Urban Pioneer Experiential Academy


The San Francisco school board revoked the charter of Urban Pioneer Experiential Academy on Tuesday night, shutting down the alternative high school that ran a wilderness program in which two students died.

The 4-3 vote came one week before Urban Pioneer students were due to start class…

Superintendent Arlene Ackerman had asked the board to revoke the charter because of financial problems identified by a consultant she brought in to review the books.

"The fiscal and programmatic irregularities . . . are of such a magnitude that they bring into question the school's ability to manage its financial, business and academic affairs and its very solvency," Ackerman wrote in a letter to the board Friday.

Her concerns stemmed from a report prepared by the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, which showed the school's checkbooks were unbalanced, some employees were not paid for the month of June, and the school lost about $250,000 through June 30.

The report also showed the school's budget didn't have a beginning balance, allotted less than $2 per student per month and showed no money for janitors, testing or staff development…

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