Publicly Funded Private School Update
Amid Turmoil, Washington Latin Seeks Permission to Relocate
Washington Latin, a charter school with a classics-based curriculum that attracted parents in droves when it opened last year, is embroiled in turmoil over a plan to accept more students and move from its Upper Northwest location to downtown Washington.
Four board members resigned abruptly last month, including the chairman and former D.C. Council member Kevin P. Chavous, saying they could no longer work with headmaster T. Robinson Ahlstrom because he has "refused to cooperate or communicate."
Parents have flooded the D.C. Public Charter School Board with e-mails and phone calls, saying they are unsure whether they will re-enroll their children for a second year.
Other charter schools also are experiencing growing pains after a first-year flush of excitement over starting a new kind of school. Students have struggled with the curriculum, and parents have worried their children did not receive enough academic support, concerns that were reflected in minutes of the board and the 12-member Parent Council.
At a recent board meeting, when describing the business of the school staff, Ahlstrom said he was "working them like Georgia slaves," according to two people who were at the meeting.
In June, Ahlstrom's wife, Kymberly, sent parents a letter accusing two board members of "acts of deceit and sabotage." Later, when the board began negotiations with Ahlstrom over his contract as headmaster, Ahlstrom demanded that the two members resign, according to a memo he sent the board through his attorney, Nathan I. Finklestein.
**Chavous has been replaced as board chairman by former Pittsburgh weatherman and PA congressman Ron Klink. Klink was a key figure in producing the fake WMD intelligence used to justify the latest invasion of Iraq.
posted by 100YearsOfTrash @ 9:02 AM
10 Comments:
yadda yadda
Outcry over "moving downtown?"
Teachers as "Georgia slaves?"
Doesn't sound like the same old yadda to me.
But you're right its no big deal...because nobody's listening.
It's just a shame for the poor people.
Ahhhh.. trash - you get so bent out of shape over publicly funded charter schools.
"yadda yadda" was a reference to your post on Monday, October 30, 2006 titled "Headmaster's Ritual". Please note comment #2 posted by "Anonymous" to "Anonymous". The link http://www.washingtonlatin.org/sports/fencing.asp
lead to a page that read "yadda yadda"
I thought it was funny. Now (10 months later) it reads coming soon
I think Mr. Anonymous got his feelings huts over my comment. I wasn't making fun.. I swear!
I do get quite fired up, but now I'm lost. Who is Mr. Anonymous?
go back and read that thread...
It's all about money, right? What about the kids?
[NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition]
Newsday - Long Island, N.Y.
Author: Steve Wick. STAFF WRITER
Date: Aug 27, 1999
Five weeks after he arrived at the State College at Old Westbury, its new development director, T. Robinson Ahlstrom, unveiled a colorful brochure that proposed the sale of campus property and $250 million in new construction, including a baseball stadium, an outdoor theater and an equestrian center.
As extraordinarily expansive as the proposals were, the college's interim president, W. Hubert Keen, said he knew nothing about them until they were shown to him at the meeting on July 14 of last year. When Ahlstrom presented the brochure, Keen said he was shocked because most of the proposed construction projects had nothing to do with the college's academic mission.
And he said he was angry that the work was done without any input from him, the teachers or students.
"He was proposing reducing the college to ashes and starting over from zero," Keen said. "The secrecy of it just made it more alarming." This meeting set off a chain of events that culminated in June when a measure was approved in Albany that allowed 163 of the college's 600 acres to be transferred to the college's private Old Westbury Foundation. The law gives the foundation the power to seek development deals for one of the largest tracts of undeveloped land in Nassau County. Under SUNY guidelines, foundations traditionally do little more than hand out scholarship money.
Now, with faculty, environmentalists and some lawmakers sharply criticizing the land transfer, questions are being raised about how the proposal came to be.
Underlying these concerns are questions about Ahlstrom's work on the campus promoting large-scale development and his $100,000-a-year job, even though he admits he hasn't been to campus for four months.
Critics have also raised questions about a donation by one of Long Island's largest contractors to the foundation, which now holds title to the 163 acres; the role of the president of the College Council on the campus, and the use of a Garrison, N.Y., design firm.
"We should have been told about the full scope of the land transfer and we weren't," said Harvey Wachsman, a member of the State University of New York Board of Trustees. "I never would have approved this." Supporters of the land transfer plan say it is necessary to generate revenue that could be used to rebuild a long troubled SUNY campus, where enrollment continues to fall. William Howell, the chairman of the Old Westbury College Council, who also sits on the foundation board of directors, has said the proposed projects, including a $10 million Nassau County police training center, will help the college become financially independent.
"My gut feeling then and now is that this concept is sound," said State Sen.
Carl Marcellino (R-Syosset), who sponsored the Senate version of the land transfer bill. "There is nothing I have seen that would be outside the college mission." But Keen and a large block of teachers have questioned whether any of the projects will serve the interests of the college and its diverse student body.
And they question why the process of transferring nearly one-third of the college's land base to a private foundation was done "behind their backs." "This is not the process," said Runi Mukherji, the vice chairwoman of the Old Westbury Faculty Senate. "It is hard to understand how someone who does not talk to any student or faculty can have a good sense of what the campus should look like." In attendance at the meeting last July were Ahlstrom, Howell and Keen, as well as James Copeland, the owner of Hudson Designs, the firm that drew up the brochure, and Fred DeMatteis, the owner of one of the largest contracting firms on Long Island. Going into the meeting, Keen said he had no idea that Ahlstrom had hired Hudson Designs to write the brochure. He said the firm was paid $15,000 out of school funds, which he never authorized.
At the meeting, Ahlstrom said, he asked DeMatteis to make a $1 million contribution to the foundation - $100,000 a year for 10 years. College records show that DeMatteis made an anonymous $113,000 donation to the foundation - the largest in the college's history - five weeks later, on Aug. 20. College officials, as well as the state attorney general's office, have confirmed the donor was DeMatteis.
Keen said Howell and Ahlstrom spoke frequently about getting construction work on the campus for DeMatteis' company, The DeMatteis Organization. DeMatteis did not return phone calls, but a company official said the firm had bid twice on a new student center on the campus but did not win either bid. In an interview, Howell emphatically said he never discussed DeMatteis getting work at Old Westbury. And he said he never heard Ahlstrom solicit the firm for a donation.
In September - three months after he was hired on the recommendation of Howell - Ahlstrom was fired by Keen, in part, Keen said, because of Ahlstrom's work to promote development on the campus behind his back. Keen said Howell threatened that he would lose his job if he did not reinstate Ahlstrom. Howell said he never threatened Keen, but said he told Keen the firing would hurt their working relationship.
According to SUNY guidelines, college councils have very limited roles on campuses, but do have the responsibility of naming college presidents. After speaking with Howell, Keen said he agreed to let Ahlstrom work for the foundation at the same salary that he made as director of development.
For his part, Ahlstrom said he did do the work behind Keen's back. "I admit it; I'm guilty," he said. "I knew he would not support it." Records show that Keen stopped signing Ahlstrom's time sheets in April because of concerns that he was doing nothing for the school. Ahlstrom said he has not been on the campus for four months but works for the school from his consulting firm in the Washington, D.C. area. In spite of the sheets not being signed, Ahlstrom continues to get paid, records show.
Al Smith, Old Westbury's finance director, said "in theory" that Ahlstrom should not have gotten paid after that point, but conceded that he had. In Albany, SUNY spokesman Jon Sorensen said allegations of Ahlstrom receiving pay while not working on the campus were under investigation. Ahlstrom said he told the college he would resign effective Sept. 15.
In deciding on Hudson Designs to prepare the brochure, Howell and Ahlstrom spoke about Copeland's close friendship with Gov. George Pataki, Keen said.
"Everybody knew it and it raised a lot of antennae on the campus," said one college official, who requested anonymity. "There were concerns about how it looked." Michael McKeon, a Pataki spokesman, said Hudson Designs' work on the campus meant nothing. "It is amazing what people will say about change that is good for the school in the long run," he said.
Asked why he picked Hudson Designs, Ahlstrom said he knew Copeland from a fellowship group in Manhattan and did not know of Copeland's friendship with the governor. "No one told me to use Hudson Designs," he said.
Over the next few months, records show, Hudson Designs would get more work at Old Westbury. The firm was hired this year as a consultant to a Manhattan architectural firm hired by the college to write a development master plan.
Peter Sampton, a partner in the architectural firm, said they were told to use Hudson Designs as a consultant.
"It was made clear that the college wanted us to use them," Sampton said.
Reached at his Garrison office, Copeland said he felt privileged to be asked to draw up plans for the remaking of the college. "We are picked for jobs because we do good work," he said.
[Illustration]
1) Newsday Photo / Julia Gaines - At a recent Old Westbury rally, a show of hands to postone a search for a new presiident 2) Newsday Chart / Philip Dionisio - A Smaller Campus
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
Abstract (Document Summary)
As extraordinarily expansive as the proposals were, the college's interim president, W. Hubert Keen, said he knew nothing about them until they were shown to him at the meeting on July 14 of last year. When Ahlstrom presented the brochure, Keen said he was shocked because most of the proposed construction projects had nothing to do with the college's academic mission.
"He was proposing reducing the college to ashes and starting over from zero," Keen said. "The secrecy of it just made it more alarming." This meeting set off a chain of events that culminated in June when a measure was approved in Albany that allowed 163 of the college's 600 acres to be transferred to the college's private Old Westbury Foundation. The law gives the foundation the power to seek development deals for one of the largest tracts of undeveloped land in Nassau County. Under SUNY guidelines, foundations traditionally do little more than hand out scholarship money.
And they question why the process of transferring nearly one-third of the college's land base to a private foundation was done "behind their backs." "This is not the process," said Runi Mukherji, the vice chairwoman of the Old Westbury Faculty Senate. "It is hard to understand how someone who does not talk to any student or faculty can have a good sense of what the campus should look like." In attendance at the meeting last July were Ahlstrom, Howell and Keen, as well as James Copeland, the owner of Hudson Designs, the firm that drew up the brochure, and Fred DeMatteis, the owner of one of the largest contracting firms on Long Island. Going into the meeting, Keen said he had no idea that Ahlstrom had hired Hudson Designs to write the brochure. He said the firm was paid $15,000 out of school funds, which he never authorized.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
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