The Los Angeles school board has voted to revoke the charter status of five schools.
CBSLA.com reports that the schools affected are Magnolia Science Academies in Carson, Reseda and Van Nuys, which are operated by Magnolia Educational and Research Foundation; and Celerity Dyad in South Los Angeles and Celerity Troika in Eagle Rock, operated by the Celerity Education Group.
The board moved forward with the revocation despite the schools' generally strong academic performance. The schools may appeal the school board's decision with county and state officials.
The Los Angeles Times reports that school board acted after being presented evidence that Celerity was operating too secretively and that an independent fiscal team had issues with Magnolia’s responsiveness to problems.
Magnolia also has come under scrutiny after the Turkish government accused it and other U.S.-based charters with Turkish governing boards of helping foment a failed July coup in Turkey. The schools’ leaders denied any involvement.
In addition, Magnolia’s past practice of importing Turkish nationals and their families for teaching and other staff positions is the subject of an investigation by Los Angeles Unified's inspector general.
The board did decide to let El Camino Real High School keep its charter status, despite concerns over financial mismanagement. The Los Angeles Daily News reports that the district halted the charter revocation after the school's executive director, David Fehte, agreed to resign. Fehte had come under fire for questionable credit card spending.
Video from CBSLA.com:
