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May
2
I know – seems rather inflammatory. But there’s no other way to say it. Rod Coker of White Hat lied on WCPN last year. He admitted it. So when I see his name as the spokesperson in the second news story below, well, excuse me for being a bit skeptical.
In Pensacola, Florida: Student’s Future Hangs on School’s Closure:
White Hat Management, which runs Life Skills Center of Escambia County on H Street, is pulling out June 30 over a financial dispute with the charter school’s board of directors.
“What are we going to do if they close?” asked student Marquita Scott, 17. “I want to graduate and be the first person in my family to go to college.”
…
n 2006, the Escambia School Board voted as a cost-saving measure to close Dixon Education Center’s doors, and a group of businessmen opened the charter school.
Like its predecessor, the charter school offers a second chance for high school students who have dropped out, struggling academically or were expelled from a regular high school.
…
At issue is more than $580,000 that White Hat Management officials said is owed by the school’s board of directors. “We have not been paid since November 2007,” White Hat attorney Andrew Kantor said.
At a Friday afternoon meeting at the school, members of the board of directors approved White Hat’s request to terminate its contract at the end of the school year.
Directors, however, disputed the amount owed to the company.
The controversy centers around a day-care center opened at the school last year by the school’s board of directors.
Board president John Wyche said the day care was opened so teen mothers would have a place to leave their children while in class.
The directors’ attorney, Scott A. Remington, said White Hat owes the school about $245,000 for failing to properly file paperwork to secure day-care funding.
In other coverage of the same situation, we encounter White Hat’s Rod Coker, the guy who lied on WCPN last year, talking about the case (this news report via a blog entry seems to indicate that White Hat says it’s owed more than $500,000 – for just four months of services?):
“We have not received payment for several months,” said Rodd Coker with White Hat. ”We will not continue to operate under that situation. We can terminate our contract after 14 days, but we are committed to operating this center until June 30.”
Attorney Scott Remington, who represents Life Skills Center, said the problem originated in December of last year when the centers board of directors reportedly asked White Hat to amend their contract, allowing for the operation of a child care center.
Remington claims the management company, which is responsible for campus maintenance, employee benefits and salaries among other things, never responded to their request and then grossly underreported the number of children in the childcare program.
Remington said that clerical error lead to the school receiving less money. Remington then asked White Hat to waive the arbitration clause in their current contract because the act of arbitration might impede the school boards mission to operate within Florida Sunshine Law.
To add to the financial woes of the center, the 2008 budget was balanced at $2 million, but the school only received a little over $1 million due to fewer registrants than previously expected.
And this is why I thank Ted Strickland every time he says he’ll veto more charter schools.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:43 pm May 2nd, 2008 in Business, Education, Government, Law, Ohio, Scandal, WCPN/SOI, Youth
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[...] Hat Management operates schools in several states. In Florida, its been in the news quite a [...]