A man who was principal of a charter high school in Philadelphia for five years alleged that the charter chain had misappropriated $1.2 million in public funds. He filed suit in federal court as a whistle-blower. When the Justice Department declined to join his suit, he dropped out.
Meanwhile the city’s charter office has recommended not renewing the charters of this chain because of poor academic performance.
Aspira, a nonprofit that focuses on Latino youth and education, has been fighting to retain control of both schools for months. The district’s charter office has recommended that the SRC not renew the agreements because the schools are entangled in a web of financial transactions with Aspira and have not achieved the academic improvements the organization promised.
Lajara’s complaint said that while he was principal of Stetson, federal funds were misused, including to pay off Aspira’s debt on other properties. Aspira has five charter schools.
He said the U.S. Department of Education awarded Aspira a grant totaling nearly $400,000 over two years for classroom furniture and technology at Stetson. Aspira said it would use $230,000 to buy four mobile laptop labs in 2010-11 and nine the next year..
Lajara said that no laptops were purchased while he was principal and that the only computers at Stetson were donated refurbished ones.
Nothing to see here. Move on.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Is this the same ASPIRA that operates in NY? If it is what a shame!
Perhaps we’ve grossly misunderstood the rheephorm mantra of “doing more with less” by reversing the words.
¿😳?
In the spirit of getting things really right, does it rheeally mean “doing less with more”?
And now I’m wrestling with that accountability thingee…
Somehow the invoices don’t add up.
😎
“Somehow the invoices don’t add up.”
I first read that as “Somehow the voices don’t add up.”
Probably the same thing!
Lies, prevarications and deceptions rarely add up except at times for the liars, prevaricators and deceivers like ASPIRA, KIPP, SUCCESS ACADEMY, etc. . . .
“Meanwhile the city’s charter office has recommended not renewing the charters of this chain because of poor academic performance”
So that leaves the families where? Scrambling to find a new school? More churn? Learning new rules, expectations. buying new uniforms, etc. as then are the “new kid” yet again in a school that may also close again at any time.
And yet market ideologues say this is a good thing!
This post is a trip down memory lane as I attended Stetson as a public junior high school and grew up in Kensington in Philly. Even more than fifty years ago, this school was a massive, chaotic urban school with racial strife. Working class whites, black and Latino students frequently clashed inside and outside the building. Today the area is mostly Latino. What is disturbing about this post is that the Obama DOJ chose to ignore this whistle-blower. How can we ever control the waste and fraud in charters if the DOJ refuses to conduct investigations into alleged abuse?
Lajara’s claims don’t add up. Then again, when can you believe anything the mainstream media reports about charters. Note the chronology.
https://www.edreform.com/2011/09/big-test-score-gains-at-renaissance-charters/
All the converted schools saw improvements in both reading and math scores. Six of the seven saw double-digit gains in math.
At Stetson Middle School, for example, 55 percent of students scored proficient or advanced in math last year, up 22 points from 2010. Stetson also saw an 8-point jump in the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced in reading, from 25 percent to 33 percent.
“All the evidence points to the fact that these are the same kids,” said Gordon.
At Stetson, ASPIRA achieved its big PSSA gains while adding 68 new neighborhood students and retaining until June 95.6 percent of those enrolled as of October.
Stetson’s principal, Renato Lajara, also led the school for its last two years under District management, when it struggled mightily with low achievement and high levels of violence.
Lajara stressed that the school’s dramatic transformation wasn’t the result of any single program or strategy. Instead, he attributed the change to better, more supportive management.
“The difference is the District gives you a budget and says, ‘Perform,’” said Lajara. “ASPIRA is the opposite. They ask you what your vision is, and then they apply the budget according to the vision.”
The result, he said, has been smaller class sizes, more support staff, an in-school disciplinary academy to handle disruptive students, and a quicker response to the problems that inevitably arise.
https://philadelphianeighborhoods.com/2012/02/21/hunting-park-aspira-pa-improves-local-schools/
“In those schools, we didn’t have enough books, kids could come and go as they please, they didn’t have to wear uniform, there was nothing in place,” said Alison Sorrenson, who teaches 8th grade literacy and social studies. She’s taught in Philadelphia public schools for the last eight years in the neighborhood, but it’s her second year at Stetson.
“We have instant support. We have a ton of technology,” she said.
(In his complaint Lajara said that no laptops were purchased while he was principal and that the only computers at Stetson were donated refurbished ones.)
And it has showed in students. Last year, students increased in math performance by 22 points and in reading by eight. Wade expects that number to increase again this year.
Those dramatic gains should raise questions