Kent Amos Paid Himself over $1 Million a Year

[Anonymous]

The new DC slush fund: charters!

Is this guy tied to a mayoral candidate?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Is this guy tied to a mayoral candidate?

He had contributed to Muriel Bowser. The last I heard, she was "considering" returning the money. I don't know if that ever happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been saying this for over a year and everyone has ignored me.

Just like Options and some other Charters, the oversight is lax and anybody can open up a school, but then again Rhee was wholly unqualified to run a school district and the council just ran with it. Sadly, a lot of DCUM concerns that most people pay attention to are those that affect the children of those WTOP. Look at the posts that get the most hits!!!

[Anonymous]

That really sucks for the kids that go to these schools. It also sucks for all the charter operators who are really doing right by their kids.
Do the non-crooked charters oppose great transparency?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been saying this for over a year and everyone has ignored me.

Just like Options and some other Charters, the oversight is lax and anybody can open up a school, but then again Rhee was wholly unqualified to run a school district and the council just ran with it. Sadly, a lot of DCUM concerns that most people pay attention to are those that affect the children of those WTOP. Look at the posts that get the most hits!!!

There's a reason that a lot of these issues are cropping up at the oldest charters, those that were approved under the old Board of Education. The BOE's chartering authority was taken away because they were doing such a poor job of approving and monitoring charters. All of these schools got swept under the PCSB's oversight, which has improved quite a bit in the last few years. Is it perfect? Of course not. But the recent changes, especially to the approval process, have helped things considerably. It did use to kind of be that "anybody can open up a school", but that's not the case anymore- in the last few years the PCSB has only approved something like 30% of the applications.

And for those who thing this sort of thing is about charters or about DC, you really don't know your history. This stuff has been going on in every form of government (and big business!) since time immemorial. If you think it's tied to home rule, go take a look at Chicago politics, or Louisiana. There is no shortage of corrupt political leaders and hangers-on anywhere in this country, or the world.

[Anonymous]

Dipping into the pot to enrich himself is the last of Kent Amos' offenses against the taxpayers of Washington DC. His "school" welcomes children dropped off chiefly in cars with Maryland license plates. He hosts a Maryland church with thousands, on public school property, and probably claiming tax deductions. He built massive, illegal parking lot with no objection from his cronies in the DC city government, and yet with no permits, no environmental studies, no concern for flooding in the area -- and no need for the school. His teachers reports that he is a narcissistic, self-promoting fool, who knows nothing about education, and is using the failing school only as a way to collect money from honest citizens. He is a known liar. The man belongs in prison, but will use his connections to continue to evade the rule of law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dipping into the pot to enrich himself is the last of Kent Amos' offenses against the taxpayers of Washington DC. His "school" welcomes children dropped off chiefly in cars with Maryland license plates. He hosts a Maryland church with thousands, on public school property, and probably claiming tax deductions. He built massive, illegal parking lot with no objection from his cronies in the DC city government, and yet with no permits, no environmental studies, no concern for flooding in the area -- and no need for the school. His teachers reports that he is a narcissistic, self-promoting fool, who knows nothing about education, and is using the failing school only as a way to collect money from honest citizens. He is a known liar. The man belongs in prison, but will use his connections to continue to evade the rule of law.

You are talking about that parking lot he built in the former Armstrong school building now Amos 5 at the corner of P and 1st St NW, correct? I live in the neighborhood and anyone so much as try to fix anything without a permit in the neighborhood and they'll be stopped but Amos got to build that huge parking lot without permits or notifying the neighborhood including the ANC - the bulldozers just showed up one day and did it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:this is unconscionable and why most advocates (Charter and DCPS) want blanket financial transparency from both sectors.

Here's hoping the next mayor -- Catania or Bowser -- will follow through on their promises.

Yes. But ask yourself which candidate is more likely to follow up and demand accountability? The one who still hasn't distanced herself from DC political and business operatives who skimmed the money away from Park Southern public housing? I'm a supporter of accountable public charter schools and I trust that Catania has the knowledge and perseverance to find and punish crooked operators. I have zero confidence that Bowser will -- she's too tolerant of, too close to, the shadow network of connected cronies who sup at the trough of DC government spending.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is unconscionable and why most advocates (Charter and DCPS) want blanket financial transparency from both sectors.

Here's hoping the next mayor -- Catania or Bowser -- will follow through on their promises.

Yes. But ask yourself which candidate is more likely to follow up and demand accountability? The one who still hasn't distanced herself from DC political and business operatives who skimmed the money away from Park Southern public housing? I'm a supporter of accountable public charter schools and I trust that Catania has the knowledge and perseverance to find and punish crooked operators. I have zero confidence that Bowser will -- she's too tolerant of, too close to, the shadow network of connected cronies who sup at the trough of DC government spending.

I agree. I hope somehow comes out with a political ad tying her to Amos real quick. She does not have good critical judgement and has made the very clear.

[Anonymous]

^^ somehow should be "someone"

[Anonymous]

Yuck... this is video of Kent Amos talking about his charter schools. This does not sound like a man driven by any mission other than $$$.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ENszamrP0A

[Anonymous]

People like this undermine charter autonomy. With freedom comes responsibility, people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yuck... this is video of Kent Amos talking about his charter schools. This does not sound like a man driven by any mission other than $$$.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ENszamrP0A

I'm responding to my own post.

In all fairness, I just watched the original video that this excerpt was taken from. Kent Amos was driven by a mission when he first set up the charters. He seems sharp, but I still think he's driven too much by money than education mission. He seems to attribute a lot of education success in DC to himself. There is a clear difference in the two leaders talking about their schools.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0vGYwsxA94

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, Charters receive that much money, but can't pay their teachers a decent salary.

Not ALL charters. And I agree on financial transparency for all charters and DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Why should he go to jail...? He did not steal the funds, he is not embezzling the funds, he sort a salary and it was approved. Get a life. The public education is free not the work.