NorthStar High School in the Orange County School District has shut down. Their phone is disconnected.
State Sen. Bill Montford, a Tallahassee Democrat, is trying to get legislation that will provide more oversight of charter schools.
His comment was so true. He said ""What have we done?....How did this happen and how can we correct it?"
Principal's Golden Parachute Infuriates Lawmakers
While Young was getting a handsome salary, the school, made up of concrete portables, lacked computers, a library or a cafeteria for some 180 mostly at-risk and underprivileged students.
The district report said nearly three-quarters of the students failed the state's reading test and half failed math. Students, though, said it was the first school in which they felt supported.
Young was president of the school's board and a voting member for the last three years although she abstained from the vote on her departure payment.
Michael Kooi, who oversees charter schools for the Florida Department of Education, said it's a conflict of interest to serve as a principal and board member.
This same school only spent
$366,000 on instruction and teachers pay.
The principal in question not only received a $519,000 severance check, but she took home her $305,000 annual salary for a grand total of $824,000 during the 2010-2011 school year. The Orlando Sentinel also reported last week the school only spent $366,000 on teacher salaries and instruction during that school year. Nothing can justify that imbalance, especially for the leader of a charter that failed.
Public school district superintendents don't even make that kind of unconcionalble salary. School boards would face public rage for even proposing such pay.
.."Last week the Miami Herald reported that Charter Schools USA handed out in excess of $205,000 in contributions to political organizations and candidates for this election, three times the amount the Fort Lauderdale-based company spent two years ago.
That money must come from the profits the company earns at taxpayer expense; in effect, the public is paying that political price so charter schools can leverage even greater profits from the Legislature.
Charters receive public funds but are run by public or private entities, including for-profit corporations, other than school districts.
Charter schools are the policy of both major political parties now. There must be oversight of this use of taxpayer money.