No solution in sight for Eagle Arts teachers
Cash-strapped school struggles to meet payroll; exodus feared.
WELLINGTON — Eagle Arts Academy teachers who have been working without pay are expected to receive back-pay this week, but it could be another month before they get another full paycheck.
Gregory Blount, executive director of the struggling Wellington charter school, told the school’s board Thursday that the school’s monthly payment from the Palm Beach County School District, about $230,000, will arrive in the middle of next week, allowing teachers and staff to receive what they were owed last week.
But more than a third of the money, $93,000, is expected to be claimed by a short-term loan company. The remaining amount, Blount said, appears to be enough to cover only a little more than half of the money owed to teachers Friday, leaving the school more than $20,000 short.
And it will be another month before Eagle Arts gets its next payment from the school district, meaning after next week teachers
might not see another paycheck until mid-May. Normally, the school’s staff is paid every two weeks.
Blount said he has been trying to persuade a financing company to give the school another short-term loan to cover payroll for the rest of April, but he said he hasn’t been successful so far. Loan companies have been leery of the school, he said, since the county school board voted to shut it down at the end of the school year.
While most teachers agreed to work without pay this week, board members worry that more will start leaving if asked to go an entire month without another paycheck.
“If we don’t have the money, we are dead in the water,” board member Jon Robertson said. “We will have a revolt. If they don’t get paid, it’s over.”
Board member Sheri Klostermeyer said the school’s fate may depend on whether a new short-term loan or some other donation materializes.
“It may come down to that next week,” she said. “It could be the end of the school.”
The K-8 school, on a 13-acre campus in Wellington, once had more than 700 students, but its enrollment has fallen this year to about 425.
The falling enrollment has cut the amount of money the school receives from the state, making it impossible for the school to balance its books, school leaders say.
Blount said some people have expressed interest in donating money to cover the school’s back rent for its campus.
The school stopped paying rent months ago and currently owes the property owner more than $700,000.
But Blount said the donors will only contribute if the owner agrees to renegotiate the terms of the lease, something that hasn’t happened.
The school’s staff of about 60 is gradually dwindling. School district administrators are monitoring the school to ensure that children aren’t left unsupervised. If too many teachers flee, the district said it may shut down the school and direct students to their local public schools.
On April 2, the school’s two principals, the school’s board chairman and the special-education coordinator resigned to protest what they called Blount’s lack of transparency regarding the school’s financial problems. Two weeks ago, Blount vowed that employees would have their checks by April 2, but on April 2 he admitted that the school had no money to pay them.
Blount survived an attempt by two board members to fire him earlier last week and has vowed to stay at the school’s helm. Someone connected to NewSound Church, which rents space on the school’s campus, reportedly had offered to help finance the school if the school would remove Blount from office.
“They were willing to save the school but the condition was the board had to oust me,” Blount said.
Blount has been criticized for steering more than $150,000 of school money into his own companies since the school opened in 2014. In 2016, he was forced to repay $46,000 after The Palm Beach Post revealed that the school gave him the money in the guise of a loan repayment. He has also clashed regularly with principals he hired to lead the school leading several to resign or be fired during the past two years.
Other teachers have resigned since April 2, and some parents have removed their children from the school amid fears that it may abruptly close. Earlier this week, some parents said students spent most of the day watching movies.
The school did give many teachers a $300 payment last week with its last remaining funds. Lisa Kaplan, the schools parent liaison and a board member, agreed to cover a monthly rent payment for a teacher who was at risk of being evicted.
Other teachers say they are staying put though, saying that they owe it to the students to continue working.
“We do the right thing,” said Monique Blood, a music teacher. “My God supplies my needs. I’ll get paid. I’m not worried about it.”
As top-level staff resign, Blount has rushed to fill the leadership gap. With both principals gone, Blount agreed to serve as the school’s academic leader, although he has no professional education background.
But his attempt to put the school’s facilities and maintenance director in charge of student discipline was rebuffed by board members, who worried that the facilities manager had no evident experience or training in how to discipline students.
Klostermeyer said that student discipline was a serious matter and “it should not be taken lightly.” The other board members agreed and Blount said he would postpone the appointment.