Excel Leadership Academy, f.k.a. Life Skills Center of Palm Beach

“Charter school has day in court today to fight closure by school board.” The Palm Beach Post, 5/13/2013

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“West Palm Beach charter school appeals closure decision.” The Palm Beach Post (FL), 3/27/2013

A West Palm Beach charter school that the Palm Beach School District is trying to close has appealed, arguing the school district has no right to shut its doors because the district didn’t do enough to help the school...

The school board voted 5-1 on March 6 to close Excel starting next school year. A district report recommending the closure cited 13 alleged failures by the school to comply with state rules and its charter contract with the school district. The alleged Excel failures ranged from academic problems such as not having all the required core subjects for a reading program to having “deteriorating financial conditions,” with a $38,000 deficit found by auditors.

Excel filed its appeal on Friday stating that it disputed the facts of each of the alleged failures cited by the district “in whole or in part.” The appeal also argued that the school district is obligated to provide support and services to charter schools under state law and additional support to low performing charter schools under the district’s own policies...

District Senior Counsel Bruce Harris said the district does not comment on pending litigation. He said the state would set a date for the appeal hearing within 60 days.

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“Palm Beach County saves two charter schools, closes one.” Sun Sentinel (FL), 3/6/2013

... But after hours of emotional testimony from more than 50 parents, students and school staff, the board voted to close only Excel Leadership Academy, a high school in West Palm Beach...

The school was slated for closure in part for receiving two “F” grades since 2009. Teachers were not adhering to the correct state benchmarks and using outdated requirements...

Meanwhile, district officials said Excel Leadership Academy is in a state of financial emergency, struggling with declining enrollment and failure to provide an adequate reading curriculum to students. The school board voted 4-2 to not renew the school’s contract, set to expire in June.

“These are basic compliance issues,” said board member Chuck Shaw. He said rejecting the renewal would still give the school an opportunity to overcome its financial challenges and reapply another year...”

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Imagine School of North Port

“Imagine School fight ends; principal to leave.” Herald-Tribune (FL), 5/9/2013

NORTH PORT - The agreement came at 1 a.m. Thursday for the two sides fighting for Imagine School at North Port after nearly 16 hours of talks...

It was an ending to the charter's contentious legal fight, which began in February when the North Port school tried to fire its parent company and become independent...

In February, Matthews and the local officials complained about paying hefty management fees with public tax dollars every year to the nonprofit company. The board voted to break off from Imagine Schools — one of the largest charter school companies in the nation — and run its own school, a move that the corporation viewed as a coup détat.

Almost immediately, Imagine Schools sued Matthews and the local board for more than $15,000 in Sarasota County Circuit Court and accused them of several charges, including breach of contract.

The high-profile legal battle was fused by multiple court hearings, back-and-forth contradictory emails to parents and a petition to support Matthews that supporters passed around the school parking lots...

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“All eyes on charter fallout.” WWSB ABC 7 (FL), 3/13/2013

SARASOTA COUNTY - Tuesday a judge ruled the principal of Imagine School in North Port could keep his job. However, it looks as though it will be a long fight over the future of the school.

Wednesday we talked to school board and legal experts who say the case moving forward may just impact the future of charter schools across the country.

The future of a local independent charter school and educating more than 1,000 children in it was in a court room this week. "It is not a healthy situation." The judge now suggesting the local school district get more involved. Sarasota County School Board member Caroline Zucker says it's a gray area. "There is no clear cut understanding of who owns what and who is responsible for what."

The fight between the Imagine parent company and the local governing board it appointed will likely continue through the court system. It may also have a bigger impact then just here...

As officials get ready for the upcoming year at Imagine School at North Port, its legal team will prepare for court...

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“North Port charter school breaks off from Imagine Schools.” Herald-Tribune (FL), 2/19/2013

... The drama comes after the local charter school's governing board voted unanimously last week to end its management contract with Imagine Schools, its out-of-state parent company.

“It looks like we're going to war with our former management company,” said principal Justin Matthews, who has led the school since it opened in 2008...

Matthews announced that the school's new name would be Sarasota Preparatory School...

But Imagine Schools isn't willing to let go so easily.

Within hours, the Virginia nonprofit had filed a lawsuit seeking more than $15,000 in Sarasota County Circuit Court.

The complaint says Matthews and the North Port school defamed Imagine Schools with their comments to parents, the School Board and the public.

Imagine Schools also alleges that Matthews violated his non-compete contract when he abandoned his post at Imagine School at North Port and created a rival institution...

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“Imagine School, North Point students arrested after gun found on campus.” WPTV (FL), 1/302013

NORTH PORT, Fla. (AP) -- Police arrested two students at school in North Port after a gun was found on campus.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune ( http://bit.ly/WPsZ6q0 reports officials were tipped off about the 9 mm handgun when a student told a teacher Tuesday afternoon at Imagine School...

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Imagine Academy of Careers Middle School

“Former St. Louis charter school instructor charged with raping student.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 9/5/2012

ST. LOUIS • Prosecutors have charged a former St. Louis charter school instructor with raping a student last month.

Ronald C. Wilkerson, 41, of the 1200 block of North Euclid Avenue, was charged Aug. 31 with two counts of forcible rape, one count of forcible sodomy, two counts of second-degree statutory rape, one count of statutory sodomy and two counts of witness tampering.

Authorities said Wilkerson, a former instructor at one of the Imagine charter schools, twice raped and sodomized a 14-year-old girl last month and threatened to hurt or kill her family if she told anyone about it...

Wilkerson was a communication arts teacher at the Imagine Academy of Careers Middle School... The victim had attended the school.

After years of financial and academic troubles, the state education board closed Imagine's six charter schools this past spring. The public charter schools were run by the for-profit Imagine Schools Inc. and were independent of city school system.

Wilkerson was on the company's payroll through the end of July, Waters said.

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STATE OF MISSOURI  VS WILKERSON, RONALD C

http://www.circuitattorney.org/docs/Ronald%20Wilkerson.pdf

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Imagine Schools in St. Louis, Missouri (six-school shutdown)

“Shuttering of Imagine charter schools in St. Louis is daunting.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO), 4/20/2012     

 As they move to close down a network of St. Louis charter schools over the next several weeks, state education officials face a task as monumental and complicated as dismantling an entire school district...

In fact, the decision this week by Missouri's Board of Education to shutter six Imagine charter schools in St. Louis will likely result in the largest charter school closure of its kind nationwide, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools...

A state transition office at Harris-Stowe State University has a transition coordinator and an assistant employed by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The team they are working with includes representatives from the Missouri Public Charter School Association and St. Louis Public Schools...

...The governing board of Confluence Academy, with four charter schools and nearly 3,200 students, is working to cut ties with its for-profit operator, EdisonLearning Inc., to improve academic achievement. Test scores at three of the schools are also below those of St. Louis Public Schools...

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“Missouri calls it quits on Imagine charter schools in St. Louis.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO), 4/18/2012  

The Missouri Board of Education put underperforming charter schools statewide on notice Tuesday by voting to close all Imagine charter schools in St. Louis...

The move follows months of increasing scrutiny of the schools' financial, leadership and academic problems. The schools are operated by Virginia-based Imagine Schools Inc., a for-profit charter school management company. Students enrolled at the schools make up about one-third of the city's charter school population.

State test results from 2011 showed that nearly all students at the city's Imagine schools were performing below grade level in reading and math, prompting St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and Nicastro to call for the closure of the schools.

In December, their sponsor, Missouri Baptist University, announced it would close two of them — Imagine Academy of Academic Success and Imagine Academy of Cultural Arts — this spring, and place the other four on probation.

On Monday, Missouri Baptist University relinquished its sponsorship of the six charter schools, handing all regulatory authority over to the state. And one day later, the Board of Education voted to close them.

But even as the state moves toward shuttering all schools by June 30, some have discussed a long-shot option of keeping some version of the schools open...

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MORE TO READ AT “Missouri closing six Imagine charter school campuses.” Washington Post, 4/18/2012    

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Missouri Baptist University-authorized charter schools

“Missouri to Review Charter School Sponsor; Missouri Baptist University has Been urged to address the academic and management issues at the schools.” Kansas City infoZine (MO); 3/21/2012

The State Board of Education approved issuing a notice to Missouri Baptist University (MBU) that its authorization to sponsor charter schools will be reviewed in April...

MBU currently sponsors four charter schools in the St. Louis area with a total enrollment of nearly 4,200 students.

Academic performance at four of the six school buildings under MBU sponsorship ranks in the bottom five percent of all public schools in Missouri. Deficit spending and high administrative costs have raised concerns about the management and oversight of the schools...

MBU started sponsoring charter schools in the summer of 2006. Charters currently sponsored by the university are: Imagine Academy of Careers (grades K-12), Imagine Academy of Academic Success (grades K-8), Imagine Academy of Environmental Science and Math (grades K-8), and Carondelet Leadership Academy (grades K-6). Last December, the sponsor announced the Imagine Academy of Academic Success will close both its campuses at the end of the school year.

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Imagine Charter School at Weston

“Piano Teacher Guilty of Molesting Students; David Layman taught at Imagine Charter Schoolin Weston.” NBC Miami (FL), 1/25/2011

A Broward piano teacher has been sentenced to seven years in prison Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to molesting four of his young students.

David Layman, 38, took a plea deal that allowed him to avoid life in prison. He was initially charged with seven counts of molestation.

The piano teacher was arrested almost three years ago after several of his former students accused the man of rubbing their thighs and touching their privates during lessons.

Layman met most of his victims at the Imagine Charter School in Weston where he taught music. He also taught private lessons in the students' home, where much of the improper touching took place.

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Imagine School in the Valle

“Battle Rages Between Charter School and Management Company.” KLAS-TV 8 News (NV) 6/30/11

LAS VEGAS -- With budget battles brewing over schools and how much should be spent on them, many parents are turning to charter schools as another option. A charter school is a school that is publicly-funded by the state, but run privately by its own governing board.

Often, those schools will get help from an Education Management Organization to handle things like book-keeping and setting the curriculum. But what happens when the school decides it doesn't need the management anymore?

The Imagine School in the Valle opened in 2008, using just a few rooms at a YMCA. They had help from an EMO called Imagine that took care of hiring and accounting, and even found the school a building in Centennial Hills.

Three years later, the school's enrollment is in the hundreds and they are looking to get rid of Imagine.

"Imagine has tried to usurp our authority on many occasions, but this is the board's charter school," said school treasurer Ann Barnes...

"Imagine Schools took the financial risk, the financial up-front risk to secure that building long-term. The board is not at risk for that long term lease," said Imagine Schools co-founder Eileen Bakke...

At this point, there is no agreement between the two sides. Imagine is looking for a new school board and new kids to pay the rent on the building. The board has two years to re-up with Imagine or get out -- an option Anne Barnes says is fine with her.

"I feel relieved. I don't have to worry about the blood battles. We've had some real tough negotiations with Imagine and I'm relieved we don't have to go through that in the future," she said.

The state Board of Education says the Valle board is completely within its rights to operate the school without the management company, but they really do need a building. The possibility exists if they can't find one in two years, the school may have to dissolve, and neither side wants that.

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“Disputed charter school can’t be barred.” Las Vegas Sun (NV) 5/1/08

Nevada Education Department officials do not want an out-of-state company opening a second charter school in the Las Vegas Valley this fall, but they can’t prevent it...

At issue is Imagine School in the Valle...

In the past few months, state education officials have become increasingly concerned about Imagine Schools’ management of the North Las Vegas campus, citing a lack of qualified teachers, poor student performance and shoddy bookkeeping.

Charter schools receive the same per-pupil state funding as traditional public campuses, and officials say there have been enough problems at 100 Academy to convince them that spending taxpayer money on another Imagine school is a bad idea.

But in October 2006, when 100 Academy was just a month old, the state Education Board approved sponsorship of Imagine School in the Valle. So far, no one’s found an escape hatch that would allow the state to cancel the sponsorship. Education officials say the situation highlights yet another problem with the way the charter school approval process works.

“There are so many holes in the system to be patched,” said State Board of Education member Cindy Reid, chairwoman of the charter schools subcommittee. “Right now, it seems we are locked into sponsorship, despite new information that’s come to us after the fact.”...

...Imagine Schools has applications pending to open two additional campuses in the Las Vegas Valley.

The Nevada Education Department is recommending rejection of both applications, citing “serious deficiencies,” including Imagine’s shaky track record both locally and in other states. The charter schools subcommittee meets today, with a full board vote set for Saturday.

In October, the Clark County School Board considered revoking 100 Academy’s charter, but backed off when Imagine Schools forgave $285,000 in debt the school owed for its management. School Board members said they weren’t pleased that 100 Academy was spending 25 percent of its per-pupil funding — $1.2 million — on rent. The landlord is School House Finance LLC, an affiliate of Imagine Schools. Board members also wanted 100 Academy’s principal to report to the governing body, rather than be an Imagine Schools employee...

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Imagine College Preparatory High School

STUDENT IS AWARDED $145,000 IN ALLEGED ASSAULT AT ST. LOUIS CHARTER SCHOOL- SETTLEMENT INVOLVES ALLEGATIONS AGAINST OFF-DUTY CITY COP. STLtoday.com (St. Louis, MO) 29 May 2010 

A student who was allegedly assaulted by an off-duty St. Louis police officer at a charter school was awarded $145,000 as part of the terms of a settlement disclosed Friday.

The settlement reached earlier this week between Imagine Academy of Careers, at 3740 Marine Avenue, and Barbara Perry stems from an incident on Feb. 26, 2009. The plaintiffs alleged that Perry's son, J.N., who was a minor and not named in the suit, was assaulted at Imagine College Preparatory High School by an off-duty police officer, Eugene Page, who was in a relationship with his teacher, Genesa Smith…

The settlement states that the payment absolves Imagine Schools and employees of Imagine of any wrongdoing but leaves the door open to future litigation against Eugene Page and the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners…

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SUIT CLAIMS STUDENT, 15, WAS ASSAULTED AT IMAGINE CHARTER SCHOOL. STLtoday.com (St. Louis, MO) 21 Aug 2009 

ST. LOUIS -- A federal lawsuit filed Friday alleges that a 15-year-old student at Imagine College Preparatory High School was beaten by staff and a St. Louis police officer.

Named in the suit are Genesa Smith, a teacher; Eugene Page, a St. Louis police officer who the suit said is Smith’s boyfriend; Rodney Williams, a security guard; Tamara Thomas, the charter school’s principal at the time; and the school itself.

The suit, filed by the boy and his mother, Barbara Perry, alleges Page lifted the boy by his throat and slammed him repeatedly against a wall on Feb. 26. The suit states that Page told the boy he had been accused of threatening a teacher, and that the other three knew what was happening but did nothing. The boy, now 16, suffered injuries that caused blood in his urine, as well as blunt force trauma, according to the suit…

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Imagine Prep High School

TEACHER AT IMAGINE PREP CHARTER IN ARIZONA FIRED FOR BUMPER STICKERS; February 2011; BlogforArizona.com

I've written a lot about Imagine charter schools in Arizona and across the country. Their CEO is an amazingly rich guy, also very conservative, also deeply Christian, who keeps a tight rein on the schools. Imagine Schools has been the subject of all kinds of negative press across the country (and almost no attention in Arizona) for slighting education, bankrupting individual schools by charging huge management fees and exorbitant rent on buildings, and on and on. The one thing you rarely hear about Imagine Schools is that they are superior educationally.

A Channel 12 Phoenix news story covers the firing of Tarah Ausburn, a high school English teacher at Imagine Prep high school in the Phoenix area (I think in Surprise) with nine years experience who was let go for the bumper stickers on her car…

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Marietta Charter School

CHARTER SCHOOL FUTURE BLEAK; February 11, 2011; Marietta Daily Journal (GA)

ATLANTA - Thursday's non-action by the Georgia Board of Education likely means Marietta Charter School will close when its charter expires June 30.

Marietta Charter School officials had hoped the state board would overturn a Dec. 16 decision by the Georgia Charter Schools Commission, which denied the school's request for a new independent charter that would keep its doors open. But the state board on Thursday elected not to take any action…

Last summer, Superintendent Dr. Emily Lembeck recommended that the Marietta school board deny renewing the school's charter due to wide-ranging problems with enrollment, finances, student achievement and curriculum. The school, which opened in August 2006, is managed by Imagine Schools of Arlington, Va.

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MARIETTA CHARTER SCHOOL TO GO PRIVATE; April 14, 2011; Marietta Daily Journal (GA) 

MARIETTA — In an unusual move, leaders of Marietta Charter School have announced that the school will stay open next year as a tuition free private school, though under a different name.

The school, which has about 200 students in grades kindergarten through fifth, will be known as Wright Prep Academy as of July 1, principal Christy Tureta said.

The school is managed by Imagine Schools, Inc., a for-profit company based in Arlington, Va., and has operated under a charter from Marietta City Schools since 2006. Imagine Schools Inc. will pay the full, $1.7 million operating cost for the 2011-12 school year, Tureta said.

Last summer, the Marietta school board refused to renew the charter for five more years, based on Su-perintendent Dr. Emily Lembeck’s findings that the school had wide-ranging problems with enrollment, finances, student achievement and curriculum.

Appeals to the state board of education and the state charter schools commission were unsuccessful, and the school was to close as of June 30. But the doors will stay open, Tureta said…

Going private gives the school time to seek a new charter from the Georgia Charter Schools Commission for the 2012-13 school year, Tureta said…

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Imagine Charter School at Firestone

SVVSD RENEWS IMAGINE’S CHARTER: SCHOOL BOARD STILL EXAMINING CHARTER SCHOOL POLICIES; January 13, 2011; Longmont Times-Call (CO) 

The St. Vrain Valley School District Board of Education on Wednesday renewed one charter school’s charter, then continued to grapple with how to handle applications for new charter schools.

Although the vote to renew Imagine Charter School at Firestone’s charter was unanimous, school board members raised concerns about its budget.

Only 32 percent of Imagine at Firestone’s revenue is spent on instruction, board vice president Rick Hammans said. The school’s 2010 audit showed $1.3 million of its $4.3 million revenue going to instruction.

The audit shows that Imagine at Firestone is paying its educational management provider — Imagine, Inc. — about 23.6 percent of its revenue, or $1 million, for the lease on its building and other equipment, and another 14.6 percent, or $625,000, for services.

Hammans urged Imagine at Firestone’s board of directors to make a “significant effort” to spend more money in the classrooms…

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