#ANOTHERDAYANOTHERCHARTERSCHOOLSCANDAL
Cyber Charter School Disasters About to Worsen
Recent news reports suggest that more parents and students are flocking to privately-owned-operated online charter schools, presumably due to concerns about the “COVID Pandemic.”
Parents, students, teachers, and the public at large should be aware that the overall “academic performance” of cyber charter schools is consistently abysmal, even by the admission of staunch charter school promoters and school privatizers.
Judge: West Lafayette schools have a case against Indiana’s $1 charter ‘land grab’ law
In the West Lafayette school district’s attempt to overturn a decade-old school reform law – one that gives a charter school first dibs, all for $1, when a public school vacates classroom space – the state has pushed back.
East Valley charter school district won’t say why it received up to $1 million in PPP funds
Companies that applied for PPP funds were expected to be able to show financial hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Charter schools did not lose any state funding because of the pandemic, though some school operators have cited hardships such as canceled fundraisers.
San Diego’s O’Farrell Charter School Superintendent Fired Amid Misconduct Investigation
The superintendent at The O’Farrell Charter School in Southeast San Diego was fired in June amid reports of misconduct involving a female staffer but still stands to make more than $340,000 in severance and regular pay.
Details about the misconduct allegations against Jonathan Dean, who had been the school’s top administrator for more than a decade, are hard to come by.
Money for nothing Pa cyber charters rolling in pandemic aid while school districts scrounge
Under the recently enacted state budget, charter schools will receive $15 million in state health and safety grants to address COVID-19-related health and safety needs. This is much needed funding for public schools and brick and mortar charter schools that are offering some sort of in-person learning this fall. Here’s the best part. Every individual cyber charter school in Pennsylvania, schools that offer their instruction virtually, stands to receive $90,000 for health and safety needs! Virtual instruction – real money!
State and KIPP charter school at odds on virtual opening. Now a change of plans.
Looks like we set off a rumble sharing news Sunday that the Kipp Delta Elementary, a much-touted charter school in Helena long supported by the Walton Family Foundation, had announced it would open all-virtual for the first three weeks of the year beginning today.
Kenneth Gatten: We must amend Pa.’s charter school law now
In a recent report, Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale called Pennsylvania’s charter school law “the worst in the nation” because it prevents the state from “performing full reviews of charter management companies.”
Indeed, a 2016 report by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) finds the PSBA had to take charters to court to force them to divulge how they were spending taxpayer money.
Private schools get millions in federal aid, aren’t tied to same reopening rules as public campuses
Charter schools, which are a third type of school that are approved and funded by public districts, but operated by private companies, also received both types of funding.
“It seems to me they kind of wear two hats — the private hat and the public hat, depending on which one helps them more,” said public school advocate Anne Hartley, adding “It strikes me that it’s unfair to public schools that this is the case.”
Titusville charter school ordered shut down for third time as parents scramble days ahead of new school year
Brevard County Public Schools sought to have the charter campus, located at 1923 Knox McRae in Titusville, shut down this week because it failed to meet academic and fiscal standards, according to court documents.
Besides a decline in student performance, a formal audit pointed to an ongoing lack of progress maintaining federally required standards involving special needs students.
Wings Academy 2 Audit Contains Findings for Recovery Worth $89,808
Wings Academy 2 opened to educate students in fiscal year 2019, however, it never obtained the required 25 students needed to operate as required by Ohio Rev. Code and the sponsorship agreement between the Academy and its sponsor, Kids Count of Dayton. Therefore, the Academy was placed in suspended status effective October 2, 2018 and officially closed on April 30, 2019.
Hundreds of charter school students learned they were no longer enrolled on the first day of school
Yvonne Lau, Interim Executive Director with the Charter School Commission, said Ka Waihona school officials “Called us late last week, asking questions: ‘Hey, we’ve got almost 900 kids (enrolled).’ I was like, ‘What? Wait, wait!’”
Lau says Ka Waihona’s contract with the commission allows for 650 students, plus 100 slots for the online blending program.
N.J. charter schools got millions in federal aid that traditional districts couldn’t touch
Unlike conventional public schools, charters were also in line for millions of dollars in small business aid under the Paycheck Protection Program, another piece of CARES. And get in line they did, with at least 39 charter schools in the Garden State quietly receiving hefty forgivable loans from PPP, a review by NJ Advance Media showed.
Epic Charter Schools targets state senator again in pre-election email to parents
Epic Charter Schools’ feud with a state senator who has questioned how it reports some of its student enrollment and attendance has continued through the eleventh hour before Tuesday’s primary runoff election.
In an email to students’ parents sent late last week, Epic called Sen. Ron Sharp, R-Shawnee “a dishonest and relentless critic of our school” and denied being obstructive or engaging in negative campaigning against him.
Charter school groups behind ads attacking Castor Dentel in Orange school board race
Florida’s leading charter school companies have helped pay for political ads attacking Karen Castor Dentel as she seeks re-election to the Orange County School Board.
The glossy political mailers — one calling the former elementary school teacher “public enemy #1″ — were sent to voters in Castor Dentel’s district 6.
Oklahoma County judge imposes $500,000 fine on Epic Charter Schools’ nonprofit
An Oklahoma County district judge leveled a $500,000 fine against the nonprofit overseeing Epic Charter Schools on Wednesday.
Judge Cindy Troung sanctioned Community Strategies Inc. for filing a libel and slander lawsuit against state Sen. Ron Sharp last year. Truong dismissed the lawsuit in February. On Wednesday, she ruled the case was an attempt to censor Sharp’s free speech.