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Nashville: Whistleblowers at Charter School Complain about Financial Practices, Treatment of ELLs and Special Ed Students

By dianeravitch
May 28, 2018 //
6

Whistleblowers at a charter school in Nashville called for financial scrutiny of their school:

The Nashville charter school New Vision Academy is under investigation by the school district for financial irregularities and failing to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

New Vision Academy came under scrutiny in March after an anonymous whistleblower sent a detailed report to school board member Amy Frogge, who forwarded it to the district.

Metro Nashville Public Schools charter schools executive officer Dennis Queen confirmed the investigation is ongoing.

In addition, the whistleblower report, compiled by teachers, said English language-learning students and students with learning disabilities were not receiving required instructional time. However, on those two areas Queen said the district found New Vision to be in compliance in both of those areas.

According to the whistleblower report, students were charged for textbooks even though the school earmarked thousands of dollars for classroom supplies. The top two executives at New Vision, who are married, make a combined $562,000….

The teachers who detailed the allegations said they want New Vision, which has about 200 students, to address the issues, improve its financial management and admit its shortcomings. The Tennessean is not naming the teachers because they feared retribution from the nonprofit, which does not have a policy protecting whistleblowers.

On Monday, the four teachers who talked to The Tennessean for this story were escorted out of the school. Three were told not to return. One was allowed back into the school Tuesday to finish teaching the final three days of the school year. All four were told the school is accepting their resignations as of this week.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Nashville, Privatization, Scandal, Teachers

Louisiana: Charter Leader Enjoys Fine Dining with School Credit Card

By dianeravitch
May 26, 2018 //
14

The head of the board of a charter school in Louisiana treated himself to some good meals using the school’s credit card.

A world away from his Central City school, where 97 percent of students are considered economically disadvantaged, the head of a charter school board racked up $778 over six months at an upscale restaurant on St. Charles Avenue.

The Rev. Charles Southall III bought the meals with a credit card issued to Edgar P. Harney Spirit of Excellence Academy under his name. Monthly statements went not to the school, but to Southall’s church on Carondelet Street.

Southall spent $1,514 at restaurants in New Orleans and Baton Rouge in six months starting in July 2016. That’s $250 a month at establishments such as Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, Cheesecake Bistro by Copeland’s and Le Pavillon hotel — all funded by the school.

Asked about the meals, Southall said, “They were lunches that were related to preparing to get a new school leader in.”

But Eileen Williams had been in charge of Harney since at least 2013 and continued until June 2017. Southall did not respond to follow-up questions.

The small school’s financial practices have drawn scrutiny from the Louisiana Department of Education and the Orleans Parish School Board. Auditors criticized the school’s one-man finance department and said the board should provide more oversight.
Last fall, the state Board of Ethics filed an official complaint against the school’s chief financial officer, Brent Washington Sr. The school paid him $54,500 on the side to do accounting work, which the ethics board contends broke the law.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Louisiana, Privatization, Scandal

Philadelphia: Dean of Students at Mastery Charter Schools Charged with Raping Student

By dianeravitch
October 27, 2017 //
9

The dean of students at a Mastery Charter School in Philadelphia has been arrested and charged with statutory rape. He has been fired.

Omar Harrison, 42, of Cheltenham, Pa. was arrested on Wednesday. He was a dean of students at Mastery Charter’s Harrity Elementary School in the 5600 block of Christian Street in West Philadelphia.

Police say the victim was a 14-year-old 8th grade student.

The victim allegedly told investigators the incident happened at the end of the past school year after Harrison gave her a ride to a hotel in Tinicum Township near Philadelphia International Airport.

Officials from Master Charter Schools say the incident came to light on Friday after the victim’s mother came to the school to confront Harrison. The school was placed on lockdown for student safety, officials said, and no one was hurt.

Harrison has been fired from his position.

Did the charter give him a background check before hiring him? Did he have a previous criminal record? The answers to these questions are unknown. These are procedures that are customary in public schools.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Philadelphia, Privatization, Scandal

New Jersey: Democrats Enable Christie to Quash Dissent on the State Board of Education

By dianeravitch
May 25, 2017 //
32

Darcie Cimarusti, a school board member in New Jersey, reports with disgust that Democratic legislators are helping outgoing Governor Chris Christie punish and replace independent members of the State Board of Education.

http://mothercrusader.blogspot.com/2017/05/dont-like-chris-christie-blame-democrats.html?m=1

Christie, whose poll ratings now hover around 20%, proposed new deregulations for charter school teachers, which would allow uncertified teachers in charters.

The state board voted 5-2 against Christie’s bad idea (with one abstention).

Christie wants to replace three of the five board members who stood up against him, including the president and vice-president of the board.

The Democratic leader of the State Senate, Steve Sweeney, is faithfully supporting Governor Christie’s vengeful power play.

Why? Democrats in New Jersey rolled over for Christie at his last election, abandoning their own candidate, the well-qualified Barbara Buono, who preceded Sweeney as President of the State Senate.

Now they are on the verge of ousting three board members who dared to insist that all teachers should be qualified and credentialed.

Why are powerful Democrats in New Jersey enabling the lame-duck Governor Christie to oust board members who dared to stand up for the importance of having qualified teachers in every public school classroom?

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, New Jersey, Scandal, Teachers

Calling Campbell Brown! Sexual Abuse at Elite Boarding Schools!

By dianeravitch
April 27, 2017 //
17

Campbell Brown first became an education “reformer” in 2012 when she discovered that there were teachers in the New York City public schools who had been accused of inappropriate sexual contact with students. They were in the so-called “rubber room,” awaiting a hearing, and she wanted to know why they had not been fired outright. She concluded that the union was protecting sexual predators. Since then, she has gone on to became one of the faces of “reform,” attacking tenure, unions, and public schools and promoting charters and vouchers. And of course, she pals around with Betsy DeVos, who has helped to fund Campbell Brown’s website; and Brown, in turn, was on the board of the American Federation for Children, DeVos’s organization that lobbies for charters and vouchers.

But, lo!

The New York Times revealed that there is a practice at elite boarding school of covering up instances of sexual misconduct by teachers. When they are asked to leave, they move on to another private school or even to a public school, with no one the wiser. This is known, says the article, as “passing the trash.”

Davis Guggenheim, in his mendacious film “Waiting for Superman,” said that ineffective teachers were shifted to other public schools, in what is known as “the dance of the lemons.” If he ever gets around to writing about elite boarding schools, he might take a look at “passing the trash.”

Since the elite private schools don’t have unions or tenure, whom shall we blame for this indifference to the well-being of students in their care?

Categories Accountability, Scandal, Students

North Carolina’s Largest Voucher School Embroiled in Financial Scandal, Files Incomplete Returns

By dianeravitch
March 31, 2017 //
7

Veteran journalist Lindsay Wagner writes that Fayetteville’s Trinity Christian School–the state’s largest recipient of taxpayer-funded vouchers–is involved in a major financial scandal. North Carolina places no accountability for how taxpayer money is used or whether students make academic progress. The voucher schools get taxpayer money with neither accountability nor transparency.

North Carolina’s largest recipient of private school vouchers has filed a financial review that lacked basic information consistent with “generally accepted accounting principles,” according to the agency overseeing the taxpayer-funded program.

Because Fayetteville’s Trinity Christian School—also currently embroiled in a separate embezzlement scandal—received more than $300,000 in voucher funds during the 2015-16 academic year, it is required to submit a financial review of their organization.

According to records provided by the State Education Assistance Authority (SEAA), the agency tasked with overseeing the voucher program, the financial review submitted last December lacked crucial elements typically found in such statement including a statement of cash flows and a balance sheet. What was included instead was a brief “statement of activities” that only listed top line revenues and expenses as well as a supplemental schedule of functional expenses.

***
It is remarkable to omit a more detailed balance sheet from a set of basic financial statements, said Mig Murphy Sistrom, a Durham-based accountant whose firm specializes in preparing financial reports for nonprofit organizations.

Because the accounting firm that prepared the financial review for Trinity Christian—Edwards Pechmann & Packer, Inc.—did not include a balance sheet, “it raises a concern that the organization may not have accounting records adequate to produce a balance sheet,” said Murphy Sistrum.

Since 2014, Trinity Christian has received more than $1.2 million in taxpayer funds through the Opportunity Scholarships Program, which provides low-income families money to attend private schools. For the academic year 2016-17, school voucher recipients comprised 60 percent of Trinity Christian’s enrollment, according to state records. The voucher school’s overall school enrollment grew by 25 percent between 2015-16 and 2016-17.

The state places few requirements on private voucher schools to account for how the taxpayer dollars are used to educate students, demonstrate achievement of the students who receive the aid or any transparency to assure the funds are used as intended.

What would Betsy DeVos say? Let the free market figure it out?

Categories Accountability, North Carolina, Scandal, Vouchers
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