Three parents of current and former students at Sherwood Charter School intend to file a tort claim against the school.In a letter of intent dated March 15, the parents' attorney alleges the school board did not protect students against a fellow student's death threats, threats of sexual assault and violence...
Tim King and Norm Donohoe, who ran a chain of taxpayer-funded charter schools across small-town Oregon from their headquarters in Clackamas, scammed the state out of $17 million and must repay that plus $2.7 million more, the state said in a court filing this week...King and Donohoe, who were the director and president, respectively, of a nonprofit they named EdChoices, submitted false, incomplete and misleading records about how many students were enrolled in the schools and how they were spending the state's money, state prosecutors say in the complaint...The pair opened and operated at least 10 charter schools that went by various and changing names, including Baker Web Academy, Estacada Early College and Sheridan AllPrep Academy. Most were launched under the name AllPrep. They existed under agreements with the school boards in Estacada, Sisters, Baker City, Sheridan, Burns and Marcola, but enrolled students from across the state in their online programs.The state provided startup grants of up to $450,000 per charter school. The state Department of Educationalso paid about $6,000 a year for each student enrolled, relying on the charter school operators to document the number. The state now says those records were "erroneous, false and misleading."
A parent of two Madrone Trail Charter School students urged the Medford School Board Monday to intervene with the operations of the charter school board.Lorraine McDonald said she represented a number of parents who have come together to share their worries about the charter school board...McDonald said she was one of the founding parents of the 200-student, Waldorf-inspired charter school, and since its opening, she has grown concerned over the board's ability to manage the school's future...Members of the Medford School Board said that in order for the charter to be renewed next year, a lot of progress would have to be made very quickly...
The leader of a Central Oregon charter school accused of sexually abusing a 15-year-old female student has resigned.The Bulletin said the board of directors of Redmond Proficiency Academy accepted Michael Bremont’s resignation at a meeting Saturday.Bremont, 39, was charged in February with sodomy, attempted rape and sexual abuse. He is scheduled to enter a plea April 9.
The founder of a proposed Portland charter school was able to spend $450,000 in federal funds with little to show for it by choosing the least-regulated route to creating such a school and papering over problems when overseers checked in.
Erica Jayasuriya, a Portland mom with visions of opening a recording arts-based high school that would transform education for disengaged teens, presided as the team she assembled spent the money on planning, promotion and curriculum design -- without ever mustering enough curriculum, materials, students or equipment to open a school.
No one at Portland Public Schools, which approved Jayasuriya's proposal to open REAL Prep Charter Academy, or at the Oregon Department of Education, which awarded the nonprofit she created two $225,000 grants, took steps to stop her and her team until late August.
By then, 17 months after the money began flowing, the school was weeks from its scheduled opening and the money spent. Jayasuriya's pay took at least $68,000 of it.
State and school district officials say they understand why the public questions their failure to notice problems earlier. But they say failings were hidden from them, in part by misleading information from REAL Prep leaders and in part because Congress specified that charter school starters be allowed control over their grant spending.
"There was nothing that was said and nothing in what they submitted to us that brought our attention that they were not progressing toward opening a high quality charter school," said Susan Inman, the state's director of learning opportunity options.
Three days before school was to start Sept. 12, district officials shut REAL Prep, forcing students to scramble. More than 120 students filled out paperwork showing they wanted to attend, including 48 who officially enrolled.
Now, eight days into the district's school year, only half of the 120 students are in school. Thirty-seven are trying to get into a school that fits them and has room, while the status of 28 others is unsure because officials haven't been able to reach them...
Jayasuriya signed a detailed agreement, including to preserve financial records and get state approval if spending changed from the school budget. Unknown to state regulators, however, she was at odds with most of her own board over spending.
Eric Ensley, president of the board from its founding in May 2009 until he resigned in June 2010, said he tangled with Jayasuriya over her desire to immediately begin paying people -- including herself -- rather than first get a firm financial plan and seasoned administrator in place.
"There were manipulative tactics to try to get things approved and paid for that I didn't think should be paid for," he said. "I can't tell you how heated the debate got in the boardroom. ... To pay Joe Schmo to advocate for the school just because he knows this deejay is no way to run a school."
Ensley insisted, for example, that for Jayasuriya to become a paid employee of the school, she must step down from the board and apply for the job. In the end, Ensley and three other board members resigned, leaving Jayasuriya and two others on the board. Jayasuriya then helped hire herself and the board treasurer as paid contract employees of the school...
On Sept. 1, the problems became starkly clear. In a meeting at school district headquarters, four top school officials began arguing. The treasurer said she was ill-equipped and would resign that night. The co-director resigned during the meeting. A third leader walked out in disgust after learning there was no money left for furniture and equipment. And the list of seemingly qualified board members the district had been given was a fiction...
| STATE | # ACTIVE | # PENDING | # INACTIVE* | TOTAL |
| OR | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| PIONEER TECHNOLOGY CHARTER SCHOOL | |
| Status | INACTIVE: denied at both local and state levels in 2008 |
| Management | Rose Education Center |
| History | Petition was submitted to the Portland Public School BOE in July 2007 and denied in February 2008. Another attempt was denied by the Oregon Department of Education in December 2008. |
| Notes | Intended site was 1426 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Portland, same address as the Rose Garden Turkish American Cultural Center; petition stated “a replication of Dialog Foundation’s highly successful charter school, Magnolia Science Academy”; Rose Education Center won a charter school incentive grant of $501,000 from the Oregon State Department of Education to open Pioneer Charter School in Fall 2008. |
| ROSE SCIENCE ACADEMY | |
| Status | INACTIVE: denied, attempted in 2000 |
| Notes | |
| ROSE EDUCATION CENTER | |
| Federal Tax ID | EIN 931282683 |
| Website | None |
| History | “The Rose Education Center team consists of professional scientists, engineers, and educators who are interested in improving the middle and high school education in Portland; …incorporated in 1999…” |
| Individuals involved | Ertugrul Kostereli, Mustafa Keskin, Davut Karabay, Huseyin (AKA Joseph) Hurmali, Pamela Gray, Janice Marie Atay, Susan Canbolat, Fatih Hamzaoglu, Kaaren Heikes, Suleyman Gem Karaman (source: petition). Hurmali is the CEO of Dialog Foundation; Atay and Canbolat are Turkish surnames. |
| Notes | Uses same address as Rose Garden Turkish American Cultural Center (1426 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Portland); “Rose Education Center has an established relationship with Center for Science Education at Portland State University.” (petition). Kostereli and Karaman worked at PSU. |
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…
An investigation by the North Clackamas School District has raised questions about accounting and financial practices at a group of public charter schools.But after more than six months of review, district officials say so many questions remain that they are asking the state for help, both in sorting out the financial records of the Clackamas Charter Alliance and in establishing standards to guard against misuse of public money.The case also raises the broader issue of financial oversight of charter schools, which operate with greater freedom than traditional public schools and are growing across Oregon and the nation…The 1999 Oregon law that created charter schools is "pretty skimpy" on the question of district oversight, said Kaaren Heikes, executive director of the Northwest Center for Educational Options, an independent nonprofit that works with charter schools. By law, the schools are required to be 501(c)(3) nonprofits and to have an annual audit, but it's up to each district to determine how closely to monitor the finances, she said.Some districts, such as the Oregon City School District, require monthly revenue and expense reports."On the other end, there are districts that never look," Heikes said. She recommends quarterly review of revenue and expenses and close analysis of the annual audit…Before initiating its investigation, the only financial information the North Clackamas district received from the alliance schools in two years were annual audits, said Jim Langstraat, the district's chief financial officer.The questions in North Clackamas revolve around the use of charter school funds at New Urban High School, Clackamas Middle College and Clackamas Web Academy."We have made an attempt to collect the records and to make some sense out of them," Superintendent Ron Naso said. "We've gotten just so far. We see some things that we were certainly concerned about, but it's hard for us to determine whether they're actionable or not."In July, the alliance's accounting company noted "material weaknesses" and "significant deficiencies" in each school's 2007 audit. According to a July 11 letter from Jarrard, Seibert, Pollard & Co. of West Linn, the schools failed to consistently get two signatures on all checks. They also left the schools' accounting system "to one individual without significant oversight or review."Under the North Clackamas charter, alliance staff are technically employees of the school district. Former district teacher Tim King started New Urban in 2003… [NOTE: King went on to start more charter schools with problems. See All Prep Academy Network.]King, who left as director of the charter group in June and has helped start a string of online and middle college academies across the state, said the district's questions came as a surprise and that he had a good working relationship with the district…Naso said the district investigation was triggered by last year's decision to convert New Urban into a district-run magnet school. About the same time, King decided to step back from the alliance and ultimately left.$300,000 in expenses flaggedQuestions arose as new people came on board.Clackamas Middle College Principal Brian Sien, who started in July, said he has flagged more than $300,000 in questionable expenses from the previous school year. He said the school has been billed for software, physical education and other professional services it apparently did not receive.Some of the payments in question are to EdChoices, a new venture associated with King that helps set up middle colleges and Web academies across the state. EdChoices provides marketing, financial, technological and special education services to charter schools, King says. It now works with charter schools in Sisters, Marcola and Estacada.A growing concernAfter being notified last week that the district is referring the matter to the state, King provided an analysis to show how the schools benefited from EdChoices' services such as bookkeeping, paying rent and writing grants."It could well be that this is simply an attempt by the charter alliance to spread the costs among the schools they operated," Naso said. "It could be as simple as that. ... It also could, in a worst-case scenario, simply be that that money wasn't really owed and should be returned."If nothing else, Naso said, the review shows that bookkeeping practices at the alliance do not meet district standards…Growth brings problems"It's a growing frontier," Naso said of charter schools. "That's part of the problem. Superintendents all over the state are having difficulties understanding exactly what the relationships are going to be."Naso said he hopes the state will clarify whether charter schools are allowed wider parameters in terms of financial operations as well as curriculum."There is a dilemma," he said. "What happens if something goes wrong in the process? Who's held accountable for it?"
"
An investigation by the North Clackamas School District has raised questions about accounting and financial practices at a group of public charter schools.
But after more than six months of review, district officials say so many questions remain that they are asking the state for help, both in sorting out the financial records of the Clackamas Charter Alliance and in establishing standards to guard against misuse of public money.
The case also raises the broader issue of financial oversight of charter schools, which operate with greater freedom than traditional public schools and are growing across Oregon and the nation…
The 1999 Oregon law that created charter schools is "pretty skimpy" on the question of district oversight, said Kaaren Heikes, executive director of the Northwest Center for Educational Options, an independent nonprofit that works with charter schools. By law, the schools are required to be 501(c)(3) nonprofits and to have an annual audit, but it's up to each district to determine how closely to monitor the finances, she said.
Some districts, such as the Oregon City School District, require monthly revenue and expense reports.
"On the other end, there are districts that never look," Heikes said. She recommends quarterly review of revenue and expenses and close analysis of the annual audit…
Before initiating its investigation, the only financial information the North Clackamas district received from the alliance schools in two years were annual audits, said Jim Langstraat, the district's chief financial officer.
The questions in North Clackamas revolve around the use of charter school funds at New Urban High School, Clackamas Middle College and Clackamas Web Academy.
"We have made an attempt to collect the records and to make some sense out of them," Superintendent Ron Naso said. "We've gotten just so far. We see some things that we were certainly concerned about, but it's hard for us to determine whether they're actionable or not."
In July, the alliance's accounting company noted "material weaknesses" and "significant deficiencies" in each school's 2007 audit. According to a July 11 letter from Jarrard, Seibert, Pollard & Co. of West Linn, the schools failed to consistently get two signatures on all checks. They also left the schools' accounting system "to one individual without significant oversight or review."
Under the North Clackamas charter, alliance staff are technically employees of the school district. Former district teacher Tim King started New Urban in 2003… [NOTE: King went on to cause more problems. See All Prep Academy Network] http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/2010/07/allprep-web-academy-network.html
King, who left as director of the charter group in June and has helped start a string of online and middle college academies across the state, said the district's questions came as a surprise and that he had a good working relationship with the district…
Naso said the district investigation was triggered by last year's decision to convert New Urban into a district-run magnet school. About the same time, King decided to step back from the alliance and ultimately left.
$300,000 in expenses flagged
Questions arose as new people came on board.
Clackamas Middle College Principal Brian Sien, who started in July, said he has flagged more than $300,000 in questionable expenses from the previous school year. He said the school has been billed for software, physical education and other professional services it apparently did not receive.
Some of the payments in question are to EdChoices, a new venture associated with King that helps set up middle colleges and Web academies across the state. EdChoices provides marketing, financial, technological and special education services to charter schools, King says. It now works with charter schools in Sisters, Marcola and Estacada.
A growing concern
After being notified last week that the district is referring the matter to the state, King provided an analysis to show how the schools benefited from EdChoices' services such as bookkeeping, paying rent and writing grants.
"It could well be that this is simply an attempt by the charter alliance to spread the costs among the schools they operated," Naso said. "It could be as simple as that. ... It also could, in a worst-case scenario, simply be that that money wasn't really owed and should be returned."
If nothing else, Naso said, the review shows that bookkeeping practices at the alliance do not meet district standards…
Growth brings problems
"It's a growing frontier," Naso said of charter schools. "That's part of the problem. Superintendents all over the state are having difficulties understanding exactly what the relationships are going to be."
Naso said he hopes the state will clarify whether charter schools are allowed wider parameters in terms of financial operations as well as curriculum.
"There is a dilemma," he said. "What happens if something goes wrong in the process? Who's held accountable for it?"
SISTERS --Suzanne Moore spent almost two years teaching at Sisters AllPrep Web Academy, but what she described as the "best job in the whole world" became a precarious one in mid-March.That's when administrators told Moore that the Clackamas-based company that operated the school was struggling to pay her March salary. She was told to expect a paycheck in her bank account by April 5.The paycheck didn't appear, and on April 9, the school closed.She is one of hundreds of people affected when a network of at least 10 publicly funded charter schools ran into deep financial troubles this year. Three of them, based in Sisters and Marcola but serving students across the state, shut their doors in March and April.Teachers have gone unpaid or lost their jobs, students have had to find new schools, and some families have been asked to pay community college tuition after the charter schools failed to make those payments.Schools in the network mostly offered online instruction or college-credit courses in partnership with local community colleges. Most were called AllPrep academies and all were founded by educational entrepreneur Tim King, a former North Clackamas School District teacher. [NOTE: Read more about King’s Clackamas Charter Alliance HERE.]Nearly a decade ago, King founded three charter schools in that district: New Urban High, Clackamas Middle College and Clackamas Web Academy. In 2008, he left to start the AllPrep and other charter schools in a half-dozen small districts across the state, from Sheridan to Estacada to Sisters to Burns.After he left, serious financial problems were discovered at the Clackamas charters, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in questioned expenditures. The three schools were ordered to repay the district almost $400,000, a debt load that has crimped their operations.King's new network of schools was operated by a nonprofit known as EdChoices, which is now under investigation by Oregon's education and justice departments. The state, which paid King more than $2 million worth of federal startup funding to launch the schools, has since suspended additional grants it had planned to award him.After the investigations were launched, King stepped down from his role running EdChoices. He has defended his schools' practices and said stepping aside would help the schools move forward.Not only did some of the schools close, but also EdChoices was locked out of its Clackamas headquarters.The Oregon Department of Education sent a letter in January to the districts with EdChoices schools announcing the state was investigating the company for a variety of possible violations, including improperly commingling funds among charter schools and transferring students among the company's schools without parent or district permission…Among concerns the state is investigating: Schools may have exaggerated or falsified records to show that enough students were getting AllPrep-led education in the brick-and-mortar schools at Sheridan, Burns and elsewhere to qualify the online schools for state funding. Under state law, online charter schools can only be funded for as many out-of-district students as they serve in the district that sponsors them.The Sheridan School District, which sponsored an AllPrep Academy that opened last fall, had trouble getting timely information from EdChoices and canceled its arrangements with the firm last month. Sheridan is operating the online academy on its own for the rest of the school year, said Superintendent A.J. Grauer.Grauer said King tried to assure Sheridan officials in January that the school was in solid financial shape, despite the lack of records and the ongoing investigation."We got snowed," Grauer said.
ESTACADA – An investigation into charter school group AllPrep Academies & Early Colleges is continuing, two weeks after founder Tim King decided to step down from the organization.In late January, Oregon Department of Education assistant superintendent Colleen Mileham sent a letter to the superintendents of districts associated with AllPrep charter schools, including the Estacada School District. The Estacada AllPrep Academy and Estacada AllPrep Early College both operate within the district.Mileham wrote that state education officials thought some AllPrep schools may have "violated the law and have engaged in other improprieties resulting in a pattern of fiscal, student accounting and operational issues," including the comingling of charter school funds.Estacada School District superintendent Howard Fetz responded with a letter on Feb. 20, saying the district receives monthly budgetary statements from both AllPrep charters and that the school district has "carefully monitored and will continue to monitor compliance" with Oregon's student enrollment accounting practices.A Department of Justice investigation is ongoing, according to spokesperson Tony Green. He declined to comment further.Barbara Smythe, an attorney for the AllPrep schools, said King stepped down after a conversation with the board at Estacada AllPrep Academy. Smythe said she did not know the context of the conversation."I'm not aware of any evidence of any illegalities or anything like that," she said, adding that audits coming in for the schools "looked fine."Parents at Estacada AllPrep schools worried that operational funding could be affected, but state education department spokesman Morgan Allen said that wouldn't happen.King, a former Rex Putnam High School teacher, developed AllPrep in 2008 after leaving a three-school charter alliance he created for North Clackamas, which included both a web academy and middle college school. Shortly after he left, an audit determined the charter schools' financial oversight had been shoddy.A subsequent investigation determined the alliance owed the district about $385,000. Principals at the two remaining charters in the alliance, Clackamas Web Academy and Clackamas Middle College, agreed to a 10-year repayment plan that split the debt between the schools.
