Private school reinstated in state scholarships program
An Orange County private school will be allowed to continue receiving state-backed scholarships after terminating a man convicted of manslaughter it had hired to teach mixed martial arts fighting to students.
The state Department of Education booted Elite Preparatory Academy from the scholarship programs in November in response to a tip from a parent who questioned how Ruben Saldaña could work at the Oak Ridge Road campus without having passed a
criminal background check required for employees who work at schools that take state scholarships, often called vouchers.
Principal Hong Steele wrote that Elite terminated Saldaña on Nov. 5 in a letter to the department. She also signed a settlement agreement with the department that said, among other things, she won’t employ anyone who can’t pass the state-mandated background check.
That agreement, which will allow Elite to continue to receive scholarship money, also says education department employees may conduct previously announced or unannounced site visits, in which they can review “any and all” documents in the school’s possession.
Steele couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday, but Saldaña said by phone he’s moved his after-school program from Elite’s campus to another venue.
“We decided that I’m not going to work there, even though we were not doing anything illegal,” he said.
But employees at private schools that take state scholarships must pass criminal background checks, and manslaughter is among the disqualifying offenses.
Steele and Saldaña say he only worked there after school hours, but the complaint from the parent alleged he was on campus during the day. In a letter sent to the school Nov. 2, the education department accused Elite of lying about Saldaña’s role at the school, an act of fraud it thought was intended to keep its students eligible for the state’s scholarship programs.
Saldaña is a former gang leader who was convicted in Orange County Circuit Court in 1999 for helping to organize what police called a “gang hit” that left two men shot to death in a car. After his conviction, Saldaña served nearly 14 years in prison, according to the state Department of Corrections.
Prior to the parent’s complaint, Elite was already facing heightened scrutiny after a 4-year-old preschool student died in a hot car in the school’s parking lot Sept. 28. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office is still investigating the boy’s death. Steele addressed the boy’s death in her letter to the education department, describing it as an accident “the school had no involvement in.”
Most of Elite’s 300 students use state scholarships for children from low-income families, as well as those with disabilities, to pay tuition. This school year, the school serves about 230 scholarship students and has received more than $444,000 from those programs, according to records from the education department and Step Up for Students, the organization that administers two of the scholarship programs.
The parent’s complaint claimed school had not been upfront about Saldaña’s history “in a big gang in Miami,” but Saldaña said fliers provided to parents about the mixed martial arts program included information about his record. News of the education department’s action against the school didn’t, he said, dissuade any parents from allowing their children to continue training with him.
“My work with the kids will never stop,” he said.
The education department also said in November it was revoking Elite’s scholarships eligibility because the school had failed to turn in test scores from a national exam for its tax-credit scholarship students who attended during the 2017-18 school year, as state law requires. But in a letter to the department, Steele said she submitted the scores and received confirmation that they were received, except for those belonging to one student. That child’s scores, she wrote, were “immediately sent over.”
anmartin@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5120