Malcolm Smith, Another Charter School Crook, Takes a Fall

Today's news of Smith's arrest skips over the role he played in the charter

school playpen. Which goes to prove you can do anything you want when it comes to charter schools and get away with it but don't step on certain toes when it comes to getting in the way of the agenda of the 1% to put in their choice of mayor. I'll leave you to peruse the Ed Notes and Wave posts regarding Smith but make sure to check out the visit of our pals from Rochester on a very hot July day in 2010 to fight Smith's ed deform agenda attempt to turn the schools over to the mayor. James and Camille showed up for that I remember. (I have tape of that somewhere).

If we could only have the time to dig into Rhee and Klein there would be hope they end up doing a perp walk too.

(A teacher goofs for 10 seconds and it done it while these scam artists get away with it for years.)

See ednotes on smith below:

Why Peninsula Prep is Closing: What Times Article Left Out

The politics behind closing a "C" rated school that claims to outperform 9 out of 10 schools in the area. Scandal-plagued politicians connected to school may have spurred closing to forestall future embarrassment over how political connections helped get the charter school. Did Walcott, who comes from a part of Queens where he would be well aware of the activities of these politicians, decide to cut the cord before more scandals emerge? Does Walcott know something will come out soon?

Today's front page article in the NY Times on the closing of Peninsula Prep Charter School in Rockaway might leave some people scratching their heads given the fact that up to now a serial killer who wanted a charter from Joel Klein, who was the authorizer, could get one. A charter school would have to be outrageous in its actions - like Williamburg/Believe Charters (Williamsburg/Believe Charter with Slimeball Leader Eddie Negron - Charter Revoked) which we wrote about the other day or Ross Global run by celebrity/socialite Courntey Sales Ross in the past (Ross Global Charter to be Closed Along with 11).

For the first time, New York City is closing a charter school for the offense of simply being mediocre.

The announcement this week that the city planned to shut Peninsula Preparatory Charter School, a seven-year-old elementary school in Far Rockaway, Queens, was unusual by any definition. Since 2004, the city has closed only a few of its 142 charters that have opened — schools that are publicly financed but privately managed, and are a source of competition for traditional schools.

But as more of the city’s charter schools have matured, reaching the five-year renewal mark, the Education Department has become increasingly impatient with weak-performing ones. With the closing of Peninsula Prep, which had received a grade of C on each of its last four progress reports, Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott seemed to be signaling that the city’s 136 charters will now be held to a higher standard.

And increasing scrutiny of New York charter schools could have widespread implications, prompting a wider conversation across the country about what the bar for closing should be, and how much charter schools should be expected to outperform public schools.

More unusual, the Times piece left out the fact that State Senator Malcolm Smith was the founder of the school and despite denials of still having connections to the school, people in Rockaway believe his influence is still felt. (I saw a tweet from one reporter the day the closing was announced that Smith had given the school a $100,000 in earmarks and speculated about the fate of those funds.) What does happen to this money --- I say give it to PS 215 in Far Rockaway which the DOE is trying to close despite starving the school of resources.

I emailed Anna Philips who wrote the piece and she pointed me to her Schoolbook article the other day where she wrote:

Opened in 2004, Peninsula Preparatory Charter School was founded by State Senator Malcolm A. Smith, who served as a board member until 2006. Another Queens politician, Rep. Gregory Meeks, was also a member of the elementary school’s board.

Despite its political connections, Peninsula Prep struggled from the outset. Originally located in a Far Rockaway middle school, it moved into a complex of trailers near a large real estate development owned by one of Mr. Smith’s campaign donors, leaving its students without a gym or playground. For the last three years, it has received C’s on its progress reports from the city.

But what the article doesn't say is that both Smith and Meeks have been embroiled in scandal, with the Times ( State Sen. Malcolm Smith Tied To Scandal-Scarred Charity)
doing a major piece on Smith in October 2010 (see below the fold for entire article which makes no mention of the Smith connection to PP Charter) which opens with this:

St. Sen. Malcolm Smith

Federal prosecutors are investigating a nonprofit group founded by Mr. Smith. They subpoenaed records in February 2010 from his office detailing funds he has directed to community groups over the last decade. Some of the group's employees were also Mr. Smith's aides in Albany.

The article paints a picture of a failed businessman and a shady politician. The staff of an embattled Queens nonprofit overlaps closely with the payroll of state Sen. Malcolm Smith, one of the charity's founders. At least four workers at the New Direction Local Development Group—which is under federal investigation and allegedly fleeced Hurricane Katrina victims out of about $30,000 raised on their behalf—have also worked for Smith at a time when the politician gave the organization about $56,000 in state funds.

Yet Smith was shown political favor by allowing him to open up a charter school. I thought it interesting at the time that this article made no mention of the charter school connection. And the fact that both articles by Anna made no mention of the Smith scandals make the paranoid in me work overtime. But if you click the Malcolm Smith link in Anna's Schoolbook piece it takes you to the Times article about the scandal. Anna is a meticulous reporter and makes it her business to know everything there is to know about education in this city. Having to click to make that connection makes me think that the NY Times editors were concerned about making the obvious connection to scandal in an article about the charter. Why mention Smith (which I view as Anna's way of leading the dog to the bone) without openly mentioning the scandals?

Smith's pal Gregory Meeks, who was on the PPrep Board, Congressman from the east end of Rockaway is also under scrutiny. Meeks was mentioned the other day (Edul Ahmad Accused of Defrauding Guyanese Immigrants)
(See below for a few quick hits from a google search on Meeks.)

I agree with Anna's speculation that charters will get closer scrutiny to try to stop the growing scandals that in the long-run threaten the charter school movement. Given that most of these schools perform no better than public schools and many perform worse, the question of why create a dual system with wasted resources will continue to be raised. Thus you see charter school slugs who make a living off charter schools -- people like Michael Duffy and James Merriman -- quoted in Anna's article.

I feel that Peninsula Prep Charter is a special case for closing and not necessarily a sign of closer scrutiny due to the scandals engrossing Smith and Meeks (and their mentor Floyd Flake, whose scandalous behavior was also profiled in the NY Times -

Deal Shows How Floyd Flake Can Gain From Ministry - NYTimes.com

www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/nyregion/18flake.html?pagewanted...

Jun 17, 2010 – The Rev. Floyd Flake, an influential New York pastor, had a role as both seller and buyer of church-owned buildings.

REV FLOYD FLAKEGATE - VJ MACHIAVELLI-THE VOICE OF THE ...

vjmachiavelli.blogspot.com/2011/.../welcome-to-rev-floyd-flakegate...

Oct 9, 2011 – Posted:2:04 AM, October 9, 2011. New York political kingmaker and religious leader Floyd Flake rakes in the cash -- and leaves wreckage ...

Dennis Walcott is from a corner of Queens where he knows full-well these politicians. I would bet he is not happy about these scandals and is sensitive to how they may come back to bite Tweed in terms of authorizing a charter school controlled by these guys.

So in my mind these are the politics behind closing a charter school that under normal conditions would not face closing.

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By the way, Peninsula Prep had it's own record of tossing kids as you can see in this piece in the local Rockaway paper The Wave (where I write a column):

The Wave Reports: Peninsula Prep Academy Charter Tosses 5-Year ...

ednotesonline.blogspot.com/.../wave-reports-peninsula-prep-academ...

Apr 9, 2011 – The motto of the Peninsula Preparatory Academy charter school on Beach 111 ....

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Parent at PPA writes to Leonie
But to be fair, here is an email from a parent at the school sent to Leonie Haimson pointing to the conflcit this school is causing:

I am a follower and supporter of your work for a very long time. However, the last few years my child has gone to a charter school which (while being in contradiction with many of my political and philosophical views on education) have put me into a much more pragmatic position especially with the conditions of where I live, Rockaway. And while I still support your fight for public education on the long term an imminent problem has arisen for myself and 340 other families out here in Queens: our school's charter has not been renewed and it will close at the conclusion of the school year. This means that the children will be pushed into their zoned schools in Far Rockaway and Arverne, NY where 9/10 schools performed WORSE than our school that is being closed down. This, of course, using the same dreaded standards that the DOE used to justify our school's closure, in essence telling our community that PPA wasn't good enough but the inferior (by their standards) and underfunded local public schools will now have to take in 341 new students. Obviously this will affect class size and student-teacher ratio as well for the local schools.

I'm reaching out to you in desperation to see if you could put me in contact with any local activists that could join forces with our parents in protesting, picketing and shaming the DOE for this move. The parents feel betrayed and we have sensed that our best bet is to get outside of the system. I think that although the charter issue may be different than those of traditional public schools, we all face challenges from the same failed policies.

I too am conflicted about working with this parent but I think it would be the right thing to do even Mona Davids sent a rep out to meet with the charter to assist them but they weren't interested.

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1. Congressman Gregory Meeks Admits He's Been Subpoenaed ...

   blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2010/04/congressman_gre.php

   Apr 15, 2010 – Things are getting so bad for scandal-plagued Queens Democratic congressman Gregory Meeks that he had to acknowledge on the House ...

2. Meeks passes the bucks on scandal (video) - New York Post

   www.nypost.com/.../meeks_passes_the_bucks_on_scandal_...

   Mar 16, 2010 – Gregory Meeks ended weeks of dodging yesterday, taking to TV to insist he's in the dark about ... Meeks passes the bucks on scandal (video) ...

3. US Cricket Team ensnared in Queens scandal involving Meeks ...

   www.nypost.com/.../in_sticky_wicket_MCWvLcM7JPkoKN7nOoKf...

   Dec 25, 2011 – A Queens scandal that threatens to engulf Rep. Gregory Meeks has an unusual collateral victim — the US Cricket Team.

4. New York Papers Scrutinize Meeks Loan Scandal Figure | National ...

   nlpc.org/stories/2010/07/.../new-york-papers-scrutinize-meeks-‘frien...

   Jul 21, 2010 – New York Papers Scrutinize Meeks Loan Scandal Figure ... Gregory Meeks (D-NY), is today scrutinized by the New York Times and New York ...

5. The Last Tradition: Democrat Gregory Meeks Changes Story on ...

   thelasttradition.blogspot.com/.../democrat-gregory-meeks-changes-st...

   Mar 15, 2010 – Gregory Meeks claimed that "every dime" raised by a charity he ... It's the biggest scandal the legacy media purposely does not report. Why do ...

6. Meeks Scandal Impacts US Cricket Team | www.rockawave.com ...

   www.rockawave.com/.../Meeks_Scandal_Impacts_US_Cricket_Team...

   Meeks Scandal Impacts US Cricket Team. 2011-12-30 / Top Stories. By Howard Schwach. Congressman Gregory Meeks has been enmeshed in scandal for ...

7. U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks Passes The Bucks On Scandal - Hip Hop ...

   hiphoprepublican.com/.../us-rep-gregory-meeks-passes-the-bucks-on...

   Mar 18, 2010 – Embattled U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) ended weeks of dodging yesterday, taking to TV to insist he's in the dark about the gone-missing ...

8. Gregory W. Meeks News - The New York Times

   topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/.../gregory_w_meeks/index.html

   ... W. Meeks. Commentary and archival information about Gregory W. Meeks from The New York Times. ... N.Y. Senate Leader Tied to Figure in Loan Scandal ...

NY Times piece on Smith below

Breaking: Williamsburg/Believe Charter with Slimeball Leader Eddie Negron - Charter Revoked

UPDATED: 9:30PM

NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2012/01/09/city-seeks-to-close-two-charter-schools/

Gotham School: City moves to close two charter schools, citing mismanagement

RED FLAG ALERT!

 Most of the charges center on founder Eddie Calderon-Melendez, who earned $478,000 last year as the CEO of the Believe Charter Network, which has run Williamsburg and two other high schools.

That's rights folks - Almost half a million for Eddie - but you know he's doing it for the kids.

Here is my comment at Gotham:

What a joke. They're still giving Eddie a month to clean up his act?

Like, did they find out yesterday about Eddie? Ed Notes has been following this story for years. We broke the story of the $100 bounty they were offering kids if they brought in a sucker -- er recruit --- years ago. In the comment section teachers were screaming out in outrage but also in fear of Eddie and his thuggish behavior. He once threatened Susan Ohanian with a "visit" because she had mentioned his poodle business. In the corporate ed deform world it is ok for Eddie to make almost half a million while scamming us taxpayers for years.

Where are John King and Merryl Tisch who are quick to condemn people who fight to keep their schools open as "supporting failure" while a school that clearly was engaging in shady tactics for years was allowed to continue. Eddie's charter should have been revoked before the ink was dry.

As for Penninsula Prep out here in Rockaway where even the sea breezes coudn't wash away the smell of scandal from St Sen Malcolm Smith's equivalent of Rosemary's baby. How about those earmarks he got for the school he founded? I bet they don't end up in a public school in Rockaway. How about giving it to PS 215 which they are closing?

 3:30

Unconfirmed - from good source in District 14:

Lindsey Christ at NY1 confirms and also ads Rockaway's Penninsula Prep - a school founded by NY State Senator Malcolm Smith - talk about conficts of interest even though he claims not to have anything to do with the school. I do hope someone in the media digs into how these schools were founded on the use of political pull.

No time to put up links but use the "search blog" function to find scads of articles we've done on Eddie the Slime. This is the charter that pushed the teacher out of the library at IS 126 after she renovated it. We actually shot a bunch of footage for The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman in front of this charter to highlight the corrupt charter practices but we decided we didn't have room in the film to get into that aspect.

Believe North & Believe South are chartered through the State Education Department (SED ---- where have you been all these years Merryl Tisch, John King, etc?

Watch these clowns take credit for closing down the charter despite waiting for years and letting children's education be destroyed for years. Message to Merryl, who challenges parents at closing schools who fight to keep their schools open with "you are supporting failing schools" - with a reframing: Merry Merryl, why are you supporting failing school policies?

Also confirmed by Mona Davids at New York Charter Parents Association (NYCPA)

NYCPA warned parents about this charter just as we have about others that have been shut down.  Parents have been disrespected, students' IEP's violated, staff harassed for speaking up for students for many years and the DOE's charter office did nothing. Then NYCPA broke the story on the new buidling the Believe Network, the Charter Management Organization (CMO), which runs Williamsburg, Believe North & Believe South High School, couldn't pay AND signed a 30 year lease when charters are renewed every 5 years. Believe North & Believe South are chartered through the State Education Department (SED).  Those schools and Believe Network are under investigation by the State Attorney General's office too.  NYCPA talked about the corruption of the board, the intermingling and incestuous releationship between board members of the three schools and the CMO. DOE should have stepped in a long time ago.  As usual they do nothing until the stench of corruption, mismanagement and cronyism, reaches outside of the DOE office to other agencies. This is why we are pushing charter parents be allowed under law to fire school leaders and replace their boards if they're mismanaging the schools.  If 51% of parents vote to remove leadership, the parents can bring in new leaders and reconstitute the board. We have good charters and bad charters just as we good public schools and bad public schools.  Parents be vigilant, attend your board meetings, request monthly copies of your school's financial reports, get a copy of your school's charter and by-lays.  Protect your children's education, hold your charter accountable and ensure they're doing right by your children. Best regards.

Here are a few quick links from a quick search on the web for background:

UPDATED: Malcolm Smith founded charter school fires UFT teachers- Mulgrew threatens law suit

UPDATED: Wed. July 21, 2010, 9:45PM

UFT calls press conference at 52 Broadway, Thurs. July 22 1pm
Word is they will go to court. Which court? Or PERB (probably not as that is for public employees). Maybe NLRB- isn't that controlled by pro-charter Obama administration that is so anti union teacher?

How will this story play out in local and national charter schools the UFT and AFT is trying to organize? Should teachers in charter schools look for a union with muscle to organize them?

Will the UFT follow Randi's advice and FIGHT SMART?
Or as they say in France: nous nous rendons

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July 21, 9am
Since the UFT has made organizing charter schools a lynch pin of their policy, what message does this send? The UFT should have been out there supporting our friends from Rochester who came down to protest against Smith on July 5 over mayoral control. Oh, I forgot. The UFT supports mayoral control. And charter schools.

I made note of this excerpt from Chicago CTU/CORE delegate Jen Johnson in her must read report to Substance on the AFT convention:

"Generally speaking, the New York delegation represented organizing charters as the best model for handling their role in reshaping unions, despite the fact that according to many reports few charter schools in New York have been organized as is the case in Chicago. This logic is the same touted by the Progressive Caucus of the AFT. The few that have been organized are a part of the UFT local though they have separate contracts negotiated with the help of UFT. The Chicago delegation reflection the mindset that allowing new charters to continue to proliferate while attempting to organize existing charters is an end game in which public schools and the union lose."

And ask your friendly Unity/UFT rep what Mulgrew is doing about this:

Teachers at PS 222 in Queens say their principal excessed seven of them but is still hiring. (NY1)


Merrick Academy workers get boot via FedEx amid contract dispute between school, union

BY CLARE TRAPASSO
DAILY NEWS WRITER
Wednesday, July 21st 2010, 4:00 AM

Pace for News

Merrick Academy fires nine staffers amid bitter contract dispute.

Some of the Merrick Academy staffers who got the boot are chalking it up to a bitter contract dispute between the school and unionized teachers.A scandal-plagued Queens charter school fired at least nine teachers Tuesday - via FedEx, union officials said.

"If the board of the Merrick charter school is firing teachers because of union activity, then we're going to take all legal action against them," said United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew.

Teachers at the Queens Village school voted to unionize in 2008 but they haven't reached a contract with Victory Schools, which operates the charter.

Ge rald Karikari, chairman of Merrick's Board of Trustees, would not say how many teachers were fired and denied the layoffs were retaliatory. "At the end of the year, every teacher is evaluated on the way they performed," he said.

Kindergarten teacher Marjorie Berry, 60, one of the fired teachers, isn't buying it. "I was upset, because I put my heart and soul into these children and into the school," said Berry, who has taught at the school since it opened. "I just feel like I've been pushed aside like a piece of garbage."

Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed documents from a politically connected architect who helped design Merrick's school building in an ongoing corruption probe of several Queens politicians, including Merrick founders Senate President Malcolm Smith and U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2010/07/21/2010-07-21_disunion_as_9_teachers_fired.html#ixzz0uK5z1btw

Rochester Crew Was In the House

We met a great bunch of resistance fighters from Rochester today who made the long trip down to rally in front of Malcolm Smith's offices in Queens and Manhattan because of his attempt to get the NY State Senate to shove mayoral control down their throats. I won't go into Smith's history here - search Ed Notes and The Wave (www.rockawave.com) to find all the sordid details. You see Smith's picture when you look up "conflict of interest" in the dictionary. The Daily News sent a reporter.

James and Camille Eterno (and baby) came by to make a statement as did GEM's Diane Smith. I took some video which I will try to work on during the long plane ride to Seattle. (Big question- should I do convention stuff Thurs night or go see the Yankees?)

Some of the Manhattan parents showed up later (I didn't make that event) and here is a statement by Richard B:

I stood with the folks from Rochester in front of Malcolm Smith's 250 Broadway office today. NY 1 and WNYC radio were there. I pointed out when it was my turn that as unhappy as those of us here in NYC are about the fact that the Legislature essentially renewed mayoral control for NYC with only minor changes, over our objections, there is a level of outrageousness present in the Rochester situation which was not present in our situation, in that a legislator from another city (Smith) is attempting to get mayoral control established for Rochester EVEN THOUGH the city's own senators oppose it.

As Patrick Sullivan wrote in a post yesterday, we really ought to demand that our own senators refuse to go along with dictating to Rochester how its own school system should be governed.
RB

WAVE Editorial Calls for Investigation of Malcolm Smith

Flake, Smith - The crew in this piece are all up to their ears in charter schools. Below the editorial, see a list of powerful articles by Wave editor Howard Schwach. Or go to then Wave web site and search the archives (www.rockawave.com). If not for this corrupt political system, they all - and I include many Tweedies here - would be taken out with coats over their heads. Anyone have a teabag to lend me?

Published February 5, 2010 (www.rockawave.com)

It’s Time For An Investigation

There have been many disquieting stories about State Senator Malcolm Smith, who serves as both the Senate’s President and our representative to the legislative body.

Any one of the stories, taken alone, should be enough to spark a state ethics investigation. Taken together, they reveal a picture of greed and unethical behavior that surely should trigger an investigation. However, our state ethics laws are so skewered toward protecting the wrongdoers, that such an investigation is anything but certain.

Just two weeks ago, Smith’s earmark of $100,000 for the Peninsula Preparatory Academy, a charter school he founded and to which he maintains strong ties, came into question, as did his push to pass a state law that would allow double the number of charter schools in New York City.

Tied to those questions is the growing belief that Beach Channel High School is being closed primarily to clear the room for another Smith-founded charter school, this one a high school to accommodate his PPA students once they graduate from the middle school.

On the heels of those questions came allegations from a national group that recently filed a state ethics charge against Smith in connection with a non-profit organization that he and Congressman Gregory Meeks founded in 2001.

Two of the original board members for that non-profit were Smith’s wife and the wife of a former business partner, Darryl Green, who had been convicted in 2004 of stealing money from those who purchased his expertise about minority hiring. Green is also a partner with former Congressman Floyd Flake in the Aqueduct Entertainment Group, which was just awarded a multi-million dollar contract from the Senate and the Governor to run a gambling Racino at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Smith worked for Flake and remains a close friend. In addition, Smith, Meeks and City Councilman James Sanders Jr. brokered a deal that required the developer of a huge cargo facility on Rockaway Turnpike to provide $250,000 for community development in southeastern Queens. That money was given to the non-profit started by Smith and Meeks, reportedly on Smith’s “suggestion.” Records show the money going in, but little coming back to the community.

The Aqueduct deal also raises red flags because the Flake group was not the highest bidder. In fact, all three incidents raise red flags and indicate that an investigation is due and due soon.


More articles:
Senator Malcolm Smith’s Mentor Wins Aqueduct Racino Bid Paterson Pulls Winning Lever For Flake

WAVE Editor Howard on State Senator Malcolm Smith's Ties to For Profit Victory Charter School and its $750,000 Slice of Public Money

Howie Schwach: It's All About Charters And Breaking The UFT

The DOE says that Victory Schools is paid by PPA through fundraising, but I am willing to bet that Victory Schools is being paid by taxpayer dollars funded by Malcolm Smith and his cohorts in the State Senate.