Frontier Virtual Charter High School

“Frontier cyber-school students: All we want is to learn.” Philadelphia Daily News (PA), 3/23/2012

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...

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“Cyber-school kids truant, failing, and teachers have been dumped.” Philadelphia Daily News (PA), 3/14/2012

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 Green School

“Charter school, interrupted.” Chico News & Review (CA), 8/25/2011

“Sydney Cambra, who spent her sophomore year at the fledgling Chico Green School, scrambled this week to enroll at another school a week after classes had begun in the Chico Unified School District.

Cambra, who chose Chico High School, was forced to make the switch after CUSD revoked the Green School’s charter and reported it in violation of state law. Representatives at the school subsequently announced it was closing its doors to fall-term students.

New Roots Charter School

ITHACA CHARTER SCHOOL LEARNS COST OF NON-COMPLIANCE WITH SUNSHINE LAWS - NEW ROOTS NOW WELL-VERSED IN FOIL; March 11, 2011; Ithaca Journal (NY) 

Two years ago Pat Ehrich knew virtually nothing about the state Freedom of Information Law and Open Meetings Law. But after nightly readings, research and a court case, she considers herself a bit more knowledgeable.

"I am not quite an expert, but I do understand how to write a FOIL, what agencies are required to provide, how long they have to provide it and what I can ask for," Ehrich said. "There is really a goldmine of information out there and once you read that, it is pretty simple."

Ehrich, co-founder of the Coalition for Sustainable Schools, said she was opposed to New Roots Charter School since it opened in fall 2009. She did not believe the school garnered as many students as was reported, Ehrich said, and she decided to get the data to prove it.

Her diligence and New Roots' initial unresponsiveness became an expensive lesson for the school. Over time, several requests were not delivered to Erich in the time required under FOIL and the cost of non-compliance became clear: a court ordered the school to attend training sessions conducted by the state Committee on Open Government and awarded Ehrich more than $20,000 in attorney's fees, she said.

"The message is it is very, very expensive to decide to violate FOIL if someone calls you out on it," Ehrich said. "I thought I had no other choice and I was right."

Ehrich's education on FOIL and open meetings law came from a variety of sources: the Committee on Open Government's website, Google searches on court cases, conversations with lawyers and opinions written by Robert Freeman, executive director of the state Committee on Open Government.

In January 2010, Ehrich said, it became apparent to her that New Roots was not going to hand over information she believed she had a right to see under the law. Aware it would be expensive and she might not win the case, Ehrich filed a suit against the school in June…

Ehrich's case claimed the school did not grant proper access to public records and excluded the public from board meetings not permitted to be closed under the law.

Madison County Supreme Court Justice Donald Cerio ruled that New Roots did not respond to FOIL requests in a timely fashion. Under FOIL, a written request for a public record must be acknowledged within five business days. The school failed to respond to the seven written requests from Ehrich dated April 29 within that time limit, according to court documents.

In addition, Cerio ruled that the school's board of trustees did not fully comply with open meetings law with respect to an executive session in April. As a result, the board of New Roots and its executive staff attended training sessions conducted by Freeman last week. It was the first such session ordered by a court in the state, Freeman said…

Chase Academy for Communication Arts

CHARTER SCHOOL TO CLOSE FRIDAY-STATE FUNDING CUT OFF TO CHASE ACADEMY; February 25, 2010; The Columbus Dispatch (OH) 

A South Side charter school will lock its doors for good Friday afternoon, leaving students to find new schools over the weekend.

Parents and teachers at Chase Academy for the Communication Arts were given a 24-hour notice when letters were sent home at the end of today's school day…

In what appeared to be an illegal meeting, the school board gathered today with staff behind closed doors. After the staff was dismissed, the meeting was opened to the public and the school's closure was approved in minutes.

The Ohio Department of Education will conduct an emergency enrollment review Friday at the school, 1565 Integrity Dr. E., and state auditors have stepped in to conduct a financial review.

"I didn't know anything about it. Now I don't know where my kid is going to go," said Laretha Haynes, who was picking up her daughter, a third-grader at Chase, this afternoon…

After the board meeting, Allen-Davis refused to explain what the school had done with the money it was paid by the state. Parents and former teachers painted a picture of a school in turmoil.

Jatica Miles had three children enrolled in the school, but moved them to a private school in the fall.

"One day we came in and there was no lunch for the kids because they hadn't paid the lunch people," she said. "They had to go down the street and buy Pop-Tarts and orange juice."

A teacher left in December when she said the school wouldn't pay to provide legally required services for special-needs students. Teachers and students were fleeing throughout the year, said Britt Thompson, who worked as the school-intervention specialist…

The past three state financial audits of Chase showed that the school was having difficulty tracking its spending. The school had misspent thousands in tax dollars and couldn't properly account for tens of thousands in grant money, state auditors found…

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CHARTER SCHOOL MIGHT CLOSE AFTER STATE HALTS FUNDING: CHASE ACADEMY'S ENROLLMENT CORRECTION IS COSTLY; February 24, 2010; Columbus Dispatch (OH)

No more state money is coming to a Columbus charter school, which means it likely will close.

Chase Academy for Communication Arts reported an enrollment of as many as 189 students this school year. But in January, the South Side school told the state that its monthly counts had been off and that only 108 students actually attend.

In response, the state this month stopped sending per-pupil money to Chase. No more will be sent this school year. The state has paid Chase $458,000 since the school year began.

"Those kids weren't enrolled (at any point) the entire year. They were being overpaid since the school year began," said Scott Blake, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Education…

J. Leonard Harding, executive director of the sponsoring organization, said he does not know whether parents have been notified. As of yesterday afternoon, Harding had not been able to reach the school-board president. He said ERCO wasn't aware of the enrollment error until recently.

"I'm trying to find out what's going on with this school," he said. "Now, we've got a mess here."

A state financial audit released last year showed that the school was having difficulty tracking its spending. Chase had overcharged needy students for school lunches and misspent thousands in tax dollars, and it couldn't properly account for tens of thousands in grant money, state auditors found.

Then in April, the school board fired school founder Celia Jones and said it suspected ethics violations. Board members have not detailed what those violations might have been…

Promise Charter School

“San Diego Unified Closes Charter School Amid Violations.” 10News (CA), 8/3/2011

SAN DIEGO -- About 200 students will have to find a new school before the new school year begins after the San Diego Unified School District voted on Tuesday to close the Promise Charter School in Chollas View.

The school district said the Promise Charter School mismanaged its money, failed to comply with its charter and violated several state laws including laws requiring the school to report instances of child abuse.

Earlier this year, an investigation by the 10News I-Team exposed several reports of inappropriate behavior between former teacher Jose Valencia and his preteen female students...

Dakota Academy

JUDGE'S RULING PERMANENTLY CLOSES DAKOTA ACADEMY: THE JUDGE SAID THE SPONSOR TERMINATED ITS CONTRACT CORRECTLY AND THAT IT HAD "GOOD CAUSE" TO DO SO; August 27, 2007; Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN) 

A Burnsville charter school will permanently close its doors after a judge's ruling that its sponsor correctly terminated its contract with the school.

Under state law, charter schools need sponsors to operate. Late last week, a Dakota County judge ruled on behalf of Dakota Academy's sponsor, Crossroads College of Rochester, and the Minnesota Department of Education, saying not only that the correct procedure was followed in ending the contract, but that Crossroads can "more than sustain its position that it had good cause to terminate its contract."…

The relationship between Dakota Academy and its sponsor started going south before the school even opened last fall, when Crossroads put the school on probation. Crossroads terminated its contract with the school in December because it said it was having problems getting financial data and other information from founders, Hennepin County District Judge Harry Crump and his wife, Faith…

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TROUBLE MOUNTS AT DAKOTA ACADEMY; THE BURNSVILLE CHARTER SCHOOL, FOUNDED BY HENNEPIN COUNTY DISTRICT JUDGE HARRY CRUMP AND HIS WIFE, MAY CLOSE THIS SUMMER; May 22, 2007; Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)

Hennepin County District Judge Harry Crump and his wife, Faith, founded a Burnsville charter school to provide an innovative way to reach students who weren't being served in public schools. But less than a year after opening, Dakota Academy may have to close its doors amid allegations by its sponsor and a charter-school evaluation group that it failed to provide access to financial records and violated the state's Open Meeting Law at a March 26 meeting during which two new board members were appointed.

The sponsor, Crossroads College of Rochester, a small private Christian school, plans to pull out on June 30. Although Dakota Academy officials say they're seeking a new sponsor, if the school doesn't find one, state law requires it to close…

Many concerns about the school are detailed in an April report from the Minnesota Sponsor Assistance Network, a group that evaluates charter schools. The report says the school board held an unannounced, closed meeting on March 26 to appoint two new members, a potential violation of the state's Open Meeting Law. The report also says the school hasn't fully used its financial software, so that officials can't tell if they are on budget. The school has also gone through five academic directors, the report said, which suggests "either ... the hiring process needs significant improvement or the manner in which the academic director is treated has gone awry." Faith Crump declined to comment on the staff turnover, saying it was a personnel issue.

Parents learned in March that the school was losing its sponsorship. After calls from them and a meeting with the state Department of Education, Crossroads agreed to reconsider withdrawing its sponsorship if certain conditions were met. That included a financial audit and the resignation of the board and Faith Crump by May 11. Neither happened. Teachers at the school have also raised concerns about management. Seven of the school's 10 teachers signed a March 30 letter to Faith Crump, asking her to resign. The school hired a new executive director Thursday, and Crump said she'll spend two weeks shifting her duties. Then she'll have no further role with the school, unless the board hires her as the business director, she said. Faith Crump said the school is in discussion with several potential sponsors. Parents and students are watching the upheaval at the school with mixed emotions…

New Orleans (LA) charter schools (issues with open-meetings law)

IT’S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS: MOST CHARTERS DON’T COMPLY WITH OPEN-MEETINGS LAW, October 7, 2010, The Lens (New Orleans, LA)

The Louisiana charter school law is designed to free independently run public-school campuses from many of the bureaucratic laws that educators say restrict their freedom. However, that doesn’t include the state’s open-meetings law.

In response to three months of requests from The Lens, a surprisingly large number of New Orleans charter school boards failed to comply with even basic requests for information. Many didn’t respond at all. Of the officials who did answer, some provided only partial information – and still others claimed they aren’t public officials or required to do their work in public, even though state law says otherwise…

Concerns over openness and accountability have grown with the charter school movement.

The Orleans Parish School Board used to have a budget rivaling that of the city – close to half a billion dollars – but it now shares its state allocation with the Recovery School District and myriad charters. For citizens to follow the money allotted to public schools – $7,995 per child in state money – they need to know when and where the boards meet.

No longer can activists or interested taxpayers plan on attending just regular meetings of the School Board. They also need to travel to Baton Rouge sometimes to hear about Recovery School District schools, and try to track down the meetings of the nearly three dozen charter school boards…
The charter law requires schools and their boards to comply with the open-meetings law, which says boards must create a schedule of meetings at the beginning of the calendar year.

The open-meetings law also says that the agendas must be sent at least 24 hours before any meeting to any news media outlet that requests such copy.

And part of the charter law requires 60 percent of the board members to live in the parish where the school is located, or in an adjacent parish…

Imagine MASTer Academy

WELLS ST. IMAGINE PLACED ON PROBATION; BSU CITES ISSUES FROM JG REPORT, February 2, 2010, The Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, IN)

Ball State University has placed Imagine MASTer Academy on probation after a nearly three-month investigation into violations of state law and a lack of local control by the charter school’s board, officials announced Monday…

Ball State’s investigation was prompted by a series of stories in November by The Journal Gazette that detailed a lack of local control over the MASTer Academy and Imagine Schools on Broadway. The newspaper’s investigation found that the MASTer Academy board approved a series of measures outside public meetings that allowed the school to own and open two charter schools in Texas.

Indiana’s Public Access Counselor later determined the board violated state law by not voting in a public meeting…

•Board members were not aware or were not accurate in what the board’s role should be or how it should interact with Imagine Schools Inc., the for-profit company based in Alexandria, Va., that owns the schools.

•Several board members had not read the charter, bylaws or contract with Imagine Schools and didn’t know the length of their terms as board members.

•Several board members said they weren’t involved in the decision to share the board’s non-profit status with the Texas boards. Gabbert scolded Willis saying it was “unacceptable” for him to make the decision by himself without board members’ input and away from the public view.

•Board members were confused by the structure of the board meetings for the three schools; weren’t clear who the boards’ attorney is; and could not say whether the board had officers, with one member saying she “thought she was the secretary of the board but was not certain,” Gabbert wrote…

Algiers Charter School Association

ALGIERS PARENTS AND PASTORS SUE ALGIERS CHARTER SCHOOL ASSOCIATION; OPEN MEETINGS LAW VIOLATED, PLAINTIFFS SAY, JUNE 3, 2009, The Louisiana Justice Institute

As part of its "Project Transparency: NOW YOU KNOW" campaign, Louisiana Justice Institute (LJI), on behalf of several local ministers and parent representatives, filed suit against the Algiers Charter School Association and its Board of Trustees for holding two "invitation only" public meetings--on May 19 and May 21, 2009--in violation of the Louisiana Open Meetings Law.

Parents and community leaders found it particularly disturbing that these "invitation only" meetings were convened purportedly to gain public input on the selection of the next Chief Executive Officer to run this charter school district, and to interview the candidates. The Algiers Charter Schools Association is comprised of 9 schools on the westbank of Orleans Parish...

"I cannot believe school districts continually demand accountability from parents, yet the Boards shun transparency and are not accountable to the communities they serve," stated Rev. Arthur Wadsworth, one of the plaintiffs in the action.

Pastor Patrick Keen, another plaintiff, spoke from the perspective of a grandparent raising a school aged student attending one of the Algiers Charter Schools. "Not one member of the Board of Trustees has a child or grandchild attending one of our schools. Charles Rice, the President, has his children in private schools. So tell me why he has a greater right to sit and interview the candidates who could potentially run our school district than a parent who is actually invested in the district. Why are these Board members so hostile to parents?"...

Lady Liberty Academy Charter School

Letter from the NJ ACLU to the Executive Director of Lady Liberty Academy Charter School in Newark, New Jersey (June 4, 2010)

Re: Lady Liberty Academy Charter School; Open Government Violations

Dear Mr. Pinder,

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey (“ACLU-NJ”) was recently contacted by an anonymous requester of public records about the open government practices of the Lady Liberty Academy Charter School (“Lady Liberty”). Since that time, the ACLU-NJ has been monitoring various requests for public documents submitted to the school and has reviewed the responses provided. I am writing to inform you that Lady Liberty has violated several provisions of the Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”), N.J.S.A. 42:1A-1 et seq. and the Open Public Meetings Act (“OPMA”), N.J.S.A. 10:4-6 et seq., and appears to have taken affirmative steps to obstruct access to public information.

Since the ACLU-NJ was first contacted in February 2010, we have heard from various sources about the disconcerting open government practices of Lady Liberty, including that requests for public records, such as Board of Trustees (“Board”) meeting minutes or school policies, are routinely ignored or denied for reasons that do not comply with the law. We also understand that Lady Liberty implemented a policy requiring requesters to submit OPRA request forms and that anonymous requests must specifically be submitted in person, thereby preventing the ability of requesters to remain anonymous. The policy appears to have been implemented soley to determine the identity of anonymous requesters. Such actions, if true, are unlawful and antithetical to the practices of open government…

As the weeks have turned into months, we continue to receive complaints about Lady Liberty’s open government practices, and through it all, the simple truth remains: Actions taken to obstruct access to public records and meetings put Lady Liberty at great risk for lawsuits. And frankly, it does not reflect positively on a school that is named after our nation’s foremost symbol for freedom and democracy…

…the ACLU-NJ will continue to monitor its [Lady Liberty’s] open governance practices indefinitely, and assess whether legal action is appropriate...