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 Teachers were not adhering to the correct state benchmarks and using outdated requirements...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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Marcus Garvey Leadership Charter School (Oklahoma)

“Charter school teacher accused of molesting student.” KOCO (OK), 2/26/2013

OKLAHOMA CITY —A teacher at a charter school in Oklahoma City has been accused of molesting a 14-year-old student, according to court documents.

Pascal Wayne Jones, 42, of Edmond, has been charged with 10 counts of forcible oral sodomy, five counts of rape by instrumentation and 10 counts of lewd acts with a child under 16 years old.

The girl told Oklahoma City police detectives that the molestation started in Nov. 2011 when Jones "touched her breasts" while she was a student at the Marcus Garvey Leadership Charter School located at 1537 NE 24th St.

The victim told detectives that she performed several sexual acts on Jones until May 2012.

During the course of the investigation, detectives said, Jones was arrested on suspicion of stalking the victim at her new high school.

According to court documents, the charter school's principal held a meeting with staff to discuss the allegations in 2012. Police also conducted a failure-to-protect investigation into the school...

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“Oklahoma City School Board votes to close charter school.” The Oklahoman (OK), 5/13/2013

... District administrators allege poor academics and financial mismanagement. An attorney for the school said that's not the case. Both sides called foul on the other's interpretation of test scores...

Hunt presented state testing numbers comparing Marcus Garvey to the other charter schools with similar demographics. Some numbers were similar, but others were drastically different...

Kwame Mumina, an attorney speaking on behalf of Marcus Garvey, said the statistics weren't fair...

School officials don't follow state law when it comes to tracking and paying for school expenses, said Jean Bostwick, a controller in the district finance department.

The school district was paying for meals at the school, but the school was also receiving federal funds for those same meals.

Instead of using the federal funds to pay the school district back, the school kept the money. When district officials pointed out the problem, the school eventually paid it all back. But it didn't have all $92,000 on hand.

Board member Phil Horning said that points to misspending...

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The Project School

Bank foreclosing on former charter school property.” Indianapolis Business Journal (IN), 2/25/2013

Old National Bank is suing the operator of a charter school that closed last summer in Indianapolis, claiming it failed to pay off the $1.8 million balance on its mortgage.

The Project School in August lost a court battleto stay open after Mayor Greg Ballard revoked the school’s charter due to poor test scores and financial issues...

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“Ballard moves to shut down The Project School.” Indianapolis Business Journal (IN), 7/17/2012

It looks like there will be no back to school at The Project School, a charter school just northeast of downtown.

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard announced Tuesday evening that he intends to revoke the charter that gives The Project School the authority to operate. Ballard cited poor test scores and “recently discovered financial problems.”

The four-year-old school, which is publicly funded, has never seen more than 30 percent of its students pass both the math and reading portions of the state standardized ISTEP test...

A notice of revocation sent to The Project School paints an ugly picture of the school's finances. It claims the school has run a deficit in each of the last three years and now has nearly $5.3 million in debt. The notice also states that The Project School delayed paying its staff this month by one week because it had so little cash on hand.

The notice of revocation also cited a report by the Indiana State Board of Accounts, which found that The Project School had improperly used more than $63,500 in federal facilities and planning grant money to pay salaries and operational expenses...

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Las Montañas Charter School

“Audit shows Las Montañas Charter's repeat accounting problems.” Las Cruces Sun-News (NM), 2/8/2013

LAS CRUCES — Las Montañas Charter School again has accounting difficulties and faces revocation of its charter, a year after budget problems threatened to shut down the school.

Las Montañas overstated its capital asset balance — the value of its land, buildings, equipment and other assets — on is fiscal year 2011 report, according to final audit findings presented to the Las Cruces school board Tuesday...

"These audit findings are problematic," Superintendent Stan Rounds said.

Las Montañas was "not keeping good track of the assets they had purchased" and listed items as assets that it didn't buy, Las Cruces Public Schools Assistant Superintendent of Finance Terry Dean said...

To fix the overstatement, the school's listed net assets and capital assets were each decreased by $100,701.

The decrease does not alter the school's budget, merely corrects the value of the assets it owns.

Las Montañas also couldn't account for $83,207 in cash, according to the audit report...

This audit is not the first time financial issues at Las Montañas have come up.

The school has repeat problems with its internal control structure, cash control and bookkeeping, among others, according to the report...

Las Montañas has seen low enrollment and graduation rates...

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ScholArts Preparatory and Career Center for Children

“ScholArts charter school to close today.” The Columbus Dispatch (OH), 2/28/2013

A charter school in the Milo-Grogan neighborhood is giving up its legal fight to stay open and will hold its final day of classes today.

ScholArts Preparatory and Career Center for Children dropped its appeal in Franklin County Common Pleas Court yesterday...

The school has received “F” ratings for student performance from the state Department of Education for the past five years. The closing ends legal wrangling that began in October when ScholArts’ sponsor, Kids Count of Dayton, told the school that it would be terminating its sponsorship.

ScholArts owes the state at least $740,000 because the school overstated the number of students enrolled and failed to pay employees’ contributions to the state retirement systems...

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“Charter school gets 30-day reprieve.”The Columbus Dispatch (OH), 11/30/2012 

A struggling Columbus charter school got a one-month reprieve to stay open, but it still might be forced to close just before students return from winter break.

ScholArts Preparatory and Career Center for Children initially was told it wouldn’t be allowed to operate after today. But its sponsor, or overseer, extended the closing date to Dec. 31 after the school offered evidence that it had enough money to stay afloat for another 30 days.

Kids Count of Dayton, the school’s sponsor, decided last month to stop working with ScholArts because of poor financial management...
The school also had not paid its contribution to the state School Employees Retirement System for the 2010-11 school year.

Ohio law requires charter schools to have a sponsor. The only way ScholArts can stay open is if it finds a new one, something that is particularly difficult to do mid-year. In addition to its financial troubles, ScholArts struggles academically...

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“Charter School Trying To DetermineHow $250,000 Disappeared.” 10TV (OH), 9/21/2012

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Officials at one Columbus charter school were trying to figure out how nearly $250,000 disappeared.

The money was supposed to have been paid into two retirement systems on behalf of teachers and staff at the ScholARTS Preparatory and Career Center for Children, located on East Lexington Avenue.

The charter school is affiliated with the Brookwood Presbyterian Chruch.

Consumer 10 notified ScholARTS’ former treasurer that a police investigation was under way.  On hearing the news, the man told Consumer 10 that he felt “physically ill.”

He said that the money that should have been paid into the retirement funds was used to pay other bills instead...

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Adelanto Charter Academy

“Adelanto Charter School’s Demise Involved Postmus & DeFazio.” San Bernardino County Sentinel (CA), 5/27/2011

ADELANTO—The Adelanto School District has revoked the Adelanto Charter Academy’s charter, based on a laundry list of operational shortcomings...

While charter schools are by law non-profit entities, it appears that those involved with the school in some cases formed for-profit companies that were devoted to providing the charter academy with materials, ranging from furniture to computers to visual aids to books to writing materials that were sold at inflated prices.

A similar circumstance developed with the failed California Charter Academy a decade ago...

Involved in the California Charter Academy debacle but avoiding indictment was former county supervisor and assessor Bill Postmus. Postmus was a member of the Snowline School District Board of Trustees that had granted the California Charter Academy one of its charters, was later a board member for the Charter Academy and in the heyday of the California Charter Academy was riding high as chairman of the county board of supervisors and the chairman of the San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee. He dictated the California Charter Academy’s hiring policy, insisting that Cox hire several of his associates and family members who had no real educational qualifications. And Cox and the California Charter Academy made political donations to Postmus campaign funds totaling thousands of dollars.

The Sentinel has learned that Postmus and two of his associates, John Dino DeFazio and Jennifer Ruiz, sought to emulate in many respects the California Charter Academy/Educational Administrative Services Corporation/Maniaque Enterprises/Everything For Schools operation.

... Ruiz, a former educator with the Hesperia School District, was registered as the Adelanto Charter Academy’s principal. DeFazio, like Cox and Honeycutt, created two corporations, Professional Charter Management Inc. and Educational Development Inc. Hidden in the operation was Postmus, who advised Ruiz in the set up of the enterprise.

Postmus, whose political career foundered in January 2009 when he was arrested for possession of methamphetamine and the hallucinogen Extacy, advised Ruiz to bill the Adelanto Charter Academy as one embracing conservative and Christian values to build character in students that were to be drawn mostly from impoverished home settings...

In November the audit was released. It showed the academy was plagued with fiscal mismanagement, poor or non-existent record-keeping, problems with the teacher to student ratios and unsanitary or unsafe food handling that put students at risk. Moreover, according to a summary of the audit put together by the Adelanto School District, DeFazio and others making money off the district were not providing what they were obliged to provide...

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 “Politicians & Their CroniesLooted Adelanto Charter Academy.”San Bernardino County Sentinel (CA), 6/12/2012

A number of current and former office holders, their associates and other politically connected figures, including ones currently facing charges in San Bernardino County’s corruption scandal, siphoned off money from the now shuttered Adelanto Charter Academy, documents obtained by the Sentinel show...

During the school’s operation, indicted and now convicted former San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus, current Hesperia School District board member Anthony Riley, indicted former California Charter Academy founder Charles Steven Cox, Peggy Baker (Cox’s sister-in-law), San Bernardino County Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt’s campaign fund, Mitzelfelt’s field representative Jessie Flores, indicted former assistant assessor Adam Aleman and indicted local businessman John “Dino” DeFazio all received money from the Adelanto Charter Academy or entities deriving money from the academy...

[More on California Charter Academy @ http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/2010/05/california-charter-academy-60-schools.html]

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Touchdowns4Life Charter Middle School

“Financial problems close three charter schools in Broward.” The Miami Herald (FL), 9/14/2012

Parents, students and teachers are unexpectedly scrambling to find a new school.

The abrupt end was punctuated by locked doors and silence at one school, and with a chaotic gathering of parents and students at another.

But the story at three Broward charter schools was essentially the same on Friday: financial problems had led to closure, leaving parents and students to unexpectedly scramble to find a new place to enroll.

“We should have had way more time to look for other schools for our kids,” said Nicole Williams, whose son Alfonso was a 10th-grader at Eagle Charter Academy in Lauderdale Lakes, one of the three schools now closed. Also closing this week were the nearby SMART Charter School (run by the same company as Eagle Charter), and Touchdowns4life Charter School in Tamarac, which was founded by former Miami Dolphins running back Terry Kirby.

Williams said the school sent her a notification letter on Wednesday...

... district spokeswoman Tracy Clark said Touchdowns4life’s closure was due to “funding” issues — likely also enrollment-related, since charter schools are funded almost entirely based on the number of students who attend.

Annual audits for all three schools show deep financial troubles. A June 2011 audit of Touchdowns4life showed the school was nearly $24,000 behind on its rent, was accused of owing $20,000 to the company that supplied its computer equipment, and had been charged more than $4,000 in bank overdraft fees...

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“Broward Charter Schools Closures Reveal Larger Issues.” CBS Miami (FL), 9/16/2012

... CBS 4 spoke to a former teacher at Touchdowns on Saturday.

Bibiana Ortiz spent 15 years teaching at traditional Broward county public schools and it was her first experience with a charter school.

“I wondered why parents were dropping their kids off when there were only two teachers and three classrooms,” she says.

“The math and history teacher was let go on the ninth day.  The principal was let go and myself and one other teacher were left to carry the whole weight.  They didn’t have p.e. and recess was in the parking lot.  We didn’t have supplies or books and we haven’t gotten paid.”...

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“Charter school founded by ex-Dolphin warding off eviction.” Sun Sentinel (FL), 8/16/2011

TAMARAC — A charter school founded by former Miami Dolphins running back Terry Kirby is facing eviction from a strip mall just days before the start of a new school year.

Broward County Judge Robert W. Lee signed an order dated last Friday against the Touchdowns4Life charter middle school, authorizing the school's eviction from 10044 W. McNab Road.

According to the Broward School District, the school reached an agreement with its landlord on Tuesday to ward off the eviction. The landlord could not be reached to confirm the agreement.

Court documents show the school was behind on its rent in the sum of $39,950.20 as of July 12. Rent for July alone was $7,085, although it wasn't clear from the documents whether that included any penalties or fees...

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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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Ohio charter schools (mishandled finances not uncommon)

“Mishandled finances not uncommon in charter schools.” The Columbus Dispatch (OH), 4/2/2012

Spend first, ask permission later, and don’t bother with receipts.

The loose financial systems at some of Ohio’s charter schools have led to questionable spending in recent years. Some schools hired treasurers with spotty track records; others hired qualified treasurers but disregarded their advice when they insisted on better checks and balances.

The recent case of a charter-school treasurer who misspent more than $600,000 in public money over a decade at several schools has highlighted how common fiscal missteps have been in charters. Fifteen of the 20 entities with the most charges of misspending by the state auditor are charter schools...

State Auditor Dave Yost said he’s pushing for a law that would strengthen accountability for school treasurers and require more training about how to manage public dollars.

Officials at the Ohio Department of Education, which licenses school treasurers, said they plan to get tough on charter-school treasurers with a history of fiscal mismanagement...

A treasurer from Gahanna — Ed Dudley Sr. of LED Consulting — has 46 findings for recovery from the state auditor. The findings stem from work at seven charter schools and total more than $440,000.

Dudley says he worked tirelessly to try to persuade charter-school boards to follow the rules of spending public money, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. Few were willing to rein in the school leader, often the founder, too, even when he or she was spending money without any oversight...

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Context Middle School

“Financial woes, doomed charter school.” The Press-Enterprise (CA), 3/11/2012

Temecula’s Context Middle School was billed as a small learning environment where teachers would emphasize how lessons related to the real world.

When it opened in August, the charter school set out to focus on technology and the arts, with dozens of laptops for students and music lessons during and after school.

Less than six months and more than $800,000 in taxpayer dollars later, Context was gone.

It joins a list of 26 other Inland charter schools that have closed or had their charters revoked in the past 20 years. Charter schools, created to foster innovation and freed from some state rules, sometimes struggle with the administrative tasks and finances needed to run a campus, experts say...

Context was plagued by financial problems, mismanagement and infighting that began almost as soon as its doors opened, according to correspondence and financial documents obtained by The Press-Enterprise under the California Public Records Act.

Among the school’s problems:

Context was in the red as early as September, and school officials failed to address financial concerns raised by the Temecula Valley Unified School District. The school’s board missed a deadline to file a required financial report.

Context founder Michele Smith, a parent who worked in consulting but had no education background, was dismissed from the school’s board of directors in October because of concerns over her handling of school finances.

Rita Blickenstaff, Joanne Gilbreath and Robert Heveron, who made up the Context board when it closed, did not respond to numerous phone and email requests for comment.

In a brief interview in early February, Smith said she spent thousands of dollars of her own money to open Context and wasn’t responsible for its financial problems. Smith blamed problems on other board members and the company Context hired to help with business operations.

Sandro Lanni, president of the firm, Charter School Management Corp., did not respond to a phone message seeking comment. In a Feb. 2 email to Temecula Valley officials, he blamed the Context board, saying the firm was “stunned at the continuous awful governance” by the board.

Smith said the Context board would not address problems, and “anything that would allow the process to cure itself they failed to do.” She did not respond to recent messages seeking further comment.

Board minutes and correspondence between Context and the Temecula school district indicate others believe Smith was to blame for the financial problems...

As early as September, the school was having problems balancing its books, district correspondence indicated. By February, Context had less than $10,000 in the bank, documents show...

As board infighting and financial issues continued, parents tried to work with the school board to address the problems but were rebuffed, said Osmana Nagata, who was president of Context’s parent council.

“We were told just shut up and fundraise,” she said last month...

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Believe Southside Charter High School

“Williamsburg Charter School Officially Closed By Board Of Regents.” NY 1 News (NY), 3/20/2012

The Board of Regents officially decided to close Believe Southside Charter High School on Tuesday.

The State Department of Education announced in January it intended to revoke the charter of the school in Williamsburg, Brooklyn because of what it called "significant management and financial improprieties."...

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“With Controversial Leader Gone, Charter Makes Bid to Stay Alive.” SchoolBook, New York Times, 3/13/2012

The lawyer for a troubled Brooklyn charter school that the city’s Department of Education has flagged for closing made a forceful case at a hearing on Tuesday for keeping the school open.

The city announced in January that it planned to close the school, Williamsburg Charter High School. It had been placed on probation in September after an investigation by Eric T. Schneiderman, the state attorney general, raised questions about its management and finances.

The decision to revoke the school’s charter came less than a week after Williamburg Charter’s board of trustees voted to rehire the school’s controversial founder, Eddie Calderon-Melendez.

In a notice, Recy Dunn, the director of the city’s charter school office, wrote that Mr. Calderon-Melendez had run up the school’s debts while giving himself a hefty salary and consultant fees — $378,000 in 2010 — as well as $40,000 over two years in payroll advances...

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“Two More Believe Network Charters Are Put on Probation.” New York Times, SchoolBook blog (NY), 9/26/2011

Two Brooklyn charter high schools have been placed on probation by state education officials, putting them on a path that could lead to their being closed.

The two schools, Believe Northside Charter High School and Believe Southside Charter High School, which opened in 2009, are both managed by the Believe High School Network.

A third high school operated by the network, Williamsburg Charter, which opened in 2004, was placed on probation on Sept. 16 by city education officials.

All three schools, which were founded by Edward Calderon-Melendez, the network’s chief executive, have been under investigation by the office of Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman of New York for several months because of questions about their financial management. They face possible closing if they do not follow the city and state’s recommendations in the next year.

Cliff Chuang, director of the state’s charter school office, sent probation orders to Northside and Southside on Wednesday, charging that trustees at both schools had little knowledge of their own finances and appeared to have surrendered financial and operational control to the Believe network, which has left both schools in debt and almost unable to act independently.

Believe has also kept city education officials in the dark and has not shown them its annual budget for the 2010-11 school year or its projections for 2011-12, according to the probation orders.

According to the state, although the Northside and Southside schools share a city-owned building in Williamsburg and do not pay rent, they are $161,779 and $117,213 in debt, respectively. Yet the probation orders state that when the chairwomen of the schools’ boards of trustees, Candace Cobo of Northside and Marcenia Johnson of Southside, spoke with state officials, both demonstrated an “alarming lack of familiarity” with the fiscal issues facing their schools, including the schools’ current financial conditions.

“Given the negative working capital position of the school, and a networkwide pattern of significant expense-side budget variances, the long-term viability of this school” remains in question, Mr. Chuang wrote in both schools’ probation orders.

A lawyer for the Believe network schools, Sharon McCarthy, said the schools would work to correct their mistakes.

“Everyone is disappointed this has happened, but we are making a concerted effort to work directly with the State Department of Education to address the issues raised in the probation reports,” Ms. McCarthy said. “I think this is fixable, and they’re committed to fixing it.”

Mr. Chuang’s notices charge the schools with overstating their enrollments, saying each billed the city for 300 students. Southside has an enrollment of 246 this year and Northside has 267.

In addition, both schools have violated state law by having fewer than five voting board members, according to the state. The skeletal boards that do exist have met only four times in the last year, and several of their members have conflicts of interest that they have not disclosed, according to the state.

Information on the Believe network’s Web site suggests that its schools’ board members are, in some cases, also network employees. Jonna Caramico, for example, is listed as both a special education consultant to Williamsburg Charter and a board member for Southside.

The probation notices also said both schools were open for 180 days last year, instead of the required 186.

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Believe Northside Charter High School

“Two More Believe Network Charters Are Put on Probation.” New York Times, SchoolBook blog (NY), 9/26/2011

Two Brooklyn charter high schools have been placed on probation by state education officials, putting them on a path that could lead to their being closed.

The two schools, Believe Northside Charter High School and Believe Southside Charter High School, which opened in 2009, are both managed by the Believe High School Network.

A third high school operated by the network, Williamsburg Charter, which opened in 2004, was placed on probation on Sept. 16 by city education officials.

All three schools, which were founded by Edward Calderon-Melendez, the network’s chief executive, have been under investigation by the office of Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman of New York for several months because of questions about their financial management. They face possible closing if they do not follow the city and state’s recommendations in the next year.

Cliff Chuang, director of the state’s charter school office, sent probation orders to Northside and Southside on Wednesday, charging that trustees at both schools had little knowledge of their own finances and appeared to have surrendered financial and operational control to the Believe network, which has left both schools in debt and almost unable to act independently.

Believe has also kept city education officials in the dark and has not shown them its annual budget for the 2010-11 school year or its projections for 2011-12, according to the probation orders.

According to the state, although the Northside and Southside schools share a city-owned building in Williamsburg and do not pay rent, they are $161,779 and $117,213 in debt, respectively. Yet the probation orders state that when the chairwomen of the schools’ boards of trustees, Candace Cobo of Northside and Marcenia Johnson of Southside, spoke with state officials, both demonstrated an “alarming lack of familiarity” with the fiscal issues facing their schools, including the schools’ current financial conditions.

“Given the negative working capital position of the school, and a networkwide pattern of significant expense-side budget variances, the long-term viability of this school” remains in question, Mr. Chuang wrote in both schools’ probation orders.

A lawyer for the Believe network schools, Sharon McCarthy, said the schools would work to correct their mistakes.

“Everyone is disappointed this has happened, but we are making a concerted effort to work directly with the State Department of Education to address the issues raised in the probation reports,” Ms. McCarthy said. “I think this is fixable, and they’re committed to fixing it.”

Mr. Chuang’s notices charge the schools with overstating their enrollments, saying each billed the city for 300 students. Southside has an enrollment of 246 this year and Northside has 267.

In addition, both schools have violated state law by having fewer than five voting board members, according to the state. The skeletal boards that do exist have met only four times in the last year, and several of their members have conflicts of interest that they have not disclosed, according to the state.

Information on the Believe network’s Web site suggests that its schools’ board members are, in some cases, also network employees. Jonna Caramico, for example, is listed as both a special education consultant to Williamsburg Charter and a board member for Southside.

The probation notices also said both schools were open for 180 days last year, instead of the required 186.

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Balere Language Academy

“Charter school building heads to foreclosure auction.” South Florida Business Journal (FL), 12/21/2012

The former home of a shuttered charter school is set for auction after Great Florida Bank won a $2.24 million foreclosure judgment.

The Miami-Dade County School Board voted in April to shut downthe Balere Language Academy after parents complained of house parties with alcohol and distasteful promotions.

The Miami Lakes-based bank (Pink Sheets: GFLB) won the judgment against nonprofit Balere and loan guarantors Rocka Malik and Nagib Malik over a $1.5 million mortgage, plus interest and fees. It was also awarded judgment against Strategic Empowerment for Economic Development Corp., which provided a $1.2 million second mortgage...

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“Charter school in adult-club scandal has money woes; A party promoterthat has been scheduling boozy bashes at a troubled Miami-Dade charter schoolhas ties to the school’s principal, records show.” The Miami Herald (FL), 0/13/2011

The “Push It To Da Limit: The Flossin Edition” late-night party is still scheduled to go off Saturday night — but it won’t be at a South Miami-Dade charter school, as previously advertised.

Miami-Dade School District officials on Friday were still trying to determine whether the Balere Language Academy — a charter school already facing financial free-fall and increased school district scrutiny — has also been doubling as an after-hours nightclub.

This week district officials learned of R-rated party fliers, featuring bikini-clad women and bottles of booze, promoting a bash at 10875 Quail Roost Dr. — the address of the South Miami Heights charter school. Older ads, Twitter posts, Facebook photos and a string of parent complaints about smoky smells and empty beer bottles on campus also indicated past parties were held at the school.

Balere’s principal and founder, Rocka Malik, told The Miami Herald on Thursday that she knew nothing about any after-hours parties at her school. But records show the party promoter is tied to Malik’s husband: A phone number for the promoter comes back to a car-wash company managed by Malik’s husband, Clifton Smith, who is also a director of a pre-school at Balere. Malik and Smith did not return phone calls on Friday.

This is not the first time the school has come under fire: Last fall, school inspectors discovered that nine seventh-graders were being taught in a wooden storage shed on campus, records show. “Students had difficulty putting their legs comfortably under the desks,” district inspectors wrote in one report. When interviewed by an inspector with Miami-Dade’s building department, Malik denied that the shed was being used as a classroom, records show...

The controversy comes as Balere struggles to stay afloat amid a barrage of problems. Among them:

• A lender filed a foreclosure lawsuit against the school in June for failing to make payments on a $1.5 million mortgage — one of four mortgages on the school’s six-acre property, records show.

•  Enrollment at the K-7 school has plummeted from 255 students last October to just 82 students today, records show.

•  The school’s revenue, which comes from public tax dollars directly tied to the number of students, has shrunk from more than $2 million in 2010 to just over $1 million today. As of February, the school owed more than $100,000 to the Internal Revenue Service for unpaid payroll taxes.

•  The school has lost two principals since January, and school district officials said they cannot identify the current members of the nonprofit school’s board.

School district officials threatened to close the charter school last year, after it received an F grade from the state based on poor student test scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. But Balere appeared to make a dramatic turnaround when it raised its grade to an A this spring, winning the school a reprieve.

Yet Balere remains under scrutiny by the school district over its finances. The school had to submit a financial recovery plan to the district after two years in the red. District officials have questioned whether the school has a realistic plan to stay afloat...

District officials are now questioning how the school property is handled as well. The campus is owned by Balere, Inc., the nonprofit company that also holds the charter to operate the school. Yet Balere, Inc. leases the property to another school-related entity for $8,000 a month, according to a financial audit of the school...

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Explorer Elementary Charter School

“Principal spent tax money on wine, dog treats; Explorer charter has since added oversight of credit-card spending.” San Diego Union-Tribune / SignOnSanDiego.com (CA), 04/27/2011

POINT LOMA — The founding principal of Explorer Elementary Charter School spent thousands of dollars on business meals, wine and dog treats over the last two years, expenses on her credit card that were covered by taxpayers.

The Watchdog obtained two years of statements and expense reports under the California Public Records Act for former Principal Jill Green, who resigned April 27.

Green, who earned $110,277 annually, said concerns over her expenses were raised by the charter’s governing board before her resignation, and she maintains none of the charges were for personal use. The Watchdog totaled her expenses of $37,868 from April 2009 through March 2011...

While Explorer Elementary is a part of San Diego Unified and submits annual budgets to the district, the finances are handled through a partnership with the San Diego-based High Tech High charter system. High Tech High’s credit card agreement, signed by Green, bans alcohol and gift card purchases for employees, but permits meal purchases within professional development groups or those charged out of business necessity.

Kay McElrath, chief financial officer for High Tech High, signed off on Green’s expenses and declined to comment when contacted by The Watchdog...

In June, the Explorer school’s board strengthened its expense policies, and board Chairwoman Margaret Egler said the board treasurer will now review the principal’s expenditures on a quarterly basis...

While alcohol purchases by public schools are banned under state law, charter schools operate under a “mega-waiver,” exempting them from most state laws governing public schools in the California Education Code. They are bound by the Charter Schools Act, which does not address alcohol purchases...

Green signed a separation agreement in late April, awarding her $59,000 in salary payments through Oct. 28 and other compensation. Board members did not disclose the agreement right away, leading parent Alison Patton to raise questions about open-meetings law compliance.

“Prior to the ratification by the board on June 7, 2011, the agreement was not a public document and was not subject to disclosure under the Brown Act or any other statute,” Andrea Sexton, the school’s attorney, wrote on Aug. 10 in response to Patton.

One trustee, Tiveeda Stovall, resigned from her post at the June board meeting, saying she was not sure if the board appropriately reported out its action from closed meetings held before Green’s departure. Stovall could not be reached for comment...

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Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts

“Richmond board wants fast action on Patrick Henry.” Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA), 6/15/2011

Faced with a Virginia State Police investigation into possible embezzlement at Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts, the Richmond School Board wants an immediate audit of the school's finances for its first year of operation...

State police have not released details of their investigation, but a former Patrick Henry treasurer approached the law-enforcement agency through an intermediary in March with concerns about a student activity fund controlled by the school's principal under the school district's tax identification number.

Last week, an audit of the fund by the school system found no evidence of fraud but serious mismanagement of the money by the school's administration...

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“Richmond charter school focus of state police investigation.” Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA), 6/8/2011

RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia State Police are investigating an allegation of embezzlement at Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts, a charter school in South Richmond that is completing its first year of operation.

State police spokeswoman Corinne Geller confirmed Wednesday that the Bureau of Criminal Investigation's Richmond field office is conducting the investigation.

M. Susan Martin, former treasurer of the charter school, said she approached state police through an intermediary in March about her concerns over the management of student activity funds controlled by the school's principal and Richmond Public Schools. About the same time, Martin raised concerns about the funds in a letter on March 14 to Richmond Superintendent Yvonne W. Brandon and urged her to audit the two bank accounts opened by Principal Pamela L. Boyd.

The accounts were opened under the public school system's tax identification number and are not controlled by the charter school's board of directors, Martin said.

Martin, a certified public accountant who completed her term as treasurer at the end of August, first raised concerns about the funds in late January while assisting the charter school's audit and budget committee...

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