If you ran a for-profit corporation that provides facilities for kids with disciplinary and academic issues, what would you call your chain of alternative high schools? Utopia High? No. Great Scholars High? No. How about Camelot? Bingo! A magical place of hope and possibility. In an age of alternative facts, open deceit, and fake news, why not?
This investigative article was conducted by the Teacher Project at Columbia School of Journalism, with support from Pro Publica.
“Officials in three cities are rethinking their relationship with for-profit Camelot Education, which runs alternative programs for more than 3,000 students with emotional, behavioral, or academic difficulties.
“In Philadelphia, a councilwoman is seeking more information about the city’s alternative schools, including their disciplinary practices, in the wake of a report on alleged physical abuse of students by Camelot staff members. Camelot has a contract with the Philadelphia school district for almost $10 million a year to run four schools. Alternative schools typically take in students who have left regular high schools after violating disciplinary codes or falling behind academically.
“There is almost zero public data about these schools,” Helen Gym, the councilwoman, said in a recent interview. “These are very vulnerable young people who end up in these programs where a lot of information about them drops off the books.”
“In addition, Teach for America’s Philadelphia branch said it will no longer place teachers in Camelot schools. While the decision to end the partnership after this school year is not related to abuse allegations, “We take allegations of this kind very seriously,” the organization said. Tremaine Johnson, a former executive director of Teach for America in Philadelphia, expressed concern in an interview about what he called Camelot’s “incarceration type of environment.”
“Camelot also suffered a setback in Houston, where it manages one school under an $8.6 million contract. On March 9, a day after ProPublica and Slate published the report on Camelot, the Houston school board voted unanimously to end the contract with the company and bring management of its alternative school operations in-house. It’s unclear if the decision was related to the article.
“And in Columbus, Georgia, the school board Monday night delayed a vote on hiring Camelot to take over alternative education programs in Muscogee County School District. It decided to hold two public forums first so that residents can learn about and respond to the proposal.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
There are 43 of these schools, The directory is here
http://cameloteducation.org/school-directory/
OMG! Thanks, Laura. Read through and sounds like a REVIVAL kind of marketing scam.
Notice that the directory a >org, which means there is a non-profit stucture somewhere for all of these for-profit schools. I did not succeed in finding an IRS 990 form for Camelot Education but…I did not do an exhaustive search either.
Seems odd that there are 4 of the schools in Camden NJ. There’s only about 75,000 people in Camden. How did they end up with four of these schools?
How can these people treat students so MEANLY? I just don’t GET IT. Please would someone explain this to me?
I know this about profits, but really … to treat students like they are vermin is unacceptable.
We will never acquire data on any charter schools unless we insist on some form of oversight and accountability. The only abuse we are privy to is that which has already happened, and a whistle blower has uncovered. Charters are in need of regulations and some type of minimum standards. It is irresponsible to send young people off to schools of questionable value and practice and just “hope for the best.” This reckless practice is a recipe for abuse, especially in a population that has already been deemed “troubled” and a staff of unknown training.
People are finally realizing what a disgraceful con charter schools really are.