Friday, April 9, 2010

City Controller report blames District for lack of charter oversight | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

City Controller report blames District for lack of charter oversight

by Wendy Harris on Apr 08 2010

Philadelphia City Controller Alan Butkovitz held a press conference today to release a 94-page report of the findings from an in-depth investigation into 13 Philadelphia charter schools, while aiming much of his criticism at the School District for its failure to keep abuses of the charter law in check.

At the request of the U.S. Attorney, the investigation “redacted the appendices for three of the 13 schools investigated.” But findings from the following charters were made public: Community Academy of Philadelphia, Franklin Towne Charter High School, Harambee Institute of Science and Technology, Imani Education Circle, Khepera, Mathematics, Civics & Sciences, Multi-Cultural Academy,New Foundations, People for People, and Preparatory Charter School of Math, Science, Technology & Careers.

Butkovitz said the investigation singled out these charters because they are the ones that appear to have an overrepresentation of the problems that existed atPhiladelphia Academy Charter School, where the late CEO Brien Gardiner and Kevin O’Shea were at one point earning annually $224,500 and $206,137 respectively, and hiring relatives at six-figure salaries.

The investigation was launched more than a year ago after the U.S. Attorney discovered problems at Philadelphia Academy Charter School. Since then several charters have come under fire for wrongdoing, most recently the Harambee Institute of Science and Technology Charter School for its longstanding operation of a nightclub on the premises of the school. Superintendent Arlene Ackerman threatened to close the school if it did not cease operations. The nightclub has since been removed from the building.

Butkovitz’s review of the District's Charter School Office and all 63 charter school files came up with disturbing findings, including the fact that 51 of the 63 charter files were incomplete and missing charter agreements, articles of incorporation,

Harlem Art School’s Records Foretold Its Demise - NYTimes.com

Tax Files Show Harlem Art School’s Path to Ruin

By TRYMAINE LEE and RUSS BUETTNER

Published: April 8, 2010

Enlarge This ImageThe Harlem School of the Arts, celebrated for equipping local children with skills in everything from dance to classical music, had for decades been a favorite of the city’s most charitable donors.

Ángel Franco/The New York Times

A rally Thursday at the Harlem School of the Arts, which parents, students and alumni still hope will not be closed permanently.

Harlem Arts School Shuts Over Financial Problems (April 3, 2010)

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Ángel Franco/The New York Times

Christopher Paci and Cindy Augustino, of the school's board, on Thursday, when a decision on the school's fate was postponed.

But in recent years, the nonprofit school sank into financial ruin: a $2 million surplus melted into a deficit of more than $1 million. A $1.5 million grant and the proceeds from a $1 million loan evaporated. Nearly half a million dollars in payroll taxes went unpaid.

The consequences now seem clear: The school has closed its doors, perhaps forever, locking out neighborhood children who dreamed of competing with their moneyed counterparts around the city for coveted arts slots at high schools and colleges.

“It’s devastating,” said Linda Hall, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jalin, has taken classes there after school or on weekends for the past 10 years. “It’s like losing your best friend and knowing they can never come back to you.”

School leaders, who are seeking what they describe as “angels” to provide a last-minute rescue, have recently blamed the national recession, which hurt many charitable organizations, for the difficulties. But in response to questions, the chairman of the school’s board said the school’s president was fired last year in part due to the financial problems, and the fact that she and others had

City controller cites charter-school profiteering | Philadelphia Inquirer | 04/08/2010

City Controller Alan Butkovitz (inset) said he found 'troubling questions' surrounding an accountant employed by three city charter schools, including Harambee in West Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke; Alejandro A. Alvarez/ File)

READER FEEDBACK

City controller cites charter-school profiteering

By Martha Woodall

Inquirer Staff Writer

City Controller Alan Butkovitz's investigation of 13 Philadelphia charter schools found repeated examples of complex real estate arrangements in which charters leased or rented facilities from related nonprofit organizations.

"The way the charter law is written and not enforced, there is a gigantic loophole through which people can profiteer," Butkovitz said. "This is not supposed to be a vehicle for maximizing profit for operators and related parties."

Butkovitz began his special fraud investigation of charters several months after The Inquirer reported allegations in April 2008 of financial mismanagement and conflicts of interest at Philadelphia Academy Charter School.

His staff has been sharing information with the U.S. Attorney's Office, which is conducting a criminal investigation of at least nine area charter schools, according to sources with knowledge of the probe.

Butkovitz's complete report, which will include findings on the Philadelphia School District's oversight of 67 city charters and recommendations for tightening state law, is scheduled to be released Thursday afternoon.

The charters Butkovitz focused on include Harambee Institute of Science and Technology Charter School in West Philadelphia. He released part of his report March 30 after 6ABC reported that a nightclub operated inside Harambee on weekends.

"The fact there were significant issues at 13 out of 13 raises the likelihood you would see many of these same issues found in a much larger sampling of the schools," Butkovitz said.

Among those 13 schools, four were the subject of extensive focus by Butkovitz for complex real estate maneuvers, apparent conflicts of interest, and salary arrangements for chief executive officers, according to a draft of the report obtained by The Inquirer:

Franklin Towne Charter High School. Franklin Towne, at 5301 Tacony St. in Bridesburg, opened in 2000. After Joseph Venditti, a lawyer, stepped down as board president in 2005, he became the school's chief executive with a $108,173 salary. His salary and benefits rose rapidly, and his total compensation was $236,281 in 2008.

The controller's office found several questionable practices at Franklin Towne in addition to Venditti's more than doubling his compensation in three years.

The charter, with 929 students, owns its building in the former Frankford Arsenal and leases the property to Franklin Towne Holdings L.L.C. Venditti created that for-profit company, which sublets the building back to the school. He signed the lease and sublease as manager of the company and CEO of the school.

The circular arrangement enables the school to obtain state rent reimbursement. Venditti did not respond to e-mail and phone messages seeking comment.

Preparatory Charter School. At 1928 Point Breeze Ave. in South Philadelphia, Prep Charter is a high school known for a program that allows seniors to take classes at Community College of Philadelphia and for its sports teams.

The charter took CEO John Badagliacco off the payroll Sept. 1, 2007, so he could retire and collect his state

Bala Cynwyd investors donate $1.5M to Williams

Three Bala Cynwyd investment moguls who say they share State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams' passion for charter schools and education reform have given his gubernatorial campaign as much as $1.5 million.

Sebelius calls for a wider role for city schools

More than 1,100 school administrators, health-care personnel, parents and community members gathered in Center City Wednesday to rally around Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius' call to utilize city school buildings as safe havens for families, even after the school bell rings.

Loophole may allow schools to escape state-mandated reforms | California Watch

Loophole may allow schools to escape state-mandated reforms

April 9, 2010 | Corey G. Johnson

Last month, the state trotted out a bunch of scary must-do reforms when it released the list of the so-called "worst-performing schools."

Fire the principal and staff. Convert into a charter school. Or possibly shut your doors forever. But absolutely no more business as usual.

Flickr photo by woodlewonderworks

Child, please.

According to some excellent reporting by theContra Costa Times and the Oakland Tribune, a loophole as emerged.

It turns out, the reforms were tied to the acceptance of federal School Improvement Grants. Backed by federal stimulus dollars, the U.S. Department of Education offered up to $4 billion in SIG funding to turn around schools deemed consistently low performers. But here's the rub: the program is voluntary. So, if a school district decides to turn down the grant money, the state can't make them adhere to the reforms.

"At this point in time, there is not an enforcement mechanism other than public opinion," Hilary McLean, spokeswoman for the state Department of Education, told the Times.

Oakland Unified School District, which had five middle schools on the list, is a prime example of what could happen at most of the 188 schools on the list. According to the Tribune:

Some state colleges still committed to keeping student debt down

April 9, 2010 | Louis Freedberg

On an otherwise gloomy higher education landscape, there's one sliver of good news for students struggling to cover their college expenses.

According to a new survey by the Project on Student Debt, 50 colleges with policies to limit or eliminate loans in student aid packages are still keeping those policies in place. That includes all 10 University of California campuses, the California Institute of Technology,Claremont McKenna College, Pomona College, and Stanford.

These colleges are apparently not going down the same road as some highly selective colleges like Williams and Dartmouth that recently announced that they could no longer afford to stick to their "no-loan" pledges.

"It's good that schools that have committed resources to minimizing debt for those who can least afford it are staying the course," said Lauren Asher, president of the Oakland-based Institute for College Access and Success, which carried out the study.

This doesn't translate into a free ride for students.

Flickr photo by Amoeda

Aid packages vary from school to school, but, at least in California, all require that parents at least have to make their "expected family contribution" based on federal guidelines.

According to the survey, Stanford families with an income of $60,000 and one child in college have to contribute $12,949, towards the total cost of attendance of $50,992. Those funds could come from a range of sources – regular income, savings, loans, student employment, grandparent contributions, etc.

News: Virtual Sit-In - Inside Higher Ed

Virtual Sit-In

April 9, 2010

On March 4, as thousands of students and faculty across California took to the streets to protest budget cuts and tuition increases across the state’s university system, Ricardo Dominguez, an associate professor of visual arts at the San Diego campus, engineered a demonstration of a different kind.

Dominguez arranged for hundreds of students to register for a “virtual sit-in,” which involved logging on to theOffice of the President portal on the system’s Web site and prompting the page to reload over and over. The idea was to jam the site, making it difficult for other visitors to enter — in essence, occupying the president’s virtual office, instead of his physical one, in order to make a statement.

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According to news reports, Dominguez also caused the message “There is no transparency found at the UC Office of the President” to appear, in emulation of the slogans protesters might express at a conventional sit-in.

The stunt has landed the tenured professor in hot water with campus police and the San Diego administration. According to Micha Cardenas, a visual arts lecturer and Dominguez collaborator, the university is investigating Dominguez for orchestrating what is known as a “distributed denial-of-service attack,” or DDoS. The Department of Homeland Security defines a DDoS attack as an attempt “to prevent legitimate users from accessing information or services” using multiple computers.

The university has informed Dominguez that if he is found to have violated any laws or university policies, it could jeopardize his tenure status, according to Cardenas. Dominguez could not be reached.

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Friday, April 9, 2010