NAMPA — Former Legacy Charter School co-principal and teacher Monika Gangwer said she was fired after she blew the whistle on an effort to jump a student ahead on a post-lottery waiting list.
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.
The founder of one of the city’s largest charters schools falsified financial records and okayed illegal construction work while serving as its principal, according to a whistleblower suit filed by a former school exec.
Stacy Winitt, executive director of the New Heights Academy in upper Manhattan, allegedly justified her shady practices by claiming her school was “too small to get caught,” court papers charge.
Former COO Gene Fisch Jr. says he was fired after warning two members of the board of directors “that submitting false numbers to the government based on fabricated and forged documents amounted to misappropriation of funds and that ‘someone could go to jail.’”
New Heights, which has about 760 students in grades 5 through 12, budgeted $888,000 in federal grants and $11.7 million in state grants last year, according to its annual report.
Fisch’s Manhattan federal court suit seeks unspecified damages, including twice his lost wages, for retaliation and breach of contract.
Fisch says he uncovered “serious financial misconduct” after being hired by New Heights in July 2008, and refused to sign off on its annual audit because “the numbers used for the audit were not credible.”
He also says Winitt ordered demolition work inside the building at 1818 Amsterdam Ave. without a permit, “with the intention not only to deliberately violate the law, but to do so deceitfully.”...
An influential Latino community group that oversees a number of charter schools in Chicago tried to cover up the sexual assault of a student -- and retaliated against the teacher reporting the incident, a federal lawsuit claims.
The alleged assault occurred last November at the Major Hector P. Garcia M.D. High School, run by the United Neighborhood Organization, or UNO.
A male student getting ready in the locker room for gym class was pinned by a teenager while another student rubbed his genitals against the victim, according to the lawsuit and interviews.
The alleged victim resisted and was beaten, to the extent that red marks were visible on his body, the suit claims.
When gym teacher David Corral saw the boy minutes later, it was clear something had transpired, so Corral contacted a counselor for help, the suit says.
School officials pieced together what happened, police were called to the South Side building -- at 4248 W. 47th St. -- and the alleged assailants were arrested, the suit claims. Law enforcement authorities confirmed the two were arrested, but the case was eventually dropped.
Corral was fired days later for "improper monitoring of students' behavior overall and in the locker rooms," according to UNO spokesman Mark Flores.
Corral, though, filed a lawsuit against the UNO Charter School Network in June saying he really was canned because he blew the whistle on the incident, which school officials had wanted to keep secret…
Garcia High, which has 450 students, is one of UNO's nine charter schools. They receive public funding but aren't subject to many of the stringent rules in place at traditional public schools.
The inspector general's office for Chicago Public Schools was unaware of the lawsuit until contacted by the Better Government Association.
An IG official said his agency has jurisdiction to look into the matter, and now plans to do so…
