Larry Lee, an education advocate and blogger in Alabama, posted the story of a North Carolina mother who enrolled her sons in charter school, taking a blind leap of faith. She is a diligent mother, so she attended board meetings and followed her sons’ progress closely. But then she inquired about who and what was behind this charter school and she was gobsmacked. Lee was interested in the story because the same sharp operators are behind the controversial Woodland Prep charter school in Alabama.
Lee writes:
Alyson Ford is a mother in the Charlotte, NC area. It wasn’t long after she enrolled one of her sons in a charter school that she began to feel something was amiss. Soon she was attending board meetings of the school and digging into financial records. What she found was disturbing and even led to conversations with the FBI.
What does this have to do with Alabama? Many of the players Alyson has uncovered are involved with American Charter Development of Springville, Utah. This company is heavily involved with both LEAD Academy in Montgomery and Woodland Prep in Washington County and has close ties to Soner Tarim.
Here is Alyson’s story:
“I have two boys. One has only attended charter schools. The other has attended traditional public schools, as well as charter schools.
My son enrolled at Lakeside Charter Academy in November 2017, during their rebranding and name change from Thunderbird Preparatory Academy. He stayed through the 2018-2019 school year (4th grade). My stepson began at Lakeside in January 2018, for 4th grade. We withdrew him at the start of the 2018-2019 school year.
We chose the charter school route for several reasons. The biggest being that one son has a severe peanut allergy. The thought of him eating lunch in a cafeteria, surrounded by peanut butter sandwiches was terrifying. Our district schools are much larger than charters as well. We liked the idea of smaller schools for our boys. We like the sense of community offered at many charter schools.
We were aware of the negative press since Thunderbird opened in 2014. I studied the North Carolina Charter School Advisory Board meeting minutesl. The school was frequently in trouble and on the verge of having their charter revoked.
We toured the school and found the interim principal amazing. She was the reason we took the leap of faith. We were cautiously optimistic when enrolling at Lakeside Charter Academy (formerly Thunderbird Prep).
Given the school’s past I vowed to be very involved and attend board meetings. I was especially curious about the EB5 investors involved with the school. Even though I repeatedly asked questions regarding this I never received much clarity. Sadly, the more I attended board meetings the more unanswered questions I had.
So she started looking for the answers to her questions. You may be surprised to see what she learned.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“We like the sense of community offered at many charter schools.” One of the things rural schools often have going for them is this sense of community. Not having been a part of an urban experience, I do not know how this plays out in cities, only that it is an integral part of the experience I have had.
Roy,
The charter lobby is now pushing to authorize charters in rural communities. Why? They don’t care what they disrupt and destroy or how many times they fail. They want the freedom (and the MONEY!) to fail some more.
Please understand that the peanut allergy was not an excuse. Prior to enrolling at this particular school my son attended a peanut free school where he had his first anaphylactic allergic reaction resulting in an ambulance ride to the children’s hospital.
That being said I do understand he is protected under IDEA. However, when I met with the principal of the Charlotte Mecklenburg School we were zoned for he was very standoffish and almost annoyed by my son’s allergy. His plans were reactive vs proactive in keeping my son alive. Upon further research I discovered that he, along with other members of the staff were actually sued regarding a student with a severe nut allergy. I was able to connect with the mother of this particular child and was so terrified of their experience that I couldn’t possibly enroll my son in this school.
We also looked into Montessori but felt that it would be challenging to begin in third grade. We also didn’t like that he would be the only third grader in the school.
Private school was not an option for us as they are upwards of $20k a year.
I note that this experience involved the mother being taken with the school, the enthusiastic principal, and the neighborhood feel of the school. Shakespeare had one of his characters read a scroll on which was written: ” all that glitters is not gold”. True statement. I would add something more bucolic: putting glitter on horse manure does not make it gold.
I am sorry this parent was lured into a charter school scam. She has excellent skills in research and the wisdom to question what she was hearing from the people who were profiting from the sham operation.
Peanut butter (and other) allergies are serious, and they are routinely addressed by public school personnel under FEDERAL law and with help from national organizations. Here is one example of cases and resources.
Click to access case.2014.TF.v.FoxChapel.AppealBrief.FARE.pdf
Yes, the peanut allergy excuse was thin. So was the small school excuse, Bill Gates reasoning thin. I’m glad she went to the charter meetings and wound up doing the research, though. Sometimes lessons learned the hard way are lessons best learned. One day, no one will have the option of being fooled by charter tricks.
As I read this, I felt my blood boil. I am someone that has taught in some strange places including closets, under stairs at the end of the hall and the on a stage some years. When my district voted to renovate our buildings and build a new high school, we were not permitted to do more than a two year enrollment projection. By the time our buildings were ready, we were once again at capacity.
All the dirty dealings involving the Turks, Chinese and who knows who else behind LLCs were intended to maximize the amount of public money the companies can claim! This is fraud! I hope the FBI does a full investigation and shuts them down. This mother did a great service to the public for her diligent research. We cannot continue to support such crooked gaming of the system that enables the endless self dealing and profiteering.
Public schools are kept on a very short leash of rules and regulations which, frankly, keep people honest. Public schools are accountable. Charter schools are handed blank checks with little to no accountability. As this post shows, some of the money may wind up overseas without the public’s knowledge or consent.
America has morphed into A “GIG Economy.” And WE ALL SUFFER, esp. the kids.
So property initially purchased for one million dollars was sold for nine million dollars to related parties. No wonder the FBI dropped a dime. How many times does this have to happen before we make it stop? So much for reforming education with free market capitalism.
I’m not sure “free market capitalism” makes the point. Not that it matters here: we are mostly immediately skeptical of the “free market” fantasy. But many are not, & would read your statement as anti-capitalist. I think “laissez-faire capitalism” is most accurate, and “unregulated capitalism” is understood by all..
Kudos to this NC Mom for her research and publicizing!
I really feel for her/ her son’s predicament. I’ve found (at least around here – central NJ) that PreK schools of every stripe are strictly nut-free zones since the early 2000’s. But in her shoes I would worry terribly about nut exposure in large public schools. Even if there were a special place he could go to eat, kids would be carrying their pb&j sandwiches in backpacks in the classroom – possible exposure– and once in a while there might be unofficial snacks or treats in the classroom. She can’t take chances. Short of homeschooling, given the choices she’s mentioned, I’d lean toward the Montessori school despite the possible academic challenges. The ones I’ve encountered are structured & consistent. If they claim to be nut-free they probably are.
What I also find criminal is the response of the public school to her son’s peanut allergy. It sounds like this school took a far too cavalier attitude. While epipens can be lifesavers, there is no guarantee that treatment will work even when it is instituted according to strict guidelines. It sounds like the district needs to be reviewing how that school is following district policy and federal law.
I don’t mean to dismiss the obvious malfeasance at the charter school, but I was very disturbed that a parent had to make a choice other than the public school for an issue that in this day and age should not have been an issue.
Agreed!