Banfield said the co-founders' company hired Futuristic Education to work with Epic, and the two businesses had a "vendor relationship."Įpic cut all ties with the co-founders and their company in May 2021, but investigators said irregularities still affect Epic's attendance records. The co-founders, Ben Harris and David Chaney, have denied any wrongdoing.Ĭlark said Epic informed state officials of the connection between the two companies the day the report was released. What's next?: Oklahoma House passes charter school reform billīrad Clark, legal counsel, speaks at a press conference detailing the findings of an investigative report about Epic Charter Schools at Oklahoma State Department of Education In the Oliver Hodge building in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, June 21, 2022.Ĭlark said Futuristic Education might have a relationship with Epic Youth Services, the company owned by Epic's co-founders that managed the school system for a decade and has been accused of misusing taxpayer funds. "It is conceivable that the algorithm was written to allow Epic to continue having students enrolled who, by law, should not have been," state investigators wrote. Inaccuracies in attendance records are the result of an algorithm that originated from a third-party vendor, Futuristic Education, said Brad Clark, general counsel of the state Education Department. Investigators said they uncovered deep flaws in the way the school system counts attendance - issues that impacted thousands of students and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars. She alleged Epic administrators improperly withdrew students for truancy, suppressed key information from board members and handed out “extremely large and unapproved” staff bonuses. "Let me be clear, the Oklahoma State Department of Education is our partner in these efforts."Įpic Schools superintendent Bart Banfield speaks at a press conference about Oklahoma State Department of Education's findings of an investigative report about Epic Charter Schools at the school's office in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, June 21, 2022.įormer Epic school board member Kathren Stehno resigned in December and, in doing so, filed a complaint with the state. "We have been moving very quickly, and let me say, it has not been an easy task to completely deconstruct and then reconstruct our school from the ground up," Banfield said. Many of the issues found in the report were inherited from the previous leadership of Epic's co-founders, who are no longer affiliated with the school system, Epic Superintendent Bart Banfield said at a press conference at school offices Tuesday.īanfield acknowledged Epic made policy and procedural mistakes but its school board and administrators are "committed to uncovering all and any issues." More from Epic Charter Schools: OKC school creating dual-language immersion academy State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister speaks at a press conference detailing the findings of an investigative report about Epic Charter Schools at the Oklahoma State Department of Education in the Oliver Hodge building in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, June 21, 2022.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |