The White's

Since the spam from Grace Academy came to this list, thought I'd forward this....

Cindy


> From: Elizabeth Stone
> To: [email protected]
> Sent: Saturday, April 27, 2002 6:40 PM
> Subject: [AfricanAmerhomschler] Grace Academy
>
> My name is Elizabeth. We've been home schooling our children for 5 years. This
> year we enrolled them in Einstein Academy, and it was a disaster.
>
> Before considering The Grace Academy, you should know that Mimi and Howie are
> Einstein's founders. Their company, Tutorbots, mismanaged the school until about
> three weeks ago. In her dealings with Einstein families, Mimi used the name
> Mimi Rothschild.
>
> IEP's were not done for the 300 special ed children who were enrolled in the school. It is now the end of April and only nine IEP's have been written.
>
> "I have never seen a more substantive fundamental violation of special education
> by a local education agency," charged Jane Sullivan, special education adviser
> for the education department, who testified against Einstein Academy.
Courier Times 3/20/02
>
> The curriculum was not what Einstein promised. One class didn't have a
teacher until early Dec - then he left the school in February, and the class is teacherless again.
>
> Einstein has been sued by many PA school districts and the PA Department of Education. It is only open now through a court-brokered agreement which required:
eliminating Tutorbots as manager and financial manager of the school,forensic accounting of payments to Tutorbots, approval of all payments by a comptroller who reports to the chartering school district and strict oversight by the chartering school district.
>
> Here are excerpts from articles about Tutorbots and its mismanagement of Einstein:
>
> ************
>
> I am convinced that Einstein will not be successful as long as Tutorbots is the management company," Ken Junkins, the Morrisville board president,said yesterday.
>
> "I believe Tutorbots is not properly managing Einstein. I believe there is possible mismanagement of funds, and they are not responding appropriately to the needs of students," he said.
> Courier Times 2/28/02
>
> **************
> We believe they (Tutorbots) totally mishandled the management of the school."
> Said Morrisville Superintendent John M. Gould.
>
> The school board, Gould said, is particularly concerned about Tutorbots' general operation of the school, a lack of fiscal oversight and problems providing services to special education students.
>
> Another source of Morrisville's ire: Einstein's teachers haven't been paid since early February. "We are quite angry at Tutorbots because they have used
$2.3 million to pay themselves but have not paid the teachers, " Gould said."That's
> unconscionable."
> Morning Call 3/2/02
>
> ***************
> Court documents showed that about $3 million was paid to Tutorbots during
the school year, while teachers have gone unpaid and the school's internet
service provider, Digital Freedom, canceled its service for nonpayment.
>
> Other complaints include copyright infringement, a lack of curriculum and teachers and a lack of special education services.
>
> During today's arguments, attorney Scher insisted that the state has a responsibility
> to pay its bill owed the cyber school, some 15 million in all. The judge asked Scher how the state would know that the money is not going to a bank in the
> Cayman Islands.
>
> But from day one they (the state) funded you and you did virtually nothing," Judge Pellegrini said. "You are supposed to be up and running on day one,not day 90 of a 180-day school year. In effect, you put Tutorbots over the interest of the children you were supposed to educate."
> Lancaster New Era 3/22/02
>
> ****************
> Gould believes Mandel and Rothschild are controlling much of the school's spending.
>
> "Howie Mandel.had the responsibility for.approving all invoices,"
Gould claimed in a letter to Einstein, including invoices from his own company,
Tutorbots, and Gould said some of those invoices are "grossly inflated"
>
> All this while other vendors, and even the school's teachers went unpaid.
>
> "Einstein paid Tutorbots $2.4 million before paying teachers,"
Gould said.
>
> WGAL 3/26/02
>
> *****************
> .our information is that Einstein has received $3.3 million from the
> Commonwealth of PA to fund its educational program. Our Business Administrator cannot conceive of any way that the funding to date would not be sufficient to allow
Einstein to be current on its bills and meet payroll.
>
> Morrisville attorney
>
> *****************
> Tutorbots Inc. is prohibited from providing any management or financial management services to Einstein. In addition, a forensic accounting firm will review all paid and outstanding invoices previously submitted by Tutorbots to Einstein to determine if they were properly paid and that the funds were used for purposes permitted under the Public School Code:
> PDE press release 3/28/02
>
> *****************
> In June a forensic accounting firm will do an audit to determine whether
the payments Einstein made to Tutorbots were warranted. A total of $2.2
million of $3.8 million in state funding that Einstein received went to
Tutorbots,
and the state Education Department wants to know why, said Beth Gaydos,
a
> spokeswoman
> for the Education Department.
> Courier Times 4/4/02
>
> ****************
> The computer problems coincide with a new legal battle between
Einstein
and Tutorbots, which is demanding the repayment of a loan of about
$345,000.
>
> Tutorbots officials, Howard Mandell and his wife, Mimi Rothschild,
also
the founder of Einstein, have been withholding student records as well
as
control of the school's web site, until the money is repaid.
>
> Last week, a judge in Philadelphia ordered the return of the
records as
well as the web site, but as of Tuesday that had not happened.
> Intelligencer Journal 4/10/02
>
> *****************
>
> Tutorbot's mismanagement turned what could have been a great cyber
school
into a disaster which damaged children enrolled.
>
> You should exercise great caution before considering The Grace
Academy!
>
> Buyer Beware!
> Elizabeth Stone
>
> This email may be reproduced in its entirety and posted where
appropriate.
>




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