Whistleblower: ECOT used software to get more state money
COLUMBUS: Education regulators are reviewing a whistleblower’s claim that Ohio’s then-largest online charter school intentionally inflated attendance figures tied to its state funding using software it purchased after previous allegations of attendance inflation, the Associated Press has learned.
A former technology employee of the now-shuttered Electronic Classroom for Tomorrow said he told the Ohio Department of Education last year that school officials ordered staff to manipulate student data with software obtained following the state’s demand that it return $60 million in overpayments for the 2015-2016 school year.
The employee spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity for fear of professional repercussions for speaking out. His concerns were first raised in an Aug. 3 email to the state a month before it released its 2017 attendance review of ECOT.
The state challenged ECOT over how it claimed student time using the new software, called ActivTrak, after finding that it duplicated learning hours, according to Education Department spokeswoman Brittany Halpin.
Neil Clark, ECOT’s lobbyist and spokesman throughout last year’s review, dismissed the whistleblower’s allegations.
“I think most of this is made-up, ridiculous attempts to abuse a corpse,” he said. Clark said he no longer works for the school that abruptly closed in January.
Marion Little, the school’s attorney, said Monday that he was unaware of the man’s claims or that the Education Department had interviewed him. Messages were left with other school leaders seeking comment.
The whistleblower email and other department records, obtained by the AP through a public records request, show state officials waited until December to meet with the man about his concerns with the ActivTrak software.
Halpin said, “We appreciated hearing from this individual and will be taking into consideration the information for ECOT’s [next attendance] review.” That review will take place this summer.
In an interview, the whistleblower said that before he left the school last July he was in meetings where officials ordered staff to manipulate student data to reach desired outcomes.
“They would put a model in place, they would look at what it produced, then continue reading: Whistleblower: ECOT used software to get more state money:
