The Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission on Tuesday fined the executive director of a Mercer County charter school for leasing properties he and his family controlled for the school's use without board approval.
A charter school mogul was charged today in a multimillion-dollar fraud case by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Dorothy June Hairston Brown, who received accolades for students' test scores and gained notoriety for collecting large salaries and suing parents who questioned her actions, was indicted on multiple counts of wire fraud, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering.Brown, 75, and four executives from her charter schools, were charged with defrauding three charter schools of more than $6.5 million in taxpayer funds.U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger announced that a federal grand jury had returned a 62-count indictment against Brown and four of her trusted employees...
For the first time in four years, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission on Thursday night began the process of closing city charter schools.The commission voted to put three schools on notice that their five-year operating charters would not be renewed: Truebright Science Academy, Arise Academy, and Hope...The schools will remain open for the 2012-13 academic year...
...[Bekir Duz, CEO of Truebright] told the Notebook that his school plans to appeal to the state. Schools can stay open during the appeals process.
Truebright Science Academy Charter School in North Philadelphia is one of more than 130 charter schools nationwide run by followers of the Turkish imam M. Fetullah Gulen, and federal officials have put it under a microscope.Not only are the FBI and the Departments of Labor and Education looking into allegations of kickbacks by Turkish teachers at the charters nationwide, according to knowledgeable sources, but at least nine American teachers and administrators at Truebright have filed complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. All allege that they were being paid less than noncertified Turkish staffers.Now the Philadelphia School District's charter office has recommended to the School Reform Commission that it not renew Truebright's five-year operating charter on several grounds, including academic performance, lack of certified staff, and high turnover of administrators...The charter school office report does not mention Gulen or note that a third of Truebright's teachers and administrators are from Turkey. Most are working in this country with non-immigrant visas.Some parents say their children cannot understand their Turkish teachers because their English language skills are deficient. And staffers say the school's operations are shrouded in secrecy, and they risk losing their jobs if they ask too many questions. After The Inquirer reported about federal investigations last year, staffers reported that school officials had shredded documents...The Rev. James W. Wright Sr., president of Truebright's parent teachers association, said he was embarrassed to learn a statement that school officials persuaded him to read at a recent SRC meeting erroneously claimed that 97 percent of the first senior class had graduated last June. In reality, only 33 of the 50 students who started in ninth grade stayed and received diplomas, according to a former administrator...In a recent interview, [CEO Bekir Duz] insisted that Truebright was not part of any Turkish network and did not believe it was being investigated. "Truebright is a school that is run independently," Duz said.He said the fact that 10 of the school's 32 teachers and administrators are from Turkey and have worked at similar charters across the United States does not mean the schools are linked...He declined to comment on Gulen, a major Islamic political figure in Turkey who lives in self-imposed exile in a Poconos enclave.In 2008, Gulen obtained a green card by convincing a federal judge in Philadelphia that he was an influential educational figure in the United States and pointed to the charter schools that have been opened across the country by his followers - Turkish scientists, engineers, and businessmen.Duz said that he didn't want to discuss Gulen because "I'm a public school employee here, and I run this school solely by the charter-school law."However, in a 2006 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article about a proposed Turkish cultural center in Allegheny County, he talked about Gulen. Duz, who was on the center's board at the time, said members followed the teachings of Gulen, who founded a movement emphasizing education and interfaith dialogue...Copies of photographs showing shredded documents and a Turkish staffer holding a ladder while another man removed the camera were obtained by The Inquirer...Truebright was in turmoil in early 2011 when Riza Ulker, the school's founding CEO, disappeared after the Christmas holidays. Board meeting minutes say that Ulker requested a leave to deal with family issues. Current and former staffers believe he returned to Turkey.Tansu Cidav arrived at Truebright from a Gulen charter in Austin, Texas, to serve as interim head. Truebright's board subsequently hired Duz in August to be permanent CEO. Duz had been a top administrator at Central Jersey College Prep Charter School in Somerset, another charter run by Gulen followers...
...Charter school revocation hearings are costly, rare and time-consuming in Pennsylvania, which has 167 charter schools. Only eight charters have been revoked and those decisions were appealed to the state Charter School Appeal Board, state Department of Education records show...While the law's directions for how a charter can open are precise, its oversight provisions are not. The law states school districts are to oversee a charter's academic and financial performance while the state oversees cyber charter schools.The law does not explain how school districts or the state are supposed to conduct the oversight since school districts have no authority over charters' day-to-day operations or annual budgets. Nor does the law spell out how districts are supposed to force charters to correct problems they may find...Even the state Department of Education has had trouble overseeing charters.
For example, the Philadelphia Daily News recently reported that cyber school Frontier Virtual Charter High School has a mountain of unpaid bills and laid off its principal and all its full-time teachers despite receiving $435,000 in tax money this school year. The state Department of Education, however, has had little luck getting Frontier's administrators to turn over records so the state can investigate, according to the newspaper...The Legislature and state Department of Education have known since 2002 that oversight of charters was lacking. That year, research from Western Michigan University found some Pennsylvania districts make "compliance visits" while others visit for "ceremonial purposes." Researchers found oversight picks up when charters come up for renewal...Charter oversight is also the responsibility of the state auditor general's office, which is having trouble conducting cyclical audits or special investigations to make sure tax money is spent appropriately in the state's charter schools."There's no doubt … it creates challenges for us," Auditor General Jack Wagner said.That means there are few eyes on the $4 billion taxpayers have spent toward charter schools in the last decade. That total, according to Department of Education data, includes per pupil expenditures, salaries, building and rental costs, and grants...
The Pittsburgh school board voted unanimously on Wednesday to pull the plug on Career Connections Charter High School in Lawrenceville.Before the school is shut down, the district will conduct a public hearing followed by a second vote by the board. No date has been set for either follow-up action.The charter school, which is run under the auspices of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania, serves about 245 students.If rejected a second time, school officials say they will exercise their option to file an appeal with the state Department of Education...Pittsburgh Public Schools officials say the school, which opened in 1999, has failed to meet expectations."The primary reason was the performance," said Lisa Augustin, a research associate for the district who coordinates its charter review teams. "The team also felt the school does not serve as a model to the district and is not living up to its mission."...
Despite concerns about its operations and close affiliation with a city church, the Allentown School Board has renewed a five-year agreement with the Lincoln Leadership Academy Charter School.But that renewal came with a warning from school board members that the school must be more transparent with the district and adhere to the existing charter, which board members say has not occurred in the last year."It's a partnership, and this partnership has to be 50-50, and it has to be trust 50-50, and we have to work together 50-50," board President Robert Smith Jr. said during a meeting Thursday."There have been issues that haven't worked out 50-50, and that's got to stop," Smith said of the 1414 East Cedar St. school.Among the largest concerns are charter school's close affiliation with Lifechurch, an Allentown church at 1401 E. Cedar St., with whom Lincoln Leadership is seeking to buy or rent additional space.Smith said there is concern that Lifechurch families are getting preferential treatment when it comes to choosing prospective students, even choosing non-Allentown residents from the church over city children seeking to apply.That prompted board member David F. Zimmerman to cast the sole dissenting vote against the charter agreement Thursday."The ties with Lifechurch seem just a little too close," he said. "Lincoln Leadership Academy reminds me a little too much of a private school. My concern is if our funds are being diverted for students not really part of the Allentown School District."Additionally, the charter school added two modular expansions to the building without consulting the Allentown School Board, and brought on additional students beyond its 320-student cap, Smith said...
CAREY STONE is living Ferris Bueller's life - just the complete opposite of it, actually.Every morning, the high-school senior calls her school's administrators, trying to find out where they are, wondering when they'll have classes for her to attend or let her hand in a report on "The Great Gatsby."And every day, her calls go unanswered. "I feel like they're just brushing me off," she said. Carey, 18, and her sisters, Rachel, 15, and Harmony, 14, are enrolled at the Philadelphia-based Frontier Virtual Charter High School.The school laid off its teachers and principal on March 8 and hasn't held any classes since......The state Department of Education is finishing an investigation into Frontier over numerous questions about financial and academic problems that were detailed last week by the Daily News...
It all sounded so good on paper: a "global high school of the 21st century," a cyber school that would teach about 300 students two languages and keep them constantly engaged in learning.That was how John Craig pitched the Frontier Virtual Charter High School to state education officials two years ago...Frontier opened in the fall. It fell apart before the spring...The cyber school seems to have serious money woes and other problems:* Frontier - which is receiving $435,520 from the Philadelphia School District this year to educate 54 city students - didn't pay its teachers or principal in August, September and most of October, according to several sources who have direct knowledge of the school's troubles.Since then, teachers had been paid only half of their $40,000 salaries.* Craig said on Thursday that he was working on a plan to get the staff back pay and address other financial problems before the end of the school year. The following day, he laid off all the school's teachers and the principal. He later posted part-time teaching jobs on Craigslist.* Craig, also an associate pastor at the Philadelphia Revival Temple Church, said that Frontier doesn't "have really any students that are truant" and that many "are doing fine" academically.But records viewed by the Daily News show that numerous students are habitually truant or failing their classes - or both.* Bills have gone unpaid, including some in excess of $80,000 for K12, the company that created Frontier's curriculum, sources said.* Staffers raised repeated concerns about whether Craig and the school's board of trustees - which includes former Municipal Court Judge Jimmie Moore - had violated the state's Sunshine Law by making decisions in private, sources said...
The Bethlehem Area School Board tonight accepted the voluntary surrender of the charter of a city-based charter school that the board spent months trying to shut down.Vitalistic Therapeutic Charter School of the Lehigh Valley spent months fighting charter revocation proceedings initiated by the Bethlehem Area and Allentown school districts.But then in October the charter school announced "with profound sorrow" that it plans to shut its doors Jan. 25, which marks the end of the first marking period for the sending districts. A revocation hearing scheduled for Nov. 29 was canceled in light of the voluntary surrender of the charter...
Already under two investigations, Vitalistic Therapeutic Charter School of the Lehigh Valley is facing mounting financial pressure that has led trustees to raise the specter of closing the school, which serves mostly poor children with learning, emotional and physical disabilities.Records obtained by The Morning Call show money issues led the Bethlehem school to stop offering legally mandated speech therapy while nearly $9,500 in food vendor bills have gone unpaid and part of a federal education grant was used to pay a utility bill.More pressing, the school can no longer afford to pay more than $17,000 in monthly rent and maintenance costs at its building on Fourth Avenue in Bethlehem and is looking for cheaper quarters in Allentown, records and interviews show. The Bethlehem building is for sale.In a March 24 email on moving, board President Joyce Thompson wrote that she and another trustee "were talking about the possibility of having to close the school."...
The top administrator of a troubled Bethlehem charter school resigned Wednesday, alleging that school officials continue to mismanage tax dollars even as two local school districts investigate its finances and loss of a state license to provide students with mental health care.In her resignation letter, Nancy Egan, chief executive officer of Vitalistic Therapeutic Charter School of the Lehigh Valley since 2010, said the board of trustees and other administrators have undermined her attempts to correct years of fiscal mismanagement...
State officials have offered to help the Allentown and Bethlehem Area school districts with their joint investigation of Vitalistic Therapeutic Charter School of the Lehigh Valley.Bethlehem Superintendent Joseph Roy said Friday his staff "received a very supportive call" from the Pennsylvania Department of Education concerning Vitalistic. He said the state has offered to help the districts analyze the charter's financial and special education records...The districts' investigation stems from a story in The Morning Call on Nov. 27 that examined Vitalistic's finances and its loss of a state license that served as the cornerstone of its chartered mission to provide poor students with intensive mental health therapy.Using public records and interviews with state and Vitalistic sources, the newspaper found Vitalistic had improperly lent taxpayer money to its nonprofit sister school, had problems documenting students' special education services, and had repeat violations of its licensed mental health program. Vitalistic billed the state for more than $200,000 in services from the preschool and charter school that auditors could not determine if children and their families had received...The newspaper's investigation found Vitalistic's board of trustees offered little to no oversight of those funds or management decisions. The story showed Vitalistic had problems administering and documenting whether students received services under a welfare department license to provide outpatient partial hospitalization care, according to audits conducted by Magellan Behavioral Health Inc., a Connecticut-based private managed care company that monitors treatment for people on Medicaid with mental health issues...The state auditor general's office is also investigating Vitalistic.
A now-terminated Delaware County charter-school aide is accused of seeking nude photos last month from a 14-year-old girl in his care who recorded part of the conversation, police said.Ronald A. Byrd, 56, who had been an in-school suspension aide at Chester Community Charter School, was charged Wednesday with sexual exploitation of children, corruption of minors, and related offenses. He was remanded to the Delaware County prison after failing to post $100,000 bail, court records said.Bruce Crawley, a school spokesman, said Byrd was suspended after a Chester Township police officer was called to the school and conducted an initial investigation. Byrd was terminated after a school probe, Crawley said.
Vuong Thuy, the founding chief executive of an academically successful North Philadelphia charter school, was toppled by his handpicked board after a monthlong campaign by parents and staff.The board of the Multi-Cultural Academy Charter School last week voted unanimously to remove Thuy from his leadership position after being besieged by complaints of a rodent infestation, unsanitary bathrooms, and a "toxic" climate in which staff, parents, and students were berated and demeaned.Parents and staff also expressed concern that charter school money was being drained to represent Thuy in connection with a federal probe and a state ethics investigation.Stephanie Johnson, who helped mobilize other parents, said she was even more shocked when the school produced a record indicating it had spent $222,000 in the last 12 months to represent Thuy in various investigations...The investigations were spawned by a charter school report that the City Controller's Office released last spring. The controller questioned Thuy's ties to a related organization that owns Multi-Cultural's building...The charter has a strict behavior code, focuses on preparing students for college, and boasts a record of academic success. The school has exceeded state benchmarks for four consecutive years. In 2009-10, 77 percent of 11th graders scored at grade level or higher in math, and 61.5 percent in reading...But staff - including English teacher Seth Carter and programs coordinator Frank Mannino - said they had become increasingly disenchanted over what they described as Thuy's dictatorial leadership style, explosive temper, and demeaning behavior.Last winter, Thuy stormed out of a meeting with parents who were concerned that a no-cellphone policy left their children unable to call for help after several students were jumped near the school.Carter said Thuy "flipped out" and then walked out on a group of 30 people: "He never got past the first question."At a separate schoolwide meeting, Thuy told the students, who are largely African American, that they were barred from bringing cellphones to school because they would use them to sell drugs, several staff members said.Multi-Cultural is one of 18 local charter schools being investigated by federal authorities, according to sources with knowledge of that probe.As a charter school official, Thuy is covered by the state ethics law, which bars conflicts of interest. He is also being investigated by the state Ethics Commission, sources at the school said...Teachers, who said they feared losing their jobs if they spoke up or asked questions about Thuy, have signed cards indicating their interest in being represented by a union. An election is scheduled for this month...The school's five-year charter renewal will go before the School Reform Commission during the next school year...Parents and teachers said they had a difficult time communicating with the board. It meets only four times a year at 8 a.m., and Thuy tightly controlled access.Carter said Thuy told staff that if they wanted to talk to the board, they would have to talk to him. He told them he would relay information to the board and then report back."He told parents the same thing," Mannino said...
A judge has overturned a kindergartner’s expulsion from a Philadelphia charter school for touching his teacher’s thighs after she complained that her legs hurt.The 6-year-old, who had three earlier suspensions, was merely trying to comfort his teacher, the judge concluded...The case, involving the First Philadelphia Charter School for Literacy, hints at a larger question that looms as the number of charter schools explodes across the country.The Philadelphia-based Education Law Center argued that charter schools sometimes seek more leeway in disciplining students under the theory they can always return to a traditional public school...The boy had been suspended for 10 days in December for touching a girl’s bottom while under a table picking up crayons. He was then suspended twice for stepping on his classmates’ shoelaces or otherwise tripping or shoving them, according to the school’s brief.Panepinto focused solely on the March 19, 2010, touching incident in concluding that the school had abused its discretion.“In permanently expelling a 6-year-old kindergarten student that had only been in school for seven months, (the school) made a gross abuse of discretion that was not supported by evidence in the record,’’ the judge wrote...
Stanford’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) report on Pennsylvania charter schools continued many themes from its national report: average learning gains for charters are smaller, charters’ performance improves as students are enrolled longer, and importantly, high variability among charters, with significant numbers of both high-performing and low-performing charter schools.But, there’s one very interesting finding. In the CREDO sample, taken from schools that enrolled students from 2007 – 2010, there are eight full-time, online “cyber” charter schools. These eight schools enrolled 18,705 students — 30% of the study population — and contrast sharply with the typical “bricks and mortar” charter student. Online students tend to be white, ineligible for free and reduced lunches, and entered the online schools with significantly higher test scores. And, online students are more likely to be repeating a grade.Overall, the results for the cyber schools were terrible. None of the eight online schools did better than their “virtual twins” in traditional district schools. And, the cyber school performance was so poor that it dragged down the results for charters in general…
Expanding on the 2009 CREDO National Charter School Study Multiple Choice: Charter School Performance in 16 States, this report examines the performance of Pennsylvania charter schools for the period 2007 - 2010. Compared to the educational gains the charter students would have had in their traditional public schools, the analysis shows that students in Pennsylvania charter schools on average make smaller learning gains. More than one quarter of the charter schools have significantly more positive learning gains than their traditional public school counterparts in reading, but their performance is eclipsed by the nearly half of charter schools that have significantly lower learning gains. In math, again nearly half of the charter schools studied perform worse than their traditional public school peers and one quarter outperform them…
===================================================================The Pennsylvania Charter School Appeals Board unanimously voted Tuesday to deny the appeal of Graystone Academy Charter School in South Coatesville to keep its charter.The board reaffirmed the decision by the Coatesville Area School Board to revoke the charter, ordered in November 2011.“Initiating the process of revoking Graystone’s charter was a difficult decision for our (school) board,” said Neil Campbell, Coatesville area school board president. “But once the hearings regarding Graystone commenced and concluded, and the board reviewed evidence and testimony regarding multiple major charter violations committed by Graystone, it was clear to us that Graystone students were suffering academically and their educational interests were best served by us revoking its charter. Clearly the Charter School Appeals Board agrees with us.”...Graystone’s Board of Trustees, however, said it plans to file an appeal with the Commonwealth Court in response to Tuesday’s ruling. It will also request a stay of the revocation and said it still plans to open the school on time, on Aug. 26...In its ruling, the Charter School Appeals Board noted every major violation the school board raised as a basis for revoking Graystone’s charter was meritorious and in accordance with the law. The ruling, officials said, confirms that the decision of the school board to revoke Graystone’s charter was appropriate and lawful...
The Coatesville Area School District has begun hearings on whether to close the 430-student Graystone Academy Charter School, citing alleged violations involving academic and financial matters.Graystone said financial reasons were behind the challenge.The allegations - set out in a March 16 letter from Coatesville Board President J. Neil Campbell - state that Graystone had failed to carry out several promised academic programs and policies. The school was also accused of not meeting certain academic benchmarks and fiscal-management standards…
Mayor Nutter has launched a city investigation into the withdrawal of an Atlanta charter school company from operating Martin Luther King High School, amid allegations of conflict of interest and political wrangling involving School Reform Commission Chairman Robert L. Archie Jr. and State Rep. Dwight Evans.Nutter said Monday that he had directed Joan Markman, the city's chief integrity officer, to conduct a series of fact-finding interviews and report the results to him as soon as possible.The development follows a week of disclosures about a closed-door meeting involving Archie, Evans, and one charter operator who later backed out of King, and the subsequent departure of a second charter operator. It also follows requests by some King parents for a state investigation…
The New Jersey-based nonprofit that has overseen Martin Luther King High School for the last seven years has withdrawn its bid to run the school as a charter, amid a controversy involving School Reform Commission Chairman Robert L. Archie Jr. and State Rep. Dwight Evans.Citing a climate of "unrelenting hostility," Foundations Inc. Chief Executive Officer Rhonda H. Lauer in a letter to Archie and Superintendent Arlene Ackerman sent Wednesday night said her organization no longer was interested in participating in the district's "Renaissance" school reform plan…The decision follows a report by the Philadelphia Public School Notebook this week that Archie met in a closed-door session with Evans and John Q. Porter, of Mosaica Turnaround Partners to discuss the fate of the school even though he had recused himself from voting on the charter earlier that day because of a potential conflict of interest. The law firm at which he is a partner, Duane Morris LLP, has represented Foundations, the Notebook reported.The charter, which would be for five years, is estimated to be worth approximately $12 million dollars a year, according to the Notebook.The School Reform Commission in March had voted to give Mosaica, an Atlanta-based for-profit charter school company, the right to negotiate the charter for King.But Mosaica later withdrew its application after Evans publicly expressed his disappointment to the Commission and continued to support Foundations, with which he has had a long-standing relationship. Some parent leaders at the school, who supported Mosaica, however, have complained…
Just over a month ago, the chairman of the Philadelphia School Reform Commission took part in a pivotal closed-door meeting to discuss the fate of a charter school deal potentially worth $60 million, only hours after publicly recusing himself from voting on the matter due to a conflict of interest…The meeting was held on the evening of March 16 at School District of Philadelphia headquarters, and included Archie, State Rep. Dwight Evans, and John Q. Porter of Mosaica Education, an Atlanta-based, for-profit school operator. [Read summary about Porter on The Broad Report]Earlier that day, Archie’s fellow commissioners had voted 3-0 to award Mosaica the right to negotiate the charter to run Martin Luther King High in Germantown. Archie didn’t vote, citing his law firm’s ties to another applicant for the charter. Porter described himself that afternoon as “ecstatic” about the vote.But the day after the three men met, Mosaica walked away from the King deal.Porter explained the reversal at the time by saying that he did not want to interfere with Evans’ plans for his community. He also said that his company “did not believe that without full support we could be successful.”Mosaica’s abrupt about-face left Foundations Inc., a New Jersey-based nonprofit with ties to both Archie and Evans, as the only bidder for the King charter. King is being transformed as part of Superintendent Arlene Ackerman’s signature Renaissance Schools initiative. …Zack Stalberg, chair of the Committee of Seventy, a watchdog group, called Archie’s action “highly improper."The chair of a volunteer panel at King advising the District on the school’s turnaround plan said the group wants a full investigation into Archie’s behavior.Archie has publicly acknowledged that the law firm where he is a partner, Duane Morris LLP, represents Foundations. (Archie has also recused himself from decisions involving Universal Companies, a charter provider slated to run Audenried High and Vare Middle School, for similar reasons.)Evans also has deep connections to Foundations, which has for decades been his preferred partner for education projects of all kinds in and around his West Oak Lane district. For the past eight years, Foundations has been managing King under contract with the District.In addition, Archie and Evans have a longstanding personal relationship. Evans has referred to Archie in press reports as a friend for more than two decades, and Archie has been a frequent donor to Evans’ political campaigns, as have many Foundations executives.King’s charter, initially for five years, is estimated to be worth approximately $12 million dollars a year to its manager. The charter could potentially extend indefinitely…Stalberg says he believes Archie's presence at the meeting will likely trigger the interest of state and federal investigators…Stalberg believes Archie’s presence in the March 16 meeting will trigger not only questions about the King charter, but about the politically appointed board that oversees the $3.2 billion dollar district and its nearly 200,000 public and charter school students. “I think there’s a good chance that this will fire up the question of who is the SRC, and why is the state running our schools anyway?” Stalberg said. “The incident and the larger question may be totally different things.”Stalberg, who edited the Philadelphia Daily News for three decades, said the story of Archie and Evans’ closed-door meeting is unlike anything he’s heard in recent years…
…Young Scholars is accepting admissions applications on its website from all eligible parents and is listing open house sessions. [See important note below]However, several readers have sent the Baldwin-Whitehall Patch news tips claiming that mailings from Young Scholars to their homes over the past few weeks may show a bias toward potential applicants. Readers are claiming that they have received mailings inviting them to apply for their children to enroll at Young Scholars even though some of their neighbors with eligible children have not received them.The concern is if Young Scholars is targeting specific students given that receiving an invitation to apply to the school through the mail is a more direct method of communication than a posted application on the school's website…Young Scholars will open this coming fall in Baldwin Township with plans to enroll 20 students per grade level in kindergarten through fifth grade (120 total students)…Christina Gruber, a Baldwin Borough resident with a daughter entering third grade in 2011-12, said that she has received application materials from Young Scholars through the mail but that some other residents on her street that also have eligible children have not…Despite Gruber and Winowich's claim that some eligible Baldwin-Whitehall residents have not received Young Scholars' mailings, some readers from outside of Baldwin-Whitehall have informed the B-W Patch that they have…
EAST GOSHEN — An arrest has been made after the PA Leadership Charter School reported 37 laptops — valued at almost $30,000 — went missing from the school…The women told police they bought the laptops from Nakesha Wallace, who works at a Sunoco, according to police.Wallace told police she bought three laptops from a customer named Jay who lives close to the Sunoco. She later directed police to the vehicle Jay drives, police said. After police ran the tags, the car came back to Rita Warsavage, of Havertown.Police later learned Warsavage’s boyfriend is Jay A. Cohen, the assistant IT person at the PA Leadership Charter School.When police interviewed Cohen, he said he knew nothing about the stolen laptops and denied having anything to do with them, police said.Police later charged Cohen with two counts of theft by unlawful taking and two counts of receiving stolen property…
Days after arguing in court that it was not responsible for the safety of its pupils, Edison Schools Inc. has settled a lawsuit brought by the family of a boy raped in one of its Philadelphia schools. In 2004, a 12-year-old boy was sexually assaulted by an 11-year-old classmate in Stetson Middle School. The boy's family contended in a lawsuit that Edison was responsible for the assault, a notion the for-profit manager of 16 public schools rejected. Edison contended that the terms of its contract with the Philadelphia School District called only for it to provide educational programs and training. The family has confirmed that the lawsuit has been settled, but would not discuss details.
PHILADELPHIA -- An outraged mother says that her 12-year-old son was raped by an 11-year-old classmate at John B. Stetson Middle School in Philadelphia.The 11-year-old has been charged with involuntary deviate sexual behavior.The 12-year-old said it all started with a fight over a ball on Tuesday. Minutes later, the boy claimed, he was being sexually attacked…"I'm upset with the school. They couldn't see two children fighting and somehow they get into the fire escape. How did that happen? How do you go in there without nobody noticing? No alarm systems, no cameras," the boy's mother said…Late Wednesday afternoon, Edison Schools spokesman Richard Barth said there are no cameras where the alleged rape occurred."We are -- Edison Schools and the school district of Philadelphia, which are partners working at Stetson Middle School -- are conducting an internal investigation," Barth said…The alleged victim has been allowed to transfer to another school. The boy accused of the attack has been expelled. Crisis counseling has been offered to both families.
All diplomas awarded to Pennsylvania public school students are not equal in the eyes of the military. Students attending any of the state’s dozen public cyberschools are learning that the hard way.
The U.S. Department of Defense regards graduates of these online schools to be less adaptable to military life. The military prefers that no more than 10 percent of new recruits in any branch of service hold something other than a traditional high school diploma, according to Defense Department officials.
[JW] of Pine Grove, Schuylkill County, found that out too late, as did the son of Kerry Novak of Fayette County. Now their entrance into the military is delayed by months, or possibly indefinitely.
Both graduated in the spring. [W] from Central PA Digital Learning Foundation Charter School and Novak’s son from PA Cyber Charter School.
[W] aspires to join the Marines; Novak’s son hopes to join the Army. Novak’s son asked to have his first name withheld to avoid any possible repercussions from the military.
After being led to believe by their cyberschool staff or recruiter that their diploma would open the door to their dream of joining the military and serving their country, the door slammed shut on them shortly after graduation…
But defense officials say they have studies backing their stance. “For over 20 years, we have used education credentials to predict adaptability to military life,” said Eileen Lainez, a public affairs officer for the U.S. Department of Defense.
“Individuals with a diploma from a distance or virtual education program perform more like GED credential holders than traditional high school diploma graduates.”…
Major Cory Angell of the Pennsylvania National Guard said the Guard is required to adhere to the Department of Defense’s limit of no more than 10 percent of their recruits having anything other than a traditional high school diploma.
But he said cyberschool graduates could take their diploma to a recruiter and ask for a review in the event the current recruitment pool has slots open to qualified applicants…
The Pittsburgh school board voted last night to shut down an East Liberty charter school.Officials cited financial concerns, a lack of criminal background checks on employees and other problems with Renaissance Academy of Pittsburgh Alternative of Hope, an elementary school.Board members voted 8-0 against granting the school a five-year renewal of its charter, with Mark Brentley abstaining.The board in November signaled its desire to close the school, which opened in 2003. The school may appeal the board's ruling to the state.It wasn't immediately clear when the school's original charter expires.
The city school district has given RAPAH Charter School until tomorrow to provide a plan for fixing fire safety and health code violations or face an immediate shutdown."There are fire and safety issues there. In fairness, we wanted to give them an opportunity to tell us what they intend to do," said city school solicitor Ira Weiss."If that plan is not sufficiently responsive, the district is prepared to move forward to revoke the charter."The Renaissance Academy of Pittsburgh Alternative of Hope Charter School or RAPAH in East Liberty is in its second year and has about 255 students. Most pupils live in the city; some are from suburban districts. It is chartered by the city school district but operates under its own board, which hired New York-based Edison Schools to manage it…
The district has no way of knowing how many students are going to go to a charter school every year. The list of students Elco pays charter schools for include those who are homeschooled or private-schooled, and switch to charter schools. The students may never have set foot in a public school.On Oct. 5, Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner called for a statewide moratorium on the creation of new charter and cyber charter schools. A release from the auditor general said that the cost of charter schools is accelerating at unaffordable rates and that Pennsylvania charter schools received $1 billion from taxpayers during the 2008-09 school year. The private schools netted a profit totaling $108 million - a total of 11 percent of their earnings, according to the release.Public schools are restricted to about 8.5 percent profit, according to Assistant Superintendent Randall Grove. All of those profits go back to the taxpayer, while charter-school profits, which have no cap, go into the pockets of the company…
HARRISBURG, Pa., Oct. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Auditor General Jack Wagner today called for a statewide moratorium on the creation of new charter and cyber charter schools until the General Assembly and the Rendell Administration fix a flawed funding system that bears no connection to the actual cost of educating children and is costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year in additional questionable spending.In a special report issued today, Wagner said the funding problem was accelerating at an unaffordable rate. As more Pennsylvania children enroll in these alternative public schools, the more it costs taxpayers in additional millions of dollars each year. Taxpayers now spend about $1 billion a year on the approximately 73,000 children enrolled in Pennsylvania charter and cyber charter schools…Wagner said that he voted for charter schools as a state senator and that he supports them as a positive force in education reform. However, he believes that the funding method for charter and cyber charter schools is a bad deal for taxpayers.Wagner's report is available to the public at www.auditorgen.state.pa.us.Wagner said that Gov. Rendell, the Department of Education and school districts have the legal authority to impose a moratorium on authorizing new charter and cyber charter schools, and he noted that several states, including Ohio, Delaware and New Hampshire, have imposed moratoriums to address charter-school issues. Wagner said the moratorium would apply to charter and cyber charter schools that have not yet been authorized…Wagner's special report found that taxpayers spent $936 million on 116 charter and 11 cyber charter schools with enrollment of 73,054 students during the 2008-09 school year. Wagner's auditors found that, during the 2008-09 school year, the charter and cyber charter schools reported $108 million in excess profits, euphemistically called "reserve funds."…According to Wagner's report, the difference among tuition rates becomes more significant as the number of school districts sending students to the same charter school increases. For instance, the Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School received students from more than 425 school districts in Pennsylvania during the 2008-09 school year, all paying a different tuition rate to the same cyber charter school…
