Discuss the role of leadership throughout the case study.

1 This case was written by Terry Anderson Ph.D. Associate Professor at the Masters of Public Administration from Troy University. The case is intended solely as a vehicle for classroom discussion, and is not intended to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of the situation described.

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ANOTHER CHEATING SCANDAL—BUT THIS TIME IT’S NOT THE STUDENTS

 

In March 2015, Newpoint High School, one of the high-performing charter schools in

Escambia County, Florida, suddenly found itself at the heart of a real scandal when the School

District announced publically that it appeared there was a possibility that school administrators

had pressured teachers to falsify attendance records, delete overdue assignments, give answers to

tests, and change grades in order to ensure that Newpoint seniors would advance to graduation.

And the suggestion was that this was only the tip of the iceberg. The Escambia County

Superintendent of Schools revealed that his office had launched an investigation into the matter.

Some Newpoint High School teachers, pressured to change the grades of seniors, were livid,

while others reacted by breaking down in tears. Cheating? This was not who they were or

wanted to be. They had feared losing their jobs if they did not comply with school

administrators and/or losing their teacher certificates if authorities found out.

 

As bad as the story sounded upon first being made public, it soon became much worse as

allegations ranging from simple demonstrations of poor judgment to possible criminal acts began

to surface. Questions quickly emerged concerning just what kind of school Newpoint was and

how such activities could have escaped the notice of elected officials and local bureaucrats in the

county school administrative office. It seemed to be a case of “Who is minding the store?”

 

The Newpoint Organization

 

A series of local newspaper articles soon revealed that Pensacola Newpoint schools were

a part of an Education Services Provider, Newpoint Education Partners, (NEP), a for-profit

Florida corporation formed in 2008. On its website, Newpoint states its Executive has

“collectively led the development and launch of over 75 schools and is keenly aware of the

financial and support resources necessary to facilitate the startup of a new school or the takeover

and continuation of an existing school” (www.newpointeducation.com). The Escambia County

School District’s charter school agreements for the Pensacola Newpoint schools, including

Newpoint High School, a middle school, Newpoint Academy, and an elementary school, Five

Flags Academy, were with 21st Century Academy of Pensacola, Inc., a nonprofit Florida

corporation formed in 2010. Of particular interest is the fact that annual reports filed with the

Florida Secretary of State show that the company did not add any local board members until

2014 (Outzen, May 6, 2015).

 

 

 

Another Cheating Scandal—But This Time Is Not The Students

2

 

Newpoint Education Partners manages 10 charter schools in Florida. In 2014, its

Pensacola high school, Newpoint High School, was the only one that received an “A”. Four

others had “F” grades, one had a “D” grade, and four had “C” grades. Newpoint High School

has received an “A” grade every year since opening in Escambia County in 2012. Escambia

County’s only other “A” high school in 2014 was West Florida High (Isem, December 19, 2014).

 

The registered agent for Newpoint is Cambridge Education Group, a charter school

management company based in Ohio. In recent years, Cambridge had assumed control of

several charter schools once run by White Hat Management, which has had its own questionable

history with school districts in Ohio and Florida for poor performance and reportedly collecting

high management fees. John Stack, Cambridge Executive Director, and, David Stiles, President

of Operations, both worked for White Hat. Additionally, Stiles is also the Vice President of

Operations for Newpoint Education Partners and Carla Lovett, Vice President of Curriculum and

Instruction and former Supervisor of Secondary Education for the Bay County School District,

also located in northwest Florida, is its registered agent. Lovett is also the principal of a

Newpoint charter school in Bay County. NEP currently has the contract to manage all three

Pensacola Newpoint schools (Outzen, May 6, 2015).

 

Newpoint Academy and Newpoint High School share a campus and opened in August

2011 after being given approval by the Escambia County School District. At that time, the two

were the county’s eighth and ninth charter schools. When they opened in 2011, the schools were

tuition-free and had about 330 middle and high school students. Presently, Newpoint Academy

has 166 6th-8th graders and 19 staff members, while Newpoint High School has 107 9th-12th

graders and 12 staff members (Lett, April 1, 2015).

 

In November 2012, the Escambia School Board approved a school improvement plan for

Newpoint Academy after the charter school received an “F” school grade. Of particular concern

was the fact that Newpoint Academy had endured a high rate of teacher turnover. Newpoint

Education Partners, states on its website that the educational company had met reviews of its

finances, operations, board relations, management company transactions, and accreditation

reviews with 100% ratings (www.newpointeducation.com/). The website for Newpoint High

School and Academy offers the following description of its academic offerings:

 

“Newpoint Pensacola Academy and High School provides a unique environment,

which emphasizes high academic achievement using state of the art technology

and innovative but proven educational methods. We prepare students to

successfully compete in an increasingly competitive post-secondary environment

and the global job market. In addition, our school offers a personal, safe and

caring environment where we strive to meet our students’ needs as individual

learners.

 

In all classes, teachers implement an instructional framework which provides

students with opportunities to learn in small groups with the teacher, collaborate

with peers, and work independently.

 

 

 

Another Cheating Scandal—But This Time Is Not The Students

3

Highlights of the academy curriculum include a focus on ‘Learning to Think’

strategies using Habits of Mind, 16 habits that successful “thinkers” employ,

identified by researcher Art Costa and a blend of print and electronic curriculum

resources, with technology integrated into every classroom.

 

Highlights of the high school curriculum include an entirely digital curriculum

provided by Apex Learning. These dynamic online tools were created in 1997 by

Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft. Now, over 4,000 school districts are using

these tools. With Apex Learning, students are encouraged to explore further and

think critically. Apex provides students with a rich, in-depth learning experience

using video, animation, audio, and interactivity to raise student achievement.

Additionally, built-in assessments allow students to gauge their progress and

move ahead at their own pace. Newpoint Pensacola High School also provides

students with a college preparatory education and real world experience through

its unique Professional Internship “work-study” program. The Professional

Internship exposes students to a “real-world” work environment that broadens

their horizons and encourages them to set high goals for themselves”

(www.newpointpcola.org/).

 

Clearly such glowing internal reports and statements differed from the reality that was emerging

from statements by parents and students and from the daily local press reports.

 

The Newpoint Scandal From the Beginning: Whistleblowers on the Inside

 

In May 2014, one Newpoint employee bravely called the office of the Escambia

Superintendent of Schools, Malcolm Thomas. Even though she knew the call might get her

fired, she could not ignore the lying and deceit at her charter school any longer. Among other

kinds of misconduct, the employee alleged that teachers were being pressured to change grades.

Further, students in the companion middle school, Newpoint Academy, were complaining of

being harassed by a teacher. Funds raised by the student government association had

disappeared (Outzen, May 6, 2015).

 

When the superintendent’s office received the call in May 2014, Thomas was not there.

His administrative assistant, Cathy Irwin, took the call and was told that teachers at Newpoint

High School were changing student’s grades so that seniors would meet the state’s graduation

requirements. Irwin took careful notes and read them back to the whistleblower to be sure her

facts were correct (Outzen, May 6, 2015). The caller further indicated that Principal John

Graham had chosen to ignore complaints from teachers, parents, and students about such

activities. In a copy of an email obtained by a local independent newspaper, dated May 20,

2014, from Newpoint Principal, John Graham, the administrator at the school, told teachers that

the school grade and their jobs were impacted by the graduation rate. “Seniors’ last day will be

Friday,” he wrote, “some will need every minute of time before being cleared to walk. Please be

responsive as the school grade and your spot are impacted by graduation rate” (Outzen, April 30,

2015).

 

 

 

Another Cheating Scandal—But This Time Is Not The Students

4

Following that call, other teachers came forward with similar stories, so the

whistleblower discreetly went outside and called the School District again to report the

additional information (Outzen, May 6, 2015). This time the whistleblower did not only report

activities associated with grade fixing and questionable record keeping. The allegations went

much further. Safety and health issues were another concern as the whistleblower went on to

describe incidences where teachers were physically assaulted by students, students exposed

themselves during class, the county health department was called in at least four times to

examine the condition of school bathrooms, and there was an infestation of mice. Seemingly,

there was no end to these kinds of complaints and more (Outzen, “School Safety and Health,”

March 31, 2015). And apparently that was only the beginning.

 

The whistleblower believed that Superintendent Thomas was her last hope and in fact

there was reason to think that maybe he would intervene and investigate. Investigators

ultimately discovered several phone message slips and emails generated by personnel at the

School District’s offices referencing the situation at Newpoint from as early as May 2014. But

no actions by School District officials followed them as a result. This was despite the fact that

the messages and emails clearly described the fact that information was received concerning

Newpoint teachers being asked to extend assignments, allow make-up work, give answers to

tests, and change class grades (Outzen, May 1, 2015).

 

District emails verified the phone calls and showed communication between Irwin and

Vickie Mathis, the Director of Alternative Education (Outzen, May 6, 2015). In an email on

May 22, 2014, Irwin informed Mathis that the whistleblower had specifically reported that the

Spanish and Chemistry teachers told her they were told to give seniors “A’s” so they would

graduate. It seemed, based on information provided, that Newpoint Principal John Graham

backed up the order. Irwin clearly indicated that Superintendent Thomas requested that she relay

the information to Mathis (Outzen, May 6, 2015).

 

Upon hearing of some of the allegations, Mathis replied that she would call the Florida

Department of Education for advice and contact the Newpoint Board Chair. In her second email

to Irwin and Thomas, the Alternative Education Director wrote that the data specialist had

specifically identified two seniors with low GPAs. Mathis said he had contacted the school and

left a phone message for the principal. Additional information, growing more and more specific

provided the names of teachers who had been told to change grades and the names of students

whose grades were changed. She told Irwin that two teachers had made copies of all students’

current grades and commented that if grades needed to be changed, then they were to change

them (Outzen, May 6, 2015).

 

The emails containing the allegations and documenting the responses of School District

personnel were part of a review not performed until April 2015 by Superintendent Thomas to

comply with a public record request made by Newpoint management. Interestingly, there were

no follow-up emails between Mathis and Irwin after May 23, 2014 or any documentation that

shows if the district’s investigator Gary Marsh investigated the allegations (Outzen, May 6,

2015). In the end, the Newpoint schools finished their school year with no report by the

Escambia County School Board of any problems (Outzen, May 9, 2015).

 

 

 

Another Cheating Scandal—But This Time Is Not The Students

5

Superintendent Thomas chose not to notify the School Board of the allegations or any

other problems at what was generally recognized as the county’s model charter school. There is

no proof that Thomas did anything to put a hold on Newpoint High’s 2014 graduation to provide

time to investigate the allegations. Teachers, students, and parents have no indication that

Thomas did anything about Newpoint before the 2014 graduation. No district investigators went

to the school to question teachers. The Escambia County School Board was not informed about