CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS

A compilation of news articles about charter schools which have been charged with, or are highly suspected of, tampering with admissions, grades, attendance and testing; misuse of funds and embezzlement; engaging in nepotism and conflicts of interest; engaging in complicated and shady real estate deals; and/or have been engaging in other questionable, unethical, borderline-legal, or illegal activities. This is also a record of charter school instability and other unsavory tidbits.

Golden Door Charter School

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IN THE MATTER OF PAUL SCHAEDER, GOLDON DOOR CHARTER SCHOOL HUDSON COUNTY (N.J. School Ethics Commission report, September 23, 2003)

PROCEDURAL HISTORY: This matter arises from five complaints filed against Mr. Paul Schaeder, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Golden Door Charter School, for violations of the School Ethics Act, N.J.S.A. 18A:12-21 et seq. Specifically, they alleged that he, without the consultation of the Board, forced the Chief Academic Officer to resign and that he appointed his former fellow trustee as a consultant within a month after he resigned from the Board. The complaints also raised various allegations that he misused his position in connection with the number of trustees on the Board, that he had police called to a public meeting on January 16, 2003 and that he discriminates against African-American parents and trustees...
DECISION: For the foregoing reasons, the Commission finds that Mr. Schaeder violated N.J.S.A. 18A:12-24.1(c) and (d) in connection with the termination of Ms. Jones and violated N.J.S.A. 18A:12-24(b) in connection with the hiring of former trustee Barry Fields.
The Commission considered Mr. Schaeder’s response to the finding of probable cause that argued that the matters for which he is being disciplined were decisions of the full board, but the evidence showed the opposite. Regarding Ms. Jones, the Board’s approval was sought only after Ms. Jones had been presented with the severance agreement. Regarding Mr. Fields, the Board’s approval was never sought. Mr. Schaeder has acted as a one-member board and in so doing has violated the Code of Ethics and the standards of conduct expected of board members in general. The Commission finds his conduct to be so egregious that only the penalty of removal would be appropriate. Therefore, the Commission recommends that Paul Schaeder [see story below] be removed from the Golden Door Charter School Board of Trustees.

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Additional background here: http://www.balcer.com/charterschools.htm

After Bret Schundler won the special election in 1992, his theme was vouchers. He promised monetary relief to parents who sent their children to Catholic schools. This was his campaign strategy for the May 1993 mayoralty election. He promised the impossible!
Schundler's theme was to criticize the spending of the local public district. In 1994, he separated school bonding from the municipal tax rate. Prior to 1994, the school bonding was included as the final municipal tax numbers. This separation only happened on paper. It is still paid by the municipal budget but now on a separate line item. In fact, Schundler started to compare his municipal rate with former mayors. He left in the school bonding costs on their municipal rates but didn't show it in his rate. He's a regular con artist.
During the mid-90's, Governor Whitman wanted control over spending. She signed a bill fixing the costs for school bonding. Previously, Jersey City received money through a formula worked on by the legislatures. The formula usually gave Jersey City 65% to 70% state aid while the city picks up the rest. That means the stateed picks up two-thirds of school bonding cost.
Whitman fixed the formula to 35% which means 65% must come from local taxpayers. The local school district is now controlled by the state and they are on a building spree, yet Schundler, the critic is silent. Schundler got what he wanted Charter Schools!
Immediately, Schundler hires Paul Schaeder to manage charter school. Schaeder is on the public payroll assigned to the Mayor's office on 8/4/97 with the job title Administrative Analyst.
Now the law states that charter schools must use an existing building. But that doesn't stop him. Schundler uses tax dollars to build his Golden Door Charter School.
Schundler's school came from a $32 million bond that included $9.5 million for a "educational-recreation center" on the site of the for Betz Brewery. In a speech before the council he said taxpayers wouldn't be affected because it would be rented. Then he said that the local school board might take an equity position in covering costs, a clear violation of the law. He then offers other community centers in the wards of the other council members. Schundler said, "you give $9.5 million for my charter school and I'll go and build you a $5 million center in every ward."
While the school is being built, Schundler has a temporary site (that has now become a the site for The Community charter school run by Deputy Mayor Eliu Rivera).
He hires Advantage which was created two years ago by Steven F. Wilson, who helped write the Massachusetts charter school law. Charter schools were designed to be non-profit. But this is Jersey City and Schundler expects campaign contributions! Advantage receives 20% of the contract, approximately $800,000 goes into their pockets. Steven A. Wilson from Advantage said, "We're not squeamish about our for-profit status."
Now charter schools are competing for students from the public and Catholic schools. However, public schools will always be funded. The law demands it. But there is no law to protect Catholic schools. Across the state where charter schools exist, Catholic school are closing. Larry Thompson, Superintendent of Catholic school in the Trenton Diocese said, "Many of our students have gone over to the charter schools."
In 1993, Schundler promised parents financial relief for Catholic schools but he ends up destroying them!
Charter schools are handed out in Jersey City to political friends the way hot dogs are handed out at picnics. The closer the plitical connection, the more problems the schools have.
One school, Jersey City's Community School made headline in the local paper on June 13, 2000. This school in on the former site of Schundler's Golden Door and is run by his political friends Deputy Mayor Eliu Rivera and Julio Colon. The school is managed by a for-profit company called Mosaica.
The chief education officer returned to work after a lenghty sick leave. As she was gathering some boxes for her personal belongings (teachers do pack up in June) someone anonymously told members that Reed was resigning and taking home school documents. The board alerted the police. After a three hour ordeal the police officers checked each box and verified that the contents belonged to Reed. She was humiliated.
This incident brought issues to the surface which have been brewing all year since the school opened in September. Teachers say the school have face one problem after another-lack of supplies and bouncing paychecks. One teacher said there are no parents on the school board. Of course not, it is packed with politicans. The bouncing checks should be investigated. After all, 90% of the funding comes from the local school district.

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JC NAACP blasts Schundler as choice for education commissioner (HudsonReporter.com, February 22, 2010)

JERSEY CITY - The Jersey City Branch of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) at the Feb. 18 Jersey City Board of Education meeting criticized the appointment by Gov. Chris Christie of former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler as the state’s education commissioner.

Schundler, 51, is a Westfield native who served from 1992 to 2001 as Jersey City mayor, the first Republican elected to that seat in nearly 100 years.

Jersey City NAACP Branch President Kabili Tayari, currently a Jersey City deputy mayor who coincidentally was hired in 1997 during Schundler’s tenure, issued a statement against Schundler that was read by NAACP officer Lorenzo Richardson.

In the statement, Schundler was criticized for his lack of “public, private, parochial or charter school” experience. Schundler served most recently as the COO of King’s College, a private Christian college in Manhattan.

“His appointment gives the appearance of an attack on Public Education, not that our education system is perfect,” stated Richardson from Tayari’s statement. “But he is clearly not the best choice to solve the problems of our Public Education system.”

During his time as mayor, Schundler gained a reputation as an advocate for giving parents vouchers to help them send their kids to private school rather than public. He is also pro-charter school, having founded the Jersey City Golden Door Charter School in 1998, located on Ninth Street in downtown Jersey City.

But he ran into controversy during the construction of the school, as $9.5 million in public bonds were utilized to erect it. There is a state law prohibiting public funds from being used for the construction of a charter school. The building instead was built as a community center to get around that problem.

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Inform yourself about the Gulen movement!

1. WATCH KILLING ED, Mark Hall's feature-length documentary about charter schools, corruption and the rise of the Gulen Movement in America
2. READ the "Expose the Gulen Movement" report.
3. WATCH the Gulen Movement 101: Session One webinar presentation (1/22/2014)
4. WATCH the 60 Minutes segment "U.S. charter schools tied to powerful Turkish imam" broadcast. (5/13/2012)
5. READ my response to the 60 Minutes piece.
6. READ my guest article about Gulen charter schools published by The Washington Post. (3/27/2012)
7. WATCH my interview talking about Gulen charter schools, or my presentation at LaborFest (segment between 49:18 min. & 1:07:36 min.)
8. READ my postings labeled "Gulen movement" HERE.

As one observer tweeted, "U.S. media have focused too much on the Islamic nature of the Gulen movement. Real concern is its shady dealings and improprieties."

Please be aware that Gulenists have created a large number of anonymously-operated damage control websites. They started to appear a few months after publication of Greg Toppo's article in USA Today (August 2010).

Remainders

1. Bruce Baker's excellent analysis of whether charter schools are public or private.

2. Jim Horn's Top 10 reasons for why 1%ers support urban charter schools.

3. What reporters covering charter schools need to know about miracle schools, vouchers and all that educational flim-flam (i.e. be skeptical and always follow the money).

4. As of May 2013, only eight states do not have a charter school law: Alabama, Kentucky, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and West Virginia.

5. Balkanize: "to break up (as a region or group) into smaller and often hostile units" (Merriam-Webster dictionary)

6. *Phrase coined by John Thompson: "educational civil war"

7. "A system that allows school operators to donate to the officials that regulate them is pretty sorry." h/t "X"

8. Re the Gulen movement. Two important psychological principals of which to be aware: the Backfire Effect and the Black Swan Theory.

Pleas for charter school oversight

AS U.S. AID GROWS, OVERSIGHT IS URGED FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS; February 24, 2010; New York Times

…The president of one influential charter group told the House Education and Labor Committee that the federal government had spent $2 billion since the mid-1990s to finance new charter schools but less than $2 million, about one-tenth of 1 percent, to ensure that they were held to high standards.
“It’s as if the federal government had spent billions for new highway construction, but nothing to put up guardrails along the sides of those highways,” said Greg Richmond, president of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers…

CHARTER BACKER SAYS HOUSE PROPOSAL WEAKENS OVERSIGHT; April 30, 2011; Columbus Dispatch (OH)

A leading school-choice supporter says the sweeping changes proposed by House Republicans would weaken oversight of charter schools severely and threaten to turn Ohio into a "laughingstock of the nation's charter-school programs.

"It's hard for me to say that," said Terry Ryan, vice president of Ohio programs and policy for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, which sponsors seven charter schools in the state, including two in Columbus...

It was just last year that Mr. Ryan said, "The charter movement must police itself."
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"The idea of regulating charter schools makes no sense because deregulation is the justification for the policy." -- Jim M., retired teacher

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Perhaps it's finally dawning on some charter school supporters that the whole business is a huge can of worms.

Message to readers

With the systematic privatization of public education being conducted via the rapid expansion of charter schools, I regularly receive messages from teachers and parents who have charter school horror stories they want to share, and/or are in need of advice about a charter school situation in their community (e.g., "The charter school I attended has been closed. Do you know how I can get a copy of my transcript?). I also hear from journalists who are seeking information.

Just so you know, this site is a one-woman volunteer operation. Sorry folks, I'm DEFINITELY NOT union-sponsored.

Welcome

Charter School Scandals (CSS) was launched on May 14, 2010 to provide the public with a source of independently collected information about U.S. charter schools.

For instance, compare what you learn from my entry for the 3,500 student CATO School of Reason to the information provided by the pro-charter Center for Education Reform in their compilation: "Closed Charter Schools by State: National Data 2009" (63 page pdf). In the CER's document, the closure reason is "Management" explained as "Inadequate record keeping, suspect relations with private and sectarian schools," but the true story is much bigger and dirtier than that.

CSS is a non-billionaire funded (and un-bought off!), non-union affiliated (!), one-person operation in the name of transparency and public service to our democracy. I post the information as quickly as I can, but have a massive backlog due to the sheer number of stories. Please check back periodically for new additions.

And as you scroll through these stories, be sure to keep a running tally of the estimated legal costs.

Gulen Movement MUST READS!

Under the radar of the American public, the Gulen movement has been quietly advancing its presence in the U.S. via the establishment of charter schools, "cultural centers", and "interfaith dialogue" centers. Politicians, reporters, academics, community leaders, and charter school families have been strategically targeted, influenced, and given gifts, as the Gulenists have steadily built up their political cover. But how many of these Americans have an understanding of the controversies which surround this secretive movement and its worldwide political ambitions? And how would the public respond to finding out that such a movement is opening more and more charter schools, supported by their tax dollars as part of the GM's primary global project, without being willing to admit the connection?

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LEARN MORE

1. Read about the federal investigation into the Gulen Movement's charter schools.

2. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Islam, Secularism and the Battle for Turkey's Future, 23 August 2010, STRATFOR Global Intelligence

3. Video of Joshua Hendrick of the U. of OR and Y. Alp Aslandogan discussing the Gulen Movement. Here are the first 24 pages of Hendrick's 2009 thesis.

4. Charter School Watchdog

5. Gulen Charter Schools (don't miss the entry HERE.)

6. A Guide to the Gulen Movement's Activities in the U.S.

7. Gulen in the International Press

8. "Turkey's survival of the fittest: The Islamic anti-Darwinism movement in Turkey is being helped by an unlikely source - US Christian conservatives," 12 March 2008, ISN Security Watch)

9. "Religious movements in Turkey," 20 December 2010, OpenDemocracy

10. "First Class Revolution: From Medina to Mecca" and "Fethullah Gulen's Missionary Charter Schools Coming under Increasing Scrutiny in the United States and around the World," 24 January 2011 & 26 February 2011, Kurdish Aspect

11. "Turkey: Politics of Identity and Power," 13 August 2010, Congressional Research Service

12. "Turkey's pivotal role in the international drug trade," July 1998, Le Monde diplomatique (more background info)

13. EXTRA CREDIT: Check out the animated Imperial History of the Middle East and this Middle East geography game.

Bad apples, tips of icebergs, and cans of worms

In 2000, the Center for Education Reform wrote:
"A few bad apples shouldn't sour the public on the promising charter school movement, but when a bad apple does turn up, critics of charter schools pounce on it. Charter opponents are quick to claim that "more than a few" schools have closed and even quicker to characterize the movement as one that invites unscrupulous, fly-by-night operators to set up shop.Those mean ol' charter opponents. Isn't it curious how the reformers don't have any problem at all with building up a few negative public school stories into an anti-public teacher-bashing movement of national proportions in order to destroy teacher unions and public schools as a whole?"

But are charter schools really so innocent?

- In 2009, 83 percent of 145 Minnesota charter schools were found to have at least one financial irregularity in their audit.

- In February 2009, a New Mexico state audit found financial problems with 36 of the 44 charter schools in Albuquerque.

- Philadelphia City Controller Alan Butkovitz (April 2010): "The fact that there were significant issues at 13 out of 13 [schools] raises the likelihood you would see many of these same issues found in a much larger sampling of the schools.By May 2010, his probe had widened to 18 charter schools."

Relationships terminated

Charter school promoters live in an abstract world where it's perfectly fine to shutter a school when the "need" arises. This reveals a profound detachment and utter disregard for the emotional lives of the children and families who, as a result, end up being subjected to tremendous disruption, stress, termination of meaningful relationships, loss and grief. Kids need security and dependability.

A school going "out of business" takes a very different emotional toll on families and children than when their local gas station or Denny's restaurant does.

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The demise and death of our institutions of social support:

Family............check!
Church............check!
Neighborhoods............check!
Schools............check!

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"It comes down to what ultimately is in the best public interest here -- supporting the growth of charters or not. Does that support ultimately weaken the rest of the school district? You bet it does." (Fred LeBrun, Albany, NY)

Observations

There is no doubt but that an increasing number of inspectors, auditors, investigators, prosecutors and court rooms (and a lot of time and money) will be needed as more state charter caps are lifted.

Part of the problem is that too many people running charter schools see them as their own little fiefdoms. After all the effort and money put into setting up their schools -- and with political leaders and the mainstream media shining their bright spotlights on charter schools -- the stakes are inordinately high for them to be able to show "success."

Another problem I've discovered by doing this research is that the unmonitored access to millions of public education dollars is drawing unscrupulous people into the "business." At other times, new-found access to funds is proving to be too tempting for some people who were perhaps less criminally-minded.

Additionally, I've now discovered that, in this era of high-stakes testing, the education security business is booming. As one company put it, "Cheating on tests isn't the exception anymore; it has almost become the rule."

On competition

From "Deregulation and Charter School Swindles" by Gary Clabaugh (Educational Horizons, Winter 2009):

Two main ideas inform the charter school movement. The first is that competition is an essential ingredient in school improvement. Charters are said to provide that.

The trouble with this argument is that competition doesn't select the best, only the most popular. McDonald's doesn't produce the best-tasting or most-nutritious food, for instance, but its heart attack specials certainly are popular. A second-rate school might prove similarly competitive if it provides a tawdry but reassuring education to the children of the low-information crowd. Fearful your kids will discover you are an ignoramus? Send them to Alpha Charter where they will never learn to doubt.

Dedication

This Web site is dedicated to Eli Broad, Bill Gates, the Walton family, Arne Duncan, Whitney Tilson, Joe Williams, Reed Hastings, Ted Mitchell, Jack O'Connell, Tom Vander Ark, George Miller, Joanne Weiss, Randy Ward, Arnold Swarzenegger, all Milton Friedman-lovers, and any other free-market, pro-school choice, minimally-regulate-what-goes-on-in-charter school supporters who are also proud self-stated "DISRUPTORS" of public school communities, who have almost never, EVER been part of a public school community or local neighborhood, or who rejected being part of any public school community or local neighborhood long, long ago -- but have ended up deciding to help tear apart the tapestry of basic local human connections anyway.

Visitors

A variety of people have been looking at my blog, probably because of the great Gulen charter school information I've posted. This site is regularly visited by readers from Turkey. I get periodic visits from dhs.gov, doj.gov and ed.gov. I've had visits from house.gov and ed.gov, and at least one visit from someone at eop.gov (? Executive Office of the President). I've had a few visits from a couple of mystery IPs that are supposedly associated with the State Department, specifically the CIA. Hmmmmm...

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Golden Door Charter School

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