Board, founder of Agora Cyber Charter resign

The board of the embattled Agora Cyber Charter School in Devon has bowed to pressure and, as part of a settlement agreement, resigned en masse.

During a special meeting last night, the board also voted to cut all ties with veteran educator Dorothy June Brown, who founded the school in 2005 and owns a management company the board had hired.

Brown - who sat quietly at the back of the room and observed while the board, before resigning, approved a series of resolutions cutting her off from a school she had created and had helped run - said in a brief interview that she was "very pleased" with the terms of the settlement.

She declined to comment further and did not address the board.

Agora provides online instruction to more than 5,500 students in their homes across the state.

The actions taken last night meet the key conditions that the Pennsylvania Department of Education set in June for Agora to maintain its operating charter.

When Agora's board refused, the department began revoking its charter on grounds that the board had mismanaged taxpayer funds and violated its charter by contracting with the Cynwyd Group L.L.C., a management company founded by Brown and Brien N. Gardiner. Gardiner killed himself in May while under federal investigation for alleged financial mismanagement of the Philadelphia Academy Charter School, which he founded.

The state also contended that Agora had failed to meet generally accepted financial and auditing standards, and maintained that its board was dominated by people who were Brown's relatives, worked at three other charter schools she founded in Philadelphia, or served on the boards of those schools.

Cynwyd Group was due to be paid $2.8 million from Agora's $41 million budget during the last academic year, but the state contended that most of the management work was performed by another company, K12 Pennsylvania L.L.C.

On April 30, the department, which oversees the 11 cyber charter schools operating in the state, began withholding funds to Agora intended to cover the Cynwyd Group's fees.

The actions taken by the Agora board last night are part of a complex settlement agreement that ends the charter-revocation proceedings, and also puts to rest four lawsuits Brown and the board had filed in county, state, and federal courts as they fought to retain control of the school.

Agora's board had sued the state in Commonwealth and U.S. District Courts to halt the revocation proceedings. And Cynwyd Group had sued K12 in federal and county courts alleging breach of contract.

U.S. District Judge Berle M. Schiller, who was assigned the two Agora-related suits in federal court, had ordered parties to participate in a settlement conference with a federal magistrate to attempt to resolve the issues. The terms of the settlement agreement were negotiated during several days of talks with the magistrate, attorneys said.

The agreement involves Brown, the Cynwyd Group, the Agora board, the state Education Department, and K12 Pennsylvania, which is a subsidiary of K12 Inc., a for-profit company based in Herndon, Va.

Lawyers declined to make details of the settlement agreement public last night.

Before agreeing to step down, members of the old board unanimously adopted a resolution seating three new board members who had been named and approved by the Department of Education. Additional members may be added later, attorneys said.

Before the meeting adjourned, Agora's counsel, Joel L. Frank of Lamb McErlane, thanked the departing members for their "efforts and devotion over the years" to the school, its students, and parents.

"There have been no findings of impropriety against this current board," Frank said.

Courrine Knight, who signed the settlement papers before stepping down as president, said she was proud to have served on the board and hoped that under the new regime the school would continue to put the interests of the students first.

She and other members of the exiting board last night unanimously passed resolutions terminating Agora's management contract with Cynwyd and ending the school's lease agreement for a building on Chestnut Street in Devon that has served as the charter's headquarters.

The building is owned by Cynwyd, which has been charging the school more than $300,000 per year for office space. The state Education Department has characterized the arrangement as charging "exorbitant lease fees."

Agora's finances are the subject of a federal criminal investigation and a probe by the Philadelphia School District's inspector general. The board's action and the settlement will not affect those investigations.

The changes approved last night also do not affect an unusual slander and defamation suit that Brown and the Cynwyd Group filed in Montgomery County in the winter against several Agora parents who had lodged complaints with the state charging that Brown and the Agora board had refused to provide information about the school's finances, including the management agreement with Cynwyd.

"These matters have nothing to do with the defamation case," said Michael Twersky, a lawyer for Gladys Stefany, one of the parents being sued.