What we do know is $800,000 plus are unaccounted for!! And that is just what has been discovered so far.
Here is the link to the latest Mark Douglas/WFLA news story covering tonight's meeting.
"Last Earned Grade Was An F" Windsor Prep and East Windsor Middle School's Board Chairman Mr Pergolizzi is a well respected business owner with quite a but of experience in both the public and private sectors, as well as serving on many boards as is indicated by his public RESUME.
How then, is anyone in their right mind supposed to believe he signed off on audits accepting/documenting nearly a MILLION DOLLARS of debt for these two schools that he now can not explain? Is that how he runs his business? Is that the level of service he provides to the other boards he serves on?
How too is anyone supposed to believe that neither Newpoint Education Partners, or Mr Pergollizi in his role as Board Chairman, did any research into Alliance Education Services or the parent company Alliance Ed.? Hogwash!
"Pergolizzi insisted he can’t find any executed loan documents and can’t recall if he’s ever been approved about such loans as the school’s board chairman. 8 On Your Side asked Pergolizzi how he could sign off on an audited financial report detailing the loans if he didn’t know if they existed.
“I don’t know. I have no answer on that,” Pergolizzi said."
To put it simply...no one does.But boy, doesn't everyone feel just so confident with this new management company? Mr Pergollizi does:
"Pergolizzi insisted he is eager to move forward to save the school. He’s promoting Alliance as Windsor’s savior. But even the new school management company has some troubling baggage as we found out last week in our 8 On Your Side investigation."
I like that slick as heck Justin Matthews too. He just exudes confidence and charm, now doesn't he? Much like the shiny, fancy (untruthful and misleading) Alliance Ed website.
And really, why worry about honesty or accuracy when representing your company? Newpoint wasn't concerned with that either ( pot meet kettle).
I wonder how charming he was as he was part of the team driving Imagine Schools into the ground. Perhaps that was just was just a fluke, and they have learned from that experience.
But at least he ( as are all the other Charter scammers) was able to reinvent himself and form this new company Alliance Education Services, and it's parent company Alliance Ed in North Carolina.
"The company’s chief operating officer, Justin Matthews, was chairman of the Imagine Charter School in St. Petersburg that failed miserably. The Alliance website also listed five charter schools as “our schools” on its website.
But we discovered one of those schools doesn’t yet exist and two others, including Lutz Preparatory School, deny any connection to Alliance.
After learning of that claim, Lutz Prep hired an attorney to write a strongly worded letter warning Matthews to stop saying it is a client.
“Alliance Education Services, Incorporated (AES) falsely, and without authorization, listed Lutz as a client of AES,” attorney Shawn Arnold wrote. ”Lutz certainly did not consent to a material misrepresentation of having a relationship with AES."
Surely they didn't just close, reorganize and form a new company, and jump right into the game again? Wouldn't that just be tooo similar to what we have seen before?Meanwhile "Windsor Prep has to submit a “corrective action plan” to the Pinellas district by April 5. Matthews said Alliance is volunteering to help draft that plan at no cost to Windsor with the hope of becoming the school’s next manager."
Hhhhmmmmmm...non profit? Really? I wonder.
Meanwhile, some people seem to think that despite the property, and buildings being PRIVATELY OWNED, they will somehow be able to seize control and take over the schools. GOOD LUCK.
AWP: I don't understand why there's a concern about the property being privately owned. That just means it's rented out to the school.
ReplyDeleteMy take is Alliance was deployed by NEP to rework the debt to appease the district, so they can stay in business via Alliance. In the end, they'll make less but they still have same form of control and if they do well they'll use it to grow their business again. It'll also prevent an instant exit of both teachers and students which will kill their business.
Rick...look at what they did in Escambia County. They have no loyalty to their staff, and shuttering, then reopening would make them more money. It will be very interesting to see how it all plays out.
DeleteHere's another article for the same meeting by TBT: http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/k12/more-uncertainty-surrounds-troubled-pinellas-charter-school-company/2269924
ReplyDeleteI read this. It's a mess, but all too typical for Newpoint Education. This is a patter than goes all the way back to Ohio, and that has played out in Florida many times. Charters can be an effective alternative, but there needs to be more regulation. The left doesn't want them to exist at all, and the right wants no regulations so that they just keep being the money makers that they are. The only people hurt by all this are the kids, and the tax payers. Something has to give. Don't you think?
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