Newpoint Press Release: Claims of Misconduct are "Misinformed"

Carla Lovett from Newpoint Education sent all Escambia County School Board Members the 

Below press release on 5-11-2015

Newpoint: A Constituent's Email of SUPPORT (and My Response)

Here is an email I received from a constituent yesterday evening, supporting Newpoint schools.  My response to this email is below.

>>> XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  05/09/15 4:32 PM >>>

XXXXXX XXXXX XXXXXXX,

I am writing in response to the press release out today by Rick Outzen in

regards to the Newpoint Schools. It was stated that the agenda for the next

school board meeting will include a recommendation to close all three

Newpoint Schools.

XXXXXXXXXXXX attend Five Flags Academy, after having to leave XXXXXX

XXXXXXXX school over terrible conditions. This is the flagship year at

Five Flags and all of the teachers have been wonderful and show nothing but

a love for their jobs and our children. From even the little information

that was issued to the public by Rick Outzen, the grade tampering issue is

being investigated on a high school level and the individuals responsible

are no longer employed by Newpoint Education.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX thriving in the environment they are in and my husband and

I do not feel that they should be punished for the actions of individuals

that are no longer employed. 

No information had been issued to the public

by Malcolm Thomas or anyone on the board when the allegations were brought

to light in 2014, which could have made a difference for parents who chose

Five Flags Elementary for their children. At this point in time, school

choice is closed and students in Five Flags are not being served by their

district schools. Private schools are not an option for all parents in the

area, obviously. 

We realize that there are political motivations to the

press release, with Mr. Outzen wanting Mr. Thomas out of office; also

calling for an elected superintendent, and we question the timing of the

release of the Newpoint information. That said, it feels like the

recommendation to close the schools is a response to the political attacks.

The education of our children is not a political matter in this already

failing school district. All viable educational options should be utilized

and explored for our children.

At this point, we are asking for time, much like was given for LuTimothy

May when he ran Dixon as a charter school. Although the school was failing,

he was given additional time to make improvements with additional school

board and community oversight. The Newpoint Schools are not failing

schools. Five Flags school is in it's infancy. Please do not let politics

motivate any hasty decisions and instead follow normal district procedure

(i.e Dixon),and let the investigation take it's course.

Thank you for your time,

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Super Voter, XXXXXXXXXXXX

My response:

XXXXXXXX,

Not by choice, mind you, but I was put into the middle of all of this when whistle-blowers contacted me with incredible, outrageous allegations about Newpoint and a lack of any district response/investigation.

Remember, for reasons I still fail to apprehend, the Escambia County School Board was not made aware of the most egregious allegations against Newpoint, we were totally left in the dark until whistle-blowers contacted me.  That is when this whole thing broke open.

And regardless of what anybody says, I do not believe that any significant investigation of the allegations of May 2014 would have happened had I not aggressively followed up on the whistle-blower's complaints; had I remained silent this would not all be happening.  But I will never ignore issues that threaten student safety.  Never.

This said, I remain open-minded on all allegations until I see all evidence.  You can take that to the bank.

And I remain strongly supportive of expanded school choice and charter schools in particular.

In short, I'm not convinced we, as a district, are blameless in all of this.  I think we made significant mistakes in the way we monitored Newpoint, and the way in which we responded (or did not respond) when we learned about problems there.

When a traditional district school struggles and has big problems, like Warrington Middle school has for years, the hue and cry is "We need more time, more resources!"  personnel, particularly if they've done wrong, are removed/replaced. Sometimes not in a fast manner.   The school does not pay the price for the misdeeds of the personnel running the schools.  That is how we treat OUR schools.

With charters in general, there appears to be a zero-defect, hair-trigger mentality when there are problems.  "Close them down NOW" becomes the chant loudly and often repeated.

If these allegations surrounding Newpoint are true and all of these contract violations are legitimate, I will listen to what Newpoint has to say about a plan of attack to address all the issues.  Make no mistake, if crimes were committed by anybody involved in this mess--Newpoint or District Personnel, I'm convinced those responsible will be held to account.

But My vote on whether or not to terminate Newpoint will be the vote that least impacts students and parents, and will be cast in an unbiased, open-minded manner as I have typically cast my votes throughout my time on the board. 

I'm not out for blood, I just want people to do their jobs and not waste taxpayer resources.  I want people that did wrong to be held accountable.

Sincerely,

Jeff Bergosh

Jeff Bergosh

Escambia County School Board

District 1 Board Representative

850-469-6147

www.jeffbergoshblog.blogspot.com

jbergosh@escambia.k12.fl.us

Newpoint: Problems Mount as Multi-Agency Investigation Continues....

Newpoint Schools have problems, not just locally but over in Panama City as well.

Just this last week the Newpoint School in Bay County has sued the Superintendent of Schools in Panama City over nearly $1Million in Grant money that Newpoint wants but cannot get because the Superintendent there will not sign the grant application.  From the News Herald:

"A charter school provider is bringing legal action against Bay District Schools Superintendent Bill Husfelt after he didn’t approve a grant application for school equipment. Newpoint Bay Inc., which operates the existing Newpoint Bay Academy and Newpoint Bay High School and is opening Newpoint Bay Preparatory Academy and Central High School in Bay County, filed an emergency petition for a writ of mandamus, which seeks to compel a party to perform a legally obligated action."

Locally, the  Escambia County School Board will be voting on a recommendation from superintendent Thomas to terminate the charter for all three Newpoint schools in Pensacola.  The issues that are given to justify this termination are outlined in today's Pensacola News Journal:

"Escambia County School District Superintendent Malcolm Thomas has made a recommendation to the school board to terminate the charters for the schools. The matter will be an item on the consent agenda at the regular board meeting on May 19. If approved, the contracts will end Aug. 17. The school district and the State Attorney's Office are investigating allegations of grade tampering at Newpoint Academy and Newpoint High School. Initially, Newpoint Education Partners, the schools' parent company, denied any wrongdoing. However on April 29, the company announced it had launched an independent investigation."

The  problems locally stem from a series of allegations that began in the spring of 2014.  The allegations, the gist of which were well documented in a story in this week's edition of InWeekly, were not followed up on by the district until this spring, and now I have knowledge that there is a robust, multi-agency investigation underway (State, local, Federal);  This issue is multi-faceted and involves more than just Newpoint schools.  This investigation is complex, and everyone is watching everyone else, it kind of reminds me of this scene from "Casino." 

And the truth of all of the allegations will be uncovered.  I'm convinced of this. 

Meanwhile, for Newpoint, whether or not they are guilty of any of these allegations, the fact that these claims are being made against them is a massive  public relations problem.  

Although I will be open-minded and will listen to all sides of this issue before I cast my vote on Newpoint, I know that there are those that already believe all of these allegations are true.

We will all just have to wait and see what happens next. 

Newpoint Public Records: My Portion of the Records Request Ready for Release Today

On April 6th a huge public records request was made for the documents I have in my possession regarding the Newpoint Investigation.

I worked diligently to compile my part of the information in order to answer this request, but there was some disagreement between lawyers as to what was exempt and what must be released.

At the beginning of this week, the State's Attorney cleared up the issue and sent a letter to the Board's attorney, delineating clearly, with emphasis, what is exempt and what must be released.

So my thick stack of records has been redacted and the requestors of this information have been notified and will be provided this information today.

Because of the voluminous quantity of data, I have not yet determined what, if any, I will be able to link to this blog.

I may link some in a series of forthcoming posts.

Among the allegations found in some of my public records to be released today: (These are ALLEGATIONS ONLY at this point and much of this is the subject of a current, active, multi-agency investigation presently)

-Newpoint altered grades
-Newpoint jeopardized student safety multiple times and in multiple ways
-Teachers provided students answers "over their shoulders"

-ECSD failed to follow up on numerous phone calls, emails and written correspondence documenting