Troubles persist at several charters (widening web of corruption in Philly)

[Hannah Bell]

Joseph J. DiLacqua, a captain in the Philadelphia Police Department, had been charged in early 2002 with covering up the drunken-driving accident of a fellow officer, and the family needed $15,000 to pay for a lawyer. Brien N. Gardiner, founder of the charter school where (wife) Rosemary DiLacqua was board president, provided the solution. He secretly lent her the money...

It was just one part of a web of criminal intrigue that pervaded Philadelphia Academy Charter School. Details came to light earlier this month when Rosemary DiLacqua was sentenced in federal court for taking a total of $34,000 in secret payments from Gardiner and a former chief executive and then giving them raises and lucrative contracts.

And the school was not the only one shaken by the revelations of suspected corruption. Reverberations are still felt across Pennsylvania's charter-school landscape.

Federal investigators who began their probe of Philadelphia Academy in May 2008 concluded that Gardiner and Kevin M. O'Shea, the former CEO, had looted the school. Gardiner committed suicide in May when indictments seemed imminent. O'Shea, who pleaded guilty to stealing as much as $1 million, is serving a 37-month sentence in federal prison.

Although the federal probe has spread to at least five other charters in the area, the Philadelphia School District has made only modest changes to increase oversight of the city's 67 charter schools...

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/education/20091228_Troubles_persist_at_several_charters.html

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. 67 charters in ONE city??

Good grief.

[Hannah Bell]

2. & boy howdy, they're soooo much better than public schools. for stealing from the public, that is.

At Germantown Settlement Charter School, federal authorities are trying to determine whether charter money propped up other entities run by the school's parent organization, Germantown Settlement, sources said. The school closed in June after the School Reform Commission refused to renew its operating charter.

Federal officials are scrutinizing Agora Cyber Charter School in Devon to determine whether its founder, Dorothy June Brown, diverted money to her management company. Brown severed her ties with the school in October as part of a civil-suit settlement that paid her $3 million in state and private money but that allowed the school to stay open. A slander lawsuit that Brown filed against parents who questioned her company's role at Agora is pending in Montgomery County.

At New Media Technology Charter School in Stenton and Germantown, authorities are reviewing allegations that charter money was used to pay expenses at a private school, a restaurant, and a health-food store. All have ties to the school's CEO and its founder.

John F. Downs, the school district inspector general, said his inquiry into charter schools continues as well. He said his investigators had found a troubling pattern of practices at charters across the city.

"They all seem to have nonprofits, pay rent to the nonprofits, and everyone gets rich," Downs said.

Under the law, school districts are supposed to ensure that charters they approve educate students and operate lawfully. But such scrutiny generally comes only once every five years, when the charters are up for renewal.

The state provides direct oversight for only the 11 cyber charters that provide online instruction.


***there's a new wrinkle: charter school admins will SUE PARENTS who allege misconduct or misadministration. Cause the bar for criticism of private parties is higher than for public employees.

[Hannah Bell]

4. bears repeating: John F. Downs, the school district inspector general, said his....

...investigators had found a troubling pattern of practices at charters across the city.

"They all seem to have nonprofits, pay rent to the nonprofits, and everyone gets rich," Downs said."



The PUBLIC money that should go to kids is being siphoned off for private profit.

Meanwhile, kids defunded, classes = drilling on meaningless tests. Often with cheating involved.

[alp227]

5. Check out this study

Stanford University did this study on charter schools available at credo.stanford.edu. The following is from its executive summary.

The study reveals that a decent fraction of charter schools, 17 percent, provide superior education opportunities for their students. Nearly half of the charter schools nationwide have results that are no different from the local public school options and over a third, 37 percent, deliver learning results that are significantly worse than their student would have realized had they remained in traditional public schools.

[Hannah Bell]

6. charter schools: worse than public schools for most kids.

[chill_wind]

3. K & R n/t