Questions about Celerity Educational Group, a Los Angeles charter school management organization now under federal investigation, and its relationship with affiliated nonprofit entities have been probed by LA Unified for nearly a decade, according to public documents and school board meetings, and the concerns are widely thought to have prompted last months highly publicized raids by seven federal agencies.
The nature of CEGs relationship with one of those entities, Celerity Global Development, has come under scrutiny by LA Unified officials since at least 2013, when district staff said they knew nothing about Global and had no documentation on it, yet it was showing up in charter application paperwork and was involved in various aspects of the groups charter school operations, including licensing curriculum and hiring and firing. LA Unified officials noted in a report that they identified potential conflicts of interest and the commingling of financial transactions between CEG and other separate, but affiliated, legal entities, such as Celerity Global.
Over the past month since the raids, LA School Report talked with more than a dozen past and present parents, teachers, and students both on and off the record. Most of the parents and students remain supportive of the schools, but some are seeking alternatives. Most of the teachers were surprised that management questions were not brought earlier.
Many of the teachers spoke about putting in their own money as much as $2,000 a year to pay for classroom supplies, even while attending lavish parties Celerity threw for the teachers. Others said that when Celerity was being questioned by the district about low test scores at one school, they were instructed to teach to the test and to monitor the progress of students and teachers every week. Celerity teachers, who are non-union, earn salaries comparable to district teachers.
It was like youre training a robot, said Priscilla Longoria, who taught sixth grade at two Celerity schools from 2010 to 2014. I can teach a monkey to pass a test, its not teaching the children to be self-sufficient. It was a horrible way of teaching and creating lifelong damage to the children.
Another teacher who asked not to be named said she felt guilty going to the fancy holiday parties held at private houses in the Hollywood Hills or restaurants in Silver Lake. I remember wondering whether the money could be used for a trampoline for the school or something else that we needed.
We dont want a school that is under investigation on our campus, said Gabriela Martinez, who has two children at Arminta Street Elementary School in North Hollywood, where Celerity Cardinal is seeking classrooms. She plans to take her children out of the school if Celerity is given space. Parents will hear the proposed co-location plans at a March 1 meeting at the school. Im not against all charters, but Im against a school thats being investigated and where there may be people who dont care about kids, she said.
And, for at least the past two years, the school districts Office of Inspector General has been conducting its own investigation into Celerity, which is widely believed to be the catalyst for the federal raids. That investigation is ongoing.
The raids didnt involve any of Celeritys seven LA-area schools but did involve taking computers, paperwork, and files from two Celerity administrative offices and the home of Celerity founder Vielka McFarlane, where agents arrived with guns drawn.
The agencies included the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Education, the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Secret Service, IRS Criminal Investigation and LA Unifieds Office of Inspector General, Thom Mrozek, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorneys office in Los Angeles, said last month. None of the agencies, nor anyone at LA Unified, would confirm any specific allegations or what is being investigated.
Celerity Global Development (Global) is a separate, different entity, Canada wrote in a letter dated Sept. 22, 2016, to the charter division. Your statement that Global directly controls expenditures of CEG schools is incorrect. CEG, as a totally independent and separate corporation, does not maintain the records of Global or any other entity. It is disconcerting that you again ask for a copy of the current contract between CEG and the Celerity schools, because weve discussed many times that the Celerity schools are not separate legal entities with the power to contract.
Yet Globals contract contradicts that assertion and states that Global provides oversight and technical assistance with CEG hiring and firing administration, licensing development and management of Celerity education curriculum, instructional model, strategies, classroom structure and behavior management methods.
http://laschoolreport.com/whats-behind-the-federal-raids-on-celerity/McFarlane also appeared to be on boards of companies that Celerity did business with such as Orion International Academy, Attenture LLC, and Celerity Contracting Services, a company that helps build schools. The county also questioned whether McFarlane recused herself from votes involving Orion or potential conflicts of interest, Suh said.
Suh noted that McFarlane did not have financial interests in these companies, and she has not been paid by any of these companies.
In 2013, Celerity Contracting Services conducted repairs on McFarlanes house and another board members house, Suh said. He said that all the work was paid for directly by McFarlane and the board member.
McFarlane is listed as the CEO of Celerity Contracting Services on business listing sites such as Manta, Buzzfile, and Trademarks, but she is not named on the companys own website.