Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy

“Charter school officials to appear in court for allegedly spending $148K in school funds.” WCPO TV (Cinncinati, OH), 04/05/2013

CINCINNATI - Two members of a Cincinnati charter school are scheduled to appear in court Friday morning after they allegedly stole more than $148,000 in taxpayer dollars from school coffers.

In March, a grand jury indicted Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy Superintendent Dr. Lisa Hamm and contracted treasurer Stephanie Millard on 26 counts of theft in office, unauthorized use of property, tampering with evidence and tampering with records. The pair allegedly spent money from the school on trips to Chicago, sightseeing tours through California and Europe and a trip to Boston to see Oprah, Ohio Auditor of State Dave Yost reported...

Among the trips that were part of the indictment included a $20,000, 10-day tour through California in a rental car with a hired driver, meals and hotel stays. Other details include a proposed trip to see Chicago charter schools where Hamm and other staff saw Tina Turner in concert, according to the report, and a trip to Europe with staff where Hamm was supposed to secure residency...

The investigation, and indictments, were the result of an anonymous tip sent to the Auditor of State's office in November 2006 and ensuing audits that occurred from July 1, 2006 through May 31, 2010. A special audit is ongoing...

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Quest Academy (NV)

“Quest Academy board considers disciplining other school employees.” KTNV 13 News (NV), 1/30/2013

Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) -- It was another late night on Tuesday at Quest Academy...

Principal Connie Jordan was fired for abusing her authority and using taxpayer dollars for personal gain...

A former employee wrote a letter to the board saying the high school administration is incompetent and self-serving...

Also facing action Tuesday night was business manager Robin Vitiello and office manager Melissa Hester. Board members told Hester that school video cameras caught her and Jordan destroying records in Jordan's office last Monday when the school was closed for Martin Luther King Day.

The auditor that Quest hired found checks cut to Robin Vitiello that appeared to be unapproved bonuses. There are also allegations that she was forced to kick some of that money back to former principal Jordan.

Board member Linda Kuhn pointed out, however, that they're not the only entity investigating allegations and that this may be far from over as the case is in the hands of the Attorney General...

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“Quest Academy audit sparks emergency action.”KTNV 13 News (NV), 1/22/2013

Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) -- ... Contact 13 began reporting on Quest in November amid allegations from Miller and other parents and staff about misuse of school money.

Though the State Public Charter School Authority investigated the allegations and found evidence of fiscal malfeasance and abuse of authority, the Quest governing board hired a private auditor to investigate further.

Almost $270,000 tax dollars are in question.

Contact 13 obtained the just-released forensic audit of Quest's finances...

Some of the report centers around Quest Principal Connie Jordan and $15,000 she took in June 2011. The auditor found her explanations for that money are bogus...

In October, 2011, Quest credit cards show more than $4,300 in travel expenses and more than $500 at Walmart for three Kindles, food items and gift cards.

On Connie Jordan's card in November 2011, he found more than $1200 spent on meals, postage, travel, gift cards, a frame, food and tools.

And Jordan spent $5600 more of your tax dollars. At Barnes and Noble she bought eight Nooks and Nook accessories.

At Best Buy: DVDs, a Nintendo DSi and two Turtle Beach Call of Duty video game headsets.

At Walmart: a blu-ray player, movies, clothes, board games, music, Wii games and a lava lamp...

The auditor also found tens of thousands in irregular payments to Jordan and several other school administrators: checks that circumvented the normal payroll process and the board.

The auditor says those checks may indicate that Jordan forced a few employees to kickback money to her from their paychecks...

Reacting to the auditor's findings, the Quest board took emergency action Monday to secure and protect the school.

They took away Principal Jordan's ability to hire and fire, and froze all of her access to school money...

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“You Paid for It: Quest Academy.”KTNV Las Vegas (NV), 11/19/2012 

Teachers quitting, parents enraged and demanding answers, and students caught in the middle. That's what's going on at a local school under investigation by the state. And it's raising issues of abuse of authority and waste of your tax dollars...

Teachers are quitting, citing a hostile work environment. Five have left in just the last month...

It all stems from allegations against Quest Academy Principal Connie Jordan and most of the school's governing board.

Multiple school employees and one board member have filed formal complaints with the State Public Charter School Authority.

In a Nov. 2 letter to the Quest board, the authority says the issues raised in those multiple complaints suggest "among other transgressions, fiscal malfeasance on the part of the school's administrator and a lack of governing body oversight of the school."...

Lucretia Glidewell was contracted as Quest's financial manager. She told the state in her complaint that she was forced to kickback $1,000 a month out of her paycheck to the principal in order to keep her contract.

She also told the state she was "asked to help cover up illegal practices" regarding three $5,000 checks, which she calls an unapproved "bonus" the principal gave to herself...

[Principal] Connie Jordan told the crowd to wait for the state's findings...

She's also facing allegations that she "falsified documents" to the state -- altering her contract to explain the checks as a payout of unused personal time off...

... One week after [assistant principal ] made allegations of wrongdoing to the board, she was placed on paid administrative leave...

While the Charter School Authority conducts its investigation, the Quest governing board will be spending more tax dollars to hire outside companies to audit and investigate their school...

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A website devoted to this situation @ http://questacademylvexposed.blogspot.com/

Letter (11/2/2012) to Quest Academy Governing Body President from State Public Charter School Authority:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/113454427/state-letter-to-QUEST-ACADEMY

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WayPoint Academy

“Former WayPoint school chief Barb Stellard's case moves to felony court.” 

MUSKEGON, MI -- Barbara Stellard, the former director of WayPoint Academy in Muskegon Township, will face trial on multiple felony counts after waiving her preliminary examination on charges she obtained state school aid under false pretenses and falsified school records...

Because she waived the hearing, Stellard's case was bound over to 14th Circuit Court for trial.

Charges against Stellard include two counts of obtaining between $1,000 and $20,000 by false pretenses, which is a felony punishable up to five years in prison. She is charged with seven counts of falsifying school records, which is a high-court misdemeanor and carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison plus suspension of a teaching certificate for five years...

The case stems from allegations Stellard inflated WayPoint's student counts so the district would receive state money for which it wasn't eligible. Stellard was head of the school from 2002 to 2010.

Her defense attorney, Terry J. Nolan, has said someone else falsified the records and Stellard just signed off on them without criminal intent...

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Florida virtual schools provider K12 (43 school districts)

“State Investigating Virtual Schools Provider K12.” Florida Center for Investigative Reporting (FL), 9/11/2012

The Florida Department of Education has launched an investigation of K12, the nation’s largest online educator, over allegations the company uses uncertified teachers and has asked employees to help cover up the practice.

K12 officials asked state-certified teachers to sign class rosters that included students they hadn’t taught, according to documents that are part of the investigation.

In one case, a K12 manager instructed a certified teacher to sign a class roster of more than 100 students. She only recognized seven names on that list...

The state investigation started in January, when a former K12 employee forwarded a series of emails to Seminole County Public Schools officials...

After reading these emails, Seminole County officials followed up with a survey of parents whose kids were enrolled in K12 classes. Parents were given a list of teachers who reportedly instructed their children.

More than one-third of parents said the listed teacher did not teach their child.

Only 36 percent of parents said their child’s teacher was the one K12 had listed. The rest could not be reached or said they couldn’t remember.

The survey and emails prompted Seminole County officials to request that the Department of Education investigate. They warned the state that the problems they uncovered with K12 may be widespread...

K12 has a financial incentive to skirt Florida’s law requiring the use of certified teachers. Simply, K12 can pay uncertified teachers less than certified teachers while collecting the same amount per student from state public school districts, increasing profits for shareholders.

Founded in 2000 by William Bennett, a former U.S. education secretary under President Ronald Reagan, K12 is an $864 million publicly traded company whose stock price has more than doubled in the last year.

In recent years, K12 has increased profits while student performance has suffered, raising questions about whether the for-profit virtual schools provider is making money at the expense of academics.

A July 2012 study by the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado found that students at K12 schools fell further behind in reading and math scores than pupils in traditional schools.

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Gulf Shores Academy

CHARTER SCHOOL LEADER SENTENCED FOR TAMPERING; October 15, 2009; Houston Chronicle 

The leader of one of Texas’ most troubled charter schools was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison for tampering with government records.

Linda Johnson was convicted of issuing false high school transcripts as principal of Gulf Shores Academy, a charter approved by the state in 1998.

Prosecutors with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said Johnson granted class credits in exchange for $150 and a few class assignments.

Johnson’s attorney, state Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, could not be reached for comment Thursday. He has previously argued that the Texas Education Agency unfairly targeted the school, which served mostly low-income blacks.

After a decade of academic and financial problems, the Texas Education Agency declined to renew Gulf Shores’ charter in July. The school still owes the state about $8 million for misreporting attendance, officials said.

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CHARTER SCHOOL ACCUSED OF FAKING STUDENT FILES: GULF SHORES ACADEMY ALREADY IN TROUBLE WITH THE STATE; March 27, 2008; Houston Chronicle (TX) 

Leaders of one of Houston's most troubled charter schools are accused of issuing false high school transcripts to undercover investigators with the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

Linda Johnson, head of Gulf Shores Academy, and her daughter, Marian Johnson, face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of felony document tampering. Prosecutors say they granted class credits in exchange for $150 and a few hastily completed assignments. They are scheduled to appear in court next month, officials said.

State Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, said the campus, which caters to poor African-American students, is being unfairly targeted by the Texas Education Agency. Dutton, a lawyer, has volunteered to represent the charter school.

"We've been fighting for so long for this school, it would be a shame to give up at this point," he said, adding that the Johnsons did not break the law…

Gulf Shores Academy, which opened in 1998, once had more than 1,000 students and a powerhouse basketball program that produced first-round draft pick Gerald Green, who recently was traded to the Houston Rockets.

But the campus has made more headlines for its record of poor academic and financial performance. Among other offenses, the school owed the state nearly $11 million for overreporting student attendance.

The Texas Education Agency has been withholding funding to repay the debt, which now stands at about $8.5 million, officials said.

Despite the repeated missteps, the TEA has been unable to revoke Gulf Shores' charter.

In September 2006, the school became the first in Texas ordered to close mid-year. Just a week later, a Travis County judge granted a restraining order to keep the school open.

In addition to their criminal court date, Gulf Shores leaders are scheduled to appear at a charter revocation hearing in Austin on April 28.

"It's because of material violations of the charter and also academic and financial reasons," TEA spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson said.

Because of the pending criminal charges and because the school is suing the state, the agency wouldn't provide specifics about the case.

Registrars complained

Assistant District Attorney Anna Emmons said prosecutors started investigating Gulf Shores after receiving complaints from several area high school registrars. Students who had failed classes would return after just a few days with the credits on transcripts from Gulf Shores, she said.

Two investigators were sent to the school earlier this month posing as parents whose children needed to make up classes. In both cases, Gulf Shores administrators issued credits to the parents for $150 and some class assignments that the parents handed in the next day, Emmons said.

Both investigators received the same packet of assignments — even though they were seeking credit for different classes — and they turned in the same set of sloppy, incomplete answers, she said.

Gulf Shores employees never saw the students or verified their existence, she said.

"Common sense says within 24 hours, you should not be able to receive a semester's credit," Emmons said.

The Johnsons were arrested March 18 and released on $10,000 bonds.

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