Adelanto Charter Academy

“Adelanto Charter School’s Demise Involved Postmus & DeFazio.” San Bernardino County Sentinel (CA), 5/27/2011

ADELANTO—The Adelanto School District has revoked the Adelanto Charter Academy’s charter, based on a laundry list of operational shortcomings...

While charter schools are by law non-profit entities, it appears that those involved with the school in some cases formed for-profit companies that were devoted to providing the charter academy with materials, ranging from furniture to computers to visual aids to books to writing materials that were sold at inflated prices.

Mavericks in Education Florida LLC

“Mavericks High Schools Hope to Profit From Education – But at What Cost?” Broward-Palm Beach New Times (FL), 12/29/2011    

...This is Frank Biden, the brother of Vice President Joe Biden. He's here, at a ribbon-cutting event August 31, to promote the first Palm Beach County location of a local for-profit chain of charter schools called Mavericks in Education Florida...

But so far, Mavericks' lofty goals haven't materialized. Most of their schools graduate less than 15 percent of eligible students. On state report cards, the schools get "incompletes" because so few of their students are taking the FCAT. In Miami, two former teachers filed whistle-blower lawsuits alleging the Homestead school is inflating attendance records and failing to report grades properly.

Plus, there are rampant financial questions, cozy ties between Mavericks and local politicians, and a legal fight with former celebrity spokesman Dwyane Wade...

Mavericks' story begins in Akron, Ohio, with a wealthy industrialist who loved to wear big cowboy hats and donate millions of dollars to Republican politicians. In 1998, David Brennan launched White Hat Management. His charter schools were housed in strip malls, and the students herded in to sit at computers for three shifts a day. This was an education model Mavericks would later call the "next generation in education." But state auditors weren't so fond of the company...

One of White Hat's early leaders was Mark Thimmig. As CEO from 2001 to 2005, he helped grow the company into one of the largest charter school chains in the country. As of 2010, White Hat had 51 charter schools in six states, including ten charter schools in Florida called Life Skills Centers.

Two years after leaving White Hat, Thimmig alleges in court documents, he was approached by Palm Beach Gardens developer Mark Rodberg about launching a chain of charter schools here. Rodberg had built a few schools for White Hat, but had never run one before. He owned restaurants, including Bucky's Bar-B-Que in Boca Raton and Bucky's Grill in Fort Lauderdale. Together, Thimmig and Rodberg came up with a plan that was nearly identical to White Hat's: Students would attend school but take all their courses online, using virtual technology that required minimal maintenance. Classrooms could hold rows of cubicles with computers where kids would sit elbow-to-elbow. There would be no after-school sports teams, just "cyber-athletics" that allowed kids to play Wii instead of shooting hoops...

Each school is overseen by a local, nonprofit board. Mavericks in Education Florida LLC then charges the nonprofit hundreds of thousands of dollars in management fees to run daily operations. Mavericks also handles the real estate, charging the schools $350,000 a year in rent...

Hollander says the charters planned to use the basketball star [Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade] as a celebrity spokesman, encouraging kids to enroll in Mavericks and graduate. "Kids related to him. Parents related to him. Even grandparents related to him! He was the biggest celebrity ever to be connected with the national high school dropout crisis," Thimmig told New Times in 2009...

But pairing schools with a restaurant chain and a basketball star turned out to be a lethal mix. Wade would later allege in court documents that the partners were scheming to cut him out of profits. When they asked him to invest $1 million in the Aventura location of the restaurant, he refused...

In December 2009, Thimmig resigned as CEO. Then he sued Mavericks for back salary and money he said he lent the company — a total of at least $300,000. He also aired the company's dirty laundry in public court documents. Just two years after its founding, the hope factory was floundering...

... Only Michigan has more charter schools run by for-profit companies than Florida, according to a 2010 study published by the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado. Last year, there were 145 schools in Florida run by companies such as Mavericks.

Plenty of government grants help charters grow. Reports submitted to the state by Mavericks show their schools each receive about $250,000 a year in federal grants...

Often these schools struggle academically or financially, yet their management companies are allowed to keep opening new campuses...

Biden says, "We just graduated almost 200 people in one location."

But figures from the Florida Department of Education paint a vastly different picture, showing that Mavericks schools have a worse graduation rate than traditional public schools in Florida...

On Florida's state report cards, Mavericks schools in Miami-Dade, Pinellas, and Osceola counties have all scored "incomplete" because not enough students have taken the FCAT. Hollander says she expects the FCAT grade to change as more students enroll...

Meanwhile, recent lawsuits filed against Mavericks raise questions about whether any of the schools' statistics can be trusted...

Mavericks' paper trail is also troubling. Accountability reports, submitted by Mavericks to the state, contain bizarre financial figures...

Money has long been a problem for Mavericks. At the Fort Lauderdale Mavericks in June, independent auditors found the school met state criteria for a "financial emergency," with a net deficit of at least $520,000. At the same time, an audit showed that the North Miami Beach Mavericks was $400,000 in debt and had borrowed from the Mavericks management company to stay afloat. The state department of education also required the Mavericks school in Pinellas to create a financial corrective action plan...

...In 2010, Mavericks in Homestead paid the management company $418,000, or 17 percent of its state funds...

But most of the time, Mavericks isn't buying buildings. It's striking deals with private landlords, then charging individual schools rent of $350,000 per year for five years, regardless of the price of the building. That's the case in Homestead, North Miami, Kissimmee, and Pinellas. In Homestead, the school building's current market value is $1.2 million, but the school is on the hook for $1.75 million in rent over five years.

That sum, combined with its management fee, means the Homestead school paid 28 percent of its revenue to Mavericks in Education in 2010...

BE SURE TO READ THE WHOLE THING!

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“Joe Biden’s Brother Helping God Privatize Public Schools.” By Doug Martin, Firedoglake, 11/29/2011   

When Lisa Rab outed Joe Biden’s brother, Frank, as a major force behind a for-profit education management organization (EMO) dead set on building 100 new charter schools across Florida,* it came as no surprise to anyone who has been paying the slightest bit of attention to the corporate school reform movement, the Obama/Biden/Duncan regime, or Florida.

What was surprising was that Francis W. Biden told Rab that he and Mavericks in Education Florida, LLC  were on “a mission from God.”...

Not testing students to earn state ratings is nothing new to Mark Thimmig, one of the original founders of Mavericks in 2007. In 2005, after the former AutoNation official joined the notorious for-profit charter school operator White Hat Ventures, Thimmig took heat from the Ohio Department of Education for not adequately reporting student test scores in four of its Life Skills high schools. Also, the Akron Beacon Journal discovered that when Ohio switched testing from the 9th to the 10th grade, White Hat enrolled almost half of its Life Skills schools’ student body into the 9th grade in order to avoid testing these students...

READ THIS ARTICLE, TOO!

K12, Inc.

“Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP Announces Investigation of K12, Inc.” Press Release: Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, 12/16/2011 

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, a leading national securities law firm, is investigating potential securities fraud at K12, Inc. (“K12” or the “Company”) (NYSE: LRN - News).

The investigation focuses on whether the Company and its executives violated federal securities laws by failing to disclose that: (1) according to various academic benchmarks, K12 students were chronically underperforming their peers at traditional schools; (2) K12 has aggressively recruited students to their schools, regardless of how well-suited they might be for the Company’s curriculum; (3) as a result of K12’s haphazard recruiting process, the Company experiences student retention problems resulting in high rates of withdrawal; (4) K12 schools often have far larger student-to-teacher ratios than the Company advertises; and (5) K12 teachers have been pressured to allow students to pass regardless of academic performance, in order to receive federal funds.

On December 12, 2011, after several months of research, the New York Times published an article entitled “Profits and Questions at Online Charter Schools.” The article raised serious concerns about K12’s business practices, alleging that Company schools inflate their student rosters, are underperforming academically, have detrimental student-to-teacher ratios and gain wrongful access to public funds. On this devastating news, K12 shares collapsed almost 24%, closing at $22 per share on December 13.

Request more information now by clicking here: www.faruqilaw.com/LRN

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“Profits and Questions at Online Charter Schools.” New York Times, 12/12/2011  

By almost every educational measure, the Agora Cyber Charter School is failing.

Nearly 60 percent of its students are behind grade level in math. Nearly 50 percent trail in reading. A third do not graduate on time. And hundreds of children, from kindergartners to seniors, withdraw within months after they enroll.

By Wall Street standards, though, Agora is a remarkable success that has helped enrich K12 Inc., the publicly traded company that manages the school. And the entire enterprise is paid for by taxpayers.

Agora is one of the largest in a portfolio of similar public schools across the country run by K12. Eight other for-profit companies also run online public elementary and high schools, enrolling a large chunk of the more than 200,000 full-time cyberpupils in the United States...

Kids mean money. Agora is expecting income of $72 million this school year, accounting for more than 10 percent of the total anticipated revenues of K12, the biggest player in the online-school business. The second-largest, Connections Education, with revenues estimated at $190 million, was bought this year by the education and publishing giant Pearson for $400 million...

The New York Times has spent several months examining this idea, focusing on K12 Inc. A look at the company’s operations, based on interviews and a review of school finances and performance records, raises serious questions about whether K12 schools — and full-time online schools in general — benefit children or taxpayers, particularly as state education budgets are being slashed.

Instead, a portrait emerges of a company that tries to squeeze profits from public school dollars by raising enrollment, increasing teacher workload and lowering standards.

Current and former staff members of K12 Inc. schools say problems begin with intense recruitment efforts that fail to filter out students who are not suited for the program, which requires strong parental commitment and self-motivated students. Online schools typically are characterized by high rates of withdrawal...

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K12, Inc. / LRN stock price trends @ http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/LRN

Florida charter schools (investigator observations)

“Experiences As A Police Officer With The Ugly Side Of Charter Schools And Their Management Companies.” Florida Public Employees Partnership, 12/15/2011 

With such a strong push for continued expansion in Florida, I am compelled to share my experiences as a police officer with the ugly side of Charter Schools and their management companies. As a former investigator and supervisor of a public corruption unit, several years ago my unit was responsible for a series of criminal investigations involving personnel, owners, and partners of Charter Schools. Where as some of these investigations resulted in schools being shut down and arrests others culminated in utter frustration resulting from criminals getting away with fraud. A fact made possible by industry wide practices that benefit from weak laws and the impossibility of effective industry oversight. 

During the course of these investigations members of my unit worked with a host of local, state, and federal investigators. One of which became the target of a multi-state Federal Bureau of Investigations criminal investigation. Where as, I do not claim to be an expert in the business of running Charter Schools my investigative experience provided a good insight into the big businesses of collecting Tax Dollars for educating public school children. It is from this insight that I share the following:

In everyone of our investigative cases, the schools were set up as nonprofit organizations. Most hired management companies to oversee the day to day operation of the schools. They all had a Board of Directors, had applied for and granted a Charter to be a school from local school districts as governed by Florida State Statute 1002.33 http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/. Their main source of revenue was per pupil funding – called Full Time Equivalent (FTE). Some received more funding based on student disabilities.  In every case the drive to recruit more students was the primary focus of the schools and management companies. Most schools had received additional funding from available grants and all claimed Tax Exemptions as nonprofit organizations.

In just about every case the founders of the Charter Schools had ties to the Board of Directors which authorized the hiring of the management companies to run the schools. Even worse, we discovered the owners of the management companies were either the same as the school founders or were directly connected to them.  All of which revealed major conflicts of interests in most of the decisions made on the spending of Tax Dollars and education of students.

Like the Miami Herald’s Charter Schools expose, we confirmed the common practice of management companies charging for the leasing of school site facilities, vehicles, and materials. Items that were either owned by the management company or linked to their owners.  A practice that was followed with exorbitant management fees charged for services that often could not be explained, were unjustified, or could have been done by school staff for less. In all, these companies’ rule over all matters of business resulted in the majority of the schools’ money being collected by the management company or vendors of their choice without the benefit of competitive bids.

Internally, school staff like teachers, school administrators, and other staff were generally paid less than their public school counterparts. Staff had no benefit of collective bargaining, union representation and as such were at will employees.  Teachers were commonly discovered to be teaching out of field. Interviews revealed there were individuals hired with minimal to no qualifications to teach or perform the job functions of their assignments. The majority of these schools were found to be ill equipped with teaching materials that often were substandard to those in public schools.  The lack of common resources available in public school districts was a constant...

KKK endorses charter schools because they increase segregation

The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) responds to “Segregated Charter Schools Evoke Separate but Equal Era in U.S.”, 12/28/2011  

The kids in the article below seem to be happy.  Parents have been given a choice as to where to send their children and without government interference, many have selected schools with a student population that reflects the race of those children.  In addition, many of these schools  satisfy the children’s longing to identify with their racial history by incorporating cultural studies relating to their ethnicity.  There is nothing wrong with this, yet some think it is terrible. In fact, the majority of people prefer to be around others who are like them.  Even those who enjoy international travel and experiencing other cultures still, for the most part, live the rest of their life among those of similar racial background.  Why does this make some social engineers so angry? It is only natural. Each race should have the right to determine their own affairs without interference.  This is why homogeneous nations are good for world peace. Everyone needs their own space.  And parents who choose charter schools for their children based upon this fact are doing so instinctually and its healthy for their families.

Minnesota charter schools (increasing segregation)

"Segregated Charter Schools Evoke Separate But Equal Era in U.S.” Bloomberg News, 12/22/2011 

At Dugsi Academy, a public school in St. Paul, Minnesota, girls wearing traditional Muslim headscarves and flowing ankle-length skirts study Arabic and Somali. The charter school educates “East African children in the Twin Cities,” its website says. Every student is black.

At Twin Cities German Immersion School, another St. Paul charter, children gather under a map of “Deutschland,” study with interns from Germany, Austria and Switzerland and learn to dance the waltz. Ninety percent of its students are white.

Six decades after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down “separate but equal” schools for blacks and whites, segregation is growing because of charter schools, privately run public schools that educate 1.8 million U.S. children. While charter-school leaders say programs targeting ethnic groups enrich education, they are isolating low-achievers and damaging diversity, said Myron Orfield, a lawyer and demographer.

“It feels like the Deep South in the days of Jim Crow segregation,” said Orfield, who directs the University of Minnesota Law School’s Institute on Race & Poverty. “When you see an all-white school and an all-black school in the same neighborhood in this day and age, it’s shocking.”

Charter schools are more segregated than traditional public schools, according to a 2010 report by the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles. Researchers studied 40 states, the District of Columbia, and 39 metropolitan areas. In particular, higher percentages of charter-school students attend what the report called “racially isolated” schools, where 90 percent or more students are from disadvantaged minority groups...

The atomization of charter schools coincides with growing U.S. diversity. Americans of other races will outnumber whites by 2042, the Census Bureau projects...

Charter schools may specialize in serving a single culture as long as they have open admissions, and there’s no evidence of discrimination, said Russlynn Ali, assistant education secretary for civil rights...

Instead, in the 2009-2010 school year, three quarters of the Minneapolis and St. Paul region’s 127 charter schools were “highly segregated,” according to the University of Minnesota Law School’s race institute. Forty-four percent of schools were 80 percent or more non-white, and 32 percent, mostly white.

“It’s been a great failure that the most segregated schools in Minnesota are charter schools,” said Mindy Greiling, a state representative who lobbied for the charter-school law when she was a member of a suburban school board in the 1980s. “It breaks my heart.”

Segregation is typical nationwide. Seventy percent of black charter-school students across the country attended “racially isolated” schools, twice as many as the share in traditional public schools, according to the report from the Civil Rights Project at UCLA...

Harlem Success Academy 3

“High Teacher Turnover at a Success Network School.”The New York Times SchoolBook, 10/19/2011 

More than a third of the staff members at a Harlem charter school run by the Success Charter Network have left the school within the last several months, challenging an organization that prides itself on the training and support it offers its teachers.

The unusually high turnover at Harlem Success Academy 3 and the network-wide issue of teachers quitting mid-year led the founder and chief executive of the Success Charter Network, Eva S. Moskowitz, to express concern in an October newsletter.

“This is not a ‘gig’ ” she wrote, informing staff members that by breaking their commitment to the schools and families midyear, they were acting unethically.

At Harlem Success Academy 3, 22 of the school’s 59 administrators, teachers and classroom aides left between the end of the last school year and the beginning of this one, according to the school’s records. Some took jobs at other schools, some moved to new cities and some said they quit out of frustration with the school’s tightly regulated environment...

Few of the teachers who left Harlem Success Academy 3 would speak about why they quit, and those who did refused to be named, citing fear of retribution or concern that they could lose their new teaching positions.

Morty Ballen, the founder and chief executive of Explore Schools, said he had not intentionally poached Success Academy’s teachers.

One former Harlem Success Academy 3 teacher who quit at the end of last school year said she had left because she felt “micromanaged.”

“You couldn’t teach in the way you wanted to teach,” she said. “If your kids weren’t sitting perfectly, looking straight at the teacher, not saying a single word, then you weren’t doing your job.”...

Riverwood International Charter School

“Report details alleged fraud by former Riverwood principal.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA), 3/27/2012

Former Riverwood International Charter School Principal Eddie Echols stole almost $25,000 by making charges to a fraudulent credit card, according to a police report the Fulton County School District released Monday night.

Eddie Echols, who resigned last fall from Riverwood in Sandy Springs, has been charged with theft by taking, financial identity fraud and financial transaction card fraud, according to the report.

The report, compiled by Fulton County schools Police Chief Felipe Usury, alleges that Echols admitted to making inappropriate charges because he had financial troubles...

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“Riverwood athletic director resigns.” Reporter Newspapers (GA), 10/6/2011

Another high-profile administrator at Riverwood International Charter School has resigned.

Athletic Director Jeff Holloway, who was placed on administrative leave on Sept. 28 after various allegations were made against him, has resigned as athletic director and teacher at the school. Fulton County Schools executive director of communications Samantha Evans confirmed the resignation Oct. 6.

According to an investigator’s report, the school system investigated parent complaints that Holloway mingled personal funds with school funds...

This is the second resignation since the start of the school year.

School Principal Eddie Echols resigned earlier in September due to an audit report that found financial mismanagement...

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“Popular Sandy Springs principal resigns amid audit revelations.” WSBTV (GA), 9/20/2011

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — A popular Fulton County school principal resigned from his post Friday after school officials said a routine audit found "inappropriate use of financial resources."

Eddie Echols had been principal of Riverwood International Charter High School in Sandy Springs since 2002 and had been with the school since 1993.

According to an internal audit obtained by Channel 2's Mike Petchenik, school officials discovered Echols had used an "unauthorized" American Express card linked to the school to make personal purchases. Auditors wrote that Echols reimbursed the district for some of the purchases, but that they could not verify that all purchases were reimbursed because Echols didn't provide a detailed list of all expenses.

An investigative letter obained by Petchenik said that Echols admitted to school investigators he had used the card to pay for "rehearsal dinner" for his family and that he had purchased tickets for his wife to attend a conference with him.

"But I paid them right back," the letter said Echols told investigators. The letter said Echols "also provided that he had encountered financial difficulty, which is inferred as a possible reason for use of the credit card for personal expenses."

Fulton County School District spokeswoman Samantha Evans told Petchenik there was no evidence Echols stole any money or that he broke the law, but the audit revealed he had misused "several thousand dollars" during the 2008-2009 school year...

Harmony Science Academy – Waco

“Man sentenced in Waco for sex assault of teen.” ABC13 KTRK (TX), 11/21/2011

WACO, TX -- A former Child Protective Services worker and Waco high school teacher has been sentenced to 90 years in prison for the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl he met while they were acting in a play.

The Waco Herald-Tribune reports 32-year-old Clifton Grasham-Reeves, a former English teacher at Harmony Science Academy who regularly performed in Waco Civic Theatre productions, was convicted of four counts of sexual assault of a child and two counts of indecency with a child by contact...

Among the school board's options are calling for a new director or principal at New Point, amending the school's charter or even closing the school.

Vitalistic Therapeutic Charter School

"Bethlehem school board accepts Vitalistic's voluntary charter surrender.” The Express Times (PA), 12/10/2012

The Bethlehem Area School Board tonight accepted the voluntary surrender of the charter of a city-based charter school that the board spent months trying to shut down.

Vitalistic Therapeutic Charter School of the Lehigh Valley spent months fighting charter revocation proceedings initiated by the Bethlehem Area and Allentown school districts. 

But then in October the charter school announced  "with profound sorrow" that it plans to shut its doors Jan. 25, which marks the end of the first marking period for the sending districts. A revocation hearing scheduled for Nov. 29 was canceled in light of the voluntary surrender of the charter...

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“Bills pile up as Vitalistic charter school's future looks murky; Bethlehem charter school hasn't offered mandatory speech therapy since February, owes creditors $87,531.” The Morning Call (PA), 3/31/2012

Already under two investigations, Vitalistic Therapeutic Charter School of the Lehigh Valley is facing mounting financial pressure that has led trustees to raise the specter of closing the school, which serves mostly poor children with learning, emotional and physical disabilities.

Records obtained by The Morning Call show money issues led the Bethlehem school to stop offering legally mandated speech therapy while nearly $9,500 in food vendor bills have gone unpaid and part of a federal education grant was used to pay a utility bill.

More pressing, the school can no longer afford to pay more than $17,000 in monthly rent and maintenance costs at its building on Fourth Avenue in Bethlehem and is looking for cheaper quarters in Allentown, records and interviews show. The Bethlehem building is for sale.

In a March 24 email on moving, board President Joyce Thompson wrote that she and another trustee "were talking about the possibility of having to close the school."...

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“Vitalistic charter school chief resigns,alleging continued financial mismanagement; She alleges continuing financial mismanagement at Vitalistic in Bethlehem.” The Morning Call (PA), 3/28/2012

The top administrator of a troubled Bethlehem charter school resigned Wednesday, alleging that school officials continue to mismanage tax dollars even as two local school districts investigate its finances and loss of a state license to provide students with mental health care.

In her resignation letter, Nancy Egan, chief executive officer of Vitalistic Therapeutic Charter School of the Lehigh Valley since 2010, said the board of trustees and other administrators have undermined her attempts to correct years of fiscal mismanagement...

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“State offers to help investigate Vitalistic charter school; Pennsylvania Department of Education offers Allentown and Bethlehem school officials help examining charter's financial and special education records.” The Morning Call (PA), 12/31/2011 

State officials have offered to help the Allentown and Bethlehem Area school districts with their joint investigation of Vitalistic Therapeutic Charter School of the Lehigh Valley.

Bethlehem Superintendent Joseph Roy said Friday his staff "received a very supportive call" from the Pennsylvania Department of Education concerning Vitalistic. He said the state has offered to help the districts analyze the charter's financial and special education records...

The districts' investigation stems from a story in The Morning Call on Nov. 27 that examined Vitalistic's finances and its loss of a state license that served as the cornerstone of its chartered mission to provide poor students with intensive mental health therapy.

Using public records and interviews with state and Vitalistic sources, the newspaper found Vitalistic had improperly lent taxpayer money to its nonprofit sister school, had problems documenting students' special education services, and had repeat violations of its licensed mental health program. Vitalistic billed the state for more than $200,000 in services from the preschool and charter school that auditors could not determine if children and their families had received...

The newspaper's investigation found Vitalistic's board of trustees offered little to no oversight of those funds or management decisions. The story showed Vitalistic had problems administering and documenting whether students received services under a welfare department license to provide outpatient partial hospitalization care, according to audits conducted by Magellan Behavioral Health Inc., a Connecticut-based private managed care company that monitors treatment for people on Medicaid with mental health issues...

The state auditor general's office is also investigating Vitalistic.

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The original story here: “WATCHDOG REPORT: A charter school's troubles emerge; Vitalistic Therapeutic billed state for 'services not rendered' records offer no proof of services to students.” The Morning Call (PA), 11/26/2011  

Prime Prep Academy

“Former football player’s charter school raised questions.” Austin American-Statesman, 11/4/2011

Last month, the state Board of Education granted its approval for two charter schools affiliated with former professional football and baseball star Deion Sanders to open next fall, in Fort Worth and Dallas. A review of recently released public records shows that early versions of the charter’s application contained two business arrangements that appeared to be designed to give school executives opportunities to personally profit off the school.

A spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency said the suspect deals have since been removed from Prime Prep Academy’s application, after state officials investigated and confronted the school’s executives. Prime Prep’s executive director, Damien L. Wallace, confirmed that the specific contract deals had been excised from the charter’s application.

TEA, the agency that vets new charter schools, says it has beefed up its scrutiny of applicants in recent years. Several of the publicly funded schools have been revealed to be paying executives generous salaries, often through not-exactly-arm’s-length deals with side companies controlled by school officials...

Although Sanders’ name does not appear as an official executive for the school, his name does show up in the application, with his fame promoted as a benefit to the new school. “Deion Sanders’ powerful media presence has been utilized to bring more attention to the plans of bringing a charter school of this type to the DFW area,” the school’s application states.

In newspaper accounts, Sanders said he began thinking about founding a charter school approximately three years ago. Wallace said Sanders has been a personal friend and business associate for many years...

The charter school’s application also contained a “sales/marketing” agreement with a company called PrimeTimePlayer. Primetimeplayer.com’s website promises students help with mentoring and recruiting, and features Sanders’ photo. Incorporation documents filed with the Texas Secretary of State’s office list the company’s managing members as Damien L. Wallace and Chazma Jones — both of whom are also listed as executives for Prime Prep Academy.

The marketing agreement called for PrimeTimePlayer to be paid either $1,000 or $7,500 a month (the contract’s wording is unclear) for its services, as well as a percentage of any money it raised for the school; a 5 percent commission on all “special fundraising events” and a 10 percent commission on “all monies derived from corporate, local business and private donor sponsorships.”

According to the January application, the charter had already lined up commitments for about $200,000 in such donations, including $50,000 from Wal-Mart, $25,000 from Bank of America, and $50,000 from the NFL Network, a channel operated by the National Football League.

The school’s application also stated that Prime Prep’s Fort Worth school would be entering into a lease/purchase agreement for the building the school will occupy. The contract included in the charter’s application called for Prime Prep to pay $5,000 a month the first year, $7,000 the second, and $9,500 a month the third year of its occupancy to a company called Pinnacle Commercial Property Group.

Secretary of State records show the company’s directors as of May 2011 to be Damien Wallace and Chazma Jones.

Ratcliffe said TEA’s review staff also noticed the same contracts in Prime Prep’s application and brought them to the attention of the school’s lawyer. “Our lawyer went to their lawyer and said, ‘We have a problem with them doing business with themselves,’” she recalled, adding: “They didn’t initially reveal all the connections there.”...

There is another claim that has raised questions about the finances of the school. In July 2010, seven plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in Tarrant County District Court, claiming Wallace and Sanders had promised to market high school athletes to college athletic departments, but never delivered.

In the same lawsuit, the plaintiffs, led by Lawrence Smith, assert that Wallace and Sanders “made fraudulent and deceptive misrepresentations to induce Mr. Smith into investing money in a Charter School venture.”

According to the lawsuit, Wallace told Smith and others that if they invested $25,000 in the school, a “revenue sharing agreement” would pay them back $174,600, based on rent collected on a building at 4400 Panola Ave., Fort Worth — the same building in which Prime Prep’s Forth Worth campus is to be located, according to the school’s application.

A lawyer representing Wallace and Sanders declined to comment on the case; Smith’s lawyer, Don Stewart, said in court filings the defendants had denied his client’s allegations and were contesting the claims.

Ratcliffe said Prime Prep most likely will receive its final approval from the Texas Education Agency in a couple of weeks.

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“Deion Sanders’ new charterschool drawing questions about financial, academic plans.” The Texas Independent, 11/16/2011 

...While the board gave its go-ahead in September, SBOE member Michael Soto (D-San Antonio) wasn’t impressed by what he saw in Sanders’ presentation. “I have no idea what the applicant plans to do in the classroom,” Soto said before the vote, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Since then, other questions have arisen about some of the school’s financial arrangements — deals that would help its top officials profit from the school’s fundraising and property rental...

The conflicts of interest were uncovered by TEA only after the SBOE approved Prime Prep’s charter, but Soto is concerned by the school’s “incredibly vague” academic plans, and told the Texas Independent he’s been getting concerned calls about the school.

Soto said he was unfamiliar, though, with another possible concern: that where Prime Prep’s plans do get specific about academics, the language is nearly identical to wording developed by some other schools.

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“The Strange Tale of Deion Sanders' Charter School; Coming soon in North Texas, a charter school built on star power.” The Texas Observer, 12/5/2011 

The State Board of Education approved eight new charter schools back in September, but only one of them came backed by the star power of Prime Prep Academy, with an emotional presentation by former Dallas Cowboys great Deion Sanders...

The most novel aspect of these charters, though, may be the private funding sources they'll depend on to round out their $10 million-a-year budget: not usual suspects like Bill and Melinda Gates or the Walton Family Foundation, but big brands Sanders has endorsed or worked with over the years, which he name-drops regularly when talking about the school.

Sanders says Prime Prep is a natural extension of TRUTH, a sports-and-study program he's run for the last few years, that has received money from many of these sponsors already. The school's leadership team told the state it had secured pledges from a few of those companies already, but when contacted, many said they hadn't, in fact, pledged money to the school—at least not yet...

What Prime Prep's leaders stress is unique about its plans are its emphasis on sports along with academics, its dedication to serving inner-city kids in low-scoring school districts, and, of course, the big money that Deion Sanders' friends at big brands will throw at the school...

The SBOE approved Prime Prep's application 8-4.

"We met with Direct TV, with Van Heusen, we met with Procter & Gamble, we met Under Armor, we met with the NFL on assisting us with in endeavors and they did a cartwheel," said Sanders.

In its charter application Prime Prep also listed $186,000 in donations that had already been pledged “upon approval of the charter school," including a pair from Walmart and the NFL Network worth $50,000 each.

But as enthusiastic as Sanders said they all were, most of the companies on the list told me this week that they never did pledge money to the school. The other three either didn't return calls or didn't have an answer ready...

Texas Education Agency spokeswoman Debbie Ratcliffe says Prime Prep’s list of pledges doesn't matter much to their application. “Even if a charter applicant says they have pledges for land or services from various corporations or entities, we don’t let them count that as revenue unless they have a signed letter from the donor.”

But while the SBOE grilled other applicants about where they'd be getting startup cash or grants to augment state funding, Prime Prep seems to be running entirely on star power. The only signed agreements in its application at first—a $1,000 loan from a Fort Worth real estate firm and a fundraising agreement with a group called PrimeTimePlayer—were dropped because Wallace and other school officials were aslo in leadership roles at the companies that stood to profit, as the Austin American-Statesman reported last month...

The Pima Partnership School

“Former Tucson school principal given probation in theft case.” Arizona Daily Star, 10/13/2011

A former charter school principal was placed on three years probation and ordered to pay nearly $23,000 in restitution for attempted theft Thursday.

William Eddings Jr. was the principal at a charter school operated by the Pima Prevention Partnership when discrepancies were discovered during an audit by the Arizona Department of Education, according to court records.

The audit and subsequent investigation revealed that between June 16, 2006, and March 15, 2008, Eddings submitted inflated attendance records, awarded diplomas to 13 students who didn’t meet the state’s graduation requirements and signed invoices for services not provided to the school. Eddings received bonuses of $5,000 based on the information he provided.

Eddings was indicted in April on two counts of fraud and one count of theft; he pleaded guilty to attempted theft in August.

Under the terms of his plea agreement, Eddings could have received up to three years and nine months in prison.

On Thursday, Assistant Arizona Attorney General Michael Jette told Judge Howard Fell of Pima County Superior Court he is concerned Eddings has not accepted responsibility for his actions.

Eddings told a probation officer he didn’t do anything wrong and only pleaded guilty to end his legal problems.

In addition to the probationary sentence, Eddings was ordered to perform 300 hours of community service.

Eddings, who lives in Arizona City, hopes to have his probation transferred to Pinal County.

Haliwa-Saponi Tribal School

“Tribal school test scores invalidated.” Warren Record (NC), 8/17/2011

As a result of an investigation into testing irregularities in the 2010-11 academic year at Haliwa-Saponi Tribal School, a public charter school, biology test scores for nine students have been invalidated.

The school board for the tribal school, which has been investigating the matter, held a special meeting earlier this month during which they voted to place Principal Chenoa Davis on a three-month probationary period and directed her to terminate the contract of Assistant Principal Thomas Buchanan in response to reports of testing irregularities...

The report states that during the 2009-10 school year, a teacher downloaded from a computer end-of-course test review questions and pasted them into topic groups for use during test preparation for that year.

According to the report, the teacher did not collect the review materials afterward, and a student kept a copy and shared it with others in the 2010-11 school year. A copy was also shared with a student at Rocky Mount Preparatory School, another charter school...

"DPI determined that (the study questions) were secure items," she said. "Once they were discovered, we had to backtrack and found that they came from Haliwa-Saponi (Tribal School)."

The Rev. Ronald Richardson, tribal chief, said that the tribe should work out its own problems without newspaper publicity...

KIPP Sunshine Peak Academy

“Charter school football coach fired for sex comments, DPS says.” FOX31 (CO), 10/11/2011

DENVER – An assistant football coach at KIPP Sunshine Peak Academy has been fired after being accused of making an online sexual advance toward a student, FOX31 News has learned.

The coach, whose name has not been released, allegedly made the remarks on a student’s Facebook page.

A Denver Public Schools spokesperson says the coach is a part-time employee of the charter school and not a DPS employee.

Fairview Charter School

“Former Lutz principal removed from new Wisconsin job.” Tampa Tribune (FL), 10/15/2011

TAMPA -- Milwaukee school officials have removed a new principal from her job as they investigate reports from Lutz about the financial collapse of the private school she operated here.

Wendy Alexander was removed from her job Friday as principal of Fairview Charter School, where she supervised about 75 teachers and staff in a kindergarten-through-eighth grade program with more than 600 students.

Alexander founded and operated the Hand in Hand Academy in Lutz, shut down last month just four weeks into the new semester after seven years in business.

Some parents at Hand in Hand said they made payments to Alexander as late as mid-July without knowing she had just lost her bid for bankruptcy protection to stave off foreclosure of the school. Debts had grown to more than $2 million...

Alexander was interviewing for the Milwaukee Public Schools job as far back as April and was hired in May.

The school district there learned in September about Alexander's "personal business issues in Florida," according to a statement from Roseann St. Aubin, district spokeswoman.

"Since that time," the statement said, "we have been engaged in an ongoing review of the matter."

A former Florida employee of Alexander's brought the matter to the district's attention...

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“Tuition payments gone as Lutz school shuts down.” Tampa Bay Online (FL), 10/11/2011

LUTZ -- Parents were blindsided when the Hand in Hand Academy announced in an e-mail that it was shutting down Sept. 16, seven years after it first went into business and four weeks after opening for the new semester.

Some say they paid registration and tuition as late as mid-July under pressure from Principal Wendy Alexander, even after Alexander lost her bid for bankruptcy protection to stave off foreclosure.

"She was telling us one thing and turning around and it was totally something totally different," said Michael Hanke, a financial planner, who says he wouldn't have enrolled his child if he'd known about money problems. "She made you want to trust her."...

[Sherman Brod, her foreclosure lawyer] said Alexander never saw the collapse coming until the bitter end.

But records show she accepted her new job before July 8, when Hand In Hand Academy defaulted in the corporate bankruptcy case.

Bankruptcy records show that Lisa Astl, an office worker and part-time teacher at Hand In Hand, signed the check that helped trigger the bankruptcy default.

"I only wrote the check in good faith," said Astl. "I didn't think it would bounce."...

Alexander and Astl were arrested together in 2009 and charged with resisting arrest.

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“Felony DUI is embarrassing but not a disqualifier.” St. Petersburg Times (FL), 12/13/2009

PORT RICHEY — A Pasco County sheriff's sergeant was patrolling U.S. 19 at 1:30 a.m. on a Monday when he clocked two women in a blue Toyota pickup at near 90 mph.

The preschool workers appeared drunk, and they gave deputies each other's last names, the report said. The driver refused the breath test.

Lisa Marie Astl's fourth DUI arrest since 1995 earned a felony designation reserved for repeat offenders.

But as far as the state was concerned, the 38-year-old teacher could keep her job at Hand In Hand Academy in Lutz.

Any discipline would be up to school leaders.

In this case, however, the woman riding shotgun was 41-year-old Wendy Viles Alexander, Astl's boss and Hand In Hand's founder. Deputies charged her with a misdemeanor, giving false information to a law enforcement officer. It was her first arrest, state records show...

Indianapolis charter schools (student dumping)

“IPS superintendent calls for state investigation into charter schools.” FOX59 (IN), 10/24/2011

Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Eugene G. White called for a state investigation Monday.  White called for the state to investigate what he calls an illegal charter schools practice that will cost his district $500,000 in state aid this year.

In a letter to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Tony Bennett, White claims that charter schools are intentionally waiting until after the states average daily membership date to release special needs, homeless and other difficult to place students back to IPS, thereby keeping state aid for the students, while shouldering IPS with the responsibility to educate them...

White said 72 children have come back to IPS because they were homeless and could not be transported to charter schools or the charter school was unequipped to handle their special disabilities or they faced disciplinary expulsion...

White said IPS staff videotaped interviews with returning students and parents about their decisions to leave charter schools and those tapes will be made available to state officials and Mayor Greg Ballard, who sponsors the schools, and Ball State University, which oversees the system.

White said the practice violates state and federal laws and is asking for investigations of 10 charter schools in particular...