Investigating the cheating allegations that were ultimately determined to be unfounded cost the targeted charter school 100 times more than it did the Capistrano Unified School District.
Both Mission Viejo-based Oxford Preparatory Academy and Capo Unified hired independent investigators to look into accusations that teachers at the charter school cheated to help the students earn high marks on standardized testing.
The students’ scores helped the 1-year-old charter land the highest marks for an elementary school in Orange County.
In the end, both investigators came to the same conclusion: They could not substantiate the allegations.
But OPA paid much more dearly for that third-party review.
“The cost of direct billed expenses to date is approximately $57,835,” said Sue Roche, OPA’s executive director. “This does not include additional time and resources, as well as indirect costs.”
By contract, Capistrano Unified only spent $529.20, said Beverly De Nicola, spokeswoman for the district. That’s because Capo has a $45,000-a-year contract with private investigator T. Davis & Associates of Dana Point.
“T. Davis & Associates do a wide variety of confidential investigations for us, everything from parent complaints to current or former employee investigations, student issues, etc.,” De Nicola said in an email. “In a big district like this, there is always something.”
Now, they want to play the victim some more, but this was their own doing, they chose to spend this money on their own.
More like "For investigating the cheating allegations that were ultimately determined to be unfounded the targeted charter school paid 100 times more than the Capistrano Unified School District."
It would be nice if instead of going for the punchy headline, the reporter could investigate the TOTAL CUSD cost (pro-rated portion of investigator retainer + legal fees associated with the investigation) so that it's an apples-to-apples comparison instead of just selectively picking amounts and then doing a mathematically inaccurate comparison in order to get a headline. Doesn't mean that good points aren't made by the commenters, but let's make sure the underlying information is correct before extrapolating off of that to form opinions.
" let's make sure the underlying information is correct before extrapolating off of that to form opinions." Oh great! Now I have to spend some of my disposable income on a private investigation that a Patch report on the costs of investigation conducted by OPA and CUSD is accurate before I can "extrapolate off of that to form opinions" Sigh! Commenting on hyper local news site articles is no longer the cheap fun it promised to be.
"I'd like to make a new request under the California Public Records Act to find out how much the district has spent on pursuing the investigation of Oxford Preparatory Academy cheating allegations. Such expenses should include, but are not limited to, expenditures on attorney fees and to T. Davis & Associates." I got back what I got back. I have asked about the retainer. No response yet.
Wow, OPA doesn't trust CUSD, I wonder why. As for OPA conducting its own investigation, do you really think it was a coincidence that the cheating allegations came out right towards the tail end of recent CUSD board election? Do you think CUSD is looking for any nonfinancial reason to deny OPA a charter renewal? You're either got your head up Farley's caboose or you're really naive.
I'm neither naive or the other alternative, which adds nothing to the discussion, it's like responding to a fourth grader.
"Later in the evening, Trustee Anna Bryson said the initial report of the cheating allegations, which were first published in a blog, most likely came from a school board member. “It would have to come from a trustee. We don’t know why,” she said. “It was not done at the request of anyone. We regret it very much.” http://missionviejo.patch.com/articles/cusd-s-contentious-election-season-put-to-rest
Responding to a fourth grader is way over your head. Maybe you can handle a preschooler, but not a fourth grader.