"It's about time the AG's Office takes a look around -- they'll have a lot to work with," said one ex-staffer. "Mr. Melendez always likes to say that finances and compliance are the two things he and the board handle exceptionally well, but this doesn't pass the laugh test."
Just desserts in today's NY Post article (below) by Yoav Gonen for Believe Charter network founder Eddie Calderon-Melendez who harassed Susan Ohanian with threats after she wrote about his chater takeover of the library at IS 126. Teachers who left the school had been in touch after Ed Notes wrote about the school but were very afraid to talk. We broke the story in May 2010 of the $100 reward recruitment poster that Jenny Medina at the NY Times picked up on. There is no better example of inequity that these schools are still open -
Here was a comment from a teacher at the school:I'm currently a teacher under the Believe network and would love to whistle blow... once I am no longer employed by the network. In fact, Melendez received public criticism a few years ago for firing a teacher without due process who circulated the DOE pay scale among her WCHS colleagues and mentioned the dirty u-word. No one at the school who hopes to continue to work there for more than 48 hours would dare approach the UFT or even think about doing so, since firings come fast and furious. Right now our best hope is that someone who made it out can fight the good fight (from a safe distance)!I've been in touch with the teacher who is now teaching in another state and I think I asked her to contact Yoav who has been following up on the story for months. I imagine some of the hordes of former teachers are talking to Yoav, who used Ed Notes source material as part of his investigation.
Here are some links to Ed Notes articles:
Dismantling the IS 126 Library
May 09, 2011
Ultimate charity fund-raising event: A roast of Eddie Calderon-Melendez. Charge $50 a plate and invite current and former employees (mostly former). We'll make enough to cure cancer. Williamsburg Charter High School has ...
Oct 06, 2009
Eddie Calderon-Melendez , founder of the Believe High School Network, which runs the charters, said the use of shared space is negotiated every year. ...
Jun 04, 2010
Ultimate charity fund-raising event: A roast of Eddie Calderon-Melendez. Charge $50 a plate and invite current and former employees (mostly former). We'll make enough to cure cancer. Williamsburg Charter High School has been unfairly ...
Charter $$ probe
AG eyes 3 schools in W'burg
Last Updated: 7:02 AM, June 30, 2011
Posted: 2:44 AM, June 30, 2011
PrintEXCLUSIVE
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office has issued a subpoena seeking financial and governance documents from the Believe High Schools Network -- which operates three charter high schools in Williamsburg.
The probe, which appears to be the first by a New York attorney general of a charter-management firm, could usher in increased oversight of the fees and services supplied by charter groups, the source said.
Asked about an investigation, a spokesman for Schneiderman said, "We cannot comment on potential or ongoing matters before the office."
The Post wrote last month how the Believe network charged the Williamsburg Charter HS $2.3 million in management fees in 2009-10 -- well above the citywide average.
The founder and CEO of the network, Eddie Calderon-Melendez, had also founded the Williamsburg Charter HS years earlier.
Under the network's guidance, the school shelled out more than $750,000 in consulting fees last year and was scheduled to pay $2.3 million for space on Varet Street this year -- all using taxpayer funds.
At the same time, the school was forced to suddenly shed 20 teachers from its payroll in January, and by year's end administrators had to rely on teachers to volunteer to sweep up their classrooms and throw out hallway trash because of a custodial funding shortage.
The school also got into hot water in 2010 for seeking to address an enrollment shortage by offering students $100 a head to recruit other kids.
"It's about time the AG's Office takes a look around -- they'll have a lot to work with," said one ex-staffer. "Mr. Melendez always likes to say that finances and compliance are the two things he and the board handle exceptionally well, but this doesn't pass the laugh test."
Neither Calderon-Melendez nor a Board of Trustees member responded to e-mails seeking comment.
The group's finances have been unusually difficult to inspect because, as of last month, the network had not yet registered as a nonprofit, as required.
When asked in May about the delay, a network official blamed bureaucratic snafus.
The two other schools managed by the network -- Believe Northside and Believe Southside high schools -- paid it a total of $540,000 in management fees in 2009-10, their first year of operation.
Neither school -- both also co-founded by Calderon-Melendez -- had filed its required annual report with the state as of last month.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/charter_probe_qpVbYsyaLrE3c7KCjhnnFN#ixzz1Ql5sQ5tO
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