Another Charter School Leader Being Sued by DC

[Anonymous]

The proliferation of charter schools and the loss of local press coverage makes this sector incredibly vulnerable to corruption. I worry that DC is once again going to be seen as easy pickings by every ed con artist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This was predicted about 10 years ago and no one would listen or care. Donald Hense does the same thing at Friendship PLUS pays himself about $400K because he considers himself the "superintendent" of the Friendship Charter school district. All the privatization hustlers running the shitty charters will someday all be indicted, I hope.

Amen to that last sentence!

[Anonymous]

The DCPCS Board is a sham.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The DCPCS Board is a sham.

This

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to drive by CAPCS's Petworth location every day. They have an electronic sign that has the slogan "Expectations of Excellence." Below that there is one of those black electronic signs with red lights that can display messages. The sign alternated between these messages:

* WWW.CAPCS.ORG
* 3:48 PM
* ERR

The time message was off by about 2 1/2 hours for the year and a half I drove by. I presume ERR means error.

I thought they set the "excellence" bar a little low.

You'd think that for a few million in management fees they could have fixed the sign...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The DCPCS Board is a sham.

I've worked with them and I agree. The Board needs new blood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The DCPCS Board is a sham.

I've worked with them and I agree. The Board needs new blood.

How does one go about seeking an appointment to the PCSB?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, maybe the Public Charter School Board is doing its job here -- we don't know for sure, because the article doesn't state whether the DC Attorney General collaborated with the School Board on the complaint. What IS clear from the article, however, is that Amos's companies hung themselves on accounting data that they freely reported. You'd think it would occur to them to "cook the books" a bit more.

And, aside from that, many Charter school leaders are cutting themselves too much cheese off the DCPS bricks they get to justify their funding. I mean, $400,000? Ridiculous. These folks should take no more than a DCPS Principal's salary, which in itself is generous at around $160K.

The information in this complaint has been known for years, with the facts in the public domain in the form of PCSB contract approvals, audit reports, etc. So, it would not have required any collaboration or assist from the PCSB to address. What the PCSB could/should have done was address this during CAPCS' charter renewal, which the PCSB clearly failed to do.

I disagree, PP. The PCSB is not in a position to police violations of the "non-profit corporation" requirement of the School Reform Act. If you read the complaint, you'll see that the attorney general plans to seize all of the asserts in question and engage in forensic accounting with the aim of returning the misappropriated funds to CAPCS. The attorney general has also asked the court to order the operators of CAPCS to stop these practices going forward.

The PCSB's only remedy would be to revoke the charter or to threaten to do so. However, revoking the charter would be unfair the students, families and teacher CAPCS.

The School Reform Act requires that charter schools in DC be organized as non-profit corporations, which requires that any budget surpluses be retained rather than distributed to owners/operators. According to Wikipedia, charter schools in DC with over 300 students tend to run budget surpluses, presumably due to economies of scale. With this complaint, the attorney general is sending the clear message that attempts to subvert the non-profit corporation provision of the School Reform Act and distribute charter surpluses by contracting with shell management companies charging unreasonable fees will not be tolerated.

It remains to be seen if Amos and his co-conspirators with be indicted on criminal charges.

P.S. I think Amos should just have paid himself $400K as head of school. I understand that such a salary would be three times what a DCPS principal makes. However, I suspect that the head of a charter school has more responsibility and takes on greater career risk than the average DCPS principal. Of course, $400K is nowhere near what the shell management company was bringing in in fees the past few years.

The PCSB is one of to parties to the charter contract, the other being the school's non-profit board of trustees. They are responsible for ensuring that charters adhere to the terms of their contract and charter petition, including following applicable laws. So yes, the PCSB's chief role is policing charter school's adhere to the law under which they were created. They are the "authorizer". The PCSB's contractee, the school's board of trustees, clearly failed to perform their fiduciairy duty and enabled millions of taxpayer dollars to flow to Kent Amos. It's not clear what value the school received in return. Certainy not enough for its students to perform at a Tier 1 level. No matter what, this arrangement gives all charter schools and the PCSB a black eye. It's really a collective failure for all involved in the sector -- we all need to be more vigilant about demanding increased transparency and accountability to the public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to drive by CAPCS's Petworth location every day. They have an electronic sign that has the slogan "Expectations of Excellence." Below that there is one of those black electronic signs with red lights that can display messages. The sign alternated between these messages:

* WWW.CAPCS.ORG
* 3:48 PM
* ERR

For at least a year before that, the sign flashed "EXPECTATIOS OF EXCELLENCE" [sic]. The sign became misleading when finally, in 2014, they corrected the spelling error at this for-profit failing grammar school, CAPCS Inc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The DCPCS Board is a sham.

Isn't this where Abigail Smith, Deputy Mayor of Education, worked for many years?

I would be alert for potential collusion, corruption or kick backs in the assignment and boundary process being led by the DME's office.

There are just too many people in the DME's office who are charter boosters and way too many corruption allegegations in this mayoral administration.

[Anonymous]

dcmom wrote:From the article: "D.C. charter schools are legally allowed to contract with for-profit management companies, including companies with which school leaders have financial ties."

Seriously? Is this in the law, or could the PCSB change it? I have problems with allowing a for-profit management company run a school, but one that also has financial ties with school leaders seems over the top.

This happens everywhere; there are problems all over the country stemming from "founding boards", and management companies set up by the board and staffed by founding members and family members. Not to say there is corruption in all instances but many charter structures have been set up this way and it's not illegal.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The DCPCS Board is a sham.

Isn't this where Abigail Smith, Deputy Mayor of Education, worked for many years?

I would be alert for potential collusion, corruption or kick backs in the assignment and boundary process being led by the DME's office.

There are just too many people in the DME's office who are charter boosters and way too many corruption allegegations in this mayoral administration.

No, Abigail Smith did not work for the DCPCSB. Rather than worrying about her being corrupt, you should be alert for anonymous posters spreading misinformation about named individuals.

[Anonymous]

Donald Hense is a crook like Wally (Kent) Amos.