State acts to shut down charters run by Pointe firm

Pointe Schools, an Arizona charterschool operator with three schools and more than 1,100 students, is at risk of closing amid a slew of problems — including neglecting to give its students the required state AIMS science test.

The Arizona State Board for Charter Schools, which governs charters, voted Sept. 10 to issue a notice of intent to revoke Pointe Schools’ charter contract. Without a contract, the company would have to close its schools.

Pointe Schools runs three schools in the north Valley: Pinnacle Pointe Academy, North Pointe Prep and Canyon Pointe Academy.

The school violated its charter con-

tract and state law when it failed to administer AIMS exams this spring to students in grades 4, 8 and 10, according to board documents.

The organization can still take corrective action and fight to stay open during hearings scheduled for November and December.

But the discord revolving around Pointe Schools is underpinned by far more than a missed science exam, according to court documents, interviews from former teachers and even documents posted on the school’s website.

Former employees say discontent has brewed within the charter’s schools for years.

Records also show that Pointe was cited for special-education-related issues last year. Rachel Hannah, the charter board’s accountability manager, said it has corrected that issue.

Charter-school owner Jody Johnson, ousted as Pointe’s superintendent by the school board on Sept. 19, said it was her fault that students did not take the AIMS science test.

She said Pointe did not have the capability to administer the tests digitally and the Arizona Department of Education would not provide paper exams.

“The fault was mine for not engaging more with ADE,” Johnson told the state charter board Sept. 10. She later added, “I blew it.”

State documents seem to provide conflicting information about Johnson’s argument that she tried to get paper exams.

A letter from the Arizona Attorney General’s Office to Pointe’s attorney states, “At no point did Pointe submit an order for paper AIMS Science assessments.”

But emails between two Department of Education employees seem to indicate officials were at least aware of a problem.

The state Board of Education approved a new contract for the AIMS Science assessment with testing company Pearson last spring.

Johnson said none of Pointe’s three schools, two with small computer labs and one with a bring-your-own-device policy, had the capability to give the test digitally. Internet with Cox also was spotty, she said.

But Pointe’s administrators lagged in flagging their concerns, according to the attorney general’s letter.

A Pointe official did not make contact with the Arizona Department of Education with concerns over the AIMS Science test until a concerned parent contacted the department, the letter claims. By then, the AIMS Science testing window, which lasted from the end of March this year until mid-April, was already open.

Department officials reached out to Johnson several times, getting few responses, according to the letter. It wasn’t until they reached out to the charter board that Johnson returned department officials’ calls, the letter states.

Johnson disputes this.

“I absolutely did call them. My phone records did show that I called,” she said.

An email obtained by The Republic indicates state education staff were aware of some problem when it still would have been possible to get paper tests.

In an email between two state Department of Education employees on April 6, well before the testing window closed, one state test coordinator wrote, “Do we reach out to (Johnson) and offer her the paper tests?” The other employee responds, “Can you call me.”

By the time the two parties did reach each other, Pointe had two days left in the window to administer the tests, the attorney general’s letter said.

The state Department of Education assigned two employees exclusively to help Pointe give the tests.

They outfitted three school computers with the necessary software, but were ultimately unsuccessful in giving the test as the window closed.

Requests to take the AIMS on paper are rare, even among smaller districts and charter schools.

Cassie O’Quin, a spokeswoman with the Department of Education, wrote in an email to The Republic that only one school in the state, Benjamin Franklin Charter School in Gilbert, was granted permission to administer the paper version of the tests.

Schools across the state had few problems in giving the exam, according to O’Quin, making Pointe an outlier.

“There were no significant problems identified administering AIMs Science exams digitally,” she wrote.

Nine days after the charter-board meeting, Pointe’s governing board removed Johnson as superintendent, according to school documents.

A bitter separation between Johnson and administrators ensued, and is documented publicly on the charter operator’s website.

A letter to parents from Johnson, dated Sept. 25, about the charter board’s initial steps to revoke Pointe’s contract is followed by another document titled “points of clarification.” It’s unclear who wrote those points.

One bullet point says that while Johnson was no longer superintendent or an employee, she remains the district’s corporate board president. The corporate board is separate from the charter governing board. She also remains the charter representative with the state.

Johnson and her husband, Ken Johnson, own the charter company, according to Arizona Corporation Commission documents.

Another bullet point in the online document says that while Johnson indicated she would resign from the corporate board in a Sept. 20 meeting, she did not.

Instead, it reads, “Johnson and her husband (the only two members on the board) tabled all agenda items, including her resignation from the Corporate Board because she was not offered a financial settlement prior to the meeting. She stated that as soon as she receives a financial settlement, she will resign.”

Johnson denied to The Republic that she demanded a financial settlement.

Also posted publicly on Pointe’s website appear to be emails directed to Johnson from each of the district’s school principals. All three wrote that they no longer supported Johnson.

“I realize that you are taking full blame for the catastrophe that you caused but a simple apology is not sufficient,” reads an email signed by Canyon Pointe Academy Principal Amanda Leuty. “If our charter gets revoked, you are single-handedly ruining the lives of the 50+ teachers and staff, and 1000+ students.”

Pointe’s executive director, Richard Gow, appears to have taken the reins, with his role expanded to include the duties of a superintendent.

Pointe’s troubles go back several years.

Last year, the Department of Education found that the school had not complied with federal special-education law when a former Canyon Pointe parent complained that for months, school officials delayed getting accommodations for her daughter required under the family’s special education agreement.

The charter board did not consider revoking Pointe’s charter then. Hannah said Pointe corrected the issues and the complaint was recorded in the charter board’s online system.

Pointe also has battled a handful of lawsuits, including one over specialeducation services.

In one case that made it to a federal appeals court, Pointe sparred with Aaron Totman and his ex-wife about a special-education plan that would put Totman’s son, who has autism, in a private day school.

Pointe and the Totmans disagreed over which private school the boy should attend. Pointe was required by special-education laws to pay for private-school tuition if it could not provide needed services.

Johnson emphasized that the school was not trying to shirk its duty to pay. Instead, the two parties disagreed over which school to send the Totmans’ son.

At one juncture in their years of battling Pointe in court, Aaron Totman said his son went several months without school because Pointe did not pay tuition.

“Pointe made no effort to help us,” he said. “He’d been sitting home rotting ... We’re losing time here. This is my son.”

A court eventually ruled that the school had to pay Totman’s legal fees, and the two parties agreed on a third private school.

“Of course, we believe that the court was wrong,” Johnson said. “At the end of the day, it was time to walk away and be done.. It was so messy.”

In another Maricopa County Superior Court case, a former North Pointe Preparatory employee sued the charter for wrongful termination, claiming he or she was fired for reporting another employee’s sexual advances toward a female student in 2009.

Pointe denied the allegations of wrongful termination.

The employee’s case was later dismissed after arbitration proceedings, according to court documents. Both parties agreed to the dismissal, and each side agreed to pay its own legal fees.

Another former employee in 2008 claimed in court that less than a month after reporting an instance of child abuse by a teacher on a student at Pinnacle Pointe, she was terminated.

Pointe and the former employee settled the matter out of court, records show. Johnson wrote that Pointe denied the wrongful termination claim.

Pointe has alerted parents to the charter board’s intent to close the schools.

A hearing in front of an administrative law judge is set for December. A prehearing conference is Nov. 8. Pointe will be able to defend itself and possibly negotiate to stay open and the administrative judge will make a decision. Pointe also participated in an informal settlement conference on Oct. 2.