DCPCSB Financial Monitoring List
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Anonymous
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Reading the PCSB's response to Mendelson about Eagle Academy's financial failure, I learned that the PCSB maintains a Financial Monitoring List that's part of the board meeting minutes quarterly. It's on the Consent Calendar tab of the meeting materials under Finance Committee Quarterly Report.
The most recent, as of August 19: Capital Village, Harmony, IDEA, KIPP, LEARN, Lee Montessori, and St. Coletta. The same list is in the May 20 meeting materials and the February 26 meeting materials minus St. Coletta. |
Anonymous
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Link?
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Anonymous
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Found the links.
The PCSB put up two memos both written in August 2024 but one supposedly covers schools that were cited in 2023: - Capital Village Public Charter School PCS - Eagle Academy PCS - Harmony DC PCS - IDEA PCS - KIPP DC PCS - LEARN DC PCS, - Lee Montessori PCS https://dcpcsb.egnyte.com/dl/UdCRGBWOLk The other memo is for 2024 and cites - Capital Village Public Charter School PCS - Eagle Academy PCS - Harmony DC PCS - IDEA PCS - KIPP DC PCS - LEARN DC PCS - Lee Montessori PCS - St. Coletta Special Education PCS https://dcpcsb.egnyte.com/dl/bf023Q0YID Putting out a memo a year later is odd but one can assume they are attempting to show the PCSB was watching these schools. Have to wonder what being on their watch list means since Eagle wasn't put on a corrective action plan earlier, had many years of missing PCSB targets and even though they were on the "financial monitoring list" still abruptly closed three days before the school year began because of finances. |
Anonymous
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In the board meeting book: https://www.livebinders.com/b/3605337
Click the Consent Calendar tab, then the button for Finance Committee Quarterly Report. Yes clearly they are trying to CYA. I think financial monitoring is one tier, CAP is the next, and perhaps the requirements for triggering a CAP are too high and schools don't get put on a CAP as early as they should. The Mendelson letter does say that the school was implementing financial changes in consultation with the PCSB though, prior to the CAP. It also seems like the surge of COVID funding made them *appear* to be in better shape than they were, and the PCSB's metrics didn't account for the temporary nature of that funding. |
Anonymous
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This makes me really want to know what the problems are at the other schools on the list. Unfortunately I'm not that good at this kind of thing! It seems like Lee's problems relate primarily to acquiring a building.
https://dcpcsb.egnyte.com/dl/9rv9ElIrHO/FY_2022_Financial_Analysis_Report.pdf_ |
Anonymous
A year or so ago in the Lee board meetings there were reports on the fiscal health of Lee that pointed to errors in financial management and tracking expenses. The board minutes noted, "There were several errors in financial management and forecasting that has lead to an adjustment in next year's budget. We are working to ensure that we are being responsible financial stewards." |
Anonymous
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Lists don't do anything if there is not follow-up. If you read their response to Mendelson they say they didn't think Eagle's CEO also serving as CFO was a risk. Once it was identified as a governance risk the school said they'd fix it. Except they never did and the PCSB didn't follow-up.
Scariest thing about Eagle is not that it happened, it is that PCSB doesn't see anything they did wrong or could improve. Which means it will happen again. |
Anonymous
It seems like they do acknowledge missing the Nevada thing and will change policy on that. I still don't really get how the merger went forward and then was shot down. Like something changed that isn't being disclosed. Or the staff just got out over their skis. |
Anonymous
Mergers never really go forward until the charter board votes. What's unusual here is that it is the first time that the board voted against a merger. It is not, however, the first time that the charter board has voted against its own staff recommendation. It's unusual but it does happen and seems to be happening more with the current group of board members. The board itself had disagreement among its members. If you watch the July financial corrective action plan meeting, there were members who encouraged Eagle to move swiftly to a merger/takeover. Yet at the board meeting after that there were members who said they didn't agree that Eagle should be able to do a merger/takeover because they would be avoiding accountability. It's sad all around for the kids/parents who had to find new schools within a couple of days of school starting. It's too bad time was wasted when in July parents could have been told. They also could have been toldlast year when Eagle's bad finances were clear to the PCSB. |
Anonymous
I never really got why the merger/takeover was seen as avoiding accountability. The current leadership is fired, isn't that accountability for them? And if takeover of a distressed school is avoiding accountability, does that mean those takeovers are just not allowed anymore, for any distressed school? |
Anonymous
| And if some were philosophically opposed to a takeover, why not make that clear earlier in the summer, before their own staff and Friendship staff invested so much time in making it happen? Bizarre. And something Friendship will surely remember next time it is approached in a similar situation. |