General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSecretary of FL charter school fired for reporting principals stash of pot as well as...
her fraternizing with male students.
This principal's behavior makes two charter school systems in Florida look bad. She had recently left one with a questionable reputation.
From the Courthouse News Service:
Secretary Says Firing Was Retaliation
Mavericks school is a charter high school which receives public money.
PALM SPRINGS, Fla. (CN) - A Florida high school secretary claims in a lawsuit that she was fired for reporting a principal who was bringing marijuana to school and fraternizing with students.
In a complaint filed in Palm Beach County on June 1, Jackelin Cruz claims she was fired from her job with Mavericks High School in retaliation for telling police about a weed stash that she spotted inside Principal Krista Morton's purse.
Cruz says she found out about Morton's marijuana use after entering a staff bathroom and discovering the principal's purse on the floor. She says she picked it up to return it, and immediately detected a "strong odor of marijuana." Upon further examination, she says, she saw "a bag of marijuana and a thick looking cigarette."
She claims she "went straight to an on-duty Palm Springs police officer," but no charges were filed against Principal Morton.
A few days later, Cruz was called into a meeting, and Morton allegedly asked her to resign. Cruz refused, so Morton fired her on the spot, the complaint says.
The principal, Krista Morton, was arrested in May.
Krista Morton: Controversy prone principal caught in car back seat with student
The principal of The Mavericks High of Palm Springs was arrested on Wednesday after police found her in the back seat of a marijuana-filled car with one of the school's students. Krista Eve Morton, 45 of Wellington, was arrested by North Palm Beach
on.aol.com
A Florida charter school principal was caught last week in the back seat of her car with one of her students, according to police, and subsequently arrested. But Krista Morton, 45, was not taken into custody for being with the the student, who was 18, but for possession of marijuana. But these improper acts aren't the principal's first brushes with controversy. That happened at another Florida high school where she was also principal.
Gulf Live reported May 11 that Krista Morton's arrest for marijuana possession, not to mention the impropriety of being caught with a student with an illegal substance and presenting the perception of possible sexual activity, will only add to a resume burdened with controversy. Prior to signing on at Mavericks High School in Palm Springs, she was head administrator for Milburn Academy in Bradenton, Florida. A charter school, it was not provided a renewal of its charter due to several institutional failures.
....According to WFLA, police were called to the scene when someone reported "people in the back seat engaged in some sort of sexual activity or being attacked. North Palm Beach Police said that a sergeant knocked on the car door. He quickly noticed that Morton had wings tattooed on her lower back prior to her opening the door and immediately saying, We're just friends." The sergeant also noticed Morton's shirt was unbuttoned, leaving her shoulders and part of her chest exposed.
Then she altered her story to say she didn't know her fellow back seat occupier, had been "lonely" and had picked him up just to get to know him. She continued to tell me that she had just met him, that she was lonely, she had just picked him up down the street and brought him here to get to know him, the police officer said.
Here is more about Milburn Academy and the troubles it has seen.
Florida's failed charter schools: Cracks in the system Part I
The Richard Milburn Academy is seen at its former location in Fort Myers in August 2012. The charter school closed following an investigation that found students were receiving diplomas they had not earned. (Video frame grab provided by WFTX-TV Fox 4 Fort Myers)
NAPLES, Fla. - Seven times since 2006, Richard Milburn Academy of Florida has failed at running a charter school.
In Lee County, two RMA schools closed after administrators manipulated student grades. In the Tampa Bay-area, two RMA schools shut down due to poor academic performance. In Manatee County, one RMA school was shuttered after half of the graduating class received diplomas without earning enough credits.
Yet, in Floridas charter school system, RMA of Florida is allowed to continue operating and opening new campuses. Many of the same people responsible for the seven failures are now running two charter schools near Daytona Beach, receiving about $2.8 million in taxpayer money last school year.
...That RMA still does business in Florida is but one example of cracks in Floridas charter system, a world in which critics say too many ill-prepared and ill-intentioned operators are failing the states students and taxpayers.
I have not been able to find anything about Morton being fired. As far as I can tell, both charter schools still do business in Florida.
shenmue
(38,506 posts)BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)Sancho
(9,072 posts)of course, Fl may have the worst House of Representatives along with the worst governor ever.
YOHABLO
(7,358 posts)nikto
(3,284 posts)The Public doesn't even know the real, actual bad stuff.
In the context of the national crime-wave Charter Schools are a part of,
basically,this is just fluff.
You can be sure ---- Far worse things are happening behind-the-scenes, wherever for-profit Charter Schools exist,
and that's a guarantee.
But this nugget will do.
Love the cannabis angle.
And in hyper anti-Weed Florida, too.
I'll take it.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)(Repost from last May...there are many more reasons now and more links to add.)
Here is one from today in LBN.
Head count shows 'unusually high' discrepancies at charter schools (Ohio)
I am making a list of part of my research and links about how I believe charter schools harm public education. There are good charter schools, the idea itself is a good one. However it's an idea that was hijacked by greedy companies that manage schools for money, formulate standardized tests in secret, and companies that use charter schools to dabble in real estate with public money.
That is basically the gist of my argument....that taxpayer money is being given over to private companies which are NOT regulated and have almost no oversight. That is the reason for charters. The powers that be say that if schools are not burdened with rules they will be better schools.
So ask yourself why then are public schools regulated and have oversight? Why start a system of schools that has none. When you do that the greedy step in and take over, and there is no one willing to speak against them or stop them.
When someone tells me I don't know what I'm talking about or that I am not qualified to talk in a negative way against Arne Duncan's policies...then I can link to these articles. Not all are my posts, and there are valuable links.
And I think 33 years of teaching with new training every few years at a nearby college at least make me more qualified than the billionaire boys' club (to quote Diane Ravitch).
Juan Gonzalez: Feds did not keep track of over 3 billion going to charter schools.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/112410269
Florida charter school shuts down during school day. No buses to get kids home.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026792344
Unregulated charter school finances wasting taxpayer money. Rampant fraud, harm to students.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/8440
Florida charter schools get 91 million for facilities. Public school funding dwindles.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022774952
FL charter schools claim 80,000 on waiting list. Not true.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022344727
FBI raids Kenilworth charter school
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014670340
FL budget: $133 per charter student, $18 per public school student
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/30/1296034/-FL-budget-133-per-charter-student-18-per-public-school-student
"The Invasion of the Charter Schools"
http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2009/06/invasion-of-charter-schools.html
Charter school leader pushes kids to become her personal lobbyists
http://pando.com/2014/03/06/charter-school-leader-pushes-kids-to-become-her-personal-lobbyists/
"Stand and Deliver" school, Garfield High, sadly is one of 12 public schools available to outside bidders
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/4973
2009 Some Catholic schools in Florida converting to charter schools this fall.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/5085
Charter school company hired felon on probation. He stole $202, 837.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/8537
Unregulated charter school finances wasting taxpayer money with rampant fraud.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/8532
Imagine Charter Schools sells 5 schools for 44 million...will have them leased back to them.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/5586
Compilation of charter school scandals over the past year.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/6012
Charter schools are a tip of the hat to deregulation supporters.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/3753
Two FL charter schools owe half a million to Lee county. Gave wrong number of students.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/8431
NYT's investigative article about Imagine Charter Schools and Dennis Bakke.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/6057
Charter school offers to give $100 to each student who recruits someone new.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/6260
"Parent Revolution"? Not really. Not grassroots. Started by charter school companies.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/8098
Charter schools in TX receive $19 million from state, red flags raised in audit.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/4963
Charter school director: When "test day came, they were like little test-taking machines.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/6707
Metro Nashville Public Schools lose $3.4 million funding for rejecting charter school. Power play.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/8481
More charter school problems in FL. Where's the oversight of taxpayer money?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024282410
Four states, 4 examples of charter schools fraud. Oversight needed badly.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024106466
Labor board decides Chicago charter school is really private, subject to private sector laws.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022121286
This is how they are declaring schools "failing" so they can be turned into charter schools.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024966712
Forcing brain damaged students to take the same test as everyone else and counting their scores with the others.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024956116
Turkish charter schools, Harmony, finalist for 30 million from Race to the Top federal money.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022131852
States are being forced by Arne to raise the number of charter schools or lose millions in federal money.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024939550
When FL charters close money doesn't get back to the public schools.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024934579
One testing company put a gag order on teachers to keep them from talking about how sorry the tests are that calls schools failures and turns them over to charters.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024882119
Florida's largest charter school under investigation.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024854017
The kind of testing that fails public schools so they can be turned into charters run by private companies.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024848990
Thank you, Raul Grijalva: Obamas Market-Based Policies Endanger Public Education.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024843639
"we have not spoken earlier, as we are a staff that exists in fear of bullying, retaliation...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024832541
White Hat Charter schools got about 1 billion from Ohio, claimed public property as theirs
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024800260
Arne Duncan complicit as forces of privatization take over public schools.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024752043
NY legislature: Charter schools get free space in public schools. Hostile takeover of public arenas?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024751666
Build an F-Rated Charter School? WITHOUT Approval? Only in Florida. From Daily Kos today.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024694215
Eva Moskowitz moves charter school into another public school's space, boots them from classrooms.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/6703
FL gave $25 million to pro-profit charter schools for non-attending students in 2006-2007
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024472708
Online charter school, K12, got 730.8 million from taxpayers in 2013. Teacher speaks out.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024291075
That's just a few things. Adding more later on.
nikto
(3,284 posts)I have a Blog where I might want to include these in a post.
Do I have your permission to do that?
Also, IMO...
"When someone tells me I don't know what I'm talking about or that I am not qualified to talk in a negative way against Arne Duncan's policies..."
...They are probably personally profiting from public school privatization, or are a fully-brainwashed neoliberal tool.
I don't mind. Yes, it's about profit, not the kids.
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)madfloridian
(88,117 posts)But once the billionaire boys' club got started noble reasons went out the window. It's about money now.