Charter Operator Fined $195,000 after Stealing $1.2 Million from Ohio; Judge Blames State
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports this morning that Romey Coles Jr.—superintendent and board member of the Lion of Judah Academy charter school—who had plead guilty to one count of having an unlawful interest in a public contract and one count of money laundering, was sentenced yesterday to five years of probation and a fine of $195,000 owed to the state.
“According to prosecutors, the academy from 2006 to 2011 took in almost $5.8 million from the state and federal government and $1.2 million of it was spent illegally, including items that were purchased for the school but went to the Church of the Lion of Judah, where Coles was a bishop and his wife was a pastor.”
The sentencing judge, Janet Burnside, “said she didn’t see a prison sentence as proper in the
The Political Mess around Michigan Governor Snyder’s “Turnarounds” for Struggling Schools
There is a political mess in Michigan around the performance and the role of Governor Rick Snyder’s Education Achievement Authority (EAA). The EAA was intended by the Governor to function like the Louisiana Recovery School District (RSD) that took over many so called “failing” schools in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and then was expanded to take over struggling schools across the state. (I
FEB 20
American Dream Features the Individual; Justice Is the Community’s Solution
In a fascinating academic study, The American Dream and the Power of Wealth, sociologist Heather Beth Johnson and a group of researchers conduct interviews to try to discover how we “acknowledge structured inequality as we teach our children that individual achievement determines life chances.” She is exploring our society’s cultural narrative of the American Dream, the idea that we live in a meri
FEB 19
Chris Christie and Chris Cerf: Dismantling Equity in New Jersey’s Public Schools
Late last week New Jersey Spotlight, an online news service that covers information on issues critical to New Jersey, published an opinion piece by Mark Weber, Looking Closely at the Dangerous Legacy of Commissioner Chris Cerf. Weber profiles Christopher Cerf, Governor Chris Christie’s appointed state Commissioner of Education. One of the reasons the piece is so important is that New Jersey had s
FEB 18
Philanthropic Plutocrats Pushing the Levers and Pulling the Strings
Over the weekend, here and here, this blog covered last week’s pieces by David Sirota, here and here, that exposed the $3.5 million grant the Public Broadcasting Service solicited from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation to pay for a PBS series, The Pension Peril, that has been portraying the advocacy position of the Laura and John Arnold Foundation that opposes public pensions. PBS agreed to r
FEB 16
More on Conflicts of Interest When Philanthropists Sponsor the News
Yesterday this blog covered the story by David Sirota about the Public Broadcasting Service’s solicitation of a grant of $3.5 million from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation to pay for a series, The Pension Peril, that represents the point of view of the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. PBS has returned the money and said the series, which had already begun airing, will go on hiatus. David Sir
FEB 15
PBS News Admits Hidden Sponsor of Anti-Pension Series; Stops Coverage of Story
Here is a quick weekend update on an important development about media coverage of issues connected to school reform. This time the topic is so-called news coverage of public pensions, the kind of pensions school teachers pay into throughout their careers. Attacks on teachers’ fringe benefits including pensions are central to the political agenda of the corporate school deformers. On Wednesday, D