Four former employees of the Horizon Science Academy claimed student sex acts weren’t reported to parents, attendance numbers were inflated and administrators may have tampered with standardized tests. This follows an FBI search warrant served at the school last month in connection with alleged “white collar crime.”
“They are serious charges and I think they need to be fully investigated, and I think that will happen,” Lehner said of the former employees’ testimony.
“If some of these accusations are indeed true, could they have been prevented had there been better oversight? Possibly,” she added. “Charter school laws in the state of Ohio have been sort of developed in a piecemeal fashion over the past 20 years and I think it’s high time we take a look at the overall picture.”
Horizon Science Academy High School in Dayton — one of three Horizon schools in the city — has received $2.7 million in state funding this year and has served 342 students, according to state records.
Charter schools have multiple layers of oversight, all of which claimed to be caught off guard by this week’s allegations.
The first is school administrators. School officials at Horizon work for the management company Concept Schools, which runs 19 schools in Ohio and is affiliated with the U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.
A reporter visited the high school at 250 Shoup Mill Road on Wednesday and was told by administrators that they were preparing a formal statement. None was received by press time, though Concept Schools released a statement Tuesday saying they “maintain the highest standards of excellence for our students, our faculty and ourselves.”
‘These are my precious goods’
Dayton resident Nicole Beard was at the school Wednesday to ask about registering her two children, one in eighth grade and one in ninth. She said administrators told her the allegations came from disgruntled former employees, and that parents were made aware when their children were caught engaging in oral sex.
But she has concerns, especially about claims of testing and attendance tampering and what that might mean for her son’s and daughter’s education.
“They’re very intelligent kids, and I’d hate to have them … go in as ninth-graders and come out not ready for college because they were just given their grades,” she said. “These are my precious goods. I don’t want to hand them over just anybody.”
Above school administrators is the school board, which is self-appointed. The Dayton Horizon high school’s website lists its school board members as an Ohio University professor, a doctor at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and three professors and assistant professors from the University of Cincinnati.
Emails were sent to all five. None were returned Wednesday.
Sponsor oversight
The school’s ability to operate is guaranteed by a sponsor, which oversees the school on behalf of the state and is paid by the school to do so. The Horizon high school’s sponsor is the Buckeye Community Hope Foundation in Columbus.
“We were made aware of the allegations just like everyone else yesterday,” said Jennifer Robison, associate director of education for the foundation, who called the claims “very serious.”
“They (Horizon) have a history of outstanding academic student achievement and a solid record of compliance, so we will have to go through the investigation process,” she said.
Robison doesn’t believe an overhaul of the charters school system is needed. She said the state is already enhancing oversight of sponsors with new ranking criteria due in January 2015.
“I think that process will be put into practice and that will maybe shine a light on what is happening,” she said.
State oversight
The final layer of oversight is the Ohio Department of Education, though sometimes it delegates investigations to sponsors.
The state had to re-open a probe last month after a former teacher at a Horizon school in Dayton said his complaints — including possibly tampering with standardized tests — were poorly investigated by that school’s sponsor.
ODE spokesman John Charlton said his office is getting further testimony from the people who spoke Tuesday before deciding who will handle the investigation. Attendance fraud is investigated by one ODE department, for example, test cheating by another.
“Right now the department of education is utilizing the existing laws as effectively as possible to make sure all schools are held accountable,” he said.
Enter politics
Horizon schools are only the latest charter school to face controversy. Earlier this month, General Chappie James Leadership Academy in Jefferson Twp. sued its sponsor for canceling the school’s sponsorship agreement because of concerns of inflated enrollment and improper spending. Last month, a federal grand jury indicted people on bribery and kickback charges connected to the Arise! Academy charter school in Dayton.
Lehner said discussions are under way on how a group could be formed to review charter school laws.
“We’re working on developing a process where everyone who has an interest … will have a chance to offer their opinion, express their suggestions and weigh in before any legislation is suggested or promoted.”
Meanwhile, the issue has taken on a political aspect.
The liberal group Progress Ohio helped organize Tuesday’s testimony. The same day, Democratic candidates for state auditor and attorney general blasted charter school oversight in a trip to West Chester Twp. And gubernatorial candidate Ed Fitzgerald did the same Wednesday during a stop in Dayton.
“There is too little oversight when it comes to charter schools, and you’re giving away hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money, and a lot of times it seems like there’s no strings attached,” Fitzgerald said.
Rob Nichols, spokesman for Gov. John Kasich, said all schools need better oversight.
“The governor believes in school choice, believes no kid should be tethered to a school that’s failing, and believes in more accountability and higher standards for all schools — public, charter, everyone,” he said.
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