CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS: Academy at the Farm

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS: Academy at the Farm

Academy at the Farm

by The Perimeter Primate

MOM SUSPECTS COMPLAINT ABOUT SCHOOL LED TO DISABLED CHILD'S OUSTER, June 11, 2010, The Tampa Tribune (FL)

For three years, Shelby Hines was the face of Academy at the Farm's Make-A-Difference Walk, an event that raises money to help offset the cost of therapy for the charter school's special-needs children.
As the walk's honorary chairwoman, Shelby, a 16-year-old with cerebral palsy, was featured in newspaper articles and mentioned in Dade City Commission proclamations.
Her connection to the school is ending, though, under less-than-ideal circumstances.
Shelby's mother, Susan Hines, said she was told last week that Shelby can't return to Academy at the Farm in the fall. Hines suspects that's because she complained to the state and the Pasco County School District over the way Academy at the Farm hired its new director.
"They've always said she can stay as long as we want to leave her," Hines said. "Then I started causing problems."
Mike Rom, the school's outgoing director, said Hines' complaints about the selection of his