record, if at all. That includes Monica Davis, an instructor at MTSU who resigned from the board this month after finishing two-thirds of her three-year term. She, too, refused to comment.

“The turnover that they’ve had is primarily related to their inability to settle on strong leadership and consistent board leadership at the beginning,” said Alan Coverstone, MNPS’ charter school guru and the executive director of the district’s Office of Innovation, which oversees charters.

“Lots of groups have good ideas about what a school would look like, but actually running a school is a bigger challenge,” he said. “This is a startup organization. It’s a school. It’s a nonprofit. It’s a lot of things all at once. If you don’t have a pretty good board collegiality — and a pretty good board understanding of how organizations work — it’s a big red flag that we look for,” he said.

That red flag waved high shortly before Boys Prep opened its doors. Three months ahead of the first day of school, Kennedy narrowly survived a no-confidence vote from the Boys Prep school board...

In the meantime, two teachers provided by the Teach for America alternative teaching certification program left the school for more stable gigs elsewhere, leaving Boys Prep suddenly short on staff...

Concerned with possible tinkering with test scores and other misconduct, Kennedy fired the popular school principal, the third since the school’s inception.

While the school board backed the move, it was the first in a series of events that would eventually lead to the founder being ousted from the school...

At least 39 of the 100 students who started with Boys Prep left last school year, and 16 others entered. The number of students cycling out gives the school one of the highest attrition rates in the district. Braddock said he counseled some boys out of the school because it was a good move for those individuals at the time, but would urge them to consider coming back...

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“Charter School Leader Comes Under Fire Over Discipline Methods.” NewsChannel5 (TN), 2/12/2013

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Tempers got heated Tuesday night at a charter school board meeting in South Nashville where parents say enough is enough.  The founder and president of Nashville Boys Prep has come under fire for his methods of discipline during the first semester of the school year.

Tuesday night's meeting went on for three hours.  The vast majority of that meeting focused on allegations against Dr. Martin Kennedy.  He's been on administrative leave from the school since December. 

That's when DCS and Metro Police opened an investigation into accusations of abuse.  Several parents made their case in front of the board Tuesday night...

DCS has completed its investigation and the agency found the allegations into the accusations of abuse against Kennedy to be unfounded. Metro Police still haven't come to a conclusion in their case. 

Dr. Kennedy told NewsChannel 5 he fully expects to be reinstated as president of Boys Prep.

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“DCS investigating Nashville charter school founder.” WSMV (TN), 12/19/2012

NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - The leader of a Nashville charter school is facing investigation over claims he assaulted two students.

Police and the Department of Children's Services are interviewing students and teachers to find out whether Dr. Martin Kennedy went too far when it comes to discipline at Boys Preparatory Charter School.

"I do not feel this individual is stable at all to be around kids. He has no self control, by no means," said school parent Lynn Mullins.

Mullins said her seventh-grade son is scared to go back to Boys Prep after, she claims, he was assaulted by Kennedy...

Marciecilla Giddens said her son was also attacked by the same teacher...

Both mothers have filed police reports, claiming Kennedy - a teacher and the founder of the small south Nashville charter school - took discipline too far...

Neither police nor DCS has commented on the investigation into the parents' allegations...

Also, according to that board member, Kennedy is no longer teaching in the classroom, but as founder of the school, he still has an affiliation with the school...

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Bradenton Charter School

“Manatee charter school scheduled to close.” News 13 (FL), 4/21/2013

MANATEE COUNTY -- About 100 Manatee County students will need to find a new school for next year.

After 13 years, the Bradenton Charter School is closing.

Karen Carpenter Chair of the Manatee County School board said the school is closing because the school failed to meet standards particularly in the area of curriculum and governance.

But parents like Dana Russell say the school is a safe place for children to learn. Half of the kids have learning disabilities and many others have been bullied.

“If they go to public schools they are going to be lost. But here they get one on one. I believe they need this school,” said Russell.

The Manatee School Board is planning to discuss the future of the charter school during Monday’s school board meeting.

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“Parents oppose closing of Bradenton Charter School.”Herald-Tribune, 4/21/2013

... Problems listed in the report include an unstable governing board, no detailed curriculum, no assessment monitoring plan, no ESE or ESOL certified staff, no food sanitation policies and lack of documentation on staff members. Bradley explained that some areas of concern are the same from the school's last review five years ago...

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Citizens of the World Charter Schools

“Brooklyn Charter School Targets Rich, White Parents, Enrollment Plan Shows.” DNAinfo.com (NY), 4/23/2013

BROOKLYN — If you want to be a citizen of the world, it helps to be rich.

Though it's moving into a school where more than 90 percent of students qualify for free and reduced lunch, the controversial Los Angeles-based Citizens of the World Charterschool is actively recruiting affluent families for its first year in Crown Heights, DNAinfo.com New York has learned.

What's more, the primary engagement strategy for its New York flagship school in Williamsburg is geared almost exclusively at white parents, according to an internal enrollment plan obtained by DNAinfo.

"Through targeted outreach and recruitment, our schools are intentionally designed to reflect their surrounding communities and the larger society in terms of race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status," the charter network says on its website.

But the New York enrollment memo seems to directly contradict that statement, with the most time and resource-intensive recruitment tools clearly aimed at a small pocket of affluent families, while cheap, low-impact tactics like handing out fliers reserved for Headstarts and churches where recruiters are instructed to "lean towards" black and Hispanic families.

A chart titled CSD 14 Priorities lists the recruiters' top strategy as "engaging core parent group" and describes the target of that strategy as "middle/upper income, predominantly white."

In District 17,  the top priority is to "create core foundation of contacts," a strategy again targeted exclusively at "middle/upper income" parents.

Roughly half of the engagement strategies outlined in the memo are specifically intended to attract those same targets.

One-on-one parent meetings and one-on-one meetings with local pre-schools are saved for "middle/upper income" groups, whereas Headstarts are earmarked for flyering and group info sessions.

Where local preschools and Headstart programs were tough to differentiate, as in Crown Heights, recruiters are cautioned that not all may be "hot targets."

It's not just the paperwork that's skewed to exclude in Crown Heights — the charter's parent information session was held at the Brooklyn Public Library's Central Branch, more than two miles from P.S. 221 but a stone's throw from the district's wealthiest parents in Prospect Heights.

While Citizens showers its attention on affluent families, parents at P.S. 221 say they've barely heard from the school.

"There’s been no community outreach or interaction," one mother of three who declined to give her name for fear of losing her job told DNAinfo in March.

"We heard them speak for about two minutes — that’s been the breadth of our interaction with the folks at Citizens."

Citizens of the World did not immediately respond to repeated calls for comment.

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MORE RESOURCES

“Parent exposes Citizens of the World Charter Corporation's misdeedspart 1.” LA Schools Matter blog, 7/14/2013

“Citizens of WHAT World? Charter's recruiting tactics and leakeddocuments.” NYC Public School Parents blog, 4/27/2013

“Parents Sue State for Approving Citizens of the World Charter School.” DNAinfo New York, 1/29/2013

“New Charter for Northern BrooklynFuels Debate Over Gentrification.” WNYC, 12/20/2012

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Cleveland Academy of Scholarship Technology & Leadership Enterprise (CASTLE)

“South Euclid man indicted on money laundering charges involving Cleveland charter school.” The News-Herald (OH), 8/11/2013

Ten people, including a South Euclid man, from 13 companies were indicted Tuesday on multiple charges relating to the operation of a Cleveland charter high school.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty said the 32-count indictment included charges of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, conspiracy to engage in a pattern of corrupt activity, theft by deception, money laundering and unlawful interest in a public contract.

Between July 2004 and June 2010, payments made to 13 "shell companies" affiliated with board members of the Cleveland Academy of Scholarship, Technology and Leadership Enterprise were not documented and the state auditor issued findings for recovery of $1,850,489, according to the indictment...

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“Charter school officials accused of stealing nearly $2 million.” The Plain Dealer (OH), 4/30/2013

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Five former officials of the Cleveland Academy of Scholarship Technology & Leadership Enterpriseare among 10 people and 13 businesses accused of fleecing the taxpayer-supported charter school out of nearly $2 million.

A 32-count indictment issued Tuesday accuses the former officials of setting up shell companies to receive payments from the school for goods and services that were never provided...

Among those charged were the school's former chief executive, William Peterson, 43, of Dayton, and the former board chairman, Thomas Unik III, 52, of Cleveland.

Peterson used five shell companies, with names such as Educational Management Alliance and Cross Tech EduServe, to steal $858,000 from the school, according to prosecutors.

Unik, who is part-owner of the building that houses the school at the corner of East 18th Street and Superior Avenue in Cleveland, received $478,785 in excess of the amount dictated by the school's lease, according to prosecutors.

The charges followed a State Auditor's Office investigation of school financial transactions between July 1, 2004, and June 14, 2010.More than 1,000 payments to 134 vendors for more than $5.3 million were examined.

The audit, released about a week ago, called for the recovery of $1,850,489 in payments made by the school to companies that investigators said were connected to the five school leaders and their associates...

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DaVinci Charter School

“DaVinci Charter School in Garden City to close Friday, impacting 130 students, 18 staff.” Idaho Statesman (ID), 2/19/2013

Due to a budget shortfall, a charter school that has been operating in Garden City since the fall of 2006 will close its doors on Friday, school officials said.

The DaVinci Charter School opened in 2006 as the Garden City Community School — the name was changed because some thought it was a community college, said Director Cindy Hoovel...

Hoovel said the school began in modulars, then moved into a church. It later moved to a strip mall on Chinden Boulevard, but the lease wasn't renewed after a firearms store and brewery moved in nearby. It finally moved to portable trailers on Glenwood Street, across from Hawks Memorial Stadium. The plan was to build a permanent school at that site.

Several things led to the decision to shutter the facility, including unanticipated costs associated with moving to the site, utility installation costs, higher-than-average special needs services costs, and enrollment under 200 students.

... The board paid off remaining bills — it does not have any remaining debt — and opted to close rather than incur operating costs that could not be immediately paid...

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daVinci Institute

“Former da Vinci Institute teacher sentenced to five to 20 years inprison.” MLive.com (MI), 8/22/2012

JACKSON, MI – A former da Vinci Institute teacher is going to prison for five to 20 years for having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student.

Jackson County Circuit Judge John McBain sentenced Matthew Lusby, 28, Wednesday morning for first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Lusby pleaded guilty to the charge in July.He admitted to having oral sex with the girl early this year. She was then a student of Lusby, who worked as a math teacher at the public charter school in Summit Township...

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“Former da Vinci teacher pleads guilty to first-degree criminal sexualconduct.” MLive.com (MI), 7/24/2012

JACKSON, MI – A former da Vinci Institute teacher who had a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a single count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct...

Da Vinci hired Lusby in the summer of 2009. He resigned on Feb. 23 to take a substitute teaching position at another school, but did not reach an agreement with the other district.

When hired, Lusby passed a criminal background check.

This is his first brush with the law, Rezmierski said.

At da Vinci, Lusby was told he needed to improve classroom control and a “passive aggressive nature toward students,” and once had to apologize for throwing a referees flag at a football game.

Last fall, the principal and superintendent told him he should not be giving the girl a ride to school, especially when alone...

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EPIC Academy Charter School

“Ex-basketball coach pleads not guilty to sex assault, wants lower bond.”FOX32, 3/12/2013

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“Bond set for coach accused of student sex assault.” WLS-TV (IL), 1/25/2013

January 25, 2013 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Bond has been set at $500,000 for a basketball coach at EPIC Academy Charter School in Chicago accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old student he offered a ride home.

Police say Kevin Jones, 33, was giving the victim a ride home from school when he assaulted her in the car. He had also given a second girl a ride home, but she left before the alleged assault took place, police said.

Jones, who is a husband and a father of two, faces two counts of criminal sex assault, and one count of attempted criminal sexual assault. He coached the varsity boys basketball team.

He has been suspended from EPIC...

"There were other instances of inappropriate incidences by the coach," [Brad Cosgrove, victim's attorney] said...

Jones also worked as a physical education teacher at LEARN Charter Schoolon the South Side. On Friday, he was fired from that job...

Jones is the process of getting his master's degree and is a deacon at his church...

An attorney for EPIC Charter School said the school is cooperating with police and prosecutors. The South Side charter school opened in 2009...

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Excel Leadership Academy, f.k.a. Life Skills Center of Palm Beach

“Charter school has day in court today to fight closure by school board.” The Palm Beach Post, 5/13/2013

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“West Palm Beach charter school appeals closure decision.” The Palm Beach Post (FL), 3/27/2013

A West Palm Beach charter school that the Palm Beach School District is trying to close has appealed, arguing the school district has no right to shut its doors because the district didn’t do enough to help the school...

The school board voted 5-1 on March 6 to close Excel starting next school year. A district report recommending the closure cited 13 alleged failures by the school to comply with state rules and its charter contract with the school district. The alleged Excel failures ranged from academic problems such as not having all the required core subjects for a reading program to having “deteriorating financial conditions,” with a $38,000 deficit found by auditors.

Excel filed its appeal on Friday stating that it disputed the facts of each of the alleged failures cited by the district “in whole or in part.” The appeal also argued that the school district is obligated to provide support and services to charter schools under state law and additional support to low performing charter schools under the district’s own policies...

District Senior Counsel Bruce Harris said the district does not comment on pending litigation. He said the state would set a date for the appeal hearing within 60 days.

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“Palm Beach County saves two charter schools, closes one.” Sun Sentinel (FL), 3/6/2013

... But after hours of emotional testimony from more than 50 parents, students and school staff, the board voted to close only Excel Leadership Academy, a high school in West Palm Beach...

The school was slated for closure in part for receiving two “F” grades since 2009. Teachers were not adhering to the correct state benchmarks and using outdated requirements...

Meanwhile, district officials said Excel Leadership Academy is in a state of financial emergency, struggling with declining enrollment and failure to provide an adequate reading curriculum to students. The school board voted 4-2 to not renew the school’s contract, set to expire in June.

“These are basic compliance issues,” said board member Chuck Shaw. He said rejecting the renewal would still give the school an opportunity to overcome its financial challenges and reapply another year...”

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Imagine School of North Port

“Imagine School fight ends; principal to leave.” Herald-Tribune (FL), 5/9/2013

NORTH PORT - The agreement came at 1 a.m. Thursday for the two sides fighting for Imagine School at North Port after nearly 16 hours of talks...

It was an ending to the charter's contentious legal fight, which began in February when the North Port school tried to fire its parent company and become independent...

In February, Matthews and the local officials complained about paying hefty management fees with public tax dollars every year to the nonprofit company. The board voted to break off from Imagine Schools — one of the largest charter school companies in the nation — and run its own school, a move that the corporation viewed as a coup détat.

Almost immediately, Imagine Schools sued Matthews and the local board for more than $15,000 in Sarasota County Circuit Court and accused them of several charges, including breach of contract.

The high-profile legal battle was fused by multiple court hearings, back-and-forth contradictory emails to parents and a petition to support Matthews that supporters passed around the school parking lots...

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“All eyes on charter fallout.” WWSB ABC 7 (FL), 3/13/2013

SARASOTA COUNTY - Tuesday a judge ruled the principal of Imagine School in North Port could keep his job. However, it looks as though it will be a long fight over the future of the school.

Wednesday we talked to school board and legal experts who say the case moving forward may just impact the future of charter schools across the country.

The future of a local independent charter school and educating more than 1,000 children in it was in a court room this week. "It is not a healthy situation." The judge now suggesting the local school district get more involved. Sarasota County School Board member Caroline Zucker says it's a gray area. "There is no clear cut understanding of who owns what and who is responsible for what."

The fight between the Imagine parent company and the local governing board it appointed will likely continue through the court system. It may also have a bigger impact then just here...

As officials get ready for the upcoming year at Imagine School at North Port, its legal team will prepare for court...

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“North Port charter school breaks off from Imagine Schools.” Herald-Tribune (FL), 2/19/2013

... The drama comes after the local charter school's governing board voted unanimously last week to end its management contract with Imagine Schools, its out-of-state parent company.

“It looks like we're going to war with our former management company,” said principal Justin Matthews, who has led the school since it opened in 2008...

Matthews announced that the school's new name would be Sarasota Preparatory School...

But Imagine Schools isn't willing to let go so easily.

Within hours, the Virginia nonprofit had filed a lawsuit seeking more than $15,000 in Sarasota County Circuit Court.

The complaint says Matthews and the North Port school defamed Imagine Schools with their comments to parents, the School Board and the public.

Imagine Schools also alleges that Matthews violated his non-compete contract when he abandoned his post at Imagine School at North Port and created a rival institution...

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“Imagine School, North Point students arrested after gun found on campus.” WPTV (FL), 1/302013

NORTH PORT, Fla. (AP) -- Police arrested two students at school in North Port after a gun was found on campus.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune ( http://bit.ly/WPsZ6q0 reports officials were tipped off about the 9 mm handgun when a student told a teacher Tuesday afternoon at Imagine School...

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Quest Academy (Utah)

“Former teacher to stand trial for sex abuse of student.” ABC4 (UT), 5/14/2013

FARMINGTON Utah (ABC 4 Utah) - A high school teacher will stand trial for sexually abusing a student.

Steve Niedzwiecki was fired from his teaching position at a charter school in West Haven...

Niedzwiecki was charged with eight counts of forcible sodomy, two counts of forcible sexual abuse and attempted rape.

Niedzwiecki was a former teacher and basketball coach at Quest Academy and Jefferson Academy. He was terminated from his teaching position at Quest Academy after he was charged in December.

The victim says she befriended the teacher and worked on a project together. But according to the probable cause statement, the girl and the teacher were trading emails and text messaging. In court she testified that their relationship turned physical and became sexual. She claimed Niedzwiecki promised to marry her after their relationship turned sexual.

"He was a trusted teacher, a coach and was very manipulative," said the victim's aunt Kathy Carver...

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Lee Alternative Charter High School

“Lee Alternative Charter shuts down in Lehigh.” Lehigh Acres Citizen (FL), 1/9/2013

Most of the 149 students at the Lee Alternative Charter School, off of Taylor Lane in Lehigh Acres, are in classes in other schools in Fort Myers this week.

The students and their parents were forced to find other schools because the Lehigh school, which was owned by Richard Milburn Academy Schools of Southwest Florida, was forced to close due to financial problems.

It is the third charter school that is a part of the Milburn Academy of Schools that has been forced to close its doors over the past six months.

The school was located in what had been a multi-screened movie theater and later a church. The building was built about a dozen years ago...

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Legacy Charter School (Idaho)

“Former Legacy principal: Charter violated procedure.” Idaho Press-Tribune (ID), 3/14/2013

NAMPA — Former Legacy Charter School co-principal and teacher Monika Gangwer said she was fired after she blew the whistle on an effort to jump a student ahead on a post-lottery waiting list.

A lawsuit, filed March 8 in Canyon County, names the school, Harbor School Method creator Rebecca Stallcop and Legacy Charter Board Chairman Bart McKnight.

The 21-page lawsuit says Gangwer refused to let the student, known as “Jane Doe,” attend the Legacy kindergarten class, even though Stallcop said the student should be admitted because of an error in the lottery process...

According to the lawsuit, Gangwer also had become concerned in early 2012 that Stallcop seemed to operate Legacy, Liberty and Victory charter schools as one, even though each school is a distinct and separate entity.

The complaint alleges that Stallcop illegally transferred money and property among the schools, without proper documentation or board approval...

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Eric Mahmoud charter schools

“Georgia file connects Twin Cities charter school, fraud scheme.” Star Tribune (MN), 3/22/2013

When the news broke last summer that charter school entrepreneur Eric Mahmoud had entered a guilty plea to a mortgage fraud charge in Georgia, Mahmoud had a ready comeback for the Minneapolis school district, under whose authorization he was opening another charter school.

“I assure you that this was a personal, residential matter in Georgia and had nothing to do with Seed Daycare, Harvest Prep or any other educational institution,” Mahmoud told Sara Paul, the district’s liaison with charter schools, in an Aug. 16 e-mail.

In that case, Mahmoud has some explaining to do.

According to an investigative file compiled by Georgia authorities, there are at least two connections involving the school with the deal...

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“High Performing Charter Schools: Beating the Odds, or Beating theTest?” National Education Policy Center blog, 8/30/2012

...In Minnesota, birthplace of the charter school movement, one charter school operator labeled an “odds beater” has put a new twist on the concept. Eric Mahmoud, a former engineer and convicted mortgage fraudster, operates a group of segregated charter schools targeted at black, inner-city poor children that employs longer school days and years, strict discipline, and an unabashed strategy of beating state achievement tests.

For his success in raising math and reading scores, Mahmoud has been given rock-star status among charter proponents and recently was inducted into the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools hall of fame. In return, the Minneapolis school board recently awarded him the right to open four more charter schools sponsored by the city's school district, all presumably to be run in what a local conservative columnist laudingly called his “drill and kill” style. News stories and opinion pieces from traditional to the alternative press have nonetheless sung his praises, so desperate is the reform community to raise test scores. Meanwhile, almost no one has questioned the efficacy or morality of deliberately segregated schools, nor ones so focused on improving specific test scores. It seemed that, until very recently, Mahmoud could do no wrong.

Three weeks ago that might all have changed with a series of investigative stories in the Minneapolis Star Tribune by veteran reporter Steve Brandt highlighting fiscal and management questions that, given the lax controls on charter schools and Mahmoud's previous mortgage crime are unsurprising. Among Brandt's cumulative reporting is the following:

• Mahmoud's combined salary for his duties running charter schools (which total 900 enrollment) and their parent organization amounted to $273,000, more than any other superintendent in the state. In addition his wife, whose occupation is listed as “secretary,” took home $105,000, and his daughter got $28,000 as an “administrative aide.”

• Three of the four board members of the schools' parent organization, called “Seed Daycare,” which leases property to the school and provides administrative services, are Mahmoud family members.

• A letter from the charter school's authorizer “asserts that teachers whom Harvest (one of Mahmoud's charter schools) paid as contractors clearly fall under the IRS definition of employees.”

• The school's authorizer, Audubon Center of the North Woods, sent a “letter of deficiency” to Mahmoud asking for clarification of the organization's finances and for an explanation of “frequent payments among Mahmoud's organizations and Mahmoud himself,” and that “it's unclear what they are for and whether state money that supports Harvest and related entities is being used appropriately.”

• The Minnesota Department of Education is seeking to recoup money it granted to Mahmoud for an earlier, failed charter school used for its construction and to equip it. The MNDOE turned this issue over to the state auditor.

• Mahmoud, who operates deliberately segregated schools, is claiming racial discrimination, a claim disputed by the state, in the revocation of a $300,000 grant to one of his schools. The grant was to be used for a federally funded program called Reading First, which required the school to hire a full-time literacy coordinator and to use licensed teachers in the program, neither of which Mahmoud did.

But more important than the financial and management problems at Seed schools is the nature and structure of the educational pedagogy. The schools teach to the tests. Not just teach to them, but engineer high test scores with frequent testing, 100 minute blocks of reading and math each day and other methods...

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“Mahmoud, MDE clashed over pulling grant.” Star Tribune (MN), 8/20/2012

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“State inquiry focuses on failed north Minneapolis school.” Star Tribune (MN), 8/15/2012

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“Mahmoud's 273K salary raises eyebrows.” Star Tribune (MN), 8/15/2012

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"State examining finances of charter founder's schools.” Star Tribune (MN), 8/10/2012

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