Updated: Florida Gets Acquainted With Ohio's Master of Charter School Disaster
POSTED BY VINCE GRZEGOREK ON WED, DEC 28, 2011 AT 11:01 AM
The tale of Mark Thimmig is a reminder that not all Ohioans who depart for Florida leave in search of fruity drinks and leathery skin. Some simply seek new marks for their scam.
From 2001 to 2005, Thimmig was the CEO of White Hat Management, the outfit that runs one of the country’s largest for-profit charter school factories. White Hat’s local outlets took up residence in strip malls and boasted the academic rigor of a Mr. Hero franchise.
A 2007 Scene article titled “Education at Its Worst” detailed White Hat’s dubious academic record as well as its slimy financial dealings. Reports estimate that White Hat pocketed 96 percent of the money it received from the state. Such a move would signal an exemplary exercise in maximizing profit margins, except that the money had been earmarked for educating kids.
For years, White Hat stonewalled 10 Hope Academies and Life Skills Centers in Cleveland and Akron who wanted to know where their money had gone. On Friday, a Franklin County Common Pleas judge
Before the songs, chanting, and heartfelt tears, the ceremony next door to a strip mall begins with speeches. A thin, deeply tanned man in a pinstriped suit is among the first to take the microphone. He's not famous — not exactly — but his receding hairline, rectangular face, and overeager grin are naggingly familiar. "This is a hope factory," he begins. "This is a spiritual experience."
He stands in the lobby of what could be any office building in Florida, beside a reception desk festooned with red, white, and blue balloons.
"I stuttered very badly as a kid," he continues, his voice warming to the rhythm of a much-repeated tale. "I was considered a dummy. I empathize with these kids in a very intimate way."
This is Frank Biden, the brother of Vice