Blog note: this article references a grand jury expressing concern about the school’s financial viability.
HAYWARD -- School district
leaders are urging the Alameda County Board of Education to shut down an
embattled charter school, saying it has failed at educating students and has a
long history of financial mismanagement.
The seven-member Hayward-based
board will consider the issue at a meeting Tuesday night, when the charter for
the school -- The Families of Alameda for Multicultural/Multilingual Education
-- will be up for renewal.
The school, known as FAME, has
around 1,100 students, many of whom are of Middle Eastern and North African
descent. FAME, which has campuses in Fremont, San Leandro and Brentwood and
independent study programs, was established in 2005.
"We are incredibly excited
about our plans for the next five years, plans that promise a continued
evolution ... from good to great," FAME CEO Naeem Malik said at a county
board meeting last month.
FAME leaders also have touted
the school's Arabic-language immersion program.
However, Fremont Unified
leaders say that FAME's struggles are too serious and numerous to ignore. A
wrongful termination lawsuit settlement that awarded $545,000 to former school
CEO Maram Alaiwat last year reveals a dysfunctional school leadership, said
Fremont Superintendent James Morris. Jurors also found that Malik, then the
charter school board president, acted with "malice, oppression or fraud"
to Alaiwat, according to court documents.
Tuesday's meeting will not be
the first time the Alameda County Board of Education considered FAME's future.
The board renewed the school's
charter in 2010, but not before questioning whether the FAME CEO's total compensation
of $279,600 in 2007-08 was excessive.
In 2012, the board accused the
charter school of violating the state Education Code and using teachers without
valid credentials.
A 2009 state audit questioned
FAME's business practices, including failing to report full wages on tax forms,
violating the state's open-meeting law, using the wrong funds to pay bills, and
using taxpayer money to pay a school leader's speeding ticket.
The Alameda County Grand Jury
expressed concerns about the school's financial viability and the fact that
nearly one-third of the student body studies from home, Morris said.
"There is instance after
instance of financial mismanagement," the superintendent said. "It's
taxpayers' money that they're supposed to be responsible for and obviously
they're not doing a good job with it."
FAME leaders acknowledge that
they have had past problems, but say that they have taken steps to solve them.
The school has "written action plans and detailed self-policing and
accountability measures that will lead to full compliance with the FAME charter
in all areas of operation, governance and finances," school leaders wrote
in response to the 2012 Grand Jury report.
Malik echoed those sentiments
last month, when he urged county board members to renew the charter.
"We're proud of our
successes and have learned from our struggles," he said.
Alameda County Board of
Education President Marlon McWilson said he expects a "large, emotionally
charged" audience on Tuesday.
"It was a hot-button issue
five years ago when they were renewed, and it'll be a hot-button issue again on
Tuesday," he said. "A lot of people's fates are in our hands."
April
13, 2015
San
Jose Mercury News
By Chris De Benedetti
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