Three Years And Counting

There are times when one is truly at a loss for words. Thankfully those times are few and far between for me. 
Gosh golly...where to start. 

Here I cite the Tampa Bay Times 

"The Pinellas County School Board appears poised to close three charter schools left in disarray by a company under contract to manage them.
  Board members voiced no opposition as district officials made the case at a workshop Tuesday for issuing 90-day notices to terminate the schools' charter agreements.

District administrators presented evidence against Windsor Preparatory Academy and East Windsor Middle Academy, an elementary and middle school sharing the same location in St. Petersburg, and Newpoint Pinellas Academy, a middle school in Clearwater..." 

"...Aside from financial issues at the three Newpoint schools — where deficits total around $1 million, according to previous audits — officials told the board they found a significant lack of curriculum and materials for students at Windsor Prep and East Windsor. They also found after several site visits that the school lacked ESE services and Spanish classes as promised by the schools' charters with the district...

We have financial concerns that are questionable, and now you have all these expenses that are thrown into that," said Rick Wolfe, the district's charter school director.

Board member Linda Lerner voiced sympathy for the schools' governing board and the families, but said she would vote to issue the notices of termination. The schools will have a chance to submit documentation to the district.

"I think they need a 90-day notice but I will have an open mind about it," she said.

Board member Rene Flowers, who has pushed for more oversight over charter schools in the state Legislature, said the board must ensure that taxpayer money is spent appropriately.

"It's not a matter of just turning it around on that," she said. "They've had time. It's not like it just happened overnight."

Chris Wenzel, vice chair for the board overseeing the three Newpoint schools and a parent of a third grader at Windsor Prep, said parents will have no options comparable to Windsor should the school close. He said the board will discuss appealing a vote to terminate the schools to the state.

"It's not a fair balance," Wenzel said. "Our Windsor school board is doing a proactive approach and a breach of contract."

He added: "Give us a year to correct the issues. Shut it down if we can't get the curriculum and the finances together in one year."

Here's the thing folks. You have had three years. Three solid years during which NONE OF YOU cared enough to investigate the management company. 

My blog, which you have so liberally attacked and maligned, along with others that I have linked to, put the information right out in the open for you. YOU folks chose to ignore it all.

From another, earlier  Tampa Bay Times article 
"...According to documents released in advance of a School Board workshop on Tuesday, the district is recommending termination of the three Newpoint-managed schools because they continue to be in a deteriorating financial condition. Also, officials have raised concerns that the schools' governing board has failed to properly oversee operations.

Windsor Prep and Newpoint Pinellas Academy were required in February to submit a corrective action plan to the state because of their deteriorating financial conditions, and the district asked the schools, including East Windsor, to submit a financial and operational audit to shed more light on their inner workings. East Windsor was not asked to submit a corrective action plan because it is in its second year of operation, however officials have said that it has a financial pattern similar to the other Newpoint schools.

According to the new documents, the district says Windsor Prep and Newpoint Pinellas Academy have failed to provide a sufficient corrective action plan, and that all three schools do not have enough information to complete an audit. The documents state that the schools appear to be unable to open and successfully operate in the coming school year.

They also note that similar issues cited in the Escambia indictment raise concerns about the misuse of taxpayer funds in Pinellas.

The documents recognize that the schools have tried to terminate Newpoint as of June 21, but add "concerns about financial viability will continue..."

Perhaps if less time had been spent drafting expletive filled rants at this blogger (that were too crude to approve and allow to be posted), and just a wee bit of time been spent  investigating, and researching the FACTS, well then just perhaps you could have headed this off and kept your precious school from reaching this point. 

Perhaps then you would have had time to properly develop curriculum, corrective plans, proper staffing, legal matters...etc...etc...etc.

As it is all you can do is hope. 

Hopefully, if the school does close, you will research where you enroll your children next time so that they won't have to pay this price again.