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.

Merrick Academy Charter School

NOTE: Merrick Academy pays Victory Schools, Inc. to run its school. Victory is a for-profit Educational Management Organization (EMO).

MERRICK ACADEMY WORKERS GET BOOT VIA FEDEX AMID CONTRACT DISPUTE BETWEEN SCHOOL, UNION, July 21, 2010, NY Daily News

A scandal-plagued Queens charter school fired at least nine teachers Tuesday - via FedEx, union officials said.
Some of the Merrick Academy staffers who got the boot are chalking it up to a bitter contract dispute between the school and unionized teachers…
Kindergarten teacher Marjorie Berry, 60, one of the fired teachers, isn't buying it. "I was upset, because I put my heart and soul into these children and into the school," said Berry, who has taught at the school since it opened. "I just feel like I've been pushed aside like a piece of garbage."
Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed documents from a politically connected architect who helped design Merrick's school building in an ongoing corruption probe of several Queens politicians, including Merrick founders Senate President Malcolm Smith and U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks.

* * * * * * * *

A $2 BILLION DECISION: THE CASE FOR REFORMING NEW YORK’S CHARTER SCHOOL LAW, April 2010, New York State United Teachers report

…Just before New Year’s, parents and teachers protested outside the Merrick Academy Charter School in Queens, calling for immediate improvements at their for-profit charter school affiliated with Victory Schools. 35 Victory’s contract with Merrick Academy CS entitles it to a management fee of $2,000 per student – money that is paid to Victory “off the top” from per-pupil aid. Records show Victory collected at least $1.36 million in management fees in 2008-09, about 21 percent of Merrick Academy’s total revenue. Victory also charged other fees, and made a loan to the school at 9.85 percent interest.
Yet, Victory required teachers photocopy academic material that students needed because of a shortage of supplies. Parents, meanwhile, expressed outrage that the school board chairman asked for donations of copy paper because, he said, the school did not have enough funds…
…Conflicts of interest and profits at the expense of students have raised questions at the Merrick Academy Charter School. A Merrick Academy board member earned $19,675 for legal work while serving on Merrick’s board. Recent newspaper reports say elected officials with connections to the charter school have benefited from campaign contributions. The SUNY Charter School Institute investigated allegations of grade tampering on state math, social studies and English language arts tests in 2008 and referred the case to the State Education Department. Victory Schools, a for-profit management company, collected more than $1.36 million in management fees (21 percent of revenue) and charged $800,000 for rent for the school building in 2008-09….

* * * * * * * *

MERRICK ACADEMY STUDENTS SUFFER AS STATE SENATE PRESIDENT MALCOLM SMITH PROFITS FROM CHARTER SCHOOL, March 28, 2010, NY Daily News

Students at Merrick Academy charter school - housed in an old bowling alley in Queens Village must cross busy Jamaica Ave. for recess in a nearby park because there's no gym or playground.
They also must get used to water leaking into classrooms when it rains and wearing winter coats inside when there's no heat.
"The school is on a very big intersection," said Kenneth Eriaidubor, who has a second-grader and a kindergartner at Merrick. "We are very concerned that leaving a school is not a really safe zone for the children."
"There's a leak, there's heating problems," said Sidney Dasent, whose daughter is a second-grader. "There's even a problem with supplies."
There's also another potential problem - one many parents may not know about: Merrick has served as a source of campaign funds and patronage for one of its high-profile board members - State Senate President Malcolm Smith…
…While Smith was on Merrick's board, an architect did "preliminary drawings" regarding turning the bowling alley into a school. That architect also was working on one of Smith's personal properties at the time, records show.
The same architect was also later hired to design a home owned by another Merrick board member and Smith ally, Queens Rep. Gregory Meeks.
The Merrick board has been loaded up with Smith allies. Besides Meeks, there's Smith's former business partner Darryl Greene.
In 1999, two years before he became a Merrick board member, Greene pleaded guilty to stealing $500,000 on government contracts. Greene left the Merrick board in the last few months.
Until recently, another board member was Joan Flowers, campaign treasurer for Smith and Meeks. She's a Senate staffer.
Flowers also worked as counsel to Merrick for a time, pocketing a modest $19,675 in fees while she served on the board. Flowers did not return calls.
Smith declined to answer questions about Merrick. Last week he came under fire for his involvement in another charter school, the Peninsula Preparatory Academy in Far Rockaway…
…Across Queens at Merrick, parents acknowledge that academics have improved, but they continue to have concerns about an unsafe environment - and some have raised questions about where school money is going.
For instance, the school spent $200,000 in 2009 on "security," but there's no security guard.
"We don't have security, and that's a problem. No names are taken down," one teacher said. "I had a parent come in. She was in my face and she was very aggressive. Another teacher that was much taller than her had to intervene."
Dasent said he's been asked to pitch in with basics likes color copy paper, pencils and hand sanitizer…
…In its early days, school officials confirmed that architect Robert Gaskin did some "preliminary drawings" on how to transform the bowling alley at 207-01 Jamaica Ave. into a school.
Records show Gaskin applying for a permit in July 2001 for the school building. At the time, records show Gaskin was also the architect of record on a two-family house on 230th St. that Smith owned and was renovating.
James Stovall, an official with Victory Schools, the for-profit company that Merrick pays to run the school, said Gaskin was not paid for his work at the school. Gaskin, who lists the Merrick job on his Web site, did not return calls to reveal how he got the job with Merrick or Smith.
In December, the Buildings Department cited Merrick for failing to fix an inoperable elevator and fined it $5,000. The school notes it has no wheelchair-bound students who would need the elevator and blamed a vendor for the violation. A settlement with the city is in the works.
Meanwhile, parents for years paid a company tied to the longtime principal, Alma Alston, for after-school activities at Merrick, records show.
Records show Alston is listed as manager, consultant and director of Creative Community Consultants, Merrick's after-school provider. The company's office is at the school.
"Victory was aware, did an investigation and all I can say is she is on leave of absence," Stovall said. The school recently ended its agreement with Creative Community…

No comments:

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."
----

"The idea of regulating charter schools makes no sense because deregulation is the justification for the policy." -- Jim M., retired teacher

------

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?

-----------------

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.

-----

The demise and death of our institutions of social support:

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

-----
"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...

Pages

Merrick Academy Charter School

No comments: