Death Watch

   Death watch...not my words...that was how WFLA worded it in their latest report.

   I view it as more Twighlight Zone-ish, but then why argue semantics, right?
   According to WFLA's Report:
"NEP’s CEO Eileen Quinlan suddenly announced the company was quitting the schools March 8 and said she was transferring all of NEP’s assets to a new management company called Alliance Education Services. Alliance’s managers say they agreed to an acquisition of NEP in principal but still have not finalized any deal with NEP.

All of that leaves the charter schools in a kind of dead zone of fiscal management during their darkest hour. NEP has basically vanished from the picture in the middle of the school year, even though it is technically still in control of the schools’ finances.

An attorney for the charter schools has written to NEP to provide legal notice of its “material breach of the management contract.” That’s the first step toward formally firing NEP and wrenching back financial control. School leaders are refusing to pay NEP any of the $1.288 million NEP claims it is owed without proof that is a legally enforceable debt.

Starting in May the charter schools will open new checking accounts and control the money flow of tax dollars that are keeping the charter schools in business. Meanwhile the Pinellas County School District is giving the three schools until May 1 to complete the operational audit and until May 15 to submit a budget for next year’s operations.

The biggest part of those tasks involves solving the mystery of the $1.288 million cash advances. If there is an easy answer, no one at NEP is rushing to explain. Quinlan did not respond to repeated emails and phone messages left by 8 On Your Side. Emails sent to Quinlan’s NEP business address refer all questions to Alliance. Alliance did not respond either."

  Oh what a tangled web Newpoint did weave...and now Alliance will only "help" if they get their way. What a predicament. 

   If only there had been a blog forecasting of this, or an easily accessible, universal search option where interested parties might have been able to do this funny thing called research and possibly have avoided all this... oh...wait...sigh.