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Ex-Staff Describe Unruly School; Educators, Fired in Pay Rift, Say Discipline Lax at Northside High

Posted on: Saturday, 3 December 2005, 15:00 CST

By SARAH CARR

Students regularly smoked pot, skipped school and shot dice without fear of punishment, a group of former teachers and administrators at the troubled Northside High School alleges in interviews with the Journal Sentinel and a letter to state officials.

"It was an absolute joke," LaTrina Cooper, a former co-principal at the school who was fired in November, said in an interview. "Most of the time, (the students) were doing crossword puzzles."

"It's not a school," she added. "It's a holding place for students who I guess couldn't make it in MPS. It's like a detention center. . . . We even had a student who rolled a (marijuana) blunt in front of the teacher in the classroom."

But Michele DuPree, the director of administration at Northside, said she and founder Ricardo Brooks denied the quotes attributed to him in the letter and that the only student caught with marijuana was expelled.

We feel "the principals were a little overwhelmed with dealing with the kind of students we deal with, which are at risk," she said, reading from a statement that she and Brooks prepared. DuPree added that the school wishes its former employees well. "We're not here to lash back," she said.

Doesn't meet state standards

The state has already taken steps against Northside, notifying leaders there in November that it would not receive any more state payments because it does not meet the standards to be considered a private school.

Northside opened this fall through the voucher program, which allows private schools to receive public money from tuition vouchers for low-income students. Brooks, a former administrator at Academic Solutions, a voucher school closed down by the state last school year, is chief executive officer. Northside is at 4840 W. Fond du Lac Ave., the former site of Academic Solutions.

Under new rules, leaders of voucher schools ordered closed cannot open another school for seven years. Brooks applied to open Northside before the rule went into effect.

Letter to officials

In a letter to state officials, Cooper and four other former employees alleged that Brooks padded student counts at the school and refused to allow staff and teachers to call the police if they feared for their safety.

Students "are allowed to get in the staff's face and curse them out, throw items at them, push the teachers, shoot dice, SMOKE MARIJUANA in the hall and bathroom, roll MARIJUANA in class, SMOKE MARIJUANA at the bus stop, destroy items purchased by teachers, and leave school at will," the former teachers and administrators wrote.

At another point in the letter, they added: "Even after suspending, or expelling students Mr. Brooks would always bring them back in and tell us That's my money,' You (expletive) with my money,' Leave these students alone as long as they are not KILLING YOU.' "As a result of the letter, the state's Department of Public Instruction has asked the Milwaukee County district attorney's office to review the letter and possibly investigate Northside. Assistant District Attorney David Feiss said Friday afternoon that he received the letter.

Enrollment padding denied

DuPree said school officials encouraged students to attend on the official student count date, but added that the practice is common among schools. She denied that the school padded its enrollment or did anything fraudulent.

In an interview, Lea Ester Redmond, the other former co- principal, said she was fired along with Cooper after refusing to accept a salary cut from $50,000 to $35,000. "The school did not function how a school should function," she said. "You tried to discipline the children, and (Mr. Brooks) wouldn't allow it. "I had never seen anything like it before," she said.

Michael Terrell, a former science teacher at the school, said very few students attended regularly. "It wasn't uncommon to not see a student a week at a time," he said.

DuPree said the co-principals chose to leave after being informed of the pay cut. "It is not a secret that none of our employees are being paid because of DPI holding our funds at this point," she said.

Brooks' response to the letter: "We do understand that nothing of value comes without being earned. You have to be uncompromised in the level of your commitment to whatever you are doing or it will disappear just as quickly as it appeared."

In arguing that the school didn't meet the definition of private school, state officials said neither the day nor the evening programs at the school provided the 875 hours of instruction the minimum required by law, and that the school did not provide "a sequentially progressive curriculum in the six required subjects" under the law.

Hearing on payments planned

A hearing is scheduled for next Friday in Madison on the Department of Public Instruction's decision not to make any more payments to Northside. In a letter to DPI, Brooks wrote that the school "strongly disagrees with the department's determination and therefore requests a hearing on the matter."

Northside received a voucher payment from the state of $309,611.25 in September, which was based on having 194 qualifying students, according to the DPI. Payments are made four times a year.

The state withheld November payments (the second round) from five schools, including Northside. The other schools are Carter's Christian Academy, Howard's Learning Academy, Dr. Brenda Noach Choice School, and the L.E.A.D.E.R. Institute. In October, the DPI told Brenda Noach and L.E.A.D.E.R. that they also did not meet the state's definition of a private school. Both schools appealed.

Copyright 2005, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved. (Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media.)

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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