Our mission: To preserve, promote, improve and strengthen public schools for both current and future generations of students.

DECEMBER – 2017

DEC 26, 2017 – Charter school advocates get down and, some say, dirty

Caroline Ayres just wanted to hear about her kids’ school system. What she got was the hybrid of a political rally and a revival meeting. “It was,” she recalls, “an attempt at conversion via emotional outreach.”

Read more…

DEC 28, 2017 – A charter school owns condos. Can students use the hot tub?

Since 2011, Accelerated has purchased two pricey condos in high-end neighborhoods – one in Houston, and one in Dallas – while paying its teachers below-average salaries and housing its fewer than 300 students in structures resembling portable trailers, some without windows.

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DEC 28, 2017 – Texas charter schools struggle with classroom overcrowding

An annual report suggests that several charter schools in Texas have some of the state’s largest class sizes. The Texas Education Agency report said most of the state’s roughly 8,700 public schools had about 22 students per teacher during the 2016-2017 school year. More than half the schools averaging at least 30 students per classroom were charter schools.

Read more…

DEC 26, 2017 – Charter school advocates get down and, some say, dirty

Caroline Ayres just wanted to hear about her kids’ school system. What she got was the hybrid of a political rally and a revival meeting. “It was,” she recalls, “an attempt at conversion via emotional outreach.”

Read more…

DEC 26, 2017 – Charter school grad rates way behind Ohio urban districts

Even when excluding dropout-recovery schools, the four-year graduation rates of charter schools in Ohio are half that of traditional schools, and 28 points lower than the largest urban districts.

Read more…

DEC 21, 2017 – Teacher at all-girls school busted for nude pics of student, molestation

A teacher at an all-girls Bronx charter school seduced a 12-year-old student into sending naked photos of herself to him on Snapchat — and then molested her after class, officials said.

Read more…

DEC 18, 2017 – Report: Low Graduation Rates At Texas Charter Schools

When the exclusions and exceptions the state grants charter schools are stripped away, Texas charter schools have an average graduation rate almost 30 percentage points lower than the state’s traditional school districts.

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DEC 18, 2017 – Report: Low Graduation Rates At Texas Charter Schools

When the exclusions and exceptions the state grants charter schools are stripped away, Texas charter schools have an average graduation rate almost 30 percentage points lower than the state’s traditional school districts.

Read more…

DEC 13, 2017 – Former charter school accused of fraud over taxpayer dollars

A Broward charter school once accused of inflating its enrollment numbers to get state dollars now faces more allegations of fraud after it closed and re-opened as a private school

Read more…

DEC 11, 2017 – Arizona charter school hired gym teacher despite revoked license, past misconduct

A teacher at an Arizona charter school has been fired after a concerned parent alerted the school that he had been fired from previous teaching jobs in the past for allegedly having an inappropriate relationship with a student.

Read more…

DEC 09, 2017 – Related-party charter school deal generated healthy profit for developer from public funds

A real estate holding company based in Syracuse cleared more than $300,000 in profit at the expense of a charter school in Greece earlier this year, according to real estate and financial records obtained by the Democrat and Chronicle.

Read more…

DEC 06, 2017 – Chicago teachers plan sues charter school operator over missing pension contributions

Chicago Public School Teachers’ Pension & Retirement Fund is suing Prologue Inc., the operator of the closed Joshua Johnston Charter School for Fine Art and Design, for allegedly failing to report the employment of some licensed teachers and failing to pay pension contributions on behalf of teachers.

Read more…

NOVEMBER – 2017

NOV 30, 2017 – Audit finds possible financial fraud at Blue Oak Charter School

A former Blue Oak Charter School administrator is alleged to have used school credit cards to purchase weapons, movies and clothing, according to an audit conducted by the Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team.

Read more…

NOV 30, 2017 – Naalehu charter school could get shut down

The state Public Charter School Commission on Tuesday voted to issue to Ka‘u Learning Academy a “notice of prospect of revocation” — the first step in the process of revoking its charter — alleging issues found in the school’s fiscal year 2017 audit potentially violate provisions of its charter contract.

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NOV 29, 2017 – OPSB Sues Einstein Charter Schools Over Transportation Policy

Unlike almost every other public school in Orleans Parish, Einstein’s four schools do not provide yellow bus transportation for students. Parents are expected to drive their children to school or pay for private van service.

Read more…

NOV 28, 2017 – Leaders at D.C. charter school are out of jobs after teacher’s sex-abuse case

Leaders of a vaunted D.C. charter school failed to assure the safety of students after educators raised concerns about inappropriate behavior by a teacher, according to a report that has led to the ouster of top school officials.

Read more…

NOV 28, 2017 – Feds raid offices, home of Philly nonprofit CEO

Universal Companies, a nonprofit that for decades has reshaped Philadelphia schools and neighborhoods, suspended its president and CEO after federal agents raided his home and office and notified him he’s the target of an investigation.

Read more…

NOV 24, 2017 – Faking the Grade

The latest School Performance Scores for the state of Louisiana are in. And that makes now a pretty good time to finally come to terms with the fallacy of the miracle in New Orleans.

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NOV 22, 2017 – Illinois charter school teacher, 28, charged in sex romp with teen boy student

A former teacher at a charter school on Chicago’s southwest side was arrested Tuesday and charged with sexually abusing a 16-year-old student, officials said.

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NOV 21, 2017 – Former Academy of Dover principal pleads guilty in fraud case

A former Dover charter school principal could serve up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal program theft regarding an embezzlement investigation that started in 2014.

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NOV 21, 2017 – In emails, Dan Loeb scolded top black de Blasio official over City Hall’s treatment of black children

Two months to the day before Dan Loeb accused an African-American politician of doing more harm to people of color than the Ku Klux Klan, the billionaire hedge fund manager was scolding Richard Buery, one of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s most senior black officials, about his apparent ignorance of the obstacles faced by black children in New York City.

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NOV 17, 2017 – South suburban school chief suspected of looting low-income lunch program to fund lavish lifestyle

Court records made public this week show that Strain is suspected of using the small, nonprofit school she founded in 2005 to loot as much as $2.7 million in funds over a seven-year period, including money from federal school lunch subsidies and other grants designed to provide nutritious food to low-income children.

Read more…

NOV 08, 2017 – How religious sectarian school voucher extremists made useful idiots of the charter movement

At the Heritage Academy, a publicly funded charter school network in Arizona, according to a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, high school students are required to learn that the Anglo-Saxon population of the United States is descended from one of the lost tribes of Israel.

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NOV 08, 2017 – Former charter school CEO fined $55k

The disgraced former CEO of the now defunct Pocono Mountain Charter School and pastor of the Shawnee Tabernacle Church in Tobyhanna was fined $55,520 by the Pennsylvania Ethics Commission for filing deficient financial statements for four years.

Read more…

NOV 04, 2017 – Small Houston charter school pays top dollar to leader, owns luxury condo

For more than a decade, the leaders of Accelerated Intermediate Academy have run their small Houston charter school on a lean budget, paying teachers below-average salaries and educating kids in modest facilities resembling portable trailers. At the same time, the school’s superintendent, Kevin Hicks, has drawn an annual salary of about $250,000 – a seemingly outsized sum given its roughly 275 students and 20 employees.

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OCTOBER – 2017

OCT 31, 2017 – As students signed up, online school hired barely any teachers — but founder’s company charged it millions

One of Indiana’s largest high schools ended this past school year with almost 5,000 students, but no desks and no classrooms. The school also had very few graduates — 61 out of more than 900 seniors graduated last year.

Read more…

OCT 27, 2017 – Former KIPP Academy school counselor now charged with 2nd sex crime

A BatonA former KIPP Explore Academy counselor has been charged with two additional counts of indecency with a child in Harris County, and authorities are concerned there are even more victims.

Read more…

OCT 26, 2017 – Former Philadelphia charter school official charged with statutory rape

A former Philadelphia charter school official is in custody on statutory rape charges. Omar Harrison, 42, of Cheltenham, Pa. was arrested on Wednesday. He was a dean of students at Mastery Charter’s Harrity Elementary School.

Read more…

OCT 25, 2017 – Former charter school leader pleads guilty to fraud

Court documents released Wednesday revealed a former charter school leader pleaded guilty to fraud. A 2014 audit found two of the schools that Dr. Scott Glasrud led, paid more than $1 million to one of his businesses.

Read more…

OCT 24, 2017 – Baton Rouge man receives prison sentence for fraud scheme during construction of Baker charter school

A Baton Rouge man has been sentenced to more than six years in prison for defrauding the company managing construction of Impact Charter School in Baker, acting U.S. Attorney Corey Amundson said Tuesday.

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OCT 24, 2017 – Barred From Working At CPS, 163 Former Staffers Find Jobs At Charter, Contract Schools

More than 150 former Chicago Public Schools staffers barred from working for the district due to abuse, theft, and other misconduct ended up back in the city’s school system, employed at privately managed charter and contract schools.

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OCT 22, 2017 – Parents slam charter boss for ‘boot camp’ discipline at Manhattan school

Angry parents who claim their kids are being ruined by boot camp-style teaching are staging an uprising at Eva Moskowitz’s flagship, $68 million Success Academy charter school that opened in September.

Read more…

OCT 20, 2017 – Parents scramble to find new school after Brevard County charter school shuts down

Brevard County’s school board chairwoman is promising help for students being forced out of a Port St. John charter school. The Campus Charter School is out of money and shutting down, leaving 100 students looking for new schools.

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OCT 19, 2017 – M.E.T.S. Charter School announces decision to close its doors

The early college preparatory school, which just opened its downtown Newark location to much fanfare on Aug. 29 following a ribbon-cutting attended by Gov. Chris Christie, made the decision after an Oct. 18 Board of Trustees meeting.

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OCT 14, 2017 – Mayor Jackson’s bid to block low-scoring charter schools from city is denied by state

The first real test of whether city leaders can force higher standards for charter schools in the city – a power they fought for in the state legislature five years ago – has failed.

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OCT 05, 2017 – For-profit charter schools bill taxpayers for empty desks

Last school year, Ohio’s cash-strapped education department paid Capital High $1.4 million in taxpayer dollars to teach students on the verge of dropping out. But on a Thursday in May, the storefront charter school run by for-profit EdisonLearning was mostly empty.

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OCT 04, 2017 – Treme school’s officials accused of failing to report video showing student sex acts

Two members of the leadership team at a charter school in Treme were arrested Tuesday on allegations they failed to alert authorities about their discovery of video clips allegedly showing a student being forced to perform oral sex on a group of her peers in a bathroom on campus earlier this year.

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OCT 02, 2017 – Paterson charter school administrator loses license after stealing $75,000

The former administrator of the Community Charter School of Paterson who was charged with stealing $75,000 from her employer lost her school administrator’s license.

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OCT 01, 2017 – Previous audits of La Promesa questioned

For six years, La Promesa Early Learning Center’s former assistant business manager allegedly diverted nearly half a million dollars from the school into her personal bank account and deposited about $177,000 worth of questionable checks.

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SEPTEMBER – 2017

SEP 29, 2017 – California Charter Academy fraud case may be ‘close’ to a resolution, says chief assistant district attorney

After 10 years in legal limbo, the California Charter Academy case may be close to a resolution, according to San Bernardino County’s Chief Assistant District Attorney.

The academy’s two top leaders are accused of defrauding taxpayers of millions of dollars. The case has never gone to trial.

Read more…

SEP 25, 2017 – NMAG demands Analee Maestas resign immediately

New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas is demanding the immediate resignation of Analee Maestas from the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education after fraud and embezzlement allegations involving the charter school she founded and managed.

Read more…

SEP 23, 2017 – Former charter school leaders settle lawsuit that alleged self-dealing scheme

The former leaders of a public charter school for disabled and at-risk teenagers have agreed to settle a District lawsuit alleging they sought to enrich themselves by diverting millions of dollars in taxpayer money meant for the school into private companies they created.

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SEP 20, 2017 – School board member denies role in embezzlement case

A member of the Albuquerque Public Schools education board on Wednesday denied any role in the alleged embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars from a troubled charter school that she helped to establish.

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SEP 18, 2017 – New York’s Greatly Hyped Success Academy Tainted by Racist Board Members and Radical Right-Wing Money

Yet another Success Academy Board member has a long history of making incendiary racial comments.

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SEP 15, 2017 – Nashville charter school network to pay $2.2M to settle lawsuit over ‘spam’ text messages

A Nashville-based charter school network has agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by parents who objected to a series of mass text messages they received from the charter organization promoting enrollment at its schools.

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SEP 13, 2017 – New charges against Atlanta charter school founder brings alleged theft total to $1.3 million

The criminal charges against an Atlanta charter school founder have grown to 55 counts of forgery and theft of at least $1.3 million after a Fulton County grand jury indicted him on seven additional charges.

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SEP 13, 2017 – Baton Rouge charter school principal suspended after allegations he locked 5-year-old in closet

The principal of a Baton Rouge charter school is accused of punishing a 5-year-old girl by locking her in a school closet where she said spiders and roaches crawled over her, according to police.

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SEP 12, 2017 – Keller Uncovers Likely Fraud, Embezzlement At New Mexico Charter School

The Risk Review found about half a million dollars were diverted from the School into a former employee’s personal bank account between June 2010 and July 2016.

Read more…

AUGUST 2017

AUG 21, 2017 – Charter Schools: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Charter schools are privately run, publicly funded, and irregularly regulated. John Oliver explores why they aren’t at all like pizzerias.

Watch now…

AUG 17, 2017 – TEA accuses former charter school leader of burglary

Officials from the Texas Education Agency have filed a police report alleging that the former board president of the now-defunct San Antonio School for Inquiry and Creativity stole tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of electronic equipment from school property.

Read more…

AUG 10, 2017 – Daniel Loeb, a Cuomo Donor, Makes Racial Remark About Black Leader

The hedge fund manager Daniel S. Loeb, a prominent supporter of charter schools and a major financial backer of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and congressional Republicans, accused the African-American woman who leads the Democrats in the New York State Senate of having done “more damage to people of color than anyone who has ever donned a hood.”

Read more…

AUG 09, 2017 – Close bad Philly charter school; it isn’t fit to educate city’s children

The fact that there is any chance the Khepera Charter School in North Philadelphia may reopen underscores a broader problem regarding oversight of all charters.

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AUG 07, 2017 – Charleston Charter School for Math and Science gets 10th principal in 9 years

The Charleston Charter School for Math and Science is starting a new school year Aug. 17 with its 10th principal in nine years. The new principal is Mary Carmichael, who previously served as executive director of the Public Charter School Alliance of South Carolina.

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AUG 02, 2017 – Operators of new West Park charter school linked to accusations of theft from Florida, Ohio schools

Cambridge Education Group, the operator of 19 Ohio charter schools and of a new school about to open in Cleveland’s West Park neighborhood, is distancing itself from recent fraud and racketeering charges in Florida against founder Marcus May.

Read more…

AUG 01, 2017 – Clay County charter school to close after consecutive F grades

An Orange Park charter school will close after receiving two consecutive F school grades. The Clay County School District terminated its charter with Orange Park Performing Arts Academy at the direction of the state, officials said.

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JULY 2017

JUL 27, 2017 – No summer pay for teachers at closed Detroit charter school

Teachers at Michigan Technical Academy, a Detroit charter school that closed in June, learned this week they won’t get paid this month and likely not next month either, a reversal of what they’d been told in May.

Read more…

JUL 19, 2017 – Is the Head of Phoenix Charter School Metro Arts Institute Getting Too Creative With the Rules

The photograph is hard to look at. In it, a middle-aged man wearing a hooded black cape kneels before a teenaged girl. In one hand, he clutches a cloth; his other hand rests on the girl’s feet. She looks sad, and a little scared.

Read more…

JUL 14, 2017 – Ohio’s Online Charter Scandal Is a Warning to the Nation

When unscrupulous operators reap huge profits from charter schools—and then invest their profits in political contributions to the state legislators who are supposed to regulate those same charter schools—taxpayers are bound to lose.

Read more…

JUL 10, 2017 – Paramount Charter School deemed nightmare by parents Children attended school with rats, obscene graffiti on walls

The holes in the dirt-smeared walls have been filled, but some of the obscene graffiti remains. There are curse words and vulgar drawings, including one that says “F— Kindergarten,” a nasty remnant from what parents say was a nightmare school: the Paramount Charter School in Lauderhill.

Read more…

JUL 08, 2017 – U.S. News Kicks KIPP NYC School Off Its List of “Best High Schools” Due to Gary Rubinstein’s Analysis

Let’s begin with the stipulation that the lists of “America’s Best High Schools” based on test scores or AP coursetaking encourage schools to game the system and are invalid on their face.

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JUL 07, 2017 – She did prison time for arson, then became president of a Manatee charter school board. Now she is headed back to jail

Despite spending four years in prison for arson and grand theft, and having multiple arrests for writing bad checks, Lori Bergeron became president of the board at the Manatee School of Arts and Sciences, a small charter school in Bradenton.

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JUL 06, 2017 – New York school allegedly required salary ‘tithe’ to support Islamic movement

Konkur, who says he gave back about $10,000 of his salary over his first year teaching in Utica, provided the Times Union with what he said were copies of checks he wrote to charities in Rochester that share an address with a prominent arm of the Gulen movement.

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JUL 05, 2017 – Some KIPP Houston schools charged unallowable fees, agency finds

Mary Courtney was one of KIPP Houston’s biggest advocates, even as she had to borrow money from relatives to keep up with payments to the charter school.

Read more…

JUNE 2017

JUN 23, 2017 – State appoints receiver to oversee Las Vegas charter school

One of Nevada’s two state-sponsored charter schools under threat of closure has agreed to let an appointed “receiver” take responsibility of the school’s performance in order to remain in operation.

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JUN 23, 2017 – Charter Schools Do Bad Stuff Because They Can

Charter schools have become a fetish of both Democratic and Republican political establishments, but local news reports continue to drip, drip a constant stream of stories of charter schools doing bad stuff that our tax dollars fund.

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JUN 22, 2017 – Charter school won’t pay teachers for final 2 months, union says

A New Jersey charter school ordered to shut down at the end of June may close its doors without paying the final two months of teachers’ salaries, state and local union leaders say.

Read more…

JUN 19, 2017 – Charter school founder accused of theft, use of school money on world trips, mortgages, other luxuries

The founder of a charter school company that managed two schools in Jacksonville was charged Monday, along with a business partner, with racketeering and organized fraud allegedly involving 15 charter schools in Florida.

Read more…

MAY 2017

MAY 31, 2017 – Southfield charter school closes shocking students, staff

How can school be out for summer when there is three weeks to go in the year? Students and teachers at Taylor International Academy in Southfield said their goodbyes sooner than expected Wednesday.

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MAY 25, 2017 – Charter school criticized for mismanagement

PUC Achieve Charter School in northeast Rochester rang up a $470,000 operating deficit in its first year, while its board members and local employees had ceded control of the finances to its national operator, according to an audit from New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

Read more…

MAY 25, 2017 – Nicholas Dean, New Orleans Charter School Principal Caught Wearing Nazi Rings and Appearing on ‘White Genocide’ Podcast, Removed From Campus

Nicholas Dean has been fired from his position at Crescent Leadership Academy. “He will not return as the Principal or be associated with Crescent Leadership Academy,” the charter school’s parent group and board said in a statement Thursday.

Read more…

MAY 24, 2017 – Parents, Teachers, and Students at Oakland Charter School Accuse Leadership of Mismanagement

Dozens of students walked out of the American Indian Model Schools’ downtown campus this morning, joining parents and teachers to protest what they say is the mismanagement of one of Oakland’s largest charter schools.

Read more…

MAY 19, 2017 – Charter school in Tennessee’s turnaround district relocating out of neighborhood it signed up to serve

When officials at Memphis Scholars Raleigh-Egypt Middle School learned that another school on the same campus could get extra help for its students, they made a big decision: to pick up and move.

Read more…

MAY 19, 2017 – Charter schools to parents: Write to Gov. Scott, get volunteer hours

Some school choice advocates in South Florida are going so far as to offer incentives to parents in order to amplify the perception of public support for a controversial K-12 public schools bill that many are urging Gov. Rick Scott to veto.

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MAY 18, 2017 – Charter school founder arrest: $200,000 in charges of embezzlement, money laundering, public funds misuse

The founder and director of a now-defunct South Los Angeles charter campus and her son were arrested Thursday for allegedly funneling about $200,000 from the school to a shell company she controlled.

Read more…

MAY 18, 2017 – South Florida charter school in deplorable conditions, parents say

Parents who have children at one charter school in South Florida said the school has become a nightmare. “It’s just disgusting. It smells like urine throughout the hallway,” Senieca Malcolm said.

Read more…

MAY 09, 2017 – 11 ways Chicago is the beating heart of the disastrous charter school agenda

Chicago’s public school system has become a showcase for the negative effects of K-12 privatization, according to a new report that tracks how the city replaced struggling local schools with dozens of charters that didn’t perform better, yet deprived traditional schools of funds, students and public accountability.

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APRIL 2017

APR 28, 2017 -Under federal investigation, Celerity charter schools are in danger of losing their accreditation

Los Angeles charter schools that are part of a network currently under federal investigation have been put on notice that their accreditation is in jeopardy.

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APR 21, 2017 – Vance Charter principal charged with credit card felony

The principal at Vance Charter School was arrested Friday morning on charges of financial card fraud.

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APR 20, 2017 – Brooklyn charter school deleted video showing students sexually assaulting girl on bus: lawsuit

A Brooklyn charter school is in hot water with the parent of one of their former students who says the administration maliciously deleted video that showed their child was sexually assaulted by older kids aboard a school bus, according to a lawsuit.

Read more…

APR 06, 2017 – National City charter school could be forced to shut down

A National City charter school could close if it doesn’t shape up, and the national school district is demanding to see change. The principal of Beacon Classical Academy says when they returned from spring break this week she had an email saying they were just a couple weeks away from being shut down.

Read more…

MARCH 2017

MAR 30, 2017 – Ex-Oakland charter schools director charged with grant application fraud, money laundering

Ben Chavis, the controversial former director of three Oakland charter schools, collectively known as the American Indian Model Schools, was charged with mail fraud and money laundering in connection with the schools’ applications for federal grant funds, federal authorities announced Thursday.

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MAR 29, 2017 – Nashville’s charter school industry is unraveling

It was just a matter of time before the wheels came off Nashville’s charter school industry. This year, it’s finally happening.

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MAR 24, 2017 – New concerns surface as Vineyard charter school reports on probation status

Last month, the state charter school questioned whether the school should continue to operate due to concerns of student safety, operational dysfunction and financial mismanagement, and gave Franklin Discovery administrators until June to resolve those concerns.

Read more…

MAR 20, 2017 – Livermore: Charter schools pull petition from county; district cites more violations

Two Livermore charter schools pulled their charter petitions for renewal from the Alameda County Office of Education, as the school district that oversees the charters cited more violations.

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MAR 20, 2017 – Charter school seeks $10,700 reimbursement from DOE for hotel retreat

Board members for the Guahan Academy Charter School in January attended a retreat at the Dusit Thani Guam Resort, including overnight stays in 10 guest rooms. The school asked for — and was denied — reimbursement of $10,704.40 for the retreat, which also included two banquets at the hotel from Jan. 6 to 8, Department of Education officials said.

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MAR 06, 2017 – Inside Celerity charter school network, questionable spending and potential conflicts of interest abound

At a time when charter school advocates are determined to increase the number of such schools in L.A., the story of McFarlane and the Celerity schools offers a case study of the growing difficulty of regulating them.

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FEBRUARY 2017

FEB 28, 2017 – Are Charter Schools the Second Coming of Enron?: An Examination of the Gatekeepers That Protect against Dangerous Related-Party Transactions in the Charter School Sector

In this article, we discuss how some charter school officials have engaged in Enron-like related-party transactions. We also identify several measures that can be taken to strengthen the ability of charter school gatekeepers to protect against this danger.

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FEB 24, 2017 – Report: How Charter Schools Are Used to Hide Dropouts and Game the Educational System

ProPublica reports that Sunshine High, an alternative charter school located in a strip mall just 5 miles from Olympia, takes in “cast-offs” from Olympia and other Orlando high schools in a “mutually beneficial agreement.”

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FEB 23, 2017 – Lake Forest charter school board member resigned after $120,000 deal with school

A former board member of Lake Forest Elementary Charter School said he “made a mistake” by selling dirt from his company’s land for a school construction project, which would violate state ethics law.

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FEB 22, 2017 – Struggling Confluence charter schools are renewed for five more years

St. Louis’ largest charter school network got a five-year renewal Tuesday even though it has not met state performance expectations in its almost 14 years of operation.

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FEB 18, 2017 – Del Paso Heights adult charter school under investigation for allegedly overcharging state

Highlands Community Charter School is under investigation for allegedly enrolling adult students in primary grades, double-charging the state and claiming a full year of funding for students who attended for a shorter period of time.

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FEB 14, 2017 – Red Bank Charter School under federal investigation

The U.S. Department of Education has launched an investigation into enrollment practices at Red Bank Charter School amid longstanding complaints that the school does not enroll enough minority students.

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FEB 12, 2017 – Former executive director sues charter school

The former executive director of North East Carolina Prep School is fighting back against his October dismissal in a lawsuit filed Wednesday against the charter school, its board of directors and the five board members who voted to fire him.

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FEB 07, 2017 – NC virtual charter schools report lower withdrawal rates after change in legislation

North Carolina’s two virtual charter schools reported lower student withdrawal rates this year, due in part to recent legislation that allows them to change the way they calculate how many students leave each year.

Read more…

JANUARY 2017

JAN 31, 2017 – 2 Nevada charter schools face possible closure

The fate of the online Nevada Connections Academy is still uncertain, as the charter school once again faces potential closure due to its 2016 graduation rates falling below 60 percent.

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JAN 26, 2017 – Applicant for Nevada charter school program under federal investigation

The five Clark County schools eligible for conversion to charter schools under a controversial state program will get a one-year reprieve after one of the charter operators became the subject of a formal investigation by federal agents.

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JAN 25, 2017 – Ethics board to review fmr. charter school CEO for mismanagement

An investigation by the S.C. Office of Inspector General revealed fiscal mismanagement by former High Point Academy CEO and Superintendent Lori Manning.

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JAN 25, 2017 – Federal agents raid office of LA-based ‘Celerity’ charter school network

Federal agents raided the offices of Celerity Educational Group — a Los Angeles-based organization that runs a network of charter schools both in Southern California and Louisiana — on Wednesday, KPCC has confirmed.

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JAN 25, 2017 – Lawyers for Turkey call for probe of Chicago charter school

Lawyers for the government of Turkey filed a complaint Tuesday with the Chicago Public Schools’ inspector general against a local charter group and its taxpayer-funded school in Rogers Park.

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JAN 17, 2017 – Greece charter school leader under fire

The founding leader of Renaissance Academy Charter School for the Arts in Greece is under fire from some parents over what they see as a pattern of turnover among employees of color.

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JAN 12, 2017 – Charter school’s woes point to need for more oversight

Indeed, a state advisory board for charters has recommended that the school shut down its high school this summer. Clearly, the board, which includes charter advocates, understands that this issue reflects poorly on charters.

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JAN 11, 2017 – Former employee accused of stealing over $100,000 from Lakeland charter school

A Lakeland woman was arrested Tuesday by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office after stealing more than $100,000 from Seth McKeel Academy, a charter school in Lakeland.

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JAN 08, 2017 – Investigation targets Las Vegas charter school’s history of shady practices

An audit that uncovered instances of nepotism and conflicts of interest at Quest Preparatory Academy has brought the school’s previous business practices under investigation by the state Attorney General’s office and State Ethics Commission.

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JAN 05, 2017 – 3 NC charter high schools back off promise to hire only licensed teachers

When a Florida-based charter chain asked North Carolina for money to open three dropout prevention schools, the chain said having licensed teachers in all classes was vital to the mission.

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JAN 03, 2017 – Deadline Arrives for Durham Charter School Diploma Investigation

Tuesday is the deadline for a Durham charter school to complete its investigation into possible fake diplomas. This comes after it was discovered that many recent graduates of Kestrel Heights High School didn’t earn their diplomas.

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JAN 03, 2017 – Former Aspira principal alleged misuse of federal funds

A former charter school principal alleged in a lawsuit, since withdrawn, that Aspira Inc. of Pennsylvania misused $1.2 million in federal funds meant for laptops, after-school programs, and employee bonuses, and falsified reports about how the money was spent.

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