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Charter School Corruption Series #3--Emerald Charters in Knoxville, Oh My!

11/7/2014

 
After a number of failed attempts, Knoxville may be opening its first charter school in the Fall of 2015. Previously, Knox County Schools rejected several charter school applicants including Beta Theta Foundation who proposed a residential charter school on the campus of Knoxville College; Genesis Rock, the perennial applicant for Dream Academy; the IRIS Foundation with its alleged ties to Turkish Islamic scholar, Fetullah Gulen; and SMART Schools, Inc., an outfit out of Memphis headed up by Tommie Henderson. 

SMART Schools is the same operator that shoved its charter school down Shelby County's throat in 2011 before the merger with Memphis City Schools. Interestingly, also in 2011, both Knox County and Hamilton County rejected applications from SMART Schools. Hamilton County suffered the same fate as Shelby County with the state reversing its decision; however, Knox County's decision was affirmed and the application denied. The TN BOE cited SMART Schools' lack of familiarity with Knoxville's demographics and its lack of local support to find that SMART Schools was not in the best of interest of Knoxville's students, school district, or community. 

It would seem that SMART Schools is good enough for Memphis and Chattanooga but not good enough for the Governor's hometown of Knoxville. Or maybe the Governor has his own charter school in mind and doesn't want any competition?

Oh Joy!! Rapture... An Emerald Charter School

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It's always best to start at the beginning. So put on your emerald glasses and take a look at all the Emerald entities needed to form Haslam's shiny new charter school. 

First, there is Emerald Youth Foundation, an urban ministry that has been serving inner city children in Knoxville for a number of years. Christian ministries are not allowed by law to operate charter schools, so Emerald Youth Foundation formed a secular 501c3 non-profit organization called Emerald Charter Schools. This second entity will be the actual charter school applicant and operator. Then finally, there is the school itself named Emerald Academy. Confused? Here is the Emerald shell game players -- 
  • Emerald Youth Foundation (Ministry Program)                 
  • Emerald Charter Schools (Charter School Applicant)
  • Emerald Academy (School)

Brian Hornback's blog reveals that Knox County School Board member, Doug Harris and former school board member, Sam Anderson, who is currently employed by KCS both serve on the Board of Trustees for Emerald Youth Foundation. And that's not all....the Governor, his sister-in-law, and others close to him are also on the Board of Trustees. The Metro Pulse's article names "some longtime friends and supporters of the Haslam family, like Larry Martin, Haslam's former mayoral chief of staff and current head of the state Department of Finance and Administration, and Rick Johnson, the head of the newly-created Governor's Foundation for Health and Wellness" who serve on the Foundation's board. 

Not only does Gov. Haslam have personal ties to the Emerald Youth Foundation but he has also given them plenty of money. Every year but 2008, the Governor's non-profit foundation, Charis, has annually donated to Emerald Youth Foundation. The yearly gift in 2002, 2003, 2004 was $30,000. Then around 2007, the donations began to increase dramatically and almost tripled by 2012. You can see the actual amounts listed below and can click on the year to see the tax return. 
  • $33,333 in 2005
  • $33,334 in 2006
  • $70,000 in 2007
  • $76,000 in 2009 
  • $75,000 in 2010
  • $75,000 in 2011
  • $85,000 in 2012
School Matters blogged on the potential conflicts of interest and included a handy list of who's who on the Emerald boards. Take a look below, the picture on the left is the Board of Trustees for Emerald Youth Foundation and the one on the right is the board for Emerald Charter Schools. Steve Diggs the Executive Director of Emerald Youth Foundation is also the Board President for Emerald Charter Schools. 
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Some People without Brains do an Awful lot of Talking

The concern over conflicts was quickly dismissed by Indya Kincannon who served on the school board at the time. And school board chair, Lynn Fugate called it "a bunch of B.S." for people to think there’s some hoodoo behind-the-scenes actions regarding the Emerald Academy application and its approval. So, there you have it. The great and powerful Haslam has spoken and charter schools are on the horizon for Knoxville.

Only you might get the feeling you are not in Knoxville anymore. That's because Emerald Academy will be based on Cleveland Ohio's Breakthrough Schools Preparatory Model. These things happen when Dee Haslam, owner of the Cleveland Browns, sits on your board. Like most other charter schools, the Cleveland model calls for a super rigid environment and Teach For America. 

But hey, isn't that what inner city kids need to straighten up and fly right? No, those happy endings are only found in the movies. In reality, militaristic discipline administered by inexperienced TFA corp members leads to kids dropping out or being kicked out of school. And when your truancy rate goes up, watch out!! Memphis saw gangs of teenagers terrorize the city with random acts of violence.

What-a-World. . .What-a-World. . .What-a-World. . .

This is the last of our three-part series on charter school corruption in Tennessee. 
Be sure to also read parts one & two. Click on the links below:
  • #1 - Rocketship Invasion: from Rocketeer to Racketeer in Nashville
  • #2 - Secrets in the Suburbs in Germantown 

CHARTER SCHOOL CORRUPTION SERIES #2 - Secrets in the Suburbs

10/24/2014

 
Momma Bears is sniffing out privatization in the suburbs. We know parents like those in Williamson County are very concerned about privatization threatening their high achieving public schools. Now, we are hearing concerns over possible privatization in the Memphis suburb of Germantown, another high achieving school district.

Something peculiar is going on in the Germantown mayor’s race. 

When Germantown formed their new school system, Shelby County Schools transferred all but three schools to the new municipal district. Three schools that ironically bear the name of Germantown (known collectively as the three G schools) continue to be operated by the unified Shelby County School system even though they are located within the heart of Germantown city limits. 

This has been a big source of angst for the community. Not having all the Germantown schools has also forced the issue of new school construction on a city that is still reeling over the loss of three perfectly good school buildings and struggling to finance their brand new school system. Then, along comes a mayoral candidate promising to get those schools back. Take a look at the promises made on George Brogdon's website. 
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Momma Bears is smelling privatization in those campaign promises from a candidate who is endorsed by a former Shelby County School Board member who favored converting the three Gs into charter schools. 
Not to mention, Brogdon has connections to charter schools through his son who is a Teach for America corp member that works for Success Academy, a charter school in New York City.

We know parents are proud of their adult children who try to help inner city children succeed in academics. But take it from us, Teach for America corp members are just cheap labor for those looking to profit off education. Momma Bears are not fooled by their slick propaganda. We know they are all about the profits. 

We hate to break it to the Brogdons but their son's employer, Success Academy, is anything but successful and they cheat on their enrollment numbers according to one of Momma Bear’s favorite bloggers, Diane Ravitch. 
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But back to Brogdon’s “innovative solutions.” Well, we all know privatization means appointing friends instead of electing officials. So the fur on the back of our necks stands up when we see this wannabe mayor with plans to appoint a team of leaders in education. Who needs a mayorally appointed education team when Germantown already has an elected school board?

Well, you won’t need a school board's permission to form a charter school because state law allows the Tennessee Department of Education to overturn the school board decisions to reject charter school applications. So it’s a good thing Brogdon’s team will include some “state-wide leaders” who “have intimate knowledge of the school issue.” Those always come in handy when trying to win state approval. 

So what do you need to form charter schools? According to the handy dandy charter school formation flow chart below, you need a founding group and some investors. Interestingly, Brogdon has lined up team members who have “already pledged their support if George is elected.” Hmmm....support as in money? 
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You also need a facilities plan. This must be the part where Mr. Brogdon will “wipe the slate clean” and begin negotiations with the cash strapped Shelby County Schools who sold Lanier Middle to the highest bidder. 

And this is the part where Momma Bears lets you know that privatization no matter how well intended, is never an acceptable solution because every dollar that goes into charter schools comes from public schools. So Mr. Brogdon, let's catch you up on education reform:

1. Teach for America doesn't really teach
2. Success Academy isn't really a success

3. Charter schools aren't really public

This is the second in our three-part series on charter school corruption in Tennessee. 
Be sure to also read parts one & three. Click on the links below:
  • #1 - Rocketship Invasion: from Rocketeer to Racketeer in Nashville
  • #3 - Emerald Charter Schools in Knoxville, Oh My! 

CHARTER SCHOOL CORRUPTION SERIES #1 - Rocketship Invasion: from Rocketeer to Racketeer

10/20/2014

 
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Your tax dollars... given to unqualified, inexperienced people who have no oversight and pay themselves huge salaries and give lucrative contracts to their friends & family...  to teach the most precious, priceless things in our world... children.

When they screw up, politicians and the government turn a blind eye.

Why do these charter schools get away with this?  Because they are smart and sneaky and rich.  They deliberately donate money to politicians who pass laws to benefit them and protect them.

So, what's a Momma Bear to do?  Yep, we blog about it.  And let the Legislators know that the voters are on to them.  So, this is #1 in a series of exposing Charter School Corruption, courtesy of www.tennessee-education-matters.net, who generously gave us permission to share all the dirt they dug up on Rocketship.  We know you think this stuff can't happen to your schools.  But, it is here and coming to a school system near you.  Read this clever and insightful blog, share it, and tell your elected officials you're not fooled.  You want excellent public schools for every child in TN.  You want community schools that are governed by the community; schools that are not there just to make a buck on the backs of kids with your tax dollars; schools that will not flip the school into a real estate deal and skip town when it doesn't work out.  Who loses?  Well, it is not going to be Rocketship. It will be the kids and the taxpayers.  

Rocketship Invasion: from Rocketeer to Racketeer

A 1950's type horror movie is playing out in Nashville...
Tennessee Parents is reporting that "ANY family that went to an info session about the new Rocketship Charter Schools had their records pulled [and] their children were registered at Rocketship without their permission."  Read the full details here.

Is Rocketship snatching children from their public schools then enrolling them in blended learning environments where they become mindless robotic test-takers?
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Can They Be Stopped???
Rocketship is a California based charter school chain with plans to expand across the United States. It is known for its blended learning approach to education. As many as 50 rocketeers (otherwise known as students) are piled into a learning lab where they spend much of their time in front of a computer screen. Rocketship curriculum relies heavily on on-line lessons reducing the role of a classroom teacher. It has its fair share of critics. A Forum article reveals that education experts are less than impressed with Rocketship's methods. The charter school chain has experienced plummeting test scores and legal setbacks. Another problem for them is the angry parents who created a website devoted to stopping Rocketship. As a result, Rocketship seems to be re-thinking its approach and reducing its class size as it rolls into Tennessee. More about that here. 

In 2012, Rocketship was expected to join Tennessee's Achievement School District (ASD) and open charter schools in Memphis and Nashville for the 2013-2014 school year. But things did not go as planned. Katy Venskus, vice president of policy at Rocketship, says that it was challenges with growing the CMO [charter management organization] in new regions that have slowed new schools. “Moving into new regions as a national network was more complex than we expected,” she says.
By the way, the spokesperson for Rocketship that was just quoted above... Well, she's a felon
Katy Venskus also known as Katherine Heringlake "was charged with felony theft and forgery in April 2002 in Dane County Circuit Court and pleaded no contest to the theft charge in August of that year, with prosecutors dropping the forgery charge." At the time, Venskus was the board president of NARAL-Wisconsin. Years later as a lobbyist for Education Reform Now, a group that favored mayoral takeover of the Milwaukee Public Schools, Venskus once again faced theft charges. This time she was accused of felony theft and felony identity theft related to prior employment with the lobbying firm, Public Affairs Company. Now, she is employed as a VP at Rocketship.
A year later than anticipated, Rocketship opened its school in Nashville with the help of Andre Aggasi and his buddy, Bobby Turner who operate the Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund. Their company locates and purchases real estate to build a new charter school. Turner-Agassi also fronts the construction costs and acts as general contractor. After the school is built, they execute a long term lease with the charter school operator and assist them with securing long term financing. 
He's a Playah
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For those who don't know, Andre Agassi was a famous tennis player in the 1990's. Since then, he has become an author, Las Vegas Hotel Casino investor, sports themed restaurant owner, luxury resort developer, furniture designer, nightclub owner, cable network investor, charter school operator, and involved in a multitude of litigation over his business dealings. You can read about those lawsuits and failed business dealings here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. But that's not all. He has also been sued over his charter school causing him to be the subject of Hollywood gossip. Perez Hilton chastized Agassi as "not good" because a biology teacher at Agassi's Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas launched allegations of racial discrimination against the school. 

Agassi is married to fellow tennis player, Steffi Graf, who has also suffered her share of controversies. The owner of real estate around the world, a supermarket chain, and a multitude of investments known as the Steffi Empire; she and her father were investigated for millions of dollars in tax fraud. Her father served time in a German prison and Steffi was investigated for US tax evasion and other wrong-doings. When Agassi broke ties with his long time business partner and childhood friend, Perry Rogers, a lawsuit resulted where Rogers sued Graf for fees owed. This prompted speculation that Graf's empire was crumbling due to bad investments.
Here's how the deal works:
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The Turner-Agassi or The Canyon Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund provides the investment capital to purchase property for the site of a future charter school. After buying the real estate, the Agassi group designs and constructs the school building. Upon its completion, the Agassi group will retain ownership of the property but the charter school operator will receive a long term lease with an option to purchase. Agassi's group helps the charter school operator obtain a loan and will even provide bridge financing if necessary. The loans are paid with tax dollars earmarked for public schools. So, basically, Agassi's land investment company is enticing charter school operators into a rent-to-own deal with the tax payers footing the bill.

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Andre Agassi makes no apologies for "his market-driven approach toward helping schools despite criticism that comes with it." In fact, he told USA Today that he embraces the concept of profit with a mission. But what exactly is his mission? 

In Palm Beach County, Florida, Agassi purchased a ten acre tract in Boynton Beach to build Franklin Academy, a K-8 charter school located within 2 tenths of a mile (a three minute walk) from Hidden Oaks Elementary School, a PK-5 public school built in 2005. Hidden Oaks serves a large population of special needs students having 4 classrooms for students with Autism, 1 Pre-Kindergarten classroom for students with Autism, and 3 classrooms serving students with Intellectual Disabilities. But Franklin Academy's website is devoid of any mention of special education, bragging instead on its enrichment programs and academic enhancements. So, what's the mission? To segregate special education student from those who are gifted? Or could it be something more basic? Like making money?

According to the Palm Beach County property records, the Florida Charter Foundation has a 29 year lease on Franklin Academy. The lease contains a provision for two 10 year extensions. At the end of the lease, the Florida Charter Foundation has an option to purchase and a right of first refusal. The leased property is valued by the tax assessor for over $9.2 million. But this multi-million dollar property is exempt from taxes. Even though, the property is owned by a private investor, it is considered a public school. This means Agassi's investment group gets to collect money from its lease without having the expense of paying property taxes.

Property records also show two deeds (see here and here) recorded in 2013 where Agassi took ownership of the property. The total purchase price for the land was $1.97 million. On December 26, 2013, Agassi investor group recorded a mortgage on the property in the amount of $11.4 million.

Click the pictures below to go to the links to view them on line.  

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Green Cards for $ale
From the Washington Post: Wealthy Americans [like Andre Agassi] have been funding U.S. charter schools for years now through their hedge funds, private foundations or personal fortunes, but it turns out that super-rich foreigners are forking over big money to American charters too.

Do you think it’s for the kids?

Guess again.

There is a "federal program known as EB-5, [where] wealthy foreigners can in effect buy U.S. immigration visas for themselves and their families by investing at least $500,000 in certain development projects." In particular, foreign nationals are buying up American charter schools. Their investments are rewarded with an immigration visa. Much of the foreign investments are finding their way to Florida charter schools through Chinese investors who have already put in at least $30 million as of 2012 with promises to invest even more in the future.

Promotional materials for Agassi's Franklin Academy project explains how the EB-5 program works: "Foreign investors seeking a direct route to a U.S. Green Card via the EB-5 immigrant investor program are offered the unique opportunity to invest as little as US$500,000* in a first-rate American Charter School project. The investment will take the form of a loan made to an experienced developer, which is a partnership between Discovery Schools, Inc. (a Florida based Charter Management Organization) and Turner-Agassi, a leading charter school development company, founded by the tennis champion, Andre Agassi." 
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Charter school projects are only one of many different types of investments eligible for the EB-5 program. As the program has grown, many foreign investors have become leary of bad deals. Fortune Magazine reported in July, 2014: "Because the EB-5 industry is virtually unregulated, it has become a magnet for amateurs, pipe-dreamers, and charlatans, who see it as an easy way to score funding for ventures that banks would never touch. They’ve been encouraged and enabled by an array of dodgy middlemen, eager to cash in on the gold rush. Meanwhile, perhaps because wealthy foreigners are the main potential victims, U.S. authorities have seemed inattentive to abuses."

However, Agassi is able to lure foreign investors to put their money into Franklin Academy 
by promising a safe investment where government funding provides a steady source of income to the charter schools and that the government will remain responsible for overseeing the school’s financial and academic performance.
They're Here Already---The Nashville Deal
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In Nashville, Agassi purchased property at 2526 Dickerson Pike for $375,000 then invested another $7 Million in construction costs to build the new Rocketship charter school. “We’ve been looking at Nashville for a while and really respect the local players there,” said Glenn Pierce, CEO of Los Angeles-based Canyon-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund.
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It's interesting that the Rocketship charter chain felt the need to purchase property and build a new school when there were plenty of vacant school facilities in Nashville available to charter school operators. In fact, Tennessee law requires that school districts provide a list of vacant and underutilized properties to the state for use as potential charter schools. See below for latest MNPS list of properties.
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“We just thought that was a good site and a neighborhood we wanted to serve, and it made sense to build ‘ground-up,” said Laura Kozel, Rocketship’s vice president of facilities. “The next time we open a school there, it very well could be a renovation.” But notice that Rocketship didn't go forward with its planned school in Memphis.... 

Could there be a reason for Nashville getting a newly constructed Rocketship school while the Memphis project was put on hold? Hmmmm....could it have something to do with Nashville being more attractive to real estate investors? According to The Tennessean, "in the past four years, while Nashville was adding almost 17,000 people, Memphis lost more than 8,000."

Critics of the Nashville Rocketship construction project say, it's all about the rich getting richer instead of helping children. Gary Miron, an education professor at Western Michigan University and a member of the National Education Policy Center in Colorado who studies and monitors charter schools says, “It’s really a scam.” To really follow the money, you would have to really understand the facilities companies.” He goes on to explain, Rocketship will pay a facility fee to Agassi's investor group. For the company’s California schools, the fee is about 18 percent. He anticipates a facilities fee in the high teens for the new Nashville school. In the end, Rocketship will own the building and “the taxpayer’s interest is not protected,” Miron says. If the charter school closes, the building is still owned by the company, even though it was paid for with tax dollars via facilities fees.

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Exit Strategy...
Rich people usually have a back-up plan called an exit strategy. For real estate investments, the exit strategy is an alternative use for the property. Take a look at the locations below for Turner-Agassi charter school real estate investments. Notice anything? They all seem to be in cities with hot real estate markets: Philly, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Palm Beach County FL, Dallas, Michigan, San Antonio, Detroit, Nashville. St. Petersburg, Newark, New York, Las Vegas, and Phoenix. 
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Albany, New York is an example of how investors get richer and charter school operators struggle to keep up with the rent payments. Jonathan Turley explains:
"The result is, you can put in ten million dollars and in seven years double your money. The problem is, that the charter schools end up paying in rents, the debt service on these loans and so now, a lot of the charter schools in Albany are straining paying their debt service–their rent has gone up from $170,000 to $500,000 in a year or–huge increases in their rents as they strain to pay off these loans, these construction loans. The rents are eating-up huge portions of their total cost. And, of course, the money is coming from the state."
So what happens when charter schools go out of business or default on the lease? What are the exit strategies for these multi-million dollar properties? 

In California, Rocketship attempted to by-pass local ordinances and locate its new school without regard to the zoning code but was defeated in a ruling by a California Superior Court. Critics contend this is too much power for a private investor with no public accountability to have over land use decisions. In the event of default by the charter school, real estate investors such as Agassi would have valuable "get out of zoning free card" and the upper hand against competing investors. In states with hot real estate markets, we can only imagine the unlimited profit-making potential exit strategies. As for Agassi, well, in a USA Today article, he "declined to discuss profits of his organization."
From Rocketeer to Racketeer...
"In short, education reform is a good cause. Experimentation is good — and some of the best charter schools today have experimented in what could be valuable ways. But the push, coming from Wall Street and the extremely wealthy, for this specific form of charter schools, for this specific way of funding them, is part of both short-term and long-term drives for profit that will accrue to the wealthiest while weakening the middle class. The question is not whether we should back away from the cause of education, or the cause of education reform. The question is in whose interests it should be done and who should most strongly influence the outcomes."--Jonathan Turley
Thank you to Tennessee Education Matters for their Contribution
This is the first of our three-part series on charter school corruption in Tennessee. 
Be sure to also read parts two & three. Click on the links below:
  • #2 - Secrets in the Suburbs in Germantown
  • #3 - Emerald Charter Schools in Knoxville, Oh My!

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