Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Summit Academy Management says the findings in the study are wrong.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A nonprofit charter school management company targeted in a Coalition for Public Education study last week says the study is inaccurate and "just another example of slipshod research" by the Ohio Federation of Teachers.
The report was critical of four major education management companies that run the most charter schools in Ohio, contending that the schools aren't truly independent as charter school law says they should be and criticizing the management companies for failing to release requested information on teacher contracts.
The study was done by the Braddock Organization, a Columbus-based public interest research group.
The Ohio Federation of Teachers, which is a labor union representing teaches, is a member of the Coalition for Public Education, and its president, Tom Mooney, has been a frequent critic of charter school operations in Ohio. Mooney is also chairman of the Coalition for Public Education.
"As usual, Mr. Mooney makes statements that are not based on fact, and the findings released in the 'study' are simply wrong," said Mark Schweitzer, director of marketing and public relations for Summit Academy Management, based in the Akron area.
Explanations
Summit has two charter schools in Youngstown and another in Warren.
The study contends that Summit has one "super board" that controls operations for all of its Ohio charter schools, though that board holds separate sessions for each charter school's business.
Schweitzer said that each Summit school has its own school board and its own meetings. There is no single "superboard," he said, though the membership for some of the school boards is the same. Three or four of the boards do hold meetings at a single location but the meetings for each board are separate, advertised and open to the public, he said.
Like any public school district, each charter school has a right to purchase goods and services from private companies, including management services, he said. The only requested information Summit didn't provide directly at Braddock's request was in regard to individual teacher salaries, Schweitzer said.
The contention that the management company isn't open to public scrutiny doesn't hold water, he said. As a nonprofit, 501 [c] 3 organization, Summit must file detailed financial reports to the IRS each year and is subject to reviews by the state auditor, he said.
Convenience
The fact that the reply to the information request was provided to Braddock by the management company rather than individual schools was done as a matter of convenience, Schweitzer said. Both the schools and the management company keep the requested records on hand, but it was convenient to have the management company assemble and review the information and send it from a single source, instead of 27 different packets of information, he said.
Some of the information requested regarding teachers is already a matter of public record and is available from Summit's sponsor, the Lucas County Educational Service Center. This was clearly explained to Braddock in response to their request, Schweitzer said.
gwin@vindy.com