The state is only looking into it because of parent complaints and a newspaper investigation.
The school is part of the Edison system of schools, operates on public property, gets taxpayer money. They are not accredited by a legitimate source.
Exclusive..State looks into parents' Edison Prep complaintsA private Fort Myers high school, operating on city property without legitimate accreditation and owned by a headmaster with a felony record, received almost 25 percent of its tuition fees last year from a taxpayer-funded state scholarship program.
..."• The school, for hockey players and figure skaters, received more than $52,000 from the state's McKay Scholarship program.
Florida does not require private schools to be accredited, even if they participate in scholarships or vouchers. The teachers do not have to certified, but must have 3 years of experience...and this part is vague..they must have special skills or knowledge in subjects they teach. Also schools are not supposed to be run by felons, but it turns out the state doesn't do background checks.
A News-Press investigation of Edison Preparatory School in the Fort Myers Skatium has found:
Parents' allegations and The News-Press inquiries prompted a review of Edison Preparatory School by the Florida Department of Education.
In a letter sent to Edison Prep on Thursday, the DOE asked for additional documentation proving the school is in compliance, including evidence of criminal background checks. The state specifically cited headmaster and school owner Frank Scarpaci, who was sentenced to 21 months in prison in the 1990s for conspiracy and fraud.
McKay Scholarships are for students with disabilities.
From the
FDOE website:
Florida's school choice programs ensure that no child will be left behind by allowing parents to choose the best educational setting—public or private—for their child. The McKay Scholarships for Students with Disabilities Program provided over 20,500 Florida students with special needs the opportunity to attend a participating private school during the 2008-09 school year. The McKay Scholarships Program also offers parents public school choice. A parent of a special needs student who is dissatisfied with the student’s current school may choose to transfer the student to another public school.
There is a history in Florida of schools that have abused the McKay Scholarships, private schools with unqualifed owners. I happened upon a thread I posted in 2003 about another felon who was running a school using these vouchers. Interesting thread with diverse opinions even back then.
Another FL school outrage....voucher school head arrested.This Delyn Allen has 19 convictions or arrests, would have to rewind tape to verify. 19!!! She is heading the school which takes voucher students who are special education.
Here is worst part of all. They do not have to be a certified school, teachers do not have to be certified, they are not at all accountable to the state.
Not much has changed over the years, I guess.
There was an editorial this week in the News Press with which I much agree.
Edison Prep should closeThe operators of Edison Preparatory School in Fort Myers should close their discredited school, and the Florida Department of Education should do a better job of protecting consumers of private education.
For one thing, the state should do a better job of helping parents check out the accreditation of private schools. The DOE Web page on this matter, floridaschoolchoice.org, could be more thorough and more useful, especially in explaining what different kinds of accreditation mean and their impact on the value of a student's course credits and diploma.
....Edison Prep headmaster Frank Scarpaci, a disbarred Massachusetts attorney who taught at least eight subjects this academic year, pleaded guilty in 1992 to conspiracy and nine counts of fraud in a $100 million Ponzi scheme. In 1993 he was sentenced to 21 months in prison and two years of probation.
In a letter sent to Edison Prep last week, the DOE requested additional documents showing the school is complying with state law, including evidence of criminal background checks. Scarpaci was specifically mentioned.
It's a shame that DOE is only now trying to ensure compliance, after parents complained about Edison Prep and The News-Press investigated.
I very much agree with that. Trouble is the spokesperson for the FDOE recently said of another school, one that
gives high school diplomas in 8 days for $399:
"If a school like that exists," Cheryl Etters of the Florida Department of Education said when asked about InterAmerican and its lax standards, "we might know about it, but we can't really do anything."
Florida has expanded vouchers to the needy and poor as well as to the disabled, yet there appears to be no oversight of the schools that get the money. Students who are needy can now go to private religious schools on corporate vouchers. That means that tax money going to public schools is diminishing quickly...33 million less just this year.
And if the schools are not doing what they should, the FDOE can't do anything about it even if they know about it.
What a mess.
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