Berean Academy

“Berean staff air issues at meeting.” The Sierra Vista Herald (AZ) 02 Jun 2011 

SIERRA VISTA — After cutting his staff’s pay with little notice in May, Berean Academy Director Jim Fogarty was accused of mismanaging funds, violating the school’s by-laws, using improper accounting procedures and violating teacher contracts during a special board meeting Thursday night...

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“Berean board delays decision on staff grievance.” The Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review (AZ) 30 Jun 2011 

SIERRA VISTA — After waiting almost a month for a response to allegations against school director Jim Fogarty, the Berean Academy staff learned on Thursday that they will have to wait a while longer...

A complaint was filed with the state charter school board following the last meeting on June 2 when staff members accused Fogarty of mismanaging funds, violating the school’s by-laws, using improper accounting procedures and violating teacher contracts. Staff members were reacting to a sudden 30 percent reduction to their last three paychecks and what they called an “absurdly inadequate” response to a grievance they filed with Fogarty.

In addition to the June 2 meeting minutes, the state board requested all the materials provided to the board regarding the contents of the Herald/Review article that ran the next day. The issue of apparent concern to the person who filed the complaint was sixth-grade teacher Jennifer Schnupp’s statement that Fogarty admitted to using school funds for a private corporation — Berean Academy Pre-school — which operated at a loss.

Fogarty’s response to the state board includes articles of incorporation that show the preschool was formed as a non-profit subsidiary of the corporation. 

“Understandably several of the staff were upset when I talked with them about the pay cuts. Unfortunately several were too angry to hear anything I said,” Fogarty stated, in a response to the state board of charter schools. “I did NOT say ‘I used Berean Academy funds for the private corporation Berean Academy Preschool.’ There is no reason for me to mis-state the truth to my own detriment.”...

On Thursday, 28 days after the June 2 meeting, the staff still received no substantive response from the board regarding any of their numerous concerns and proposed solutions. After having their pay cut with three days notice and receiving little feedback from the board, the staff’s discontent was evident during Call to the Public at the meeting...

“It’s really hard to believe that nobody on that board had any idea this was coming down because that screams incompetence. Somebody had to know and yet we weren’t given a chance to prepare for it,” [school employee Donna] Hunt said. “If the employees of Berean had behaved in this manner, they would have been fired immediately … Instead of acting irresponsibly we have poured our hearts and our souls into this school.”...

Larry Graham’s grandson has been a student at Berean for seven years and Graham is an ardent supporter of each and every staff member after knowing them for years, he said...

After serving on a variety of boards in Arizona and California, this is the first time he has seen one where the executive officer and their spouse sit on the same board, Graham said.

“This completely eliminates any possibility of a board being unbiased. I think the only honorable and Christian answer to these problems is the immediate resignation of both the board president and his spouse.”