Massive charter school theft sounds warning for Georgia’s charter schools
By Molly Bloom
How do you not notice $600,000 is missing?
That’s what parents and staff at Atlanta’s Latin Academy Charter School asked as the extent of the theft from their school — the largest theft in Georgia charter school history — was revealed.
A $12,000 charge at a strip club. Thousands of dollars spent at Mercedes-Benz of Buckhead. ATM withdrawals of hundreds of dollars at a time.The charges to Atlanta’s Latin Academy Charter School should have raised eyebrows. For the top state education officials and corporate executives on the school’s board, they should have set off earsplitting sirens.Instead, the charges continued for years, siphoning more than $600,000 in taxpayer dollars that should have been spent on students.
Christopher Clemons, the school’s founder, has been charged with fraud and theft in connection with the missing money.
Academically, Latin Academy was one of the top-performing middle schools in Atlanta. But the AJC found little evidence that the school’s all-star board scrutinized the school’s finances with the same attention they devoted to tracking its academic performance.
Latin Academy, with its all-star board and experienced leader, seemed on track to thrive. But behind that facade of apparent success, the school spent millions of tax dollars with little public scrutiny andMassive charter school theft sounds warning for Georgia’s charter schools | Get Schooled:
