New Media charter school, up for renewal, faces probe

New Media Technology Charter School, founded in 2004 with promises to teach multimedia skills to students, failed to make payments to the state teachers' retirement system for more than a year.

Its finances are so shaky that the school this year had to borrow just to make payroll. And parents say the school, with buildings in Stenton and Germantown, has failed to provide adequate books and computer technology to its middle school students.

The Philadelphia School District inspector general is investigating the school's finances, according to sources with knowledge of the probe.

New Media attracted support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, state lawmakers, and educators. Shirley Archie, a teacher at Germantown High School and wife of School Reform Commission Chairman Robert L. Archie Jr., was on its board earlier this school year.

Now, Robert Archie must vote on whether to renew the school's charter for five more years. Sherry A. Swirsky, the district's general counsel, said Archie would not need to recuse himself because neither he nor his wife has a "current interest in the charter school." She stepped down after Archie was named to the commission in March.

Today, the SRC is expected to get a briefing on New Media's bid and nine others up for renewal. It is to vote next Wednesday.

New Media parents also plan to voice their complaints to the SRC.

"They are not doing what they are supposed to do in terms of educating our children," said Irene Harris, who sent a letter to the SRC last month outlining the frustrations of families who sent their children to New Media's middle school after Ivy Leaf, a private school with campuses in Mount Airy and Oak Lane, closed in June. "They deceived us about the books. They deceived us about the extracurricular activities. It was a whole deception."

New Media opened five years ago with fanfare and promises to teach students digital media, including film and audio. While most city charter schools have a waiting list for admission, New Media is under-enrolled. The school is authorized for 570 students, but has 484 fifth through 12th graders on its two campuses.

District officials would not comment on whether the inspector general's investigation would affect the school's renewal bid. New Media officials were upbeat about their chances.

Hugh C. Clark, chairman of New Media's board, said he had gotten positive feedback from district officials who had visited the schools.

"They have been very, very supportive," Clark said.

Academically, New Media met the standards of the federal No Child Left Behind Law in 2007-08. And all 75 seniors have been accepted to college this year.

As part of its review, the district is looking into New Media's delayed pension payments, possible conflicts of interest, and allegations of financial mismanagement, according to district sources.

New Media opened with extra financial support including $160,000 in seed money from the Gates foundation. It also received about $500,000 over three years in state funds for facility costs through Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Corp., a nonprofit founded by State Rep. Dwight Evans, (D., Phila).

More recently, former teachers have complained of unfilled promises of supplies and bounced paychecks.

The school, which received $4.3 million in taxpayer money in 2007-08, closed out that fiscal year with a cash balance of $13. A $50,000 line of credit was down to $77, the school's audit shows.

Public records also reveal:

New Media pays $180,000 per year to rent its middle school building from Lotus Academy, a private school. Clark is chairman of both boards.

The Department of Licenses and Inspections found 25 safety violations at the middle school at 340 E. Haines St. in Germantown, including no panic bars on fire exit doors, lack of illuminated exit signs, and widespread use of extension cords.

Middle school parents say there's a high staff turnover and such a shortage of certified teachers that security guards have filled in as instructors.

The high school moved into a $5.8 million renovated building on Thouron Avenue with high-tech amenities in the fall, but parents say the middle school has never provided the textbooks, the learning technology, or even the regular access to computers their children were promised.

In an interview last week, Clark and Ina Walker, New Media's chief executive officer, disputed nearly all the claims.

They said they had made most of the improvements to satisfy L&I. Maura Kennedy, a city spokeswoman, said that the school had a few outstanding violations but that none was serious enough to warrant closing the school.

Clark said New Media had received conditional approval for financing - based on getting its charter renewal - that will allow it to buy the middle and high schools and upgrade the middle school.

He and Walker conceded that the school does not have enough textbooks to send copies home but said it has plans to buy more.

Like many charter schools, New Media struggles to meet the state requirement of having at least 75 percent certified teachers. But Clark and Walker denied parents' claims that security guards have acted as instructors.

Walker said there were times when security staff stepped in to cover a homeroom while a substitute was en route. She denied the staff had taught academic classes.

But Harris, whose grandson attends fifth grade, insisted that security guards have taught classes.

New Media has had cash-flow problems.

Charter School Choice Inc., a company that provides financial services to New Media, gave the school no-interest loans so it could pay its teachers while waiting for district funds, according to Tom Hogan, an attorney for Charter School Choice.

Clark confirmed at least one loan for payroll this school year because rental costs for the high school were higher than expected.

The district's inspector general began looking into New Media's finances in December, when the SRC received an anonymous letter from writers who said they were teachers. They claimed that the charter was taking money from their paychecks but not sending the funds to the state pension system.

The letter said the teachers did not give their names because they feared losing their jobs.

In all, New Media had not made any payments to the Public School Employees' Retirement System (PSERS) since December 2007, officials found.

Missing funds totaling more than $167,000 were restored in several steps, and the pension account was brought up to date in March, said Evelyn Tatkovski, PSERS spokeswoman.

Clark blamed a former business manager. He said there was no suggestion of financial wrongdoing.

He added: "Apparently - and I say apparently, because we never really got an explanation that I was satisfied with - she was under the impression that it was being withheld and transmitted to PSERS when in actuality that was not the case."

New Media's founding group included two of the city's most prominent Democratic state legislators, Evans and Sen. Anthony H. Williams.

Clark said the two helped New Media obtain funds from a Gates-backed project to support small high schools.