Omni Prep Academy-North Pointe

SCHOOL'S OUT-TROUBLES AT OMNI PREP CHARTER SCHOOL LEAVE STUDENTS, PARENTS, AND TEACHERS IN LIMBO AND RAISE QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW CHARTER SCHOOLS ARE REGULATED; April 14, 2011; Memphis Flyer (TN) 

…[Courtney] Eskew and another kindergarten teacher called the meeting to explain why they had resigned from Omni Prep lower school the preceding week, only eight weeks before the end of the academic year. The following Monday, April 4th, three more teachers would resign…

Omni Prep North Pointe charter school was founded last year by Cary Booker [Newark mayor Cory Booker’s brother] and Marc Willis and opened last August…

News outlets and Omni Prep administrators alike reported that the five teachers left because Omni Prep told teachers in mid-March that they would only receive one-third of their paychecks. (This was not the first time Omni Prep had been unable to pay teachers; they skipped a pay period in July, which was made up in back pay.) But the former teachers have since come out in defense of their resignations, citing a host of concerns about the overall functioning of the school…

Teachers agree that the school's plan was exciting and inspiring on paper, but they soon became apprehensive about how the vision would work in practice. For Eskew, doubts began when teacher training was cut short so teachers could commit themselves to recruiting students.

"I think the fact that I started to work for a school that had no students — that was my first moment of doubt," Eskew says. "We were told, Training is stopping because we don't have our quota. We asked, How many students do we have? They said five. And two of them were one of the principal's own kids."…

Teachers also expressed concern over not being fingerprinted, a standard safety procedure for working with children in the Memphis City Schools system. They were similarly uneasy about their training being cut short…

But the former teachers' complaints don't stop there. No books, no curriculum, no consistency, and no recourse for their concerns were among the top grievances. Many teachers complained about the way students were grouped by ability: basic, proficient, and advanced. At the beginning of the year, Eskew says, "I was asked to divide my students into three groups based on ability — no instruction as to how to do that. Just 'group them by the end of the day.'"…

"I can't say that the administration, as far as Marc Willis and Cary Booker, was aware of all the problems we were having as a lower school," she says. "They were very rarely present, unless giving tours to members of the board or visitors or potential donors."…

Because Omni Prep did not get the enrollment numbers the founders expected and did not receive the state funds they budgeted for, financial worries were present from the beginning…

[Memphis City School Board member Tomeka] Hart believes charter boards should be required to go through school board training, just like the Memphis City School Board does. "If the board is doing what a board should do, it would be the first to know the issues that a charter school may face. Part of it is making sure that those boards are present and accountable, the same way we have to be…

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Watch the FOX TV news report HERE. 

Philadelphia School Reform Commission

NUTTER ORDERS AN INVESTIGATION OF THE KING CHARTER SCHOOL FLAP; April 26, 2011; Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)

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…

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

MLK HIGH CHARTER PLAN FALLING APART; April 21, 2011; Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)

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…

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

SRC CHAIR FACES CONFLICT-OF-INTEREST QUESTIONS; April 19, 2011; Philadelphia Notebook (PA) 

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 of Western Pennsylvania Charter School

RESIDENTS CONCERNED OVER CHARTER SCHOOL'S MAILINGS- SEVERAL READERS ARE REPORTING A POTENTIAL BIAS IN YOUNG SCHOLARS' APPLICATIONS PROCESS; April 13, 2011; Baldwin-Whitehall Patch (Pittsburg, PA) 

…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…

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  

NOTE: This school is connected to Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania. See: Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania Charter School: Evidence of affiliation with the Gulen Movement 

Also:

• U.S. charter-school network with Turkish link draws federal attention, Philadelphia Inquirer, March 20, 2011
• WikiLeaks files detail U.S. unease over Turks and charter schools, Philadelphia Inquirer, April 4, 2011

Twin Cities Academy High School

CHARTERS ASK FOR TOO MUCH INFO; SOME CHARTER SCHOOLS SEEK MORE DATA THAN THEY SHOULD ON PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS. OFFICIALS SEE NO SIGN IT IS USED TO DENY ADMISSION; July 10, 2007; Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN) 

A St. Paul mom's concern about the application process for her son to apply to a charter school may force many more Minnesota charters to change their student application processes.

The schools are asking for more information than state law allows, according to the Minnesota Department of Education. The information - such as whether students are receiving special education services or their ethnicity - could be used to deny admission.

A perusal of charter school websites by the Star Tribune quickly found a dozen schools asking for details about prospective students that go too far. Officials were quick to point out they have no evidence that schools used this information to deny admission.

Because of the complaint Linda Winsor filed after her son's failed efforts to enroll at Twin Cities Academy High School in St. Paul, the state will review charter school applications…

Winsor's son - who will be in the 11th grade this fall - did not gain entry to Twin Cities Academy High School after its school board decided in May to accept only ninth-grade applicants for 2007-08. But Winsor complained to the state, questioning why the application asked for information such as special education needs and copies of transcripts. The school later also asked students to submit a written essay.

None of that is allowed. And state officials told Twin Cities Academy on May 23 to change its application.

State law prohibits screening, allowing charters to limit enrollment only if they have limited space. Then, schools must institute a lottery.

"The founders of the law did not want screening," said Chas Anderson, deputy state education commissioner. Anderson said schools can collect that information - after they've accepted a student for enrollment.

"Obviously, if you enroll a student, you want to get their educational records from the prior school," she said. "That's important information to have, but it should never be part of the admissions process."…

The only information charter schools should ask for on their applications, Anderson said, is name, age and contact information…

But in a letter to Wynne, the state Education Department said its interpretation of state law prohibits asking for more than name, grade and contact information…

The New School

SCHOOL IN FALLBROOK SHUTS DOWN FOR GOOD, RELOCATING EMPLOYEES, STUDENTS TO TEMECULA September 14, 2007 North County (San Diego, CA) Times 

TEMECULA - The board of directors of The New School, an embattled charter school that operated in downtown Fallbrook for three years but failed to locate a permanent site, voted Friday morning to disband the institution and surrender its charter.

Midland Academy Charter School

FORMER MIDLAND TEACHER SENTENCED IN CHILD SEX ASSAULT; July 26, 2007; Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (TX)

MIDLAND (AP) - A former Midland Academy Charter School teacher was sentenced to 26 years in prison Wednesday after a jury convicted him of two counts of sexual assault of a child and two counts of an improper relationship with a student.

Attorney Hal Brockett said he was surprised by the jury's verdict against client David van Houten.

"We respect the jury's decision, but I have worked in the system for 30 years and it was a bit of a surprise for me. The jury just believed the victim and didn't believe Mr. Van Houten," Brockett said.

Van Houten, who had been an eighth-grade social studies and gifted and talented teacher, was convicted of having sex with a 14-year-old girl.

The girl testified that Van Houten persuaded her to allow him to have sexual intercourse with her on her 14th birthday last fall and again a month later in a portable classroom.

Florida charter schools (proficiency levels not much higher)

DATA SHOWS STUDENT PROFICIENCY LEVELS NOT MUCH HIGHER AT CHARTER SCHOOLS; December 14, 2010; The Florida Independent

Florida legislators gathered last week to watch Waiting for Superman, a documentary that advances two solutions for the problems with America’s education system: school choice and accountability for teachers. It also emphasizes the role charter schools can play in the educational debate.

But new Florida data shows that students at charter schools are not significantly more proficient at reading, math and science than those at traditional public schools…

The report highlights the increase in the number of charter schools with an A grade from 2002 through 2009, and states that “charter school students outperformed traditional public school students” in the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (aka the FCAT).

But a closer look at the results shows the proficiency percentages for both charter and traditional public schools were similar:

In reading proficiency at the elementary level, 76 percent of charter school students were proficient, while 73 percent of public school students were. At the middle school level, charter school students had 69 percent proficiency, compared to 63 percent for public school students. At the high school level, charter school students had 44 percent proficiency. Public school students had 43 percent.

In math proficiency, at the elementary level, charter students stood at 73 percent and public school students were at 72 percent. The middle school level shows 65 percent for charter school students versus 62 percent for public school students…

The data makes clear the need to look carefully at the average percentage of students meeting high standards in reading, math and science in each school district to determine whether charter schools offer parents a better choice to solve the problems facing education in Florida…

There are also for-profit education management companies such as Charter Schools USA, which is based in Fort Lauderdale and manages 18 charter schools in Florida. The company’s website says Charter Schools USA is

one of the largest providers of charter school management services in the nation. We successfully manage private and municipal charters for grades pre-K through 12. Charter Schools USA assists corporations, government entities, developers or nonprofit agencies with all phases of charter school design, planning, development, financing, construction, operations and curricula.

Jonathan Hage — the current chairman, president and CEO of Charter Schools USA — is a member of Gov.-elect Rick Scott’s education transition team. Hage served as director of research for Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Florida’s Future, a strong advocate for school choice. He has also worked for George H.W. Bush and was a member of Charlie Crist’s education transition team.

On its website, Charter Schools USA calls for readers to actively lobby the legislature to strengthen educational options.

Mexican American Community Services Agency (two schools)

This nonprofit operated the El Portal Leadership Academy charter school in Gilroy and the Academia Calmecac charter school in San Jose, along with youth programs, elder care and low-cost housing program. County education officials revoked those schools' charters in 2009 amid allegations that MACSA had cheated 50 to 100 MACSA employees out of more than $1 million promised for their retirement by diverting money from teacher pension accounts.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“San Jose: Former officials of nonprofit MACSA plead guilty, agree to repay diverted retirement funds.” San Jose Mercury News (CA), 2/15/2013

Texas Serenity Academy Charter School

ALDINE CHARTER SCHOOL SUES SUGAR LAND MAN; December 2, 2010; Ultimate Fort Bend (TX) 

A charter school is suing after a former employee wrote himself a $240,000 check from the school’s account.

Texas Serenity Academy Charter School filed a lawsuit on Dec. 1 in the Harris County District Court against Don Johnson, Freddie Oliver and Damon Meeks alleging fraud, embezzlement, misapplication of fiduciary property, theft, interference of contract, trespass, robbery and other crimes.

The school states that on Nov. 29, 2010, Johnson, of 3806 Cypress Key Drive in Spring, went to Wells Fargo Bank, located in Kingwood, and closed four accounts, two credit card accounts and all debit cards belonging to the school.

According to the brief, Johnson then had the bank write him a cashier’s check in the amount of $240,000. Afterward, the school says Johnson had Meeks, an attorney located at 245 Commerce Green Blvd. in Sugar Land, along with Oliver, a private investigator, and two Houston police officers eject current employees off school property.

The plaintiff is seeking a restraining order against the defendants, forcing them to stay away from the school and its current employees.

City View Charter School

EX-SCHOOL BOOKKEEPER ACCUSED OF EMBEZZLEMENT; January 23, 2008; The Oregonian 

HILLSBORO -- The former bookkeeper of City View Charter School, who has a criminal record for stealing from charity, is under investigation on accusations of embezzling at least $64,000 from the city's only charter school.

According to a report that school leaders filed Tuesday with the Hillsboro Police Department, Michelle Lorraine Wheeler, 36, is suspected of taking the money from the K-8 school that operates from two sites, including its main building on Tualatin Valley Highway.

Hillsboro police detectives and City View auditors are investigating what happened to another $20,000 that is missing, said Lt. Michael Rouches, Hillsboro police spokesman…

The police report indicates that City View hired Wheeler in June 2006, but administrators aren't sure when money started disappearing. Wheeler was a contract employee, Mokler said. Wheeler resigned Dec. 11.

In August 2007, Wheeler pleaded guilty to stealing $5,900 from In Defense of Animals -- Africa, a "Save the Chimpanzees" charity she handled books for between October 2006 and July 2007.

The Hillsboro woman also is scheduled to be arraigned next month on theft and other accusations involving Safe Harbor Foundation, a clothes closet she's run for more than two years for low-income families in Washington County…

Horizons K-8 Charter School

HORIZONS CHARTER FOUNDER FACING THEFT, EMBEZZLEMENT CHARGES; November 13, 2007; DailyCamera.com (Boulder, CO) 

A founder of Boulder's Horizons K-8 Charter School has been arrested on suspicion of theft, forgery and embezzlement based on alleged misrepresentations made to the state's retirement program.

Ann Leslie Kane turned herself in and was arrested Friday. She has bonded out of jail.

Boulder Valley spokesman Briggs Gamblin said Horizon's parent board brought financial concerns to the school district a couple of years ago. The district commissioned an independent audit, which uncovered red flags, he said, and the information was turned over to the Boulder County District Attorney's Office in late 2005…

The possible charges, all felonies,are one count of theft, one count of attempting to influence a public servant, two counts of forgery and one count of embezzlement of public property. All charges relate to allegations that Kane misrepresented her salary, which would allow her to collect more retirement money through the Public Employees Retirement Association, according to a school statement…

Hospitality Public Charter High School

FORMER CHARTER SCHOOL BOOKKEEPER PLEADS GUILTY TO THEFT OF FUNDS; November 9, 2010; Department of Justice Press Release

WASHINGTON—Ashanti Bumbray, a former bookkeeper for the Hospitality Public Charter High School in the District of Columbia, pled guilty today to a felony charge stemming from her theft of more than $23,000 of school funds, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr.; John G. Perren, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Washington Field Office; and Charles J. Willoughby, Inspector General for the District of Columbia.

Bumbray, 32, of Waldorf, Maryland, pled guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before the Honorable Judge Rosemary M. Collyer to a charge of theft from a program receiving federal funds. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years' incarceration and a fine of up to $250,000. Based on the sentencing guidelines, the likely range is probation to six months of incarceration with a fine of $1,000 to $10,000. Sentencing is set for February 9, 2011.

According to the Statement of Offense filed with the Court, Bumbray was a bookkeeper at Hospitality Public Charter High School from approximately September 2008 until February 2009. Starting in early October 2008 through late January 2009, she stole more than $23,000 of Hospitality's funds by issuing checks and initiating banking transactions for her personal benefit.

In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Machen, Assistant Director Perren, and Inspector General Willoughby praised the investigative efforts of the special agent who worked on the case for the FBI's Washington Field Office, as well as Special Agent Kerthalia Peavely of the District of Columbia Office of Inspector General. They also recognized the efforts of U.S. Attorney's Office Legal Assistant Jared Forney and Assistant United States Attorney John D. Griffith, who prosecuted the case.

New Hope Institute of Science and Technology

FORMER CHARTER SCHOOL HEAD ACCUSED OF EMBEZZLEMENT INDICTMENT ALLEGES WOMAN STOLE MORE THAN $300,000 IN FEDERAL MONEY; January 24, 2008; Associated Press 

The U.S. attorney's office accused the former head of a Milwaukee charter school Wednesday of embezzling more than $300,000 in federal money.

A grand jury indicted Rosella Tucker, 54, of Milwaukee, on two counts of theft from a program receiving federal funds.

Tucker started New Hope Institute of Science and Technology in 2003, according to a U.S. attorney's office news release. It was a subsidiary of Tucker's New Hope Child Development Center, which also included her voucher school, Tucker Institute of Learning.

The indictment alleges that Tucker embezzled more than $300,000 from 2003 to 2005 from New Hope Institute of Science and Technology, which received federal money. She served as director of New Hope Institute of Science and Technology and New Hope Child Development Center, prosecutors said.

But Milwaukee Public Schools closed New Hope Institute of Science and Technology in 2006 for failing to meet its financial obligations.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel previously reported that the school was unable to pay its employees on time consistently and owed money to the school district and on its building insurance.

There was also some question about a 2002 BMW X5 valued at $43,700, plus $6,392 in finance charges. The district told the school to sell the vehicle in 2005, but it remained licensed to New Hope Child Development Inc. and someone named Haider Bokhari when the district decided to close the school.

Tucker could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Allen Village School

INFORMATION ISSUED BY U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI ON SEPT. 25: FORMER CHARTER SCHOOL PRESIDENT PLEADS GUILTY TO MORTGAGE, INVESTMENT FRAUDS; September 25, 2006; US Fed News Service 

The U.S. Department of Justice's U.S. Attorney's office for the Western District of Missouri issued the following press release:

Bradley J. Schlozman, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a former president of Allen Village School's board of directors pleaded guilty in federal court today to mortgage and investment fraud schemes.

James Elliott Coleman, 58, of Raytown, Mo., pleaded guilty before U.S. Chief District Judge Dean Whipple this afternoon to all of the charges contained in an April 20, 2006, federal indictment.

By pleading guilty today, Coleman admitted that he participated in a $778,336 mortgage fraud scheme and a $40,000 investment fraud scheme that were perpetrated against an older widow and her daughter. Coleman also admitted that he used some of the proceeds of the investment fraud to repay money he embezzled from the charter school.

Mortgage Fraud

Coleman admitted that he participated in a conspiracy from December 2001 to July 29, 2004, to defraud mortgage lenders and individual victims. As a result of the mortgage fraud conspiracy, Coleman personally obtained approximately $148,214.

Coleman solicited two victims, an older widow and her daughter, to invest in real estate. Coleman prepared false and fraudulent loan applications and supporting documentation for submission to mortgage lenders in the names of straw borrowers, caused inflated appraisals to be prepared in relation to the properties, and submitted false and fraudulent loan applications and documentation to mortgage lenders...

Between 2003 and July 29, 2004, in an attempt to lull the mother and daughter into believing that their investments were safe and secure, Coleman fraudulently advised them that there had been delays in the progress of Allen Village, but that Phase I was already underway and Phase II was about to break ground.

Coleman admitted that he used part of the money from the investment fraud scheme to repay funds he embezzled from Allen Village School, a Kansas City charter school where he had served on the board of directors and as business manager, board treasurer and president. Coleman has been charged in a separate indictment with embezzling $47,368 from the school.

Coleman also pleaded guilty to 10 counts of interstate transportation of funds obtained by fraud, which were related to a series of financial transactions in which Coleman caused funds to be transferred across state lines in furtherance of the conspiracy and as a result of the conspiracy and scheme to defraud.

Under federal statutes, Coleman could be subject to a sentence of up to five years in federal prison without parole on the conspiracy count and up to 10 years in federal prison without parole on each of the 10 counts of interstate transportation of funds obtained by fraud, plus a fine up to $250,000 on each of the 11 counts. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda Parker Marshall. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.Contact: Don Ledford, 816/426-4220.

New York City charter schools (don’t serve poorest kids)

STUDY FINDS NYC CHARTERS DON'T SERVE THE CITY'S POOREST; WNYC, NY, January 16, 2011

New York City has long boasted of studies finding charter schools do a better job of educating low-income students than regular public schools. But a new study questions that data.

Bruce Baker, an associate professor at Rutgers' graduate school of education, said charters do serve the same proportion of children receiving free and reduced-price meals. But those two categories are lumped together when they're actually quite different, he said.

"The charters seem to have a larger share of the kids who are the less poor among the poor," he said.

Baker's study found 57 percent of the students at a typical charter school in New York City receive free lunch compared to 68 percent in the typical regular elementary school. Students who receive a free lunch are much closer to the poverty limit than those who qualify for reduced-price meals…

Baker's new study was published by the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. It also found some charters are so successful at private fundraising that they spend an extra $800 to $1500 per pupil each year in many cases. The New York Center for Autism charter gets much more philanthropy, enabling it to spend an extra $9,571 per pupil…

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Access the study @ http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/NYC-charter-disparities

Worcester (MA) charter schools

CHARTER SCHOOLS FOUND LACKING ON LEARNING GAP; March 18, 2011; Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA) 

WORCESTER —  Data from two local charter schools showed the School Committee last night that the two schools are not likely to help solve the achievement gap in this city, one of the goals the governor cited when he supported legislation to increase the number of charter schools in the state.

Information was presented on students at the newly opened Spirit of Knowledge Charter School, which serves Grades 7-9. The district found data on 85 percent of the school’s students from when they were Worcester public school students and found that those students scored higher on the MCAS exams than the district average. In other words, Chief Research and Accountability Officer David Perda said, the schools took “the more academically able.”

Committee member Jack L. Foley made the obvious prediction. “We should not be surprised if their MCAS scores are higher than our average score and they claim success,” he said.

That, in turn, would be used to justify the charter movement, said Mayor Joseph C. O’Brien. “This is not about closing the achievement gap. This is about ... creating elite opportunities for successful students.”…

Language Academy

CHARTER SCHOOL FACES FINANCIAL INQUIRY-THE SUPERINTENDENT ASKS FOR A CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION OF THE LANGUAGE ACADEMY. THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE WANTS TO KNOW IF IT'S EMBEZZLEMENT OR JUST BAD ACCOUNTING; August 22, 2006; St. Petersburg Times (FL) 

LAND O'LAKES - Pasco County schools superintendent Heather Fiorentino has asked for a criminal investigation into the Language Academy after someone told district officials that there had been embezzlement at the charter school, she said.

"It's my job to make sure that they're accountable to the public and follow the contract," Fiorentino said Monday.

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office is having "ongoing discussions" with school district officials in an effort to determine whether there was a crime - or possibly bad accounting - at the school.

"We're still determining what direction we need to go," sheriff's spokesman Doug Tobin said.

An audit of the bilingual school is expected to come out later this month. Fiorentino believes the school is about $150,000 in debt and said as much as $500,000 may be unaccounted for from the tenure of the academy's founder and former principal, the Rev. Gary Carson.

Carson resigned as the charter school's principal in March 2004, citing the demands of dealing with a family illness and heading the Westminster Presbyterian Church as its pastor.

During its first two years, the Language Academy was cited twice in school district audits for not complying with financial, staffing and curriculum rules. The school also struggled to keep balanced bank accounts and failed to properly document some purchases…

But school district officials and a former church treasurer say the problems at the Language Academy ran much deeper than unbalanced checkbooks.

"A lot of things going on at the school shouldn't have been going on, in terms of administration," former church treasurer Walter Sellers said.

Sellers said that Carson was recently "defrocked," or stripped of his ministerial duties, for seven years by the Presbytery of Tampa Bay…

Atlantic County (N.J.) charter schools (high failure rate)

AS MORE CHARTER SCHOOLS PLAN TO OPEN, SOUTH JERSEY'S TRACK RECORD SUGGESTS A TOUGH PATH AHEAD; March 31, 2011; Press of Atlantic City (NJ) 

Three new charter schools in Atlantic County and one in Millville have been approved to open in September.

They face tough odds.

Only four of the nine charter schools approved for Atlantic County since 1999 are still in operation. Statewide, more than one out of three either never opened, closed or were shut down by the state Department of Education…

A review of local charter schools by The Press of Atlantic City finds the challenges of the past decade - financing, enrollment, test scores, facilities - still remain obstacles to success.

The New Jersey Charter School Law of 1998 promised choice and academic innovation at a lower cost. Run by private boards of trustees and authorized by the state Department of Education, charter schools receive 90 percent of the per-student cost in the school district where they are based…

Of three Atlantic County K-8 charter schools, only Oceanside in Atlantic City outperformed the local district public schools in some grades in spring 2010 testing…

Rutgers professor Bruce Baker has looked at the test data in New Jersey, especially in Newark, and determined that, with a few exceptions, charter schools don't perform academically better than their local public schools. His schoolfinance101 blog notes that charter schools tend to have fewer students with special education needs or limited English proficiency, both of which contribute to poor test scores in urban public schools.

State data show that in 2010, based on total student test results, the Atlantic City public schools outperformed the Oceanside charter school in math until seventh grade.

Oceanside performed better than the district in language arts in every grade except third. But neither came close to the state average. When students with disabilities or limited English are removed, Oceanside outscored the district on every state test except third-grade math. But some individual schools in the city performed better than the charter school.

In 2010 Pleasantville public schools outscored PleasanTech Academy charter school in every subject in every grade, though both were far below the state average…

Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School

ARREST MADE IN CHARTER SCHOOL LAPTOP THEFT; September 16, 2010; The Daily Local News (Chester County, PA) 

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…

Red Apple Entheos Academy

TEACHER CHARGED IN THEFT; Aug 17, 2010; Salt Lake Tribune (UT) 

A charter school teacher is accused of stealing $4,277 from his school’s bank account.

The teacher, 34, allegedly went to a Wells Fargo Bank and emptied the bank account of the Red Apple Entheos Academy in Kearns. He did not have permission to make the withdrawal, police wrote.

The teacher is charged with third-degree felony theft.

Explorer Charter School

FORMER PRINCIPAL ARRESTED ON GRAND THEFT CHARGES; January 6, 2009; WFTV (FL) 

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. -- The former principal of Explorer Charter School, a Brevard County elementary and middle school, turned himself in at the Brevard County jail Tuesday. He's accused of stealing funds from the now-defunct school.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has also issued an arrest warrant for Jay Maer, the former finance director, who is also accused of stealing funds from the school. He was arrested Tuesday afternoon in Indian River County.

Eyewitness News was there when Ruben Rosario turned himself in to Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents at the Brevard County jail. The former principal is facing four counts of grand theft for stealing thousands of dollars from the charter school he ran in West Melbourne…

Rosario's finance director, Jay Maer, an ex-con, defended the school's bookkeeping as the district took over the school last spring. He is in even more trouble. He faces 46 charges, including grand theft and forgery. Investigators said he wrote checks to himself for all sorts of things, including coaching stipends, providing security at the school grounds and forging the principal's name.

"When in reality there was no work being done and no extra duties being performed," Ivey explained.

Investigators said they know as much as $100,000 was stolen, but there were so many financial records missing they may never know exactly how much was taken or whether the school would have survived if the money wasn't stolen.

The school's financial problems were disclosed last March and the Brevard County School District took over in April. The school was then shut down.

Maer's bond is set at $133,500. Rosario's bond is set at $12,000.

Hoggetowne Middle School

FORMER CHARTER SCHOOL PRINCIPAL ARRESTED FOR ALLEGED THEFT OF SCHOOL FUNDS; October 14, 2009; Gainsville Sun (FL)

The ex-principal of a local charter school faces felony charges for allegedly spending more than $18,000 in school funds for personal use.

On Tuesday, Gainesville police charged Kristine M. Santos, 38, formerly the principal and president of the board of directors at Hoggetowne Middle School, with grand theft and fraud. She turned herself in Tuesday and was released on her own recognizance.

Last September, Alachua County School District staff went to Hoggetowne to assist the school's new bookkeeper and reported spending irregularities involving a school debit card that Santos used…

A few of the purchases were listed in the complaint. They included approximately $1,500 at Gainesville Health and Fitness for personal training services, an approximately $380 bill at Hilton Hotels Disney and $139.72 at Victoria's Secret.

According to police, school funds were also used to pay off approximately $31,800 in charges on Santos' personal credit card. She reportedly identified approximately $19,593 of those charges as expenditures for the school but could not provide a school-related purpose for the remaining $12,221.11.

Santos told Hoggetowne school officials that she gave her entire credit card bill to the school's accountants and they mistakenly paid the whole bill instead of only the school-related expenses, according to the complaint.

In the complaint, Gainesville Police Detective William Quirk wrote that the standard procedure should be "to submit a request for reimbursement, not to have the bill paid directly by the school."…

New York City charter schools (less qualified for city's specialized high schools)

CHARTER SCHOOLKIDS' ELITE STATUS SLIPPING; March 11, 2011; New York Post

The percentage of charter-school eighth-graders who performed well enough to qualify for one of the city's specialized high schools has declined by nearly half since 2009, according to data obtained by The Post.

Just over 5 percent of the 677 charter kids who sat for the Specialized High School Admissions Test in 2011 got offers from Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech or five other elite high schools.

A ninth specialized high school, La Guardia Performing Arts, requires an audition for entry.

The data show that while the number of charter kids qualifying for an elite seat has dipped only slightly since 2009 -- from 42 to 35 -- the number sitting for the exam has grown by more than 200.

Two years ago, 9.2 percent of the 459 charter applicants aced the rigorous entrance exam.

"It follows the same trend we saw last year where the public schools outperformed the charter schools," said United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew.

When state officials raised the passing bar on state tests in 2010, charters saw larger drops in pass rates overall than did traditional public schools -- although charters maintained a slim lead in performance in both math and reading.

Last year, for the first time, however, traditional public schools outperformed charters on the city's A-through-F report cards, which emphasize year-to-year progress…

The drop in charter-school success with the elite high schools was slightly steeper than but mirrored the drop in the percentage of black and Hispanic students citywide who qualified for the elite schools.

Just 11 percent of black and Hispanic test takers qualified for a specialized high school this year -- down from 13 percent in 2009.

The vast majority of students served by charter schools are black and Hispanic.

Stone Creek Elementary

SCHOOL FOUNDER ARRESTED FOR THEFT; July 19, 2007; Vail Daily 

AVON — As Stone Creek Elementary opened its doors to Eagle County kids last fall, its founder was stealing money from the struggling charter school checking account, Avon police say.

Bill Hammer was arrested Thursday in Jefferson County, accused of stealing $68,539 from Stone Creek to help his two failing businesses and to pay off a lawsuit to the Vail Resorts Development Corporation, police say.

Police had issued an arrest warrant, but couldn’t find him locally. Soon after the news broke on the Vail Daily’s Web site, a reader called police with a tip on his whereabouts. Avon police then called the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, who found him in Evergreen.

The theft is a class three felony and could put Hammer in prison for four to 12 years if convicted. His bond is set at $75,000, and he’ll be given a court date to appear in Eagle County.

The news is upsetting — but not necessarily shocking — to the people still running Stone Creek. Earlier this year, the school board disclosed a series of financial problems that had gone unchecked since the school opened and put the school behind in bills. Expenses outpaced the money coming in, and the school board was soon looking a giant debt in the eye…

Police were approached by newly elected members of the Stone Creek Board of Directors in February who were concerned about discrepancies they discovered in the school’s financial records.

Treasurer Kevin Randel said he and other board members weren’t prepared for the mess they found in the books. The records were scattered, incomplete and didn’t quite add up.

They also found a slew of unaccounted for funds — checks written without matching receipts or invoices adding up to more than $68,000…

Checks written directly from Stone Creek’s account were found deposited in Hammer’s personal business accounts for Noel, a Christmas shop in Beaver Creek, and the Oregon Country Tree Farm, a business in Oregon, Arnold said.

Both those businesses were failing, Arnold said. “The books showed he had $182,000 in losses in his businesses. He was losing money in both.”

Hammer was also behind on rent at his shop in Beaver Creek, and Vail Resorts Development Corporation sued him. Hammer paid them off, but with Stone Creek money, Arnold said.

“He wrote a check to Wells Fargo, then they made it a cashier’s check, and when he paid off Vail Resorts, they never knew where the money was coming from,” Arnold said. “The school didn’t realize where the money went because the check was made to Wells Fargo.” …

The school overestimated its enrollment numbers, which means it received more state funding per student than it should have, according to Randy DeHoff, executive director for the Colorado Charter School Institute.

At first, Stone Creek received money for 250 kids, while only 151 were actually enrolled. Stone Creek was denied state funding for December and had its funding severely cut through May to make up the money…