Adelaide L. Sanford Charter School

“With Adelaide L. Sanford Charter School closing, Newark families must move on.” The Star-Ledger (NJ), 6/25/2013

NEWARK — Bobby and Troy Shanks saw the handwriting on the wall last year with the Adelaide L. Sanford Charter School in Newark when federal officials filed a lawsuit against the school...

The embattled charter school, opened in 2007 by longtime activist Fredrica Bey, had been on probation for more than a year. The school is also facing a complaint by the U.S. Attorney’s office which contends Bey took $345,325 in federal grant money earmarked for programs to keep "at-risk" youths off of the streets and instead used it used it to pay bills for the Women In Support of the Million Man March, a non-profit community group she started in 1995.

Boys Preparatory Nashville

"Case of Boys Prep shows charter schools face same startup challenges."  The City Paper (TN), 6/21/2013

Dozens of students have left the school. Parents have accused the executive director of assaulting two students. And although the year-end test scores have yet to be released, school leaders say they won’t be pretty...

Rivalries within the leadership at the school shifted attention from the kids in the building to the adults in the boardroom. Meanwhile, handling the school’s 100 seventh-grade boys — a third of whom have some form of learning disability — proved tougher than the founders fathomed...

The Boys Prep board also began hemorrhaging members. In the charter’s short history, 18 people have left the board, some of whom said they felt forced out or were exhausted from dealing with the school’s internal politics.

Quest Academy (NV)

“Quest Academy board considers disciplining other school employees.” KTNV 13 News (NV), 1/30/2013

Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) -- It was another late night on Tuesday at Quest Academy...

Principal Connie Jordan was fired for abusing her authority and using taxpayer dollars for personal gain...

A former employee wrote a letter to the board saying the high school administration is incompetent and self-serving...

Also facing action Tuesday night was business manager Robin Vitiello and office manager Melissa Hester. Board members told Hester that school video cameras caught her and Jordan destroying records in Jordan's office last Monday when the school was closed for Martin Luther King Day.

The auditor that Quest hired found checks cut to Robin Vitiello that appeared to be unapproved bonuses. There are also allegations that she was forced to kick some of that money back to former principal Jordan.

Ricardo Flores Magon Academy

“Marcos Martinez, head of Ricardo Flores Magon Academy, resigns his post.” Denver Westword (CO), 3/8/2012

Marcos Martinez, the controversial founder of the Ricardo Flores Magon Academy and subject of our cover story "A Hard Line," has resigned. So, too, have two other employees whom the school's board of trustees asked to take a paid leave while they investigated complaints against them. The school is now searching for a new leader.

D.U.E. Season Charter School

“Former teacher files lawsuit against Camden charter school.” Courier-Post (NJ), 7/20/2012

CAMDEN — A security worker charged with assaulting a special-needs student in April has faced repeated allegations that he manhandled youngsters at D.U.E. Season Charter School, the school founded and led by his mother.

Lawrence Carpenter’s alleged actions at the K-8 school came despite a history of complaints from parents, students and staff to his mother, Principal Doris Carpenter, a Courier-Post investigation shows.

Now, a former Season teacher has sued the school and Doris Carpenter, saying she was retaliated against after complaining last October about alleged mistreatment of students by Lawrence Carpenter. In a letter to the principal, fourth-grade teacher Stacy Sampson described seeing Lawrence Carpenter, the school’s security leader, grab a boy by the collar and “slam him into a wall.”

Her civil suit alleges Lawrence Carpenter, who continues to work at Season, was responsible for a hostile work environment at the school. It also depicts Season as a “dysfunctional school,” alleging it has too few books and desks, and that fourth-graders struggled to count to 20 or to spell a simple word like “talk.”...

High turnover for New York City’s charter school principals

“High Turnover for Charter School Principals, Report Says.” SchoolBook, New York Times, 4/30/2012

By their own numbers, New York City charter schools have a tough time holding onto their principals, with nearly one in five of them heading for the door from one year to the next, according to a report released by a charter school advocacy group on Monday.

The New York City Charter School Center, a nonprofit group that supports charters, composed the report, which is a close-up look at the 136 charter schools that have sprung up across the five boroughs in the last 13 years. As the report notes, the schools still tend to be young — most have been open for four years or less...

Like previous studies by researchers at Stanford, the center’s report praises the city’s charters for their students’ positive results on the state math and English tests, which are taken annually by third through eighth graders. Last year, 69 percent of charter school students scored at the “proficient” level or higher in math, compared with 57 percent of students in traditional public schools. On the English exam, the charter school students came out ahead, but not by much.

Despite that academic success, there are staffing problems. About a third of teachers leave charter schools each year, which far exceeds the rate of 15 percent at district schools.

And in 2011, about 18 percent of charter school principals left their jobs, according to the report, which hypothesizes that the schools’ reliance on young teachers and “start-up mode” struggles wear out employees after a few years...

The center’s report also takes a critical look at the number of special education students and children who are not fluent English speakers who attend charter schools, figures that are significantly lower than in the district schools, as has been reported and pounded by critics.

Last year, about 6 percent of charter school students were English language learners, compared with 15 percent in traditional schools...

The charter school center has also organized the data by school, which can be found on its Web site.

PleasanTech Charter School

“Pleasantville charter school set to close.” NBC40 (NJ), 3/5/2012

It was a filled gymnasium Monday afternoon at the Pleasantech Charter School as officials responded to a letter received Friday from The Department of Education stating the school would be shut down.

The Department of Education's letter says the charter school has failed to correctly complete state-mandated reports, has had high administrative turnover, poor student performance, and stated the school failed to provide a structured learning environment...

According to state officials Pleasantech has been plagued by staffing issues and high administration turn over, but officials here at the school say if they are given a second chance they are prepared to turn that around...

The Pleasntech Charter School has been around since 1998 and teachers say they have been through tough times before and say they will come out of this with their heads high once again...

Emily Fisher Charter School

“Emily Fisher officials make case to keep school open.” The Times of Trenton (NJ), 3/24/2012

TRENTON — An attorney representing Emily Fisher Charter School has appealed the state Department of Education’s decision this month not to renew the 14-year-old school’s charter. The school is hoping to prevent the shutdown until officials can make their case for keeping Emily Fisher open.

The DOE’s decision, which effectively forces the school to shut down by this June, was based on what the department said were serious problems with uncertified teachers, very low test scores, student discipline, and general school management...

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“State orders Trenton charter school to shut down.” The Times of Trenton (NJ), 3/3/2012

TRENTON — Following a slew of internal problems including poor student performance, Emily Fisher Charter School, in operation for 13 years, has been ordered to shut down by the state Department of Education.

As part of statewide actions following audits of charter schools, the department announced plans to deny the renewal of Emily Fisher’s charter, while placing the Paul Robeson Charter School for the Humanities on probation for failure to meet stated goals and objectives...

A state investigation of Emily Fisher in November uncovered “ongoing issues, including failure to complete state mandated reports, poor student performance, a high number of behavioral incidents, low attendance rates, teacher certification issues, leadership concerns and curricular issues,” according to a letter from the department.

A similar audit of Paul Robeson also revealed problems, including “failure to complete state mandated reports, dismal student performance, leadership concerns and high staff turnover,” according to a letter from the department...

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.”...

The Green School

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

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

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

Los Angeles charter schools (high teacher turnover)

“Los Angeles charter schools have high teacher turnover.”  LA Times (CA) 7/19/2011

Local charter schools serving middle and high school students are losing about half their teachers every year, according to a study of the Los Angeles Unified School District released Tuesday. The rate of turnover is nearly three times that of other public schools, although they also are seeing high rates of departures...

New Village Charter School

OAKLAND CHARTER SCHOOL MUST CLOSE ITS DOORS / Eighty students displaced for next school year; April 27, 2000; San Francisco Chronicle (CA)

OAKLAND -- After limping along for three years with seesaw enrollment and 100 percent teacher turnover, the New Village charter school in Oakland is calling it quits.

Two weeks ago, all four teachers and the principal resigned, paving the way for the Alameda County Board of Education's vote Tuesday that revoked the school's charter contract…

Minnesota Business Academy

BUSINESS CHARTER SCHOOL IS CLOSING; THE MINNESOTA BUSINESS ACADEMY IS THE LATEST CHARTER SCHOOL IN THE STATE TO FAIL BECAUSE ENROLLMENT NEVER HIT PROJECTIONS; April 28, 2006; Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN) 

Another Minnesota charter school is closing shop, victim of too many expenses and too few students. St. Paul's Minnesota Business Academy will shut down for good at the end of the school year.

One of the state's highest-profile charter schools opened to much fanfare six years ago. Its demise dramatizes the fate that befalls many charter schools. While the vast majority of the state's 123 charters are thriving, others struggle on, believing they'll attract more kids than the realities of the market allow - until it's too late…

The school had the backing of then St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman, city business leaders and former Lt. Gov. Joanne Benson, who once served as MBA's chief education officer. It moved into the former Science Museum of Minnesota building in 2000.

But refurbishing the old museum into a high school cost nearly $10 million, debt that required an enrollment of 440 to cover costs. It never came close, said Executive Director Jerry Neff. Last summer, the school persuaded St. Paul to forgive half its debt. It wasn't enough. It still needed 315 pupils this year to meet its budget. In September, 240 showed up. Currently, 188 students are enrolled and 61 will graduate in June, Neff said.

School officials told students about the closing Thursday. Many were crushed…

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THE BUSINESS MODEL FAILS THE MINNESOTA BUSINESS ACADEMY; Apr. 27 2006; City Pages (Minneapolis, MN) 

Last summer, the St. Paul City Council voted to forgive a $750,000 loan to the Minnesota Business Academy, an experimental charter school that enjoyed the backing of many prominent politicians and business people. At the time, there was considerable skepticism voiced over the bail out. The school--which aimed to immerse its "associates" in the business culture--had struggled financially from its inception six years ago, largely because of the more than $9 million it expended on start up costs.

After the City Council came to the rescue, MBA executive director Jerry Neff expressed optimism about the future, telling worried parents, "We're here to stay." Some former students, staffers and others affiliated with the school were far less sanguine about the prospects. "I would not recommend this school to anyone," former MBA board chair Kathy Mirsch told City Pages at the time. "I think it's living on borrowed time."

As it turned out, Mirsch had the better crystal ball. Last night, the MBA board voted to shutter the operation at the end of the current school year. The main reason: the school could not consistently enroll enough students. Executive director Neff attributed the enrollment woes in part to media coverage of the MBA's financial difficulties.

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Q: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU RUN A SCHOOL LIKE A BUSINESS? A: YOU GO BROKE.-THE STUDENTS LEARNED HOW TO SIT IN CUBICLES AND WRITE MEMOS. THE STAFF LEARNED HOW TO ASK FOR A BAILOUT; June 22, 2005; City Pages (Minneapolis, MN) 

At a time when public schools all over the state have been under siege, the Minnesota Business Academy has enjoyed a valuable perk: vocal support from some of the state's most prominent corporations, business people, and politicians. Former Lt. Governor Joanne Benson served as the chief education officer for four years. Governor Tim Pawlenty doled out praise when the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce became the school's official sponsor last year. And a virtual who's-who of big corporations--Xcel Energy, General Mills, Ecolab--have lent their support, offering student internships and sending company officers to serve on its board…

Granted, the school has had its share of troubles, a fact that no one denies. Since it opened five years ago in the former Science Museum building in downtown St. Paul, the fledgling charter program has been saddled with debt. In part, this is because the MBA has struggled to attract students: After taking out loans to renovate the building, it needed to attract at least 440 pupils to cover its debts. But the school never got close. In 2003, nearly a quarter of the student body dropped out or was expelled. Throughout its history, the MBA has endured ceaseless staff turnover.

Yet two weeks ago, when the Minnesota Business Academy made its latest pitch for help, supporters painted a portrait of an institution on the verge of turning its troubles around. With staffers, students, and parents packing St. Paul City Hall, the City Council--by a 5-2 margin--agreed to accept the MBA's bailout proposal. That decision wiped the slate clean on $750,000 owed to the city (from a $1 million start-up loan) and it paved the way for the refinancing of about $10 million in other debts…

But in the view of some of the school's critics--including a number of former students, teachers, board members, and parents--the city's actions did little more than forestall the inevitable: the shuttering of a school that they say has floundered since the day it opened its doors. The place they describe is not the bold alternative and educational innovator touted by politicians and corporate PR officers.

Laura Mirsch, who graduated from the school with honors in 2004, says the MBA's problems were never strictly financial. She thinks arrogance and inexperience on the part of some of the MBA's founders played a large role, too. "Basically, it was run by a bunch of businesspeople who thought they knew more about education than public educators," Mirsch says.

When Mirsch arrived as a freshman, she recalls, the students were each shown to a personal cubicle with a computer and a phone. The idea--that kids would learn well in a businesslike setting--didn't mesh with the reality of lightly supervised 14-year-olds left to their own devices. "It was total bedlam," Mirsch remembers. "You were supposed to do your work in the cube, but a lot of the kids were making prank calls and screwing around all the time."

The cubicles didn't last long. In fact, change has been the one constant at MBA. Heavy student and staff turnover included three executive directors--i.e., principals--in five years. According to Neff, just three of the school's original twelve teachers remain on staff…

Kathy Mirsch--a former chair of the MBA board, a volunteer coach, and the mother of Laura--says she found herself frustrated during her years of involvement with the school. She blames many of the school's failings on a "totally unrealistic" business plan. "[The founders] had this vision of what they thought would happened," she says. "They thought a bunch of well-behaved, highly motivated kids were going to come to the school and work in cubicles and be self-motivated and self-directed. It was ridiculous."…

Equality Charter School

CHARTER SCHOOL, STRUGGLING, HIRED LEADERS' KIN; Friday, Oct 15, 2010; City Limits (New York City, NY) 

…In [Equality Charter School’s] charter application to the city and the state, the school's co-founders Myers (who serves as principal), Margaret Hoey and Caitlin Franco cited long expertise as educators, data-managers and disciplinarians in institutions, schools and other settings that serve troubled youth.

Equality Charter's first year was marked by near-constant change in staffing patterns and enrollment: Co-founder Hoey left midyear to spearhead efforts to establish yet another New York City charter school, the Swedish-styled Kunskapsskolan school, which aims to open in 2011. Board members and two board chairmen were replaced, numerous teachers were fired and replaced or invited not to return, and nearly two dozen students left the school, many well before the end of the school year, according to Myers.

The year was also marked, parents and students say, by student rough-housing that often got out of control. On the Department of Education Learning Environment Survey conducted during the school's first year, parents, teachers and nearly all of the school's students identified safety as a real concern. Half of the teachers and a third of parents expressed fears about bullying, safety and school discipline. Bullying and threats were an issue for 84 percent of students, who also reported that teachers yell at students (81 percent) and that student get into physical fights (93 percent)…

Some parents of students with special needs say the school did not deliver mandated services to their children. (DOE statistics show that charters citywide generally enroll fewer special-education students than traditional public schools, a gap the state's new charter law aims to address.)

One parent, Lori Gill, enrolled her two sons at Equality Charter school in August 2009, after the lottery was drawn and the school’s wait list was created; the boys got priority because one son had special needs.

But both boys moved to a traditional public school this year, Gill says, largely because her son Darren received many fewer services than the school first promised and that he was legally mandated to receive…

One dean, Devon Myers, is married to the principal. The other, Mark Hines, is engaged to Assistant Principal Franco; his daughter was, briefly, a student at Equity Charter School, until she enrolled at Truman High School this September…

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Additional information is at Equality Charter School: A Failing, Corrupt, Mismanaged Charter School @ http://www.equalitycharterschool.com/

Charter school administrative attrition

"YOU’RE LEAVING? SUSTAINABILITY AND SUCCESSION IN CHARTER SCHOOLS"; November 2010; Center on Reinventing Public Education Report 

Seventy-one percent of charter school leaders surveyed for this study say they expect to leave their schools within five years. For the nation’s 5,000 charter schools, this raises important questions. Who will be ready to take over? How will the school maintain its instructional program and culture from leader to leader? How does a school survive founder transitions? Where will new leaders come from and how can they be ready to lead existing schools?

The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) at the University of Washington spent four years studying charter school teachers and leaders: CRPE’s survey of 400 charter school leader respondents and fieldwork in 24 charter schools in California, Hawaii, and Texas has yielded important insights into these questions and the future of maturing charter schools.

CRPE’s research finds that many charter schools are unprepared when it comes to leadership turnover. Only half of the charter school leaders surveyed for this study reported having succession plans in place, and many of those plans are weak. Though most school leaders affiliated with charter management organizations (CMOs) reported that their school had a succession plan, there was some confusion as to who would make final decisions—school leaders or CMO leaders. For the few schools with strong plans, two elements were common: the school leaders (all with prior business experience) had taken charge of future plans, and these schools were not in the midst of crisis.

This report concludes with important steps charter schools can take to stabilize a school and better position it to choose the best possible leader. Specifically:

• Charter schools can learn about effective succession management strategies from the nonprofit sector.
• Governing boards need to own one of their most important duties: recruiting and selecting school leaders.
• Authorizers should request strategic plans and emergency leadership replacement plans as part of the application and renewal process.
• Current school leaders need to mentor next-in-line leaders and leadership team members.
• Leaders should consider succession management—an emergency replacement plan, a strategic plan, and strategic development of leadership capacities organization-wide.

Harlem Village Academies

CATHIE BLACK CLAIMS TO HAVE EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE WITH CHARTER SCHOOL BOARD POST, BUT IT'S MOOT; November 28, 2010; NY Daily

City schools chancellor nominee Cathie Black insists she's connected to public education via a highly touted charter school - but a close look shows she's had no contact with students, parents or teachers there.

Officials at the Harlem Village Academies admit the school's National Leadership Board, which Black joined just five months ago, has never met.

Black primarily advised the school's CEO, Deborah Kenny, on "management, leadership, and the development of a book" Kenny is writing, the school said…

Kenny, who oversees 450 students, is paid $442,000, including a $140,000 "bonus" and $27,780 in "other" expenses.

The schools chancellor gets $250,000 to oversee 1.1 million students.

Many charter schools have a parent representative on their board. Harlem Village does not…

Bloomberg has called the school a national "poster child" for school reform. Conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch gave $5 million toward construction of the new high school.

The school has been lauded nationally for its high test scores, including for pushing 100% of its eighth-graders to pass state math tests.

A look at the overall scores tells a different tale. In the last round of tests, like schools across New York, numbers dropped precipitously after the state made the tests tougher.

Schoolwide English test scores fell from 81% passing to 41%, while math dropped from 91% to 71%. And by eighth grade, the number of students taking the tests is a small fraction of the earlier grades…

An unusually high number of younger students either drop out or are held back. In school year 2003-04, the year the school opened, only 48 of 73 fifth-graders made it to sixth grade. In school year 2006-07, 46 of 68 moved on; in 2007-08, just 40 of 76 fifth-graders made it to sixth grade…

KIPP AMP Academy Middle School

A STRUGGLING KIPP SCHOOL PLANS TO OVERHAUL TEACHING STAFF; April 4, 2011; GothamSchools (NYC)

After wrestling down a unionization attempt and struggling with academic performance, a Brooklyn KIPP school is bringing in a new principal and letting go of teachers.

Concerns about high teacher turnover surfaced at the KIPP AMP (Knowledge is Power Program: Always Mentally Prepared) school in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, two years. The concerns were the driving force behind teachers’ decision to join the teachers union against the will of the school’s board. A year later teachers opted out of union membership, kicking off a prolonged fight in which the United Federation of Teachers accused KIPP of intimidating teachers who wanted to unionize.

Now, the school could experience what teachers initially feared: turnover and instability. It’s unclear how many teachers will lose their jobs…

KIPP AMP has also been struggling academically. Of the four KIPP schools that have been open long enough to get progress reports, KIPP AMP’s C-grade put it at the bottom last year. Like most public schools, its test scores were hurt when the state made it more difficult to pass the annual math and English exams last year. The percentage of KIPP AMP students who tested proficient on the English exam fell from 78 to 34 percent and from 87 to 47 percent on the math exam…

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PERV TEACHER WAYNE BARTLEY, ACCUSED OF SEDUCING A STUDENT, TEACHES PARENTING AT TOURO COLLEGE, October 24, 2010, NY Daily News (NY) 

The pervy pedagogue who allegedly bedded an underage student and seduced another teen into snapping X-rated pics has another classroom gig - teaching aspiring educators.

Twisted teacher Wayne Bartley is an adjunct professor at Touro College's New York School of Career and Applied Studies - despite getting canned by the city's Department of Education for an alleged sexual affair with a student.

Bartley, 46, has been teaching a course on Sundays called Foundations of Parenting, which focuses on the roles of family and teachers in a child's development.

After inquiries from the Daily News, school officials last night announced Bartley was suspended pending an investigation into "possible violations of Touro College's code of conduct."

Earlier in the day, Bartley's students said they were freaked out that he was still affiliated with the school.

"I'm like having a heart attack now going to this class," a student told The News. "There's no way that I'm going to be able to look at him."

Last week, Special Schools Investigator Richard Condon released a report on a probe into Bartley that began in April after a parent complained. Investigators discovered that he had a 14-month affair with a Bronx student at a hot-sheets motel starting when she was 13.

He also coaxed a 13-year-old Brooklyn student into sending him naked profile shots and photos of her feet. At another Brooklyn school, he showered a 15-year-old student with gifts, a trip to the nail salon and foot rubs.

The Bronx and Brooklyn district attorneys are now investigating, and Bartley has been banned from working for the Department of Education…

Bartley also worked at three city middle schools in the past five years. He was fired from his last school, KIPP AMP Academy Charter School in Brooklyn, in June.

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INVESTIGATORS CHARGE JUNIOR HIGH TEACHER WITH SEDUCING 13-YEAR-OLD GIRLS, October 21, 2010, New York Post (NY) 

An utterly depraved junior high school teacher carried on a yearlong affair with a 13-year-old student and attempted to seduce two other teens before he was finally fired, investigators said yesterday.

Wayne Bartley, 46, a former science teacher at KIPP AMP Academy Middle School, held his illicit trysts with the 13-year-old girl, at the Paradise Motor Inn, a hot sheet motel in the Bronx, from March 2008 to May 2009, according to the Special Schools Investigator Richard Condon…

He convinced another 13-year-old he met when he taught at IS 392 in Brooklyn to send nude photos of herself to his cell phone. He also gave cash to a third teen, one his KIPP AMP students in Brooklyn, and massaged her feet after paying for her pedicure…

Bartley, who earned $60,000 a year, worked at IS 229 from 2005 to 2008 then transferred IS 392 in Brooklyn. He was "discontinued" in July 2009, according to Department of Education spokeswoman Marge Feinberg.

But, he landed a science teacher position at KIPP during the 2009 to 2010 school year and was fired in June after administrators learned of the investigation.

Paterson Charter School for Science and Technology

The Paterson Charter School for Science and Technology (PCSST) has been identified as a Gulen charter school (click on "About Gulen charter schools" above). You can learn more about the specific connections that PCSST founders, board members, and administrators have to the Gulen Movement HERE and other details about the school HERE.
BOY ACCUSED OF THREATENING TO RAPE, KILL TEACHER, September 12, 2009, The Record (Bergen County, NJ)*

PATERSON - A 14-year-old student at a Paterson charter school was arrested Friday, accused of threatening in an e-mail message to rape and kill his teacher if she did not give the entire class an "A++" for the year, authorities said.
The boy, a student at the Paterson Charter School for Science and Technology, turned himself in at Passaic County Sheriffs Department headquarters on Friday, accompanied by his parents…

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PATERSON STUDENT ALLEGEDLY THREATENS TEACHER IF SHE DIDN'T GIVE GOOD GRADES, September12, 2009, The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ)

… The youth turned himself in to Passaic County authorities on Friday and was charged with making terroristic threats and criminal coercion…

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PASSAIC SCHOOLS' TEST SCORES UNDER PAR, July 2, 2009, The Record (Bergen County, NJ)*

Five North Jersey school districts and a Paterson charter school have fallen short on state tests in math and reading and landed on this year's "districts in need of improvement" list, state education officials announced Wednesday.
The affected districts are all in Passaic County. They are: Paterson, Passaic, Passaic County Vocational School, Lakeland Regional High School, Passaic Valley Regional High School and the Paterson Charter School for Science and Technology…

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TEST SCORES LAG AT 1 IN 10 N.J. SCHOOLS, December 6, 2007, The Record (Bergen County, NJ)*

About one in 10 New Jersey school districts are considered "in need of improvement" due to low scores on standardized tests, state Education Department officials announced Tuesday…
The list is based on two years' of test scores analyzed by students' race, economic status and whether they receive special-education services or are English-language learners. Fifty-four school districts and six charter schools are "in need of improvement," including Northern Valley Regional in Bergen County; the Passaic County districts of Paterson, Passaic and Passaic County Vocational; and the Paterson Charter School for Science and Technology…

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SCIENCE SCHOOL'S CHARTER RENEWED, November 14, 2007, The Record (Bergen County, NJ)*

PATERSON — The Paterson Charter School for Science and Technology will have its charter renewed for five years, state Education Commissioner Lucille Davy announced on Tuesday…

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PATERSON CHARTER SCHOOL GETS YET ANOTHER CHANCE, August 3, 2007, The Record (Bergen County, NJ)*

PATERSON — The state's announcement Thursday that it will give 90 more days of probation to the beleaguered Paterson Charter School for Science and Technology was a victory or defeat, depending on whom you asked…
Primarily, Davy faulted the school for not hiring enough teachers to cover all subject areas, or demonstrating ways it will ensure students meet state standards. Davy also requested an explanation of the school's high teacher attrition rate. Of the 56 teachers, half will be making their debut at the school in the fall, Davy stated…

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PATERSON CHARTER SCHOOL OFFERS TO EXPLAIN PROBLEMS, STAFFING, May 19, 2007, The Record (Bergen County, NJ)*

PATERSON - Officials from a four-year-old charter school [PCSST] that has been on shaky ground for five months and is now under investigation by the state will meet with parents today to inform them whether the school will remain open, and why some teachers have recently been let go…
In December, the school was placed on 90 days' probation by the state Department of Education because of hiring and administrative deficiencies. The probation put the school's charter renewal in jeopardy. The renewal would be for five years…
Departing teachers include some whose pending applications for teacher certification were denied by the state, one who did not have a valid Social Security number and one who allegedly showed students pornographic images from his cellphone, said John [aka Candemir] Toklu, vice president of the school's board of trustees…**

*Available on HighBeam
**Toklu is the Princeton Area Director of the Interfaith Dialog Center (IDC) in New Jersey. The IDC was identified as a Gulenist organization by Joshua Hendrick in his 2009 PhD thesis, "Globalization and Marketed Islam: The Case of Fethullah Gulen."

KIPP Indianapolis College Preparatory

IT MAY BE DO OR DIE FOR INDIANAPOLIS CHARTER SCHOOL; November 6, 2010; Indianapolis Business Journal (IN) 

It’s crunch time for an embattled Indianapolis charter school.

Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) College Preparatory School faces its seventh—and final—review this year, a review that could determine its survival.

KIPP officials insist they’ve solved the management issues that led to financial problems and a revolving door of staff and leadership. Not only is the board bulked up with more expertise, they say, but test scores are rising, leading to hope the San Francisco-based organization will be reauthorized by the mayor’s office…

Through its first six years, KIPP Indianapolis dealt with considerable staff turnover—last year the rate was 55 percent—and episodes of questionable financials…

In two on-site monitoring reviews by the state Department of Education, the school was found to have maintained an imbalanced budget and made undocumented transactions, among other problems.

In 2008, KIPP Indianapolis returned more than $8,000 in Title I funding that had been improperly used on items ranging from teacher salaries to spa services at a professional development retreat.

“There was a lack of oversight,” said Pelino, who didn’t join KIPP until the following year. “The school simply did not have the operational expertise that was needed.”…

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KIPP CHARTER SCHOOL IS SUED IN SEXUAL-ASSAULT CASE, MOTHER OF GIRL CLAIMS NEGLIGENT SUPERVISION ON '07 TRIP, July 26, 2010, The Indianapolis (IN) Star

The mother of a 14-year-old girl who says she was sexually assaulted by four male students during an out-of-state trip has sued an Indianapolis charter school, claiming negligent supervision.

The incident occurred three years ago in a Boston hotel room, according to the lawsuit, which names KIPP Indianapolis College Preparatory.

The suit alleges that the girl -- who is mildly mentally retarded, her attorney says -- was made to perform sex acts on the boys.

Such an allegation illustrates the increased risk of liability schools assume when they take students off school grounds, legal and education experts say. School officials could be at fault for any harm if they fail to provide a reasonable level of supervision.

Whether KIPP staff did so is likely to be a central issue.

Indianapolis attorney Robert D. King Jr. said the girl had finished the seventh grade and was among students who qualified for the five- or six-day reward trip to Boston and New York.

The lawsuit, filed July 14 in Marion Superior Court, provides few details about the incident. King said the boys, who were visiting the hotel room the girl shared with three other girls, exploited her disability and coerced her into performing sex acts…

Many of the school's staff and administrative positions have turned over since the June 2007 incident…

Excelsior Academy

CHARTER SCHOOL LOSES HALF ITS TEACHERS AFTER BUMPY FIRST YEAR, July 29, 2010, Salt Lake Tribune (UT)

Excelsior Academy, Tooele County's first public charter school, will start its second school year on Aug. 24 with only 50 percent of its teachers returning from 2009-10.
The K-8 school in Erda had a rocky start. After its director resigned in February, Excelsior's board contracted with American Preparatory Schools to bring in new management. Many teachers clashed with the new leadership over issues ranging from performance reviews to instruction style…