Charter School in Financial Straits

By S. Brady Calhoun, The News Herald, Panama City, Fla.

Sep. 24–As her students drifted off to waiting sport utility vehicles Friday afternoon, teacher Alanna Lolley hugged them and said goodbye. Lolley is one of three teachers who announced they are leaving the fledgling Tapestry Park Charter Academy after learning that Principal Antonius Barnes had been fired. “Mr. Barnes left and I support him, and that’s all I have to say,” Lolley said. Then she broke down into tears.

“I’m sorry,” Lolley said. “I’m having a bad day.”

Tapestry Park, a charter school in Panama City Beach, is in dire financial trouble, Tapestry Park School Board Chairman Mark Tanney confirmed Friday. Tanney also is the developer behind the Tapestry Park residential subdivision.

The school, which opened in August, is an alternative for parents who feel that local public schools are overcrowded.

In an attempt to save money, Tanney said he removed Barnes and his secretary Vickie Brown on Wednesday. The elementary school had about 70 students and seven teachers.

Public schools and charter schools receive their funding from the state based on the number of students. Tapestry Park officials had hoped for 126 students. When that number did not materialize, the school went over budget, Tanney said.

Tapestry Park almost had enough students, but construction delays forced it to open two weeks after other public schools in Bay County, Tanney said. About 30 students dropped out once the delay was announced, he said.

“I guess we shouldn’t have opened it at that point,” he added.

After learning that Barnes had been fired, two teachers quit and a third announced she will quit soon, Tanney said.

“They’re not giving us a whole lot of notice. They’re just leaving,” Tanney said. “Everybody is making the board out to be the bad guy on this.”

The school needs financial help in order to continue, Tanney said. He is planning on putting $50,000 of his own money into the school in order to keep it afloat.

The board believed that by removing Barnes, who made $57,000 a year, it could save money and keep the school afloat, Tanney said.

“We thought our best assets were the teachers,” he said.

Also, according to Tanney, Barnes made financial decisions without the board’s approval. He paid teachers more than the budget allowed and hired a guidance counselor even though the budget did not call for one, Tanney said.

Barnes’ attorney Robert Jackson said he is investigating the incident.

“We would hope there was legitimate reason why he was terminated,” Barnes said. “We may take actions depending on how that investigation turns out.”

It was unclear Friday who was running the day-to-day operations of Tapestry Park. The teacher Tanney placed in charge was one of the three who resigned.

About 50 parents attended a meeting with Tanney and two other board members Thursday night. The parents are planning another meeting this morning in the Arnold High School parking lot.

“He (Barnes) was the heart of this school and we’re very disappointed that he’s gone,” said Karen Lee, the mother of a kindergartner at Tapestry Park. “We would like Mr. Barnes to be offered his job back.”

Some parents have offered to donate money to keep the school afloat.

“The parents overwhelmingly said what do you need for money?” said Torger Reppen, the father of a first-grader.

However, Reppen and other parents said they are also checking into private schools and home schooling.

Under Florida law, charter schools are public schools run by parents or other groups. Charter schools must have a contract with the local school district before opening.

The Bay County School Board has the authority to shut the charter school down if the charter’s leadership violates the contract. So far, the school has not done that, said Superintendent James McCalister.

“Nowhere in the charter agreement does it say that (the school) has to have a principal,” McCalister said. “Currently, they have not done anything against the contract.”

However, the contract does stipulate that the school can be shut down if school leaders fail “to meet generally accepted standards of fiscal management.”

If the school is shut down, anything left, from books to equipment to money, will become district property.

When Tapestry Park opened last month, school leaders and parents acknowledged that it had a lot of obstacles to overcome. In addition to not having enough students, the school is made up of portable classrooms and is situated on a small lot with little room for expansion or play areas.

“The first year is always going to be a rough year,” Barnes said then.

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