Columbus Dispatch
After three weeks of hope and worry about the future of the Harte Crossroads charter schools, their sponsor closed them yesterday.
Most at the schools learned of the decision about 3 p.m., not long before the end of the school day.
Teachers, who have not been paid for their last month’s work, stood outside the schools’ doors in the Columbus City Center and cried. Seniors wondered whether they would be able to graduate from somewhere else. Parents said they felt that they had been misled by those who had taken over the schools two weeks ago....
....Richland Academy of the Arts, the schools’ sponsor, made the decision yesterday afternoon after learning that the state would not send its March payment of $131,800 in per-student funding. The state said the records for Harte Crossroads Academy and Harte Crossroads High School were too much of a mess.
Richland took over the schools March 1 after firing founder Anita Nelam, who had announced a week earlier that the schools would close because of financial problems and disputes with Richland and an affiliate.....
....The teachers and staff members, who are paid every two weeks, have missed two paychecks, said Mary Tackett, a first-grade teacher who said she fears eviction....
.....The management company, Innovative Learning Solutions, took 20 percent of the schools’ revenue in return for fiscal, recordkeeping and other services, and Richland took another 3 percent....
....Cooper said problems stemmed from the prior administration’s over-reporting of the number of students. Nelam had said there were about 250 students from kindergarten through 12 th grade before she announced the closure; the schools had 190 students yesterday....
...Gov. Ted Strickland wants to prohibit the type of relationship that existed between Harte Crossroads and Innovative Learning Solutions. He said in his State of the State on Wednesday that forprofit management companies should not be allowed to run charter schools.The state Education Department will try to help students who need a new school, said spokesman J.C. Benton.
"Our No. 1 priority right now is to make sure the students get into other schools as soon as possible," he said.
Columbus Public Schools principals will be contacting students’ parents to encourage them to return....
Let me explain this to you: One management company got 20% of the operating costs of the school and another group got 3%. This type of arrangement was doomed from the start. The students and parents are left out in the cold. High school students don't even know if their credits will count toward graduation. Teachers have not been paid and the management companies are still pulling in their big money. This is awful! The only groups who are for these voucher supported charter schools are the fat cats who run the management companies.
