9486 in the collection
Previous Questionable Practices No Detriment to Getting More Public Funds in the Charter School Scam
Point to note: Don Musik, mentioned in the last paragraph, is the husband of Colletta Musik who also is employed at Virtual Community Schools. Colletta Musik was the original superintendent for ECOT and was fired--no one specifically knows why as ECOT is privately held. She was paid $124,233 to leave as was reported by the Toledo Blade on December 1, 2000. ECOT was investigated by the State Auditor in 2001 and found to have received more than $1.7 million in overpayments due to over-reporting their enrollment numbers.
A Cleveland charter school is closing its doors for good, leaving more than 200 students in limbo and a $1.4 million bill the state says it owes.
Operators of the Cleveland Academy of Math, Science and Technology on East 71st Street voluntarily agreed to close after a meeting yesterday with state officials, said Steve Burigana, head of the Ohio Department of Education's Community School Office.
The closing stems from one of two state probes of charter schools - publicly funded but privately run schools that operate unbound by the rules by which other schools abide.
In a separate investigation, state education officials are examining whether private school students - including students at a Cleveland religious school - are taking classes at public expense at an online charter school.
Meanwhile, operators of the Cleveland academy, which has been idle since mid-November, recently told parents that it would not reopen until Jan. 5 because of heating and ventilation problems. Yesterday, school officials acknowledged they have serious financial problems and owe the state $1.4 million in overpayments for students who were no longer enrolled, Burigana said. The school also failed to make payroll last month for its teachers.
"When you have an overpayment of this magnitude, there is always a question of how was the money spent," said Burigana, who asked the state auditor to investigate. "The initial enrollment was high, and then dropped dramatically, and they didn't report the reduction."
Another charter school, Greater Achievement Community School, has agreed to accommodate many of the academy's students and may move some of its own operations into the academy's building, Burigana said.
But even before yesterday's announcement, some parents had given up on the academy and moved their children to other schools.
"We, as parents, have to do something," said Barbara Page, who transferred her 12-year-old son to a Cleveland public school. "When it comes to these charter schools, we need to screen them a little better than I did. This wasn't right."
The subject of the other probe is the Virtual Community School of Ohio, a cyber school that enrolls students from across the state and has arrangements in which private school students appear to have switched to taking classes online at public expense, Burigana said.
The online charter school, based in suburban Columbus, appears to be contracting with at least three private schools that are providing space in their buildings for students to take VCS classes, he said. The private schools include Mosdos Ohr HaTorah, a Jewish elementary school in Cleveland where students participate in religious instruction in the morning and then begin their taxpayer-supported online classes, Burigana said.
"They cannot be enrolled as students in both schools," Burigana said. "But if you are taking public funds and floating them to a private school - including a religious school - it certainly raises a lot of questions and creates questionable appearances."
VCS Superintendent Don Musik could not be reached for comment yesterday. VCS officials and officials from the Reynoldsburg schools, which sponsors the cyber school, were meeting with state officials yesterday.
— Scott Stephens
Money trouble forces charter school to close
Plain Dealer
2003-12-09
http://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news/1070706911194430.xml?nohio
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
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