CHARTER SCHOOLS’ FAMILY TIES SPARK QUESTIONS; November 13, 2010; Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
A state school board member is questioning whether family members should be allowed to contract with one another to run charter schools, calling the relationship between a charter-school academy and its management company “not right.”
But the practice of family members running charter schools together is not unique to one school. Charter schools are independently run public schools often started by groups of parents.
Outgoing state school board member Denis Morrill raised the issue at a board meeting this month as the board considered American Preparatory Academy’s request to expand beyond its current plans. The academy pays a charter school management company $986 a year per student to run its two schools, according to the management agreement. The company is owned by sisters of the chairman of the academy’s board.
“I’m not willing to approve and watch expand something that puts another $920 a year in the pocket of the sister of the person who’s asking for the expansion,” Morrill said.
With about 1,140 students enrolled in American Preparatory Academy’s two schools, the for-profit management company, led by Carolyn Sharette, receives more than $1 million a year, she said. Sharette’s brother, Howard Headlee, chairs the American Preparatory board, which hired Sharette’s company. The academy is opening a third campus in the fall with another 720 students.
Sharette, Headlee and their sister Laura Campbell opened the first school together in 2003. Sharette and Campbell worked at the school and later created the charter management company, called American Preparatory Schools Inc…
Joel Coleman, a founder and board member of Monticello Academy charter school, won Morrill’s seat this month. Coleman’s wife had served as director of Monticello until the state Charter School Board ousted her last year after an investigation spurred by complaints from parents about low teacher morale and efforts to block parental involvement in the school’s management, which they said was paralyzed by conflicts of interest.
Kim Coleman is now suing a number of state Charter School Board members and other education officials for more than $5 million for allegedly unlawfully removing her from her post, among other allegations…
6 comments:
My kids go to the school where they are well prepared for High School. My oldest son scored in the top 10 percent in the nation on the ACT. My daughter is headed for a member of the National Honor Sosiety now at Jordan. I know all of the people you would slander with your comments, including the Coleman's. I think your NEA bias clouds your vision. Get the facts strait. The Headley family is devoted to education and mothers without borders and many other noble causes. Hope you post this, noticed there were no comments.
David Topham
Let me help set things straight for you.
1. I am not slandering anyone. I am posting excerpts of news articles and their links. If you have an issue with the content of this article, you should take it up with the Salt Lake Tribune.
2. You err with your assumption. "NEA bias" does NOT cloud my vision. I am an independent blogger and public school parent who believes in public education. I track these stories because I believe it is an important thing to do.
Congrats on your kids' success. My kids are extremely successful, too (AP scholar awards, scholarships, etc.), and I have NEVER enrolled them in a charter school. Instead of fleeing from the system, I provide support to help strengthen it.
Perimeter Primate - the title of your blog is "Charter School Scandals", so it is not honest for you to say you are not slandering anyone.
Our school was not accused of any wrongdoing, and has not been accused of any wrongdoing. The newspaper only said there were "questions", which was fair. The questions were answered publicly and openly, and no further questions have been asked because it was clear we operate within the law and within all ethics requirements, AND we provide incredible academic results for our students. 96% of our students passed the language arts CRT, 99% parental satisfaction. Over 7,000 students on our waiting lists.
You are the one who elevated the questions to slander by posting the article on a blog with such a provocative, and yes, slanderous, title.
You can say you don't have any bias, but just the title of your blog indicates that you clearly have an agenda, which results in a bias.
I believe all charter school supporters would support your desire to keep your children in the traditional public schools. We believe all should be able to choose the best school for their child. We don't fight to get your child out of the school you choose, and I don't understand why you would fight to tell parents untruths and try to get them to pull their children from charter schools or avoid them. Can't everyone just decide for themselves, without hostility and judgment?
How does that help anyone? How does that help students?
Carolyn Sharette,
Where did I say I don't have a bias?
Scandal:
1. A publicized incident that brings about disgrace or offends the moral sensibilities of society.
2. A person, thing, or circumstance that causes or ought to cause disgrace or outrage.
3. Damage to reputation or character caused by public disclosure of immoral or grossly improper behavior; disgrace.
From my point of view, nepotism tied in with profiting off of public education funding fits into this definition.
I'm not the only one who has this opinion.
You ask, "Can't everyone just decide for themselves, without hostility and judgment?"
Sure, but what's wrong with them finding my blog where they will only end up reading a Salt Lake Tribune article about the school?
By the way, you need to fix the typo on this web page.
http://www.americanprep.org/home/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=253:carolyn-sharette&catid=12:contacts
It's "Executive" not "Excutive."
I have to agree with Carolyn.
Defining the word you chose doesn't make it any less bias! In every definition it talks about "disgrace" and "immorality". Who was disgraced over questions that were answered (with great answers) in a public setting? What immoral actions did they commit? Being related?
I recently enrolled my kids in American Preperatory Academy because we didn't have the same experience you had with your school.
I'm really grateful there are people like Caroly Sharette that are not content to sit by and let children take the gamble as to whether or not they can suceed with the learning style offered in public schools. Why critize people for offering options?
Nepotism. Hmmm. According to , nepotism is the "practice of appointing relatives and friends in one's organization to positions for which outsiders might be better qualified. Despite its negative connotations, nepotism (if applied sensibly) is an important and positive practice in the startup and formative years of a firm where complete trust and willingness to work hard (for little or no immediate reward) are critical for its survival."
After having spent two out of the last three weeks watching Carolyn and Laura up close at work in their enterprise, I would have a very difficult time recognizing what they are doing in their schools as anything resembling scandalous in the sense of "bring[ing] about disgrace or offend[ing] the moral sensibilities of society," even if they are deriving financial profit from their activities. The parents who consider it a blessing to have been able to choose to send their children to their schools and the teachers who have chosen to expend their efforts within their system might have opinions worth noticing.
And when did deriving profit from successfully providing a much-needed and valued service (as evidenced by these schools' students' impressive academic achievements and their waiting list in the thousands) become scandalous in America? An immigrant myself, I thought I came here for those very kinds of opportunities.
Ah, that every educational system could care enough about the educational progress of its students as to fund and promote only those ideas and methodologies that produce true academic excellence in a significant majority of its clientele....
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