Reply #161: Yes; that's the standard dodge. But again, I ask, what is "owned"?

[Hannah Bell]

The Community College is the charter-authorizing body.

It was petitioned by someone unspecified (parents, community members, business interests operating behind frontmen) to establish a charter.

Incorporation is for a name ("The Academy") with a board of directors, whose main function, in this case, is to receive funds from the state, take 3% off the top, & pass on the rest of the money to the for-profit management company, which:

-- takes another 12% off the top in fees

-- has sole responsibility to "select, assign, discipline & transfer personnel" including principals & teachers. "No one affiliated with the Academy, including its board of directors, and no one affiliated with BMCC, has any involvement in personnel issues involving the individuals the Employer has hired to work at the Academy...all Academy personnel are accountable only to the Employer...the Academy’s board has no authority to require the Employer to discipline or discharge an offending employee."

-- determination of pay scales, benefits, etc. Academy employees are NOT ELIGIBLE Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System.

The managment company maintains its OWN pension system -- another profit center, as employees pay some of their wages into this system, creating a pool of investable cash for the management company -- which, as a private system, is not subject to public oversight.

-- pays for all supplies, rents, etc.

-- pays all salaries & benefits

-- provides the "educational services," including development of curriculum (probably their owned canned one, for which they'll receive additional $$)

-- provides "the professional training and development of the Academy’s teachers," (quite possibly with their own "training materials," which will be billed as "supplies")

-- the "maintenance and operation of the Academy’s school building" (which may very well be owned by the management corp & rented to the "school")

In this case, the address (23749 Elmira) of the Detroit West Academy campus appears to be a building once owned by the Catholic Church, housing the St Hilary School, which closed in 1992. So I suspect the management company owns the building & rents it to "The Academy".


-- all other management functions, including preparation of any state reports required of "The Academy"


The management company & its own Board:

-- don't have to hold open meetings

-- don't have to make their records & financials public

-- don't have to be audited by the state

-- don't have to report to the state directly



Now tell me, in this case, what is "owned"? What is "the school"? What is "non-profit" WHEN EVERYTHING THE SCHOOL DOES IS DONE AT A PROFIT?

15% off the top in management fees, just for starters.

It's a dodge, & I think you know it is.

Plus, it's a morass of moral hazard.


I'd also ask you, to kids & parents, what is "the school"?

To kids, it's the building, the teachers & other employees they *see* & interact with: in this case, all of which are likely "owned" BY THE FOR PROFIT MANAGEMENT COMPANY & can be changed & dismissed at the whim of the management company, & are, as the law states, responsible to their EMPLOYER, not "the Academy" & its board, which is supposedly "the school".

What a charade.