Roosevelt Children’s Academy

MORE SCRUTINY FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS IN DEBATE OVER EXPANSION, May 25, 2010, The New York Times

…When the Roosevelt Children’s Academy, a charter school on Long Island, fired its management company after paying it more than $1 million a year, it hired two of the school’s board members as new managers — and paid them hundreds of thousands of dollars…

* * * * * * * *

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

…After paying Victory Schools millions of dollars in management fees only to see the business relationship sour and end up in court the Roosevelt Children’s Academy board hired its board president and charter founder and another board trustee as consultants. For more than three years, the board president received $5,000 a month in consulting fees, while the other board member received $40 an hour -- more than $70,000 last year -- to provide business services to the charter. When questions were raised by New York State United Teachers and Newsday, the SUNY Charter School Institute sought to stop the arrangement, telling the board members in March 2010 they could not remain on the board while also accepting consulting fees. The SUNY staff report concluded that, on balance, “the conflict of interest is too great for the dual relationship not to be remedied.”…