Arroyo Vista Charter School

“Child molester in Chula Vistagets 45 years.” San Diego Union-Tribune (CA), 3/31/2005

CHULA VISTA – A former supervisor of a YMCA after-school program was given a prison sentence of 45 years to life by a Superior Court judge yesterday for molesting three kindergarten students.

Daniel Meraz, 25, was convicted in July of improperly touching three girls who attended an after-school program he supervised in 2002 and 2003 at Arroyo Vista Charter School in the Eastlake Greens section of Chula Vista. He was acquitted of molesting a fourth child...

Read More

King-Chavez Academy of Excellence

“Molesting boy brings 10-year term.” San Diego Union-Tribune (CA), 12/1/2005

EL CAJON – A former administrator of a Barrio Logan charter school was sentenced to 10 years in prison yesterday for sexually molesting a boy he baby-sat over a two-year period.

Dennis Michael McKeown did not make a statement in Superior Court yesterday, but he said in an Oct. 25 letter to probation officials that "not a day goes by that I am not sorry for my actions."

"I am filled with disgust and self-loathing as well as shame and humility," he wrote in the letter filed with the court.

McKeown, 42, pleaded guilty to three counts of molesting the boy between August 2001 and August 2003. The boy was between 6 and 9 at the time...

McKeown is a former principal of King-Chavez Academy of Excellence in Barrio Logan and was chief executive officer of the corporation that runs the school when arrested in July...

Prosecutor Kurt Mechals told the judge that although McKeown admitted molesting the boy three times, the boy remembers at least 10 incidents.

Defense attorney John Phillips urged the judge to show leniency in part because of the good deeds McKeown did in developing the charter school.

"Under his leadership, the charter school excelled beyond everyone's imagination," Phillips said...

McKeown told probation officials that during the time he molested the boy he was depressed over the breakup of his marriage and was drinking heavily and smoking marijuana, court records state...

Read More

Parkway Academy Charter High School

“Parkway Academy put on notice.” Sun Sentinel (FL), 3/20/2012

The Broward School Board put Parkway Academy on notice Tuesday that its poor record of student achievement could result in it being shut down.

Board members voted unanimously to send a letter to the Miramar charter school notifying it that its charter won’t be renewed in June. The charter, which specializes in automotive studies, was the only F-rated high school in Broward County last year. It enrolls about 517 students.

This isn’t the last chance for the school, though. It can appeal the decision.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Parkway Academy of Miramar fined $260,800.” West Volusia Beacon (FL), 6/22/2010

GAINESVILLE — Parkway Academy of Miramar has been penalized for major violations committed by its athletic program.

The school has been reprimanded, fined $260,800, its entire athletic program placed on five years of restrictive probation and three additional years of administrative probation, and the school's football program was placed on five years of restrictive probation and three additional years of administrative probation...

The penalties are in response to violations of multiple provisions of association regulations, including multiple counts of student-athlete ineligibility.

The school currently is serving restrictive probation for violations in its girls' basketball program...

The Florida High School Athletic Association office began its investigation in the 2008-09 school year, particularly the football team's student-eligibility...

The investigation determined that 32 specific violations of FHSAA bylaws and policies were committed, including:

... participation of non-school students in practice;

... participation of ineligible student-athletes in interscholastic contests;

... participation in illegal football scrimmages;

... violations of athletic-recruiting policies; and

... falsification of information to the FHSAA investigative consultant.

"It is not only the tremendous number of FHSAA bylaws and policies that have been violated by Parkway Academy, but also the egregiousness of those violations that are so appalling," said Executive Director Roger Dearing. "This investigation, which took more than four months to complete, along with the subsequent report and findings, represent the most serious levels of offenses with which the association has had to deal in recent years...

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Teen Dies in Shooting After School Dance in Miramar.” South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 5/6/2006

A teenager was shot and killed Friday night following an altercation at a school dance at Parkway Academy High School in Miramar...

A disturbance inside the cafeteria carried over to the outside of the school where the shooting took place. The victim was identified as Devon Sutton, 19, the brother of the disc jockey at the event.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Teen Suspect In School-bus Shooting Could Be Charged As Adult.”11/17/2005

A 17-year-old Miramar girl accused of shooting her classmate appeared Wednesday in court, where she likely will be charged as an adult.

Tuesday morning the suspect was the last person to get on the bus to school. She pulled a chrome handgun from behind her back, reached over a seat with students and shot Cheatham in the shoulder, the affidavit says. Then the suspect pulled back the gun's slide, ready to shoot again.

The bus driver quickly grabbed the suspect and forced her off the bus before driving off.

The girls are both juniors at Parkway Academy High, a 480-student charter school in Miramar...

Read More

Bonita Springs Charter School

FOUR WOMEN SUE BONITA SPRINGS CHARTER SCHOOL FOR SEXUAL HARASSMENT. Naples News (FL) 04 Jun 2010 http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/jun/04/four-women-sue-bs-charter-school-administrator-sex/

Four women have sued Bonita Springs Charter School in federal court claiming sexual harassment and retaliation at the hands of their administrator.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the middle district of Florida in Fort Myers, said Ana Sanchez, Elsa Aguilera, Maria (also called Carmen) Soto and Otilia Hernandez were fired after they refused repeated sexual advances from former school administrator Jorge Castillo.

Soto, 63, was also discriminated against because of her age, the suit claimed. Castillo is said to have told her no work was available, however, the school then hired younger female employees with less experience.

All four women filed a charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which, in May, found evidence that violations had occurred and granted their right to sue…

That harassment created an “intimidating, hostile and offensive work environment” with “tangible adverse employment action,” the suit said.

The claim did not enumerate specific examples, but said the women faced unwelcome verbal comments, inappropriate touching, continued requests for sex or sexual favors.

“Lee Charter Foundation, the governing body of the school that is located at 25380 Bernwood Drive, is also named as a defendant.”…

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

MOTHER SUES CHARTER SCHOOL. Orlando Sentinel (FL) April 08, 2005 http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2005-04-08/news/0504080163_1_bonita-springs-charter-school-teacher

BONITA SPRINGS -- After a little girl got sick in the bathroom of her kindergarten class, the teacher made her don rubber gloves and remove a clog from the toilet, according to a lawsuit filed by the girl's mother.

Lori Januska sued Bonita Springs Charter School this week after she said her 5-year-old daughter, Heather, clogged the toilet Sept. 22 and her teacher made her remove it while the class watched.

The suit said "a vulnerable 5-year-old was subjected to cruel, unusual and traumatic disciplinary actions which directly resulted in severe emotional distress, pain and suffering, and mental distress."

The girl suffers from an incurable gastrointestinal condition.

The suit, which seeks an unspecified amount in damages, claims the school staff was negligent in hiring an unqualified teacher.

Principal Pamela Franco and school-district attorney Keith Martin would not comment on the suit.

Mark Levinsen, senior vice president of administration and human resources for Charter Schools USA, investigated the original complaint and said the teacher was disciplined.

Read More

Eagles Peak Charter School (4000 students)

FORMER SCHOOL DIRECTOR GETS $1M.  North County Times (San Diego County, CA) 20 Aug 2010 

A jury awarded the former executive director of the now-defunct Eagles Peak Charter School $1 million this week in a wrongful termination lawsuit filed after the administrator was fired in 2008, an attorney said Friday.

In the lawsuit, the former executive, Rich Alderson, accused the school’s board of directors of firing him after less than a year on the job for refusing to retaliate against employees who had criticized them.

The jury determined that the school acted with fraud, malice or oppression, according to Bob Ottilie, Alderson’s attorney…

In his lawsuit, Alderson claimed that trustees had asked him to do something to keep the employees from speaking up, which he refused to do…

A few months earlier, disagreements between the board and former Executive Director Kathleen Hermsmeyer caused the school to split in two. Hermsmeyer and most of the other administrators moving to the newly formed River Springs Charter School based in Riverside County.

Before the division, the school was the largest in the region, with nearly 4,000 students. It catered to parents who primarily taught their children at home and had learning centers throughout San Diego, Riverside and Orange counties.

The school closed last year after the school board at the Julian district decided not to renew its charter. At the time, the district’s superintendent said the move was spurred in large part by Alderson’s firing.

In September, Mountain Peak Charter School opened with many of the same programs, employees, students and the same board president as Eagles Peak.

The new school is sponsored by the Mountain Empire Unified School District and serves more than 500 students in San Diego, Riverside, Orange and Imperial counties with learning centers in Vista, Chula Vista and San Jacinto…

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

REPORT DOCUMENTS PAST PROBLEMS AT CHARTER SCHOOL. North County Times (San Diego County, CA) 07 Dec 2007

VISTA -- A county report released this week says poor judgment and lax oversight led to several problems at North County's largest charter school, where allegations of money mismanagement, nepotism and conflicts of interest erupted into an ugly power struggle last year.

The controversy at Vista-based Eagles Peak Charter School has since subsided; the massive academy split into two separate schools in early 2007. No criminal charges were filed against anyone at either school.

The county report says problems from the past could continue to haunt Eagles Peak, including the possibility that the school will have to return roughly $7.3 million in state funding. The school that branched off, River Springs Charter School, is not included in the audit and would not have to share that burden.

The report was released Tuesday by the San Diego Office of Education, which hired an auditing firm to look into 12 allegations against former administrators at the school that had been lodged by its board of directors. The report specifically studies what it describes as the actions of six top administrators who have since left Eagles Peak…

The report doesn't place all of the blame on former administrators. The school's board of directors contributed to the problems by not keeping an eye on expenses, the audit states. Before last year, the school board "provided minimal monitoring, at best," according to the report.

The report specifically examines several decisions and transactions by former Eagles Peak Executive Director Kathleen Hermsmeyer and her management team, including $18,284 worth of food purchases, $32,458 in balance transfers onto school credit cards and the lease of a beach-front condominium for visiting administrators…

Because school officials never asked for documentation of those credit card expenses, the auditors say it's impossible to determine exactly where that money went. When Hermsmeyer parted ways with the school earlier this year, the Eagles Peak board signed an agreement saying it would not seek to recoup any money…

Eagles Peak runs sites in San Diego, Riverside and Orange counties; River Springs operates schools throughout Riverside County.

Each organization has more than 2,000 students and caters to parents who home-school or want more involvement in their children's education than traditional schools often offer…

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

CHARTER SCHOOL BOARD FIRES DIRECTOR, GRAPPLES WITH DEFICIT. North County Times (San Diego County, CA) 01 Feb 2007

TEMECULA -- As the largest charter school serving Southwest Riverside and North San Diego counties continues its split into two autonomous entities, the board overseeing half its operations fired the school's longtime executive director after a five-hour meeting Tuesday night.

Citing several contentions, including misappropriation of money and conflicts of interest, the board overseeing the Vista-based coastal operation of Eagles Peak Charter School terminated the employment of Kathleen Hermsmeyer, who has been on administrative leave from the coastal division since November.

Hermsmeyer remains director of Eagles Peak Charter School Inland Empire. She did not return phone calls Wednesday.

The decision to fire her came as coastal board members said they are grappling with a projected deficit of $2.4 million for this fiscal year, which ends June 30. The board members said they largely blamed Hermsmeyer for much of the debt, contending the school has been mismanaged…

The votes came after three teachers resigned, citing concern over the school's direction and what they contended was the board's misguided agenda. Several parents also pleaded with the board that certain academic programs run at the Temecula campus should be spared. Several parents shed tears over the school's Montessori program, saying their children needed it.

About half of Eagles Peak's students are home-schooled, and the others are enrolled in various academic programs the school offers, ones that often include a mix of home-schooling and time spent at one of the campuses, dubbed learning centers, under the direction of teachers…

Each organization has a separate charter and roughly 2,000 students. The coastal school is chartered through the Julian Union High School District and the inland school is chartered by the Riverside County Office of Education. They are public schools and do not charge tuition…

Other reasons cited for Hermsmeyer's firing included her alleged decisions to:

- Allow a top administrator to earn $64,500 on loans the school took out without board approval.

- Lease a $43,000 sport utility vehicle, albeit partly for school use, an action the board called needlessly excessive.

- Lease a beachfront condominium in Oceanside for two top administrators to supposedly attract quality employees, an action the board called "tantamount to a gift of public funds."

- Give a "substantial pay raise" to employees last year without board approval and despite the school's negative operating balance at the time of $655,000, raises the coastal board contends benefited Hermsmeyer as well as her husband and sister, who were also employees.

- Work as a teacher while also working as executive director, and collecting two salaries, "constituting a self-dealing transaction and a violation of the Political Reform Act."…

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

DISPLACED PUPILS TO ATTEND GREEN OAK FOR TWO WEEKS. San Diego Union-Tribune (CA) 25 Sep 2004 

VISTA – Nearly 230 kids shut out of their charter school when city officials closed it Thursday will go to class at Green Oak Ranch for two weeks while school officials figure out what to do.

Citing unsafe conditions such as narrow hallways that could impede fire evacuation, Vista Fire Marshal Phil Paige served operators of Eagles Peak Charter School, 450 W. California Ave., with eviction papers Thursday…

"It's likely we won't be able to do what the city needs us to do in two weeks. We'll need to find a more long-term facility or facilities for these kids," she said.

Assistant City Manager Rick Dudley said the city received a complaint Tuesday saying the school was unsafe. He said school officials put their pupils in the building without consulting the city on building codes.

"Schools have different standards for construction and access than say a commercial business," Dudley said. "You can't just throw school kids in an old commercial building and call it good."…

Read More

Flanner House Higher Learning Center

CHARTER SCHOOLS BOARD VOTES TO REVOKE FLANNER HOUSE HIGHER LEARNING CENTER'S CHARTER; October 21, 2005; Indianapolis Mayor’s Office press release (IN)

INDIANAPOLIS - The Indianapolis Charter Schools Board today voted to revoke the Flanner House Higher Learning Center's charter due to numerous problems the school has experienced over the past two years.

The Charter Schools Office first flagged these problems during the 2003-04 school year, and detailed them in the 2004 Charter School Accountability Report of Mayor-Sponsored Charter Schools. Problems also were cited in a recent audit by the Indiana State Board of Accounts.

The revocation was issued today and will become effective as soon as all students transition out of the school, but no later than December 23, 2005. Reasons for the revocation were detailed in a notice sent to the school on September 27. They include:

· Failure to report enrollment. The school failed to accurately report average daily membership for the 2003-04 and 2004-05 school years in accordance with state law.

· Failure to report student attendance records. The school routinely failed to maintain and report accurate attendance records, in accordance with state law.

· Graduating students who haven't met requirements. Student transcripts show that many students who received diplomas in the last two years did not meet the graduation requirements set out in the school's charter or Indiana law, typically because they either did not have enough credits or had not passed the appropriate courses.

· Poor test scores. In both years of operation, most students failed to successfully complete the required standardized test (Northwest Evaluation Association Measures of Academic Progress) in the fall and spring. Some of those who successfully completed the test actually did worse on the spring test than they did on the fall test and lost ground against both state and national norms in grades and subjects tested in both the 2003-04 and 2004-05 school years.

· Lack of certified teachers. In the 2004-05 school year, the school employed only four licensed teachers at the school, which is less than the number of teachers the school's charter requires and less than necessary to adequately staff the school.

· Failure to test students. The school failed to administer the ninth grade Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress Plus ("ISTEP+") examination to any students enrolled in the ninth grade in 2004-05, as required by state law.

· Debt. The school has a debt of $142,076.44 and must forgo more than $600,000 in state money because the school could not account for the students listed in the 2003-04 and 2004-05 enrollment reports…

Read More

Jola Community Charter School

"When charters close, public schools foot the bill."  Voice of San Diego (CA), 12/4/2007 

Spending scandals brought down Children's Conservation Academy, a City Heights charter school shuttered in 2007, only two years after it opened. A year earlier, A. Phillip Randolph Leadership Academy dissolved, with questions swirling around its finances. Its closure echoed that of Jola Community Charter School, a girls' charter that sunk two months after opening in 2005.

These schools and two other closed charters owe more than $300,000 to San Diego Unified School District in unpaid fees and property taxes. None have repaid the district. School staff doubts they ever will…

But while charters can be snuffed, ending experiments gone wrong, the closures aren't painless. In San Diego, shuttered charters still owe thousands to the school district and the state in unpaid fees. Public schools rarely recover those funds unless a charter director is prosecuted for a crime, such as fraud, and forced to repay the district. Ordinary debts go unpaid...

"Nobody's monitoring charter schools that closely," said Andrea Niehaus, the district's director of audits and investigations. She recently asked to hire another auditor for her seven-person office, to specialize in charter schools. "They don't keep the same documents. We can't even see how they're taking attendance — and that's how schools are funded. We have no way of knowing."

"It's very disturbing," Niehaus said. "I don't see anyone doing any real oversight."...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

NO SURPRISE-HARBINGER OF CHARTER SCHOOL FAILURE IGNORED; January 6, 2007; San Diego Union-Tribune (CA) 

With one phone call to Ohio's state auditor – or simply a Google search – the San Diego Unified School District could have learned that Donna Johnson, seeking a charter for the Jola Community School in Mount Hope, had just left a long record of financial chaos in her operation of the Imani Institute Leadership School, her previous charter school in Cleveland.

So chaotic a record for so long, in fact, that Ohio's state auditor, already skeptical of Johnson, was conducting a special audit. So chaotic for so long that even minimal due diligence should have kept San Diego officials from dismissing questions about Johnson's performance in Cleveland as irrelevant to San Diego.

Ohio Auditor Betty Montgomery has now issued the special audit. It finds public money meant for Imani was spent for pricey women's apparel and Luther Vandross concert tickets. It finds that throughout Imani's operation Johnson ignored generally accepted accounting principles and Ohio financial reporting requirements. It finds that Johnson owes Ohio $341,156, and cannot account for $482,159 in federal grant money.

Now Johnson owes the San Diego district $162,516 in funding for Jola, which folded in fall 2005 after two months' operation for lack of students, facilities and money. It has yet to close its financial books to the district's satisfaction.

This should have come as no surprise, if it had to come at all. Our two-minute call to State Auditor Montgomery and a one-minute search of her Web site turned up an audit report posted in November 2003 noting that the financial statements Johnson provided for Imani “omit all disclosures required by generally accepted accounting principles” and listing eight “material weaknesses” in Imani's accounting.

Either the San Diego district's vetting process is wholly inadequate or the district staff is far too gullible. Whichever, it needs fixing, now.

Read More

International Preparatory School

“Former Charter School Operator To Pay Back $1.4 Million It Owes State.” StateImpact (OH), 1/10/2012

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is ordering the operator of a former charter school to pay back $1.4 million it over-billed the state, with interest.

Hassina Shabazz and her late husband Da’ud Abdul Malik Shabazz ran two charters, The International Preparatory Schools (TIPS) for six years before abruptly shutting them down.

A state audit found the Shabazz’ inflated enrollment figures at their schools, cashing in on funding for hundreds of students that didn’t exist.

The Ohio Department of Education has been trying to get those funds back for years. An Ohio Supreme Court decision a year ago helped move that process forward by concluding that charter school operators are public officials who are responsible for misused or lost public dollars...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 CHARTER-SCHOOL OFFICERS CAN BE LIABLE FOR HOW PUBLIC FUNDS SPENT: OHIO SUPREME COURT ALLOWS STATE SUIT; December 21, 2010; Associated Press in Columbus Dispatch (OH)

The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that officers or representatives of charter schools are public officials who can be held liable for public funds that the schools lose or improperly spend.

The 6-0 ruling yesterday involved the International Preparatory School in Cleveland, which closed in 2005.

A subsequent state audit showed that the school had improperly collected $1.4million in state funds by inflating enrollment numbers. The state sued its treasurer in an attempt to retrieve the money.

Charter schools, or community schools, are generally operated by nonprofit groups or for-profit management companies. They are publicly funded.

The ruling overturns an appeals court decision that said the treasurer was a corporate officer of the school and shielded from personal liability. It sends the matter back to Cuyahoga County court.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

STATE MAY COLLECT FUNDING ERROR FROM SCHOOL OFFICER; December 23, 2010; Courthouse News Service 

(CN) - The treasurer of a community school that received $1.4 million in excessive state funding can be held liable over the public money as a public official, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled.

After the International Preparatory School shut down in 2005, an audit revealed that it used inflated enrollment figures to obtain $1.4 million in extra funding from the Department of Education.

The state successfully sued treasurer Hasina Shabazz for misuse of public funds, but an appeals court overturned the decision, ruling that Shabazz was not a public official.

Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer disagreed with the lower court's finding, writing that Shabazz was a public official who could be personally liable for the extra funding.

"Public officials are personally liable for public funds," the ruling states. "Any liability that arises therefrom is not a corporate debt - it is the official's own debt."

 Pfeifer added, however, that the trial court must determine whether Shabazz was in charge of actually receiving, or supervising the receipt of, public money.

Read More