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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > October > 25 > Entry
Fordham Foundation: “We were naïve”
In the midst of all the Dayton school news, I didn’t want to overlook the latest in a pretty amazing charter school story going on in Cincinnati and some good reporting by my friends Jennifer Mrozowski and Denise Amos Smith, with their colleague Sharon Coolidge, at the Enquirer.
It’s a story that has the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, perhaps the most respected and influential voice for school choice in the nation, trying to explain how it was hoodwinked.
You might recall that a couple months ago the W.E.B. DuBois Academy, a charter school admired by nearly everyone who came in contact with it for going into a low income neighborhood and dramatically raising test scores with a tough, high expectations program, nearly closed when the state began questioning its finances. Fortunately, the school ultimately was saved.
On Tuesday, the Enquirer reported the financial problems were more than just a funding dispute with the state — the school’s well-regarded founder Wilson Willard was indicted on theft and fraud charges.
Willard was a Fordham poster child for everything that was good about charter schools — he and other DuBois staff were frequent speakers and guests at Fordham events promoting school choice — and when Fordham became a charter sponsor in Ohio, it jumped at the chance to take over management of the school.
But even Fordham, which is deeply plugged in, politically well connected and known for it’s critical eye and tough love as a charter sponsor, missed the financial games Willard apparently was playing and were unaware of a long-running state investigation of the school.
Fordham’s Dayton-based vice president, Terry Ryan told the Enquirer Fordham ran a background check of Willard that showed nothing.
“We thought we were taking over what was the top (charter) school in Ohio,” he said. “It’s fair to say we were pretty naïve.”
UPDATE: Terry Ryan clarified the timeline for me. Fordham takes over sponsorship of DuBois in July 2005. The criminal investigation of Willard begins in autumn of 2005 and Fordham learns of it in December of that year when it has trouble obtaining past audits for the school. In June DuBois’ funding problems become public and Willard is demoted. He later left the school. Criminal charges against Willard finally came last week.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Charter Schools and School Choice
Comments
By Ed Darrell
November 5, 2006 3:22 PM | Link to this
It was interesting to hear Fordham Foundation President Checker Finn on NPR in the past two or three weeks, in response to a story that some charter schools are not making the grade. His view? “Close them.” Get rid of failures, and go for something effective. From the timeline you present, it appears to me that the Fordham people acted rather quickly, and correctly. The question pending is, will this school work without financial shenanigans? Anybody want to wager that the fraud alleged was not in support of education programs? (Full disclosure statement: Finn used to be my boss at the Department of Education, and I generally support public schools over charter schools. Figure the bias from there.)By Scott Elliott
October 27, 2006 7:37 PM | Link to this
Let’s try to keep the conversation civil here. You’re welcome to disagree with Terry Ryan or Fordham for their views, policies or politics to your heart’s delight, but let’s not make this personal. Believe it or not, Terry is a decent fellow.By Oldprof
October 26, 2006 4:20 PM | Link to this
Terry Ryan isn’t naive. He’s criminally stupid. He’d do us all a big favor if he’d quit spending his big bucks and political clout to promote uncontrolled experimentation by the unqualified on the unsuspecting. And he’d do himself a big favor if he’d conform to ethical standards when reporting statistics, rather than misrepresenting them to favor his bias.