#ANOTHERDAYANOTHERCHARTERSCHOOLSCANDAL
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.
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.
Poconos charter school founder violated ethics law, commission finds
The embattled founder of a now-closed Monroe County charter school has been ordered to pay restitution after the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission found he violated ethics laws by recommending jobs and a raise for family members.
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.
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.
Former KIPP Academy school counselor now charged with 2nd sex crime
A 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.