Los Angeles Times
Suit targets charter school deal
By Joel Rubin and Evelyn Larrubia
February 24, 2007
Seven years ago, the Los Angeles Unified School District joined with a charter school to build a sparkling new campus in South Los Angeles. The deal, using public funds and private donations, was hailed as an ideal partnership.
But that transaction is coming under scrutiny. Several individuals from the Accelerated School and the school district were named in a lawsuit this week alleging improper use of state school construction funds.
Among those named in the suit is Accelerated’s co-director, Johnathan Williams, who is running for a seat on the district’s seven-member school board...
Williams could not be reached for comment. But Kevin Sved, who directs and founded the school with Williams, defended the deal to build the school. He had not read the lawsuit, but said lawyers for the school and district had carefully vetted the project at the time.
[Blogger's note: School attorneys are famous for telling school officials exactly what they want to hear. Their job seems to be to help officials get away with whatever they want to do.]
...The lawsuit was filed by Dennis Dockstader... a whistleblower and former teacher,
False-claim suits seek the return of government funds from a person or entity that improperly used or obtained them...In this case, state prosecutors chose to let the suit proceed without their active involvement.
...Dockstader charges in the suit that, among other things, the school project was designed to bilk the state out of $2.8 million it paid the district to help defray the costs of the campus land...The suit argues that the state was defrauded of money for which the school district and Accelerated had no legitimate claim...
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