.... and wasn't Delaware Valley High School (DVHS) one of the "farm-out" options being explored by the Hellmann Board? I hope we don't have the same kind of payment arrangement as Centennial for the alternative school kids we send to DVHS.
Alternative school suing district
By Manasee WaghStaff writer
PhillyBurbs.com PhillyBurbs.com
An alternative high school for at-risk students wants Centennial School District to pay tuition costs in excess of $50,000 to rectify what it claims is a breach of contract.
Delaware Valley High School filed a lawsuit with the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia against the district June 15. It also sent parents of its students a letter stating that a credit-hold has been placed on all academic work for the past school year, formal transcripts won’t be issued, and Centennial students can’t return in September or be provided official diplomas until the lawsuit is resolved or Centennial pays its outstanding tuition invoices.
The newspaper also received a copy of the letter.
The suit claims that Centennial caused the high school more than $1.4 million in “damages.” It names the district, Director of Student Services Susan Klyman, Superintendent Jennifer Foight-Cressman, former superintendent Thomas Turnbaugh and school board President Andrew Pollock.
The five-year contract with the school, approved by the school board in 2008, stipulates that Centennial pay for 40 seats per year to send students to the school, according to the lawsuit. The per-seat charge for 2008-09 was $8,750 with an additional $1,680 fee for a special education student, the lawsuit states.
But Pollock said Wednesday the agreement states that the district pay tuition for a minimum of 25 seats, plus tuition for any more students the district sends, up to a maximum of 40.
“What they are saying is that we must pay for 40 seats every year, even if we don’t have 40 students going. That’s what the disagreement is about,” he said.
“It sounds like they’re using the students as pawns. I didn’t see that letter, but I don’t think that is something an educational institution should do,” he said.
Delaware Valley provides secondary alternative educational services for students at risk of falling behind academically and having trouble in a traditional classroom setting.
The lawsuit states that Turnbaugh, Centennial’s former superintendent, wrote a letter to the school around April 2010, claiming that Centennial had “overpaid,” and that the agreement did not require payment for 40 seats per year, but only 25.
Centennial then failed to pay its 2010-11 tuition, the lawsuit states.
Turnbaugh’s position was unethical and the nonpayment was “outright illegal conduct” by the district, the lawsuit states.
Foight-Cressman replaced Turnbaugh when he resigned in January, but the district still hasn’t rectified the broken contract, according to the lawsuit.
The high school claims that Centennial’s sudden deviation from the contract was motivated by personal desires to save union jobs at the district’s internal alternative school, Dorothy Henry Satellite School, and that Pollock and administrators Turnbaugh, Klyman and Foight-Cressman knowingly broke the contract and held onto at-risk children, instead of referring them to the alternative high school.
“I guess that’s why we laid off over 20 teachers this year, because we were so interested in saving teachers’ jobs,” Pollock said, in response to the suit’s claims.
“You can be ridiculous in any lawsuit and say anything you want. Proving it is another story,” he added.
Another issue the suit brings up is that the high school spent a great deal of money to place a school in Warminster, within the Centennial School District. It “expended substantial resources... and expended upwards of ($2 million) to acquire and renovate the facility to suit Centennial in exchange for Centennial increasing the original (agreement).”
The newspaper is waiting to see the district’s copy of the agreement.
Assistant Superintendent William Gretton said the district has no comment at this time because the matter is in litigation.
“The district does have a contract with Del Val High School and there is a dispute over the interpretation and ‘intent’ of the contract,” he wrote to the newspaper late Wednesday afternoon.
The newspaper was unsuccessful in reaching other district administrators for comment. Officials from Delaware Valley High School did not return calls for comment.
6 comments:
Sue You, Sue Everybody...I'll bring my shoes and my glasses...So that I have them.
An indication that a private education company might not be as forgiving as the Tech School when you don't pay what they think you should pay under the contract/agreement.
Lawyer up and put the kids in the middle. Sounds very familiar.
Del Val Taking it out on the students and their families is awful. They sre not to blame for anything and should not be punished. I hope it doesn't come to that for our Tech students what with Morrisville's non payment to the Tech School and pending lawsuit.
Why are the kids the one's who always get the short end of this stick???
Alternative school head says district defaulted on deal
By Manasee Wagh
An alternative high school for at-risk students has unfairly been forced to provide free education for about 20 students, says an official from the school.
It's absolutely unethical for Centennial School District to hold back payment on this past year's tuition bill to Delaware Valley High School, said David Shulick.
"They are acting like they're above the law. DVHS is done. We're going to litigate. They owe $1.3 million for three years of the contract. They're going to pay every penny," said Shulick who is the alternative school's president and attorney representing it in a lawsuit against Centennial.
No resolution is in sight for the shaky future of a five-year contract between the school district and the high school, and the issue has been dragging on for 17 months, Shulick said. The district still hasn't agreed to sit down and find a fix, he added.
The lawsuit, filed on June 15 in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, arises over the language of the contract, which the two sides interpret differently.
In 2008, the high school founded a satellite location at 299 Jacksonville Road in Warminster, spending $1.5 million to acquire and fix up the property.
It was around that time that Centennial signed the five-year contract enumerating 40 seats per year at the high school.
After paying for two years, district officials started providing different excuses not to pay, said Shulick.
First, Delaware Valley received former Superintendent Thomas Turnbaugh's letter stating that the district overpaid during the first two years.
"Then, they offered us half a million dollars, but we said no, we want you to stick to contract. The bottom line is, they still have not paid for this year," said Shulick.
Now the school has been forced to not only sue Centennial for breach of contract, but also to withhold the credits for between 20 and 22 students that Centennial sent to Delaware Valley this past school year but failed to pay for.
Most alternative schools charge $22,000 a year, Shulick added. The reason Delaware Valley charges much less — about $8,750 per seat in 2008 — is that the district buys and fills the seats, he said.
Officials of Delaware Valley High School's satellite location in Warminster have been waiting for over a year for $460,000 in tuition from Centennial School District, with 1.5 percent interest accruing each month, plus attorney's fee, said Shulick.
He said the district must conform to a five-year contract its school board approved in 2008. It requires Centennial to pay for 40 student seats per year at the high school, regardless of how many the district actually sends, said Shulick.
Not true, said school board President Andrew Pollock, citing the language of the contract.
It states that "during the term commencing September 2008, and each year thereafter, the District shall have the right to 40 Seats in the Program."
That statement means the district has the right — not the requirement — to send and pay for up to 40 students, said Pollock.
But Pollock's interpretation is a "fabrication," said Shulick.
"They are not considering the context of that statement. Their lawyer knows that the addendum's purpose was to increase the seats to 40 (from an earlier minimum requirement for 25)," he said.
The district's attorney, Jeffrey Garton, did not return phone calls for clarification.
Centennial did pay for 40 seats in the first two years of the contract, according to both the district and the alternative school. However, the district actually sent fewer than 40 students each year.
Now Centennial is making up for that "overpayment" by not paying for the third year, Pollock said.
THE REST
According to the alternative school, Centennial has defaulted on the contract, so it's also liable for an additional $850,000, which is the amount it owes for the contract's final two years, Shulick said.
In the meantime, students' credits are being held because the district needs to honor its obligations, said Shulick.
"DVHS is suffering tremendously. We had to pay salaries, real estate and all the other business expenses. Why should we work for free? (Centennial) doesn't work for free," he said.
The school got clearance from the Pennsylvania Department of Education to hold students' credits, he said. It waited until June 30 to freeze them.
"We gave (Centennial) a year to work it out, and all they did was ignore us. Parents should be outraged at this district for handling their tax money so irresponsibly," said Shulick.
Pollock said Garton is "more than willing" to sit down with high school officials.
From 2003 to 2008, Centennial sent 25 students per year to the alternative school before the new contract signed in 2008, said Shulick. At that time, it was at Bustleton Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia.
"Because DVHS saved them so much money and did such wonders with their difficult at-risk students and their families, they asked us to find a location in Bucks. They were the primary school district that asked us to do that," said Shulick.
He said the high school wouldn't begrudge districts that may come to them with actual financial crises.
"DVHS is very sympathetic to any honorable school district that has sincere financial issues. But when a school acts the way Centennial acted, which is not to pay a bill and think they're going to hold that over our head, we will not tolerate it, and that's why we sued," he said.
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