43
Former teachers at Eagle Heights receive final pay
By Denise Dick
Youngstown
Teachers at the former Eagle Heights Academy are receiving the last disbursement of their pay, according to the receiver appointed to the case.
“Last Friday, we made the final disbursement to pay the final 20 percent of their contractual pay,” said Atty. Barry E. Savage of Toledo, the receiver.
The Ohio Department of Education ordered Eagle Heights closed at the end of the 2009-10 school year because of poor academic performance. South Side Academy opened in August 2010 in the same building at 1833 Market St.
The new school contracted with White Hat Management of Akron to provide its educational programming. White Hat is the largest for-profit charter-school operator in Ohio and the third largest in the nation.
Savage, who represents the Ohio Council of Community Schools, sponsor of Eagle Heights, a charter school, was appointed receiver for the school in April 2010 to oversee its closing.
A Mahoning County Common Pleas Court magistrate placed Eagle Heights Academy in receivership, directing that all school business affairs and property be put under the receiver’s control. Ohio Council of Community Schools had filed a complaint against Eagle Heights contending the school had failed to pay it for various services provided.
A state audit in May 2010 reported more than $1 million in illegal and improper financial transactions at Eagle Heights.
The building and its contents were sold last July as part of the case to a company associated with White Hat, officials have said.
Savage said the final disbursement to teachers amounts to about $100,000. About $600,000 total has been paid to teachers, he said.
“The big goal was to get the teachers paid,” Savage said. “That’s a statutory requirement.”
By law, retirement benefits for teachers and other Eagle Heights employees also had to be paid.
The last disbursement means about $50,000 is left, and the receiver must determine the priority for paying. A state sales tax and workers’ compensation lien also must be paid.
The school closed with about 50 creditors who contended they were owed money. Savage said that with the relatively small amount that’s left “unfortunately” most of those would not be paid.
Final reports and tax returns must be filed before the case may be closed.
“It’s been a long road,” Savage said. “There were a lot of bumps in the road getting through this.”