It’s 8 a.m., and the scent of caffeine is sharp in the air. The office is stirring unusually today.
Suddenly, six groomed businessmen, cologned with importance, stroll in behind an absolute giant of a man, clad today in grandpa sweater and signature 10-gallon white cowboy hat.
The giant approaches tiny me. I already know who he is: Mister David Brennan. I don’t know whether to sit or stand. I stand.
“Amy, nice to meet you,” booms the giant. “I was hoping you could tell my colleagues and I why you enjoy being an adviser here.” He gestures to the businessmen standing at the threshold of my canvas-and-metal cage.
I lean back, grasping the desk, hoping to mask my fear of saying something stupid or, worse, not being able to come up with anything to tell this important-smelling man, who holds my job in his extremely large hands.
The businessmen, having now been formally introduced as the Board of Education of Mr. Brennan’s own White Hat Management, gaze at me with tight, polite smiles, folded hands, and expectation so forced that I gun instantly for what I know they want: The Canned Answer.
“I love working here because I think there’s no better feeling than helping kids succeed at education.”
The important men coo. Mr. Brennan is pleased. Here I am, smack in the presence of Mister Billionaire, who owns half the city of Akron and the charter school I work for, and I beam like it’s my job.
As the men resume their tour of the cubicled “school,” I overhear Mr. Brennan turning to one of the suited men, saying with conviction, “Internet-based schooling is the education of the future. As long as a child has a computer, he can learn wherever and at any time of the day. I believe this is the future of public education today.”
The men coo again. I can still smell their aftershave as they stroll on, the big man with the big hat towering over them.
Employees welcomed the excitement interrupting another mundane workday when we were informed via e-mail that “Mr. Brennan is coming — clean up your cube!” Sure enough, he’d come with a suited entourage of investors, business partners, and local officials to display his creation and talk to the animals chained to headsets in walled cubes, gazing into identical blue screens.
In many ways, we were like the rest of corporate America. But this wasn’t supposed to be corporate America. This was meant to be the Forefront of Education, where technology meets classroom. This was White Hat Management.
The privately owned company was founded in 1998 by industrialist and self-proclaimed “education activist” David Brennan. And as his publicly funded, privately operated chain of charter schools erupt like a bad rash across Ohio and the rest of the country, one could say it’s Mr. Brennan’s way of turning education into big business.
White Hat is the largest charter school operator in Ohio, with over 16,000 students and 34 schools, including Hope Academies and Life Skills Centers. “If Brennan’s White Hat charter-school chain was a recognized school system, it would be Ohio’s ninth largest based on enrollment,” a 2005 press release boasts.
Like McDonald’s, White Hat serves as many kids as possible as cheaply as possible. But what many don’t know is how White Hat is making millions and funneling scarce education money to profit a private empire.
Before White Hat took me on board, I was substitute teaching at Kent City Schools, but an impending funding crunch would soon force cutbacks. All full-time temporary teachers were required to have teaching certificates. Since I didn’t have one, I applied at a local temp agency. That’s how I landed the job at the Ohio Distance & Electronic Learning Academy, Brennan’s internet school, where kids are supposed to earn their high-school diplomas online.
With buildings being shut down and teachers being canned in droves across the state, White Hat seemed to be the only place hiring. I was brought on board as an academic adviser. It seemed like a pretty cool gig at the time; I would be helping students graduate, via phone and e-mail, from a cubicle farm in downtown Akron.
On my first day at OHDELA, I was shown to my cube, given a large gray binder, and ordered to copy my own training manual. One week later, promptly at 8 a.m., a huge pile of messy files and the educational fates of 150 students were handed down to me by four overworked and mentally scattered advisers. It was the beginning of the school year. Enrollment was picking up rapidly. The little online high school was approaching an enrollment of 1,500 kids — with a staff of only 30 to 40 teachers and advisers to steer their education.
We never actually met kids face-to-face. All tests are done online, and homework is e-mailed to teachers, who are housed in the same cubicle farm as advisers.
White Hat sells education as an all-expenses-paid package deal, promising families “individualized home-based educations . . . from the comfort and safety of home.” Students are promised a free computer and “teachers who are dedicated to supporting families and students.”
But during my first week as an “academic adviser,” I almost drowned in a flood of desperate phone calls, e-mails, and voice mails that piled up before I arrived. There were frantic calls from kids and parents who’d just gotten their computer and didn’t know where to begin. There were students who’d been enrolled for months, but had made no progress because they didn’t know how to log in or find their classes online.
It became clear that we advisers were hired as an afterthought to rescue families stuck in White Hat’s cyber black hole. While the teachers waded through hundreds of papers from faceless students, the advisers were the students’ lifeline, there to bridge holes and bandage gaps in an organization that was thrown together in a hurry.
Parents rejoiced that there was finally someone to answer their calls, yet were soon dismayed to discover their child was desperately behind. A good percentage had proceeded blindly under the notion that by simply logging in to “Learning Opportunity Hours” — i.e., attendance hours — they would be automatically propelled to the next grade. Advisers had the unfortunate task of informing them that they still had an entire list (and a lengthy one) of tests and assignments to complete for each class, as well as another list of classes they must complete before moving on to the next grade.
“Don’t worry,” we were instructed to tell discouraged families. “At OHDELA, you can work through the summer and you can stay enrolled until you’re 21, so you’ve got plenty of time.” After all, the longer they stayed, the more money White Hat received from the state.
My job at Mr. Brennan’s gerbil cage was contacting students and parents every two weeks, telemarketer-style, and attempting to hold kids accountable for their progress. More often than not, there was no progress at all for a variety of excuses — valid and not — concocted by students who seemed less interested in their educational well-being than I was. Faced with choosing between the importance of their education and the irresistible allure of the Xbox, the odds weren’t good.
So every day at 8 a.m., I strapped into my headset and launched into my 30-plus Cheerleader/Bad Guy phone calls, for 11 bucks an hour with zero benefits.
Parents, I often found, were too busy working one or two jobs to be responsible for their child’s progress. Accountability for the student fell to me, and all I could do was call, threaten, persuade, and call some more. Occasionally the school offered money to bribe students into finishing their classes. Could you imagine getting 20 bucks from your public-school teacher for finishing Algebra I?
The trouble with online schools is inherent: Teens are expected to be mature enough to school themselves. But with no face-to-face interaction with parents or students, the school has no control, and accountability ultimately falls by the wayside.
Every day I’d receive a call that someone’s hard drive crashed or contracted hundreds of viruses, leaving students unable to work until a loaner was sent. As White Hat bureaucracy would have it, that meant a two- to three-week wait. Missing that much time at a normal school would prompt calls to principals and social workers. But at White Hat, it was all too common for students to miss weeks, even months, over technical difficulties alone.
After a few weeks, I had a clearer understanding of why these families came to OHDELA. Their stories had a common thread: They were looking for something better than their local public schools. Kids heard about the online school from other kids and begged their parents to enroll them. Kids naturally found it a cool idea. It meant sleeping in, not having to go to class. To their parents, it meant having their child at home instead of exposed to increasingly dangerous neighborhoods. White Hat sold it as a win-win deal.
We have the internet now! We can go to school without getting out of bed! It’s the age of technology!
It also meant a free computer to families who’d never owned one. Unfortunately, many of the students I spoke with didn’t even own a desk or chair. They were attempting to complete a high-school education on the floor of their bedroom, while the rest of the family vied for use of the brand new toy.
I left my cubicle every day feeling sorry for families who were lost and confused. Many had enrolled in our school as a last resort, and we left them more discouraged than ever. As I diligently explained buttons and links and log-in hours from the other end of the line, I could sense the students’ declining hope of ever receiving a high-school diploma.
White Hat, meanwhile, seemed more preoccupied with charting spreadsheets, calculating endless employee performance measures, appeasing streams of irate mothers, and raking in cold, hard state cash.
Organizationally speaking, it was a nightmare on steroids. The place was built on a lopsided pyramid of spreadsheets, spreadsheets, and more spreadsheets. I was given the daily task of updating huge Excel workbooks with student data and test scores. Copies would circulate throughout the office, so that no two staff members had the same information about one student.
Every morning I arrived to stare eight more hours of drudgery in the face. It was one of those jobs that are traumatic to any creative, intelligent mind. I had to admit to myself that it really was nothing but a poorly run credit factory with killer marketing.
I’ve never witnessed lower morale at a workplace. Rumors circulated, cliques gossiped, managers took sides, and everyone had a cynical attitude toward the company. Many of the young, inexperienced teachers were hired straight out of college or after long bouts of trying to find “real teaching jobs.” They became resigned to their roles as cubicle slaves, with no control over the material they “taught.”
I felt dirty, like I’d landed in the middle of an illegal operation. I wanted to say something. But White Hat was paying my rent, just as it was everyone else’s. And after nine months of working through the temp agency, the company finally hired me and handed over some benefits.
Though students could pretty much do as they pleased, staff was under strict control. We swiped in and out with special badges so that every move, every bathroom break, was tracked. Time at your computer was logged electronically to ensure you were available to answer the phone not a minute less than eight hours a day. Phone calls and e-mails were meticulously charted. If your performance wasn’t up to par, you’d be summoned to the principal’s office for a middle-management-style wrist-slap, and your chart soon contained the notation of troublemaker.
Each Tuesday at 9 a.m. sharp, we attended mandatory meetings in which our numbers were run. Our manager prided himself on being a “numbers guy.” Our phone calls were graphed individually and in relation to co-workers’ numbers, then were printed out, stapled, and handed to us on our way into the meeting. We’d talk about changes and details we had to keep track of. We gazed at fancy graphs, stats, and bell curves. But we didn’t talk much about improving the educational experience of our students.
White Hat sells itself as a solution to at-risk kids and staggering dropout rates. But our school seemed almost perfectly designed for those kids to fail.
A large portion of the students arrived from poorer districts and the other side of the digital divide. Many were transferring directly out of Cleveland and Akron city schools, and most lacked basic computer skills. I remember one mother who called to ask if e-mail could be received while the computer was turned off. Most of the 150 students I worked with needed slow, methodical instructions just to attach a homework assignment to an e-mail.
Of course, it borders on the impossible to complete four years of internet high school when one can barely operate a computer. The Enrollment Department was supposed to screen for this type of thing. But each student meant another $2,500 from the state. Whether we could help a kid or not was irrelevant.
At OHDELA, the only tools students were given were books that arrived via snail-mail, a $600 computer, and advisers like me. Overhead at an internet school is minimal. A Columbus Dispatch investigation revealed that “nearly a third of the state funding received by each school was pocketed by Brennan’s operation.”
During my year at White Hat, many students came and left, yet I witnessed very few who made progress. I attended the first graduation ceremony of the school’s existence. It was a big event, the kind Brennan loves to throw — with caps and gowns, valedictorians, and truly bad motivational speeches. Twenty graduates out of a school of 1,500 made for a rather pitiful commencement march.
It’s no secret that Brennan’s schools are failing — at rates far worse than the abysmal public schools they’re meant to replace. White Hat’s 20 Ohio Life Skills Centers, for example, are all on either academic watch or emergency. Not one meets the federal standard for yearly progress.
They do, however, meet Brennan’s notion of a lucrative enterprise. State audit reports expose the Life Skills Centers as the real moneymaker. The schools, which target low-income students, are often housed in strip malls, herding three shifts of students through per day. They offer no music or art programs, extracurriculars or cafeterias.
Where the rest of the money is going is anyone’s guess. Since teachers and administrators are technically employed by the entity of White Hat, not by the schools themselves, the company refuses to divulge such basic information as how many teachers it employs or what qualifications they hold.
The arrangement is beneficial for keeping state auditors at bay. A whopping 97 percent of White Hat’s expenses are simply recorded as “professional services contracts” — with the company providing unknown services to itself.
To legislators preaching fiscal responsibility, allowing such accounting tricks would seem the height of negligence. In 2005 alone, White Hat received $109 million from the state. Only Brennan knows where most of it went. But he’s hedged his bets by shoveling millions to those charged with overseeing state money.
According to Sue Taylor, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, “Brennan and his family [wife Ann and daughter Nancy] gave $3.8 million to Republican lawmakers between 1990 and 2005.” A sizable portion of that went to former state auditors Betty Montgomery and Jim Petro, both fiscal conservatives who nonetheless showed little interest in exploring where the state’s money was going.
“Ohio taxpayers have no idea how the vast majority of the money going to Brennan’s White Hat chain is being spent,” says Taylor. “And no one is riding in to put a stop to it or ask what’s happening to these children, because David Brennan makes big political campaign contributions.”
I remember when U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige came all the way from Washington to visit our little school.
It was the morning of the company Christmas party, when we were coerced into performing mandatory skits for no beer, no bonus. Paige was coming that day under the guise of witnessing how his buddy, Mr. Brennan — lavish contributor to the Republican Party — was revolutionizing education in Ohio.
Prior to his arrival, we’d been given strict direction on how to act if Mr. Paige approached us. Appointed employees were instructed to rehearse an inspirational story or anecdote.
The secretary arrived with his own entourage, even more important looking and smelling than Mr. Brennan’s. I peered out from my corner cubicle; we weren’t to leave our desks for any reason. There was Mr. Brennan in signature white cowboy hat. He was guiding Paige around the office, allowing the cameras to capture all the back-patting and hand-shaking.
Today, the school’s website advertises a quote from Paige, who, upon his return to the White House, called OHDELA “the future of education.” Since then, White Hat has used the school as a model to create clones from Florida to Colorado. It now operates 50 publicly funded schools in six states, serving 23,000 students.
I witnessed firsthand Mr. Paige’s “future of education.” If he’s right, America’s own future is in deep trouble.
This article appears in Aug 29 – Sep 4, 2007.
I am so pleased to see that someone is finally waking up to Whitehead’s underhanded management of our children. His handling of teacher’s who love their job, love their students is deplorable and I can personally give an example of a teacher was railroaded because she chose to speak up.
This man has no business handling the education of our children!!
Ms. Rankin-
I’m glad to hear that you are alive and well. I was worried after your abrupt and unannounced departure from Ohdela several years ago. Your article is well-written and you make some interesting observations about the school, some of which were true 3-4 years ago.
However, those of us who stuck around and fought to improve the system have met with some success. A few points that I have to take issue with: you cite 20 graduates out of a k-12 school population of 1500 as pitiful? As you should know, that was only our second graduation ceremony since the school opened its doors. Every year, the number of graduates has risen steadily. We graduated about 120 last year. Our “numbers guy” has been long gone for years and teachers and advisors have a number of tools to communicate with and enrich their students’ lives.
Also, you list Ohdela’s chief expenses as: textbooks, a cheap computer and advisor salaries. Did you perhaps forget about teachers? No, apparently not, since you earlier addressed them in the article, labeling them as desperate, inexperienced, underqualified, straight out of college. Actually, that is not correct. Though many of the teachers did come to Ohdela as first-year teachers, I suspect that many other districts in Ohio also had a number of first-years in its population. Consider this, along with the fact that many veteran teachers don’t have the computer literacy to survive at an online school, as I have noted in my observations of other public schools, including Kent City Schools, an otherwise excellent school system. Most would have no interest in learning the new technologies and adjusting the teaching strategies they had grown comfortable with. However, we do have a number of teachers with years and even decades teaching experience– in Ohio and throughout the world. In addition, many teachers had previous careers outside of teaching, experiences which they have brought into the classroom. I’m glad that you did not focus your ire against the teachers of the school, because that was never a problem.
However, I wonder if you have ever considered whether the suffering of the students wasn’t, in part, due to your performance. Many families in your care were not contacted in a timely manner during your year with Ohdela. And then there’s the issue of your departure. You disappeared without giving notice, I believe, and that is a courtesy that is expected, not only by the company who employed you, but the colleagues you abandoned and who had to clean up after you. You did a severe disservice to education and behaved unprofessionally.
I wish you the best of luck in your journalism career, but as one fellow journalist to another, I should warn you to take care and check your facts next time. In this article, at least, some are completely inaccurate, most are outdated. And while I’m sure there is plenty to criticize about Ohio schools– even ours– readers should definitely take your word with a grain of salt. You seem to have an axe to grind with White Hat, and you’ve carried for many years– far longer than you should have.
As a recently departed OHDELA employee. I agree 100% with the charges Ms Rankin makes. Sure teacher salaries are the largest part of overhead, and OHDELA has made gains towards making salaries more in line with what other teachers make, the fact remains that OHDELA is more poorly equipped to deal with education, than virtually any school in Ohio, including the inner city schools. Secondly managers still play favorites, throw their weight around because they can, and treat teachers who are more qualified than they are. themselves poorly at best, and more often than not rudely and with disdain. The structure and support system at OHDELA is laughable. Unfortunately the biggest shame is that there are quality teachers there, who would excel in the classroom if given the chance. Amy, your comments need to be heard. Bravo!
Amy~Well done! You have missed the parade of administrators over the last two years as desperate attempts to enroll students proceed. I think that the student withdrawl rate at Ohdela is actually higher than the enrollment rate as word has spread among e-school families of the troubles at Ohdela. Also, many teachers (as many as thirty) have left the organization since January. I have just recently returned to the classroom after working at Ohdela for 4+ years and I, too, felt uncomfortable working for the White Hat organization for the same reasons that you state. (By the way, your ‘numbers man’ is indeed still employed at the company.) I wish you much good fortune in the future…you certainly hit the nail on the head with this article. Keep up the good work! JK
I’m surprised your still holdin it down at White Hat. I won’t argue that some Journalists/Teachers prefer the safety of cubicle and anonymous veil of the Internet to standing up in front of a classroom or putting yourself out there (or giving full name). Until you have the balls to do that, I take your words with a grain of salt as well.
Your counterattack targets my facts, abrupt departure, and my ‘performance,’ for which I am perfectly capable of defending but to do so would be missing the point, as you seem to have. I assure you that *I* was the least of the problems encountered by my students.
The point of the article was not to grind my axe with White Hat Management, though I won’t deny having one, but to make the public aware of an outrageous situation. The truth is that if legislation continues to allow rich men to profit from the problem of decaying inner city schools, schools like Cleveland and Akron City will be forced to downsize until there’s no schools left. It’s a political and economic issue, Dan, and one that has nothing to do with me.
Amy,
By insulting the teachers in your above comment, you just suckerpunched the majority of the supporters who praised your article. Grow a thicker skin, maybe “Dan” will grow the aforementioned balls, and let’s stick to the issue at hand.
Dear Scene Editors:
It is unfortunate that the work of White Hat Management tarnishes public perception of alternative school programs. There are non-profit alternative schools in Ohio, which legitimately graduate students. I am the director of North Coast Academy Education Resource Center located in Randall Park Mall. Our school is one of the 100+ public schools receiving state and federal funds for working with at-risk youth. North Coast Academy is a public school comprised of 13 sending districts that refer students who are not successful in the traditional high school environment. Students are required to attend for 3 hours each day and are taught what they need to know to operate their computer and use the web-based curriculum from school and home. The course work is aligned to the state curriculum. The on-line courses challenge the students, they are not just asked to regurgitate the information they learn; the chapter review questions are varied and ask students to analyze and synthesize the information. Paper and pencil tests are given to students on the premises and are monitored by our State of Ohio Certified and Highly Qualified teaching staff. In addition to the traditional requirements of high school our students participate in classes on Career Exploration, Consumer Math and a writing class that will enhance their skills and help them pass the Ohio Graduation Tests. We also provide social skills training with a licensed social worker and a mentoring program with staff from Cleveland’s workforce development program. Our small program serves up to 100 students each year and graduates between 30 and 50 students annually. The rest of the students return to the program to graduate the following school year. Why does North Coast Academy work for these students? Low student-staff ratio, caring relationships with certified staff, and a self-paced curriculum. Please visit North Coast Academy to see an alternative school that works.
Respectfully,
Rena Wertheim, Director
North Coast Academy ERC
Amy-
Since you’ve questioned my manhood, my credentials and basically called me a cubicle coward, let me just rebut by stating that I have spent three years as a newspaper reporter covering less glamorous topics like city council and budget appropriations, probably back when you were still learning your 3R’s in high school, and so I know what real journalism is like. I also currently teach as an adjunct professor at a local college in front of a classroom full of students, not from a cubicle or hidden behind a internet pseudonym. I didn’t include my last name in the post because I figured that if your memory of Ohdela was so great, you would recall me from your “extensive” experience at Ohdela. Ringing any bells yet?
Dear Dan-
What’s ironic is that the qualifications you boast and bring to your teaching position don’t have to be reported to anyone, as they do for every other public school in Ohio.
You’d think one with any amount of integrity, journalistic or otherwise, would care about such things.
Amy~
As a current Ohdela teacher, I can tell you that my qualifications and Ohio teaching license are on file with the Ohio Board of Education. I was also able to successfully pass my Praxis III evaluation, which is done by an ODE trained observer, at Ohdela. Ohdela teachers are held just as accountable to the state as in any other Ohio public school. Thank you.
Amy-
Now you question my integrity? This is too much. It would be amusing, except that you are embarrasing a profession that I once held dear.
Oh, but I AM accountable for the qualifications I outlined to you, Ms. Rankin, if you are referring to my teaching credentials. I had to go through the same licensing qualifications as all teachers at Ohio public schools had to go through. As you would know from a basic fact check with the Ohio Dept. of Education, public charter schools are not exempt from laws regarding highly qualified teachers. Perhaps you are confused on this matter. The state of Ohio would NOT permit me to teach at Ohdela or anywhere else if I could not meet the basic requirements of holding an Ohio teaching license (meaning passage of Praxis tests, significant coursework in Education and content area and a criminal background check). Furthermore, a college would not permit me to stand before their students if I did not prove that I hold a Master’s Degree and demonstrate ability as an instructor.
Ms. Rankin, let me restate from my previous post that your article is well-written, if wildly inaccurate at times. If you had done a little more legwork and approached experts other than relying your own experience, which turned out to be less reliable than you imagine, you would have probably have had a better article. If you had approached me, for instance, I could have told you about real problems at the school. Ohdela is not just a shiny happy place where nothing goes wrong. There are lots of problems with many public schools. As you know, Cleveland schools are mired in problems. Yet I would not go so far as to attack the integrity of the teachers who work there, most of whom are good, hardworking people trying to do what’s right in a bad situation. I don’t care that you are anti-Ohdela or anti-charter school. That is your opinion and you have a right to it.
Had taken the care that I would have expected of you had I been your editor, you would have published an article that would have been more informative than invective. Ultimately, your credibility as a journalist is based on the facts and truthfulness of each and every article you apply your name to. Your fellow journalists depend on you to uphold the standards of the profession. Your readers expect that you will write with accuracy and without bias to give them a true picture of what is going on. However, attack articles such as this only cloud the truth and distort it.
I’m sorry this had to get personal, but personally and professionally, I took exception to large parts of the article. I wish you a great future in your profession.
Arguing over journalistic credentials in this case is pointless. Amy, if you were a respectable journalist, you wouldn’t be writing for Scene, plain and simple.
I would just like to add that not all the students and teachers are lacking in necessary technological skills. This person definately never met my children. One of which who graduated but did not walk across the stage, so I guess is not counted as truly graduated?? My second child will graduate this year with almost 2 years of college under her belt, she will not walk the stage either. The third will graduate in 3 years and again will not walk the stage. Their diplomas will still hold up in any sector as valid and proof that they have walked the path and made the grade, therefore graduated.
On the teacher bandwagon, I have met over the last 5.5 years a handful of teachers that were not up to par, the vast majority are excellent and manage to impart their knowledge & assistance in numerous ways online and via telephone. I can say while I have my gripes about Ohdela/White Hat I would not include the teachers and their skills as a major component of said gripes.
I just wanted to give a parent’s side to show we are all not working two jobs, unconcerned, and just leave our children at home to play xbox(which we do not own – it’s PS3 that rules) while expecting our children to be mature enough to handle all the issues of online education on their own.
But Denise, you are reading! Hey Amy, I always wondered how the students take the mandated physical education. Jumping jacks in front of the computer?
Amy,
I would just like to add a few comments from a different perspective. I currently have two children enrolled in OHDELA. We have completed three years with them and are beginning our fourth year this week. Let me say first that my children are in grade school, and I have not had the opportunity to deal with the high school teachers or programs as of yet.
I must say that the first year was very frustrating and confusing. I almost didn’t re-enroll my children. I am glad today that we decided to stick it out. I realize that this form of schooling should not be for everyone, but I believe you are overlooking those that are thriving in it. There are parents like me who are actively involved in their children’s education. OHDELA has provided a viable alternative to home schooling for my family.
The costs and fears of home schooling had deterred me from pursuing this form of education. I was afraid that my children would fall behind other kids and that I would not be aware of it. OHDELA has given me the reassurance and encouragement that I have needed to successfully educate my children. Both of my children have been tested at state levels and have been very successful. My son scored above the district, the school and the state averages in three of the four subjects he tested in for the Ohio Achievement Tests. The fourth subject he scored higher than the school and district averages, and only fell short of the state average by a minimal amount.
As for the initial frustration and confusion, when we joined OHDELA they were still very new. In the start up of anything new there is always going to be some frustration and confusion. Each year that we have been with OHDELA has become more organized and enjoyable. I am by no means attacking you for your point of view. I am glad that there are people out there who are concerned for the well being of today’s children. I only wanted to give a different perspective on the situation. For those that have the time and desire to educate their children and are perhaps a little apprehensive about home schooling this is an ideal school.
Thank You,
Lamatha Sievers
To All,
I am a prarent using Ohdela. I have had one daughter graduate with over a 3pt average and another daughter that will be graduating in ’09 and she also holds over a 3pt.average. I myself have had issues with Ohdela that I have addressed. I also have seen many changes within the system. I have witnessed tighter controls and better follow through with teachers and advisors. With any new program there will defintely be troubles. There have been changes made to meet these problems, changes that were solutions and changes that I am sure will cause a few more problems. I am proud to be a part of the future solution to educating our children. All must admit that the current brick and mortar schools are not without large problems. Tax levies after tax levies are passed without any thought of how changing the system can help. The definition of insanity is; doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. Ohdela and other charter schools give us a new solution to old and upcoming problems.
Let me say, that without parent involvement educating our children will always suffer. My children’s advisors definitely know who I am. They also know that I am my children’s primary educator and if I am not pleased with something, I will be calling. My children are given high goals and are motivated daily. Where does the money go? I truely am not aware of exactly how the budget is spent. Where does the money go that the brick and mortar schools collect? I do know this, my children are getting a higher curriculum that they would be getting in their local public school. My older daughter was well prepared for college and is holding over a 3pt average. Her English professor commented that he was able to see from well structered papers that she was schooled at home.
I believe you did see and experience things Amy, that you speak of. I also believe you may also have valid points. Let us address these issues not as news worthy, but as challenges that need to be met. As this state is trying to attack charter schools and take away our choices, let us work together to improve our children’s future.
Kathy – involved parent
Yes, I read for the sheer entertainment of sensationalized “news.” It gives me a laugh on breaks from my job-as a real reporter.
Things at White Hat Management Corporation are never going to change. This company has many good teachers and other individuals who truly give their hearts to help students. The problem is that WHM doesn’t give their heart to give these employees what they deserve. Their pay rate is depressing. Their benefits are ridiculous. Their bonus(if you ever get one are and insult. This corporation is nothing but a money make machine. I feel sorry for the employees that are still working for White Hat, Life Skills, Ohdela or Hope Academies. When any of these names appears in someone resume, these resumes are set aside, because a lot of people know what this company does out there. For those employers that are not giving chances to desperate employees from WH, please help them get out of this hole. There are many good people and good teachers that deserve to teach in a regular school. I worked many years for this company and all that kept me going was the smile and the support that I had from good students and good co-workers. I can’t explain the frustration you go through daily when you work for this company. I never understood why it was our fault if numbers were down. I could never understood, why WH threated us like crap, why our salaries where so low if they were making so much money, why I saw more than 30 people walked out from our school in 3 years. To my fellow ex-coworkers, get out while you can, don’t wait until is too late and you walk in one morning and your school is closed by the state. You deserve better and remember they don’t care about you or your feeling, your family or your home. They only care about themselves and the money they put into their pockets. Amy, I don’t know you, I never met you, I understand the frustration, because I was frustrated too. I am free and working out of HELL(White hat management), I encourage those good teachers that are still within the “WHITE HAT FAMILY”, if you really thing you can call them or consider them family, to walk out and find a decent job. Don’t wait for the right sizing moments, where they start firing people like crazy. White Hat and the rest of their family, Life Skills, Ohdela, Hope Academy and the rest don’t deserve one more minute of your like in it.
Good luck to those still working for WH, hoping that a better future comes into your like…
an ex-employee
Corrections(talking about WH gives me the chills)
White Hat and the rest of their family, Life Skills, Ohdela, Hope Academy and the rest don’t deserve one more minute of your life in it.
Good luck to those still working for WH, hoping that a better future comes into your life…
Ex Employee, maybe if you learned to spell better, WHM would have treated you better and possibly given you a good raise. 🙂 How do you expect to teach kids when you constantly make grammatical errors?
Anyway, I am here to say that I read the article that Amy wrote and I think that it’s more of a vindictive article than anything else. A journalist should not poison the public’s mind with her view of a situation. You probably worked at Whitehat a long time ago. Have you recently talked to the people that work there or the students that graduated to see where and what things can be done to improve the situation? WHM is a fairly new company when compared to public schools, so I assume that with time things would definitely get better.
You should change your writing style to reflect a more unbiased view if you want to be counted as a good journalist. The media is a dangerous weapon in the sense that people believe whatever they read, so please gather more recent facts next time especially for your next article. I don’t personally know Brennan, any teachers at WHM or even any kids that graduated but I can smell bitter and revenge from far away and I think that’s what your article was all about.
I’ve read the article and the comments. Yes, teachers could be treated better. That doesn’t just go for teachers employeed by WHM. That goes for ALL teachers everywhere. No matter where you’re employeed in the educational system, no matter what level, teachers are never paid enough or shown enough respect. However, education is not all about the teacher and the “what’s in it for me?” attitude. It should be and always should be what’s in it for the student. It’s not their well-being Amy is talking about. It’s about hers. If you hated it that much, why did you stay as long as you did? You could have walked out the same day and worked at McDonald’s.
We have to do what we can to make whatever the situation is better for the students. I see this happening. It is getting better. However, we can’t just snap our fingers to make things right. It’s a work in progress.
Yes, there are cubicles and yes there are computers and headsets but quite honestly, the atmosphere is a good one. We do have a lot of good people working and doing their best to make education a good thing for the students that are enrolled and trying to do something with what they have. There are a lot of good students. There are not so good ones too that think of OHDELA as a quick “I don’t have to do anything” and still graduate alternative. I applaud all of our staff and students and parents. I think they are doing a wonderful job!
Hello everyone. I would like to make a few comments about my experience at OHDELA. Everyone knows who I am, so I am not going to hide my name. I worked for OHDELA for a little more than 4 years. I put my heart and soul into OHDELA, hoping to make it work. However, because of the working conditions at OHDELA, I was never able to achieve my goals. I left in 2004, but I would like to tell you some things about my experience.
I am certified to teach Spanish K-12. However, when I was at OHDELA, I had 1200 students on my roster. I was teaching four levels of Spanish, French, and German. In addition to having all of these students on my roster, I was also forced to write curriculum, tests, and projects for all of these classes, answer hundreds of phone calls and emails from parents and students, organize field trips, assemble spreadsheets, and whatever else the administrators wanted me to do. Of course, it was not humanly possible to complete all of these tasks, so I did what I could and left it at that. However, I will let you know that many times, I had to work from home without pay to try to catch up on grading and answering emails. I made less than 32,000 per year and worked well over 80 hours per week. However, I was dedicated and wanted to make the school work. OHDELA was everything to me. I never received overtime pay—hell, I never even received a “thank you”. Sometimes, I got a bonus or a bribe for doing a task. Many times, I got a $50 gift card for calling 50 students. I know the situation with student-teacher ratios has changed now, and most teachers still have 300-400 students to deal with….which is still above the amount of students a teacher in the public school or other e-schools deal with. No wonder students do not complete their classes….parents are off working and the teachers still have so many students, that it is impossible to contact them all and give them the help they need and deserve. Administrators don’t care about the workload…more students, means more money for Brennan and higher administrator pays.
As for the teachers. OHDELA does have some of the brightest teachers in the state. It is sad, because White Hate does not appreciate or respect them in any way. These teachers are very dedicated to making the school work. They are very knowledgeable in their areas and work like dogs on a daily basis to try to help kids succeed. However, on a daily basis, these teachers have to also deal with a group of highly unqualified administrators who treat them like slaves. One of the high school administrators was a second grade teacher who taught for one year and was fired from the Akron Public schools (who is also very immature, loud, vulgar, and disrespectful to herself and others) and has absolutely no credentials to be working with high school or in administration. I cannot count how many time I seen her bouncing around the office in low cut shirts and high mini skirts. She always sat on tables and desk and always talked louder than anyone in the office-like most second graders do. The other administrator is a gay woman who openly expresses her sexual orientation (something I would not want my son to see) and cusses and puts down teachers. The gay administrator even called a pregnant teacher a “wide load” once? What was that all about???? Is she just jealous because women cannot get other women pregnant? The high school teachers at OHDELA are not supported by qualified administrators, so they are not able to be the true teachers they really are. Imagine, being a highly qualified teacher with many years experience and being evaluated by a 2nd grade teacher, with one teaching experience, who has absolutely no credentials to work with high school or in administration or being evaluated by someone who evaluates you lower than normal because you are pregnant or sick. I feel sorry for the high school teachers. Teachers who were out looking for other jobs could not even say where they were applying because the gay administrator threatened to call the new schools and tell them a bunch of trash so they could not get hired—very unprofessional if you ask me. OHDELA teachers are so stressed, that many have experienced severe health problems, including major heart surgery from a heart attack, high-risk pregnancies and other life threatening situations that doctors can contribute to stress in their lives. Working at OHDELA is actually very dangerous to one’s health because of the stress related illnesses the job provokes. However, these teachers really do risk their lives for their students at OHDELA and neither WhiteHat nor their administrators appreciate their efforts. It is sad, and I worry about them because I am still friends with many teachers.
One of my most stressful situations at OHDELA was when I was told that they could not find a qualified Spanish teacher to take over my position while I was on bed rest for 3 months for a high risk pregnancy and that I would have to allow another, unqualified teacher to use my teaching license until I came back. I told them no because this was wrong, but I had no choice, because if I did not do what they said, I would have been fired. The teacher they hired to take my place was an out of state certified ESL teacher (no Ohio certification) who spoke zero Spanish. There were a few different situations in OHDELA where unqualified teachers where working under someone else’s license. I don’t think they actually listed my sub under my license, but I do know she worked there for over a year with no license. She finally quit on her own. As a teacher, most things that were done by administrators were never communicated to me, but when I refused something or denied a request, I would be written up and never told anything else about it. Today, I believe most teachers at OHDELA are qualified by the state. However, my situation took place back in 2004. I am and have been certified to teach Spanish, but I never have been certified to teach French or German…yet they forced me to teach them all. I can speak the languages, but I was never certified.
Now, let me tell you about my administrator situation. I made the decision to go from teacher to testing administrator. Who knows why I made that decision, I guess I was looking for a break from the 1200 students, oceans of emails and call, and cube work. I moved from the cube farm to the barn in the back of the office. I had an office and that was pretty cool at the time. Finally, I could close a door and not be bothered by the stress going on around me. However, being testing coordinator was a nightmare. I was responsible for organizing all of the testing for the whole school. I was still buried in emails and calls. However, I now had the power to make some decisions, or though I thought. As an administrator, I got to see first hand, the corruption that took place inside Whitehat and OHDELA. After the school took the OAT tests in the fall of 2005, it was discovered that we only had about 40% attendance….this did not look good for the school or the state….I was called into the administrator’s office with the curriculum director. I had no idea why the curriculum director was in the meeting…probably because the administrator (at the time) and the curriculum director were best friends. I was asked to report 80% attendance to the state and I told them that I would not do that. In no way would I lie to the state about our numbers….this was on a Wednesday afternoon…on Friday afternoon, I was the first employee to be laid off from OHDELA. When Amy writes about administrators taking sides, she is very correct. I was not one who kissed their asses and played their corrupt game…so I was chosen to be laid off. The same day, I was laid off; the administrator also posted all of the employee’s personal information such as social security numbers, salaries, addresses, and phone numbers on the public P drive. All employees had access to this information…and of course, I said something about it, I printed it out…I knew everyone’s salary and information and to my surprise…everyone had very different salaries…there were brand new employees with no teaching experience making more money than teachers who had been at OHDELA 3-4 years and with a lot of teaching experience. I can honestly say that if the administrators liked you…you made higher salaries. Of course, none of the salaries were over 35,000…but is it really fair for a new teacher to be making 34,000 and another experienced teacher to be making 28,000 or 29,000? (Yes….teachers at OHDELA do make that much…pretty sad huh considering the billions that Brennan pockets.). OHDELA should be the poster for organized slave labor. They far exceed any OHIO labor law…most teachers work 80+ hours per week for less than 35,000 and they work year round.
When I was laid off, I was pissed as hell. I even attempted to take Whitehat and Brennan to court and sue them for many things…including sexual harassment (I always received degrading and vulgar emails from a few employees), unfair employment practices, corruption, etc….but my lawyer said that Brennan had so much money that he would buy himself out of the situation and I would probably lose anyway. Now, I look at my lay off as a blessing because I have my health, I have way better job, I making a real salary, and I much more happier than I was working there. I do miss my friends and we will always be friends…I just worry about them becoming a victim to this deadly job. I just figured that I would just let Brennan and WH have enough rope and it would hang itself.
Thank you Amy for exposing the true facts about David Brennan and Whitehat. It is very frustrating to know what is going on in WH and not being about to get the word out. Parents have trusted their most valuable asset to WH and WH is using them to make money. Yea…they graduate from high school…but I would be curious to see the college graduate rate now. These numbers are never posted. WH’s philosophy is that if they report 0, it is better than reporting the actual number to avoid embarrassment. If the truth be told, Brennan would lose millions. However, I disagree about the teachers and advisors. They are a wonderful group of people who are qualified today and they work their asses off, risking their lives trying to make OHDELA work. It is the administration, Brennan , and White Hat who make the school shitty.
Thanks OHDELA teachers and advisors…you are the ones who make the school good. Keep up the good work…the students need you…. for Brennan and the administrators…GO TO HELL…go get jobs at Walmart or McDonalds where you are more qualified to work. (That is if they would hire you).
There…just thought I would share some of my experience with everyone.
My daughter had a great experience with a different online highschool out of butler county, run in conjunction with the fitton art options program. She actually went to school and had computer lab time at school. It worked great for her! I believe children that are struggling in a certain course would benefit from being allowed to take these courses at their home school. I believe this program could be fixed with different management, and 25 kids who may not have graduated at all did!
I wasn’t going to write a comment, but I feel that I should put my two cents in as well. I was not a teacher, but rather part of the support staff. I started out as a temp during the time when Mardy Chaplin was our administrator. When I was hired on we were still a small school. I have to say that the school took a turn for the worst when Mardy left. I also worked during the time that Kathy Castillo also worked there, and I can validate what she is saying as truthful. On many occasions I was made the scape goat for things that our *assistant administrator* felt right to do. She even went off on me for having a myspace account, and told me that it was not appropriate for school employees to have them. Come to find out, this *assistant administrator* has one of her own. I was basically told to delete my account. When I informed her that it was not her business what my myspace has on it and I would not do so she was very rude. I filed a complaint with our *anonymous complaint system*, which they do require you to give a name if you want anything done. As it came to be, the admistration sided with her proving again that employees are not supported.
I also was made to shred important documents such as the state mandated tests, some of which were filled out by students.
In fact, about a year after I started I got into a car accident. I was told by my doctor not to come in for a week because I had a concussion. I had a doctors note, but our manager at the time who is no longer there decided that because I didn’t have the additional time off I deserved a write up. I was also told that if I continued to go on this path my future at OHDELA would be bleak. About a month after that, my father was put into a hospice and I was told to come down and be with my family. I was permitted to go, but was made to feel guilty for doing so. He slipped into a coma that night. The next day I wanted to be with my family and Mr. Stiles informed me that if I did I would not have a job. My father died that night. When I found out the next morning I informed Mr. Stiles that my father was dead and he told me I should go home. I told him I would rather save those days for when the funeral happened and that I would never forgive him for holding my job over my head for wanting to be with my father and family.
WhiteHat Management and OHDELA like to build themselves up as a *family*, and for a long time I felt like I was part of a family. My co-workers were amazing and wonderful teachers. I miss some of them very much, however there are plenty of things wrong within this family. Administration makes fun of students and parents on more than a few occasions. I even overheard our *assistant administrator* saying that one parent was an embarrassment. In my time being there, and I was there for 3 years, I was made to feel very inferior to many of the other employees. Even in my reviews, I never improved in status. I worked very hard to improve, and took initiative at every step possible. Unfortunately, the person conducting the performance reviews has her favorites and if you didn’t kiss her ass on a daily basis, it showed in the reviews. When Mardy gave reviews, I always had a glowing review and so did many of the other teachers/staff. I guess it goes to show how much things change.
OHDELA has never made AYP in the entire 3 years I was there. I don’t blame the teachers, but rather the parents who didn’t want to take the time to bring their child to the state mandated tests. I also blame the administration for getting rid of the teachers who know how to teach to bring in teachers who will work for a fraction of what they are worth. When I was laid off, I was told it was due to *company restructuring*. I was told it had nothing to do with my job performance and if the position came up again I would be permitted to interview for the job. They LIED!!!!! This position came up twice and I applied for it and was never called. They also promised me a recommendation letter and I never got it. OHDELA is a school full of “tell you what you want to hear”, but when you get in there the reality sets in.
For a long time I felt my self worth sinking lower and lower because I thought I would never be good enough, but now that I am out of there I feel empowered and I know that I am a good employee.
In closing, while I am sure there are some students/parents who benefit from OHDELA, it is not because of honest tactics. Please remember, WhiteHat is not run by people who have a background in education. These are BUSINESS men, and they only care about making money. In fact, when Jay Brennan (David Brennan’s son) started working for us at OHDELA he point blank said, and I quote, “We are in the business of educating children”. I think it’s a sad day when the education of a child is all about the dollar sign.
And for the record, while my grammar may not be up to par, my feelings are from the heart.
I worked at a Lifeskills Center in Cleveland in 04. I find that I agree with most of the criticisms I have read in the article and the posted comments. The ones I don’t agree with are ones I didn’t have knowledge of because I quit as soon as something better came up. The guy is making big bucks with little academic results. If you know of graduates or students successful at these schools, you are a minority. White Hat gets money for attendance, not progress. All White Hat has to do is show an occasional success to the right people and drop some money in the right pockets and he is successful. He should sell his formula on late night TV as a get rich quick scheme. If high school kids can’t read, and I bet most of the students at these alternative learning centers have low reading skills, how can they read the information on-line and on a computer screen? They don’t. They guess at the right answer and manage their way through a test like a mouse in a maze after a bit of cheese. For a student needing a credit or a few, Lifeskills Center can be an option. I have seen it suggested for that by public high school counselors in the southern state where I now teach and live. I wouldn’t suggest it to a high school student with a few credits, they would be sitting in front of the computer chasing cheese and filling White Hat’s wallet for many years. For as bad as White Hat is painted to be, is White Hat worse than inner-city public schools or voucher schools? There are some bad stories from those institutions as well. I will freely tell people I worked at Wendy’s, swept floors, was a delivery driver and even worked at TGIFridays, but the place of employment I omit and also leave off my resume is Lifeskills Center .
I truly understand why you leave Life Skills Center off of your resume. Not only does other jobs (not just educational jobs, but all jobs) look down at you, they will not consider your resume. You have a better chance at getting a job with a criminal record than you do with Whitehat on your resume. NO JOKE. Many teachers and staff at OHDELA have a hard time getting an interview because they put WH on their resume. Other schools laugh at at Whitehat. Other schools may not be passing the tests, but they do not have owners who are stealing their money. David Brennan has stolen so much money from Ohio Education that his fat ass should be locked in jail for life. He is in the news all the time for misuse of money. It is time that people wake up to what David Brennan is doing. He is destroying Ohio’s future. Giving false hope to these kids is so unfair to them. They deserve to have the best future ever, and David Brennan is just using them to make millions…..he takes the money and the kids may get a high school diploma…but they will face the same thing the teachers and staff face…no job or college will consider them when they see WH on their application or resume.
You are very correct when you say that they are like mice in mazes…guessing at answers. Most students at OHDELA are allowed to retake tests as many times as they want. They can keep guessing until they are correct. Some teachers even pass the students just to get them off of their lists. Above all, anyone could be doing their work from their home on the computer. Not only canthese kids not read to level, they are also very computer illiterate—how can you use a computer to learn when you know nothing about the computer? WH kids would be better off in the worst of the inner city schools. Not much of the curriculum used by WH is up to state standards anyway…I can tell you that OHDELA has NEVER had a qualified curriculum specialist. Denise Kelly worked there for many years and she was simply an elementary teacher who thought she knew curriculum for middle school and high school. All she knew was how to manipulate the male administrators so that they would listen to her and let her have her way. She was only a bitch who thought she knew what she was doing–when in fact the only thing she really knew was how to eat her bagals and paint her nails in her office. EVERYONE at OHDELA hated her (and still does) because she totally could not do her job. Not only was she unqualified in all ways, she was always rude, insensitive, and very uneducated. However, with these characteristics, she was a perfect fit for the WH administrator positions and that is how she moved up the ladder. When she finally left, everyone at OHDELA cheered, however, now they have people working in curriculum who have absolutely no degree or experience in education. OHDELA teachers usually have to write their curriculum (without extra pay) so that their students can learn something. Almost every year of its existance, OHDELA has started the school year without its curriculum in place and ready to go. Today is 9/9 and I can guarantee there are students waiting for curriculum or have curriculum that is not functioning properly. Shouldn’t this stuff be in place before the school year starts? WH is really good at hiring unqualified people to work in important, decision-making positions and it is this reason the schools fail the tests and parents pull their kids out.
Do you know how many schools in the state of Ohio are in desperate need of money? Schools are unable to get funding from the state because the money is in Brennan’s pocket. So, not only is he hurting the students in WH schools, he is also hurting students in all state funded Ohio schools. For example, kids in Strongsville do not have busing because their levy failed…meanwhile, Brennan drives around town in his classy cars and limos. Yea…he really cares about Ohio’s kids. Does anyone know of any charities he donates to other than politicians?
I like the idea of putting Whitehat on a late night infomercial, however, I think that it would more properly fit into an email scam. Parents: Wake up….if you student is in Life Skills, Hope Academy, or OHDELA…your kid is not getting the education they deserve…they are only making Brennan richer…and your kid will never have the future they deserve…get out now…while there is still time. Imagine– your kid not getting into college because the college sees WH on the application…it is happening. Not only does it happen to teachers, but it does and will continue to happen to students as well.
I was not going to write a comment, as I was just a curious reader over the past week. However, after reading some of these comments, I find a need to respond. It appears that many of those who left comments are very passionate – some in a positive way, others pretty bitter. Dan, I commend you for your passion. It seems that you, and others at the school, are dedicated to the students you work with. To the parents who left comments – you should be very proud of your children’s accomplishments.
As a member of the teaching staff at OHDELA, I must take exception to many of the comments. Amy, Kathy and Jules – seems that you are all a bit bitter. And (from the information I have) it seems that you all left your positions at OHDELA involuntarily… hmmmm. I, too, would be bitter – but this is a bit extreme. If you were so unhappy and saw such a disservice, why would you have stayed until being forced to leave? Kathy, my assumption is that while you were on your bedrest, you were able to work from home and seemed to be taking advantage of the fact the school needed you to teach. I assume that you needed to insurance and paycheck? (And, if my sources are correct, White Hat also paid for your tuition – by the way, is that online degree any less valuable then an OHDELA student’s degree?) Your comments make it very apparent that you were unhappy, it was stressful and affected your health – again, why stay? Jules, if you want to be considered for a new job at the school, I would have to suggest that blasting the school in a public forum such as this is not the way to make a good impression. Amy, I just don’t understand why you stuck around if you were so unhappy. Like many have suggested – Wal-Mart and McDonalds (and, it appears, the Scene) are always hiring.
I would also like to speak out about the current administration. Dr. Schneider comes to OHDELA very qualified. She has done curriculum development is placed like Cleveland, OH and Gary, IN. She has given teachers the ability to teach and write their own lesson plans and time to teach. OMG – this means some of us take work home to grade – but don’t all teachers? We also have two assistant administrators and a student services coordinator – all highly qualified for the role the are tasked with! Shame on you, Kathy, for making comments about people you never met! (You were fired in 05, right??)
~A happy “White Hat Family” member
In response to a teacher who cares:
I actually had defended OHDELA for a long time AFTER I was laid off. I desperately wanted to come back, and I was assured by both the administrator and assistant administrator that if the position became available on the website I could reapply and interview. This position came up TWICE. I not only sent my resume via the website, but I mailed my resume to the assistant administrator. I never heard from her or OHDELA. I was also promised a recommendation letter, and had called in to Ms. Schneider to request one. She informed me that my information was still on file and one would be mailed to me. After 2 weeks went by and no letter I phoned again. I was told that Ms. Schneider was very busy and had forgotten, but one would be sent right away. That was 5 MONTHS ago, and I have yet to receive this letter.
I was a loyal employee for 3 years. I volunteered to take on every task that came my way, and I learned to become adaptable to any situation that came up as I knew this could only help me in my reviews, but in learning about OHDELA in general.
The fact of the matter is, I was made to be a scape goat on many occasions. One in particular was when Ms. Castillo was *laid off*. There were a group of teachers discussing her being let go, and the circumstances behind it. I joined in the discussion as I am Ms. Castillo’s friend, however this was a stupid move. I was called into the assistant administrators office and reprimanded for taking part in this. I made mention that I was not the only person involved in the conversation and if I was going to get blamed, they should also. This never happened as most of those teachers were friends with her. I was also told by the higher ups in the company that my job could be jeopordized if I continued to be friends with her. I said if that was the case, then I would bring an unlawful termination suit against them.
You seem to be under the impression that I am a bitter ex-employee. You also seem to think that any teacher or employee who complains about the school must be bitter. The fact of the matter is, many of the teachers complained about the school on a daily basis when I was there. It always happened after our meetings. This leads me to believe that not every teacher there is as happy as you want everyone to believe. I’ve also heard many teachers say they are only working there until they can find a *real* teaching job. Does that sound like a company that has happy employees?
I am not bitter just to set the record straight. I AM angry that I was led to believe one thing, and then come to find out it was a sham. They kept the one person who sits at the front desk and speaks on her cell phone every time I walked by the desk. She would complain about all the work that was handed to her, and because she was friendlier with a few higher ups than I was, got the lions share passed on to me so that she didn’t have to do much. Don’t get me wrong, she did have an awful lot on her plate and I think she did a good job with what she had to do. However, I also had tons of work on my plate and I rarely got to everything I needed to do as I was handed more and more work because of said situation.
I’m glad you are a happy teacher at OHDELA. I’m happy that you are getting what you need out of the school, but don’t sit there and say how bitter Kathy, Amy, and I are because we chose to stand up and speak our experiences with OHDELA. We are entitled to our views just as you are.
In response to a teacher who cares:
You made the comment that Kathy, Amy, and I are bitter about what we went through at OHDELA. I can not speak for them, but for myself I have to say you are very wrong. Yes, I was let go involuntarily and for that I was sad. However, I was also made a lot of promises on that day that never came fruition.
The first promise when I was let go was if the position came up again, I could reapply and interview for the position. This position came up TWICE. Both times I applied online at the OHDELA website, and I also sent in my resume by mail. Both times I was never called to interview. I would not have cared if I got the job or not, but it would have been nice for them to keep their word.
I was also promised a recommendation letter from Ms. Schneider that day as well. I phoned her and asked for one, she said she had all my information and to be looking for it in the mail. Two weeks go by, so I called back in and was informed Ms. Schneider was very busy and had forgotten, but one would be sent to me. This was FIVE MONTHS ago. To me, that makes the adminstration at OHDELA nothing but liars.
I also know that in my time there I was reprimanded for things that I had taken part in with other staff. One time in particular was when Ms. Castillo was laid off. I had seen a bunch of teachers talking about the situation, and as her friend I tried to put my two cents in. I was severely reprimanded the next day for spreading rumors which was untrue. When I tried to tell our assistant administrator the situation and that if I was going to get blamed, then these teachers also needed to get the same treatment. It never happened. Also, any time that a rumor was started I was blamed for it, even though I wasn’t there the day it happened. I was also informed that my job could be jeopordized by my friendship with Ms. Castillo. I let them know if that was the case I would file a wrongful termination suit against them.
While you may be happy there, there are many other teachers who are not happy there. I have heard the complaints after the morning meetings, I have heard the teachers talking at their cubes, and most of them are only there until they can find *real* teaching jobs. The sad thing about all of this is that while they let me go, they kept the front desk girl who spent a good portion of the day talking to her friends on her cell phone. She would constantly complain about the level of work she had to do, and because she was friendlier with some of the administration the work fell to me. I understand she had a lot on her plate, but so did I and I felt it was unfair for her to boo-hoo and get the lions share dropped onto someone elses shoulders.
So while you may be happy there, I think it is absolutely unfair for you to tell others who have not had great experiences there that they are bitter. I hope that you get all you want out of OHDELA and WhiteHat, for the rest of us we have just as much right to vent.
In response to a teacher who cares:
You made the comment that Kathy, Amy, and I are bitter about what we went through at OHDELA. I can not speak for them, but for myself I have to say you are very wrong. Yes, I was let go involuntarily and for that I was sad. However, I was also made a lot of promises on that day that never came fruition.
The first promise when I was let go was if the position came up again, I could reapply and interview for the position. This position came up TWICE. Both times I applied online at the OHDELA website, and I also sent in my resume by mail. Both times I was never called to interview. I would not have cared if I got the job or not, but it would have been nice for them to keep their word.
I was also promised a recommendation letter from Ms. Schneider that day as well. I phoned her and asked for one, she said she had all my information and to be looking for it in the mail. Two weeks go by, so I called back in and was informed Ms. Schneider was very busy and had forgotten, but one would be sent to me. This was FIVE MONTHS ago. To me, that makes the adminstration at OHDELA nothing but liars.
I also know that in my time there I was reprimanded for things that I had taken part in with other staff. One time in particular was when Ms. Castillo was laid off. I had seen a bunch of teachers talking about the situation, and as her friend I tried to put my two cents in. I was severely reprimanded the next day for spreading rumors which was untrue. When I tried to tell our assistant administrator the situation and that if I was going to get blamed, then these teachers also needed to get the same treatment. It never happened. Also, any time that a rumor was started I was blamed for it, even though I wasn’t there the day it happened. I was also informed that my job could be jeopordized by my friendship with Ms. Castillo. I let them know if that was the case I would file a wrongful termination suit against them.
While you may be happy there, there are many other teachers who are not happy there. I have heard the complaints after the morning meetings, I have heard the teachers talking at their cubes, and most of them are only there until they can find *real* teaching jobs. The sad thing about all of this is that while they let me go, they kept the front desk girl who spent a good portion of the day talking to her friends on her cell phone. She would constantly complain about the level of work she had to do, and because she was friendlier with some of the administration the work fell to me. I understand she had a lot on her plate, but so did I and I felt it was unfair for her to boo-hoo and get the lions share dropped onto someone elses shoulders.
So while you may be happy there, I think it is absolutely unfair for you to tell others who have not had great experiences there that they are bitter. I hope that you get all you want out of OHDELA and WhiteHat, for the rest of us we have just as much right to vent.
Well, I can be the first to say what is evident– that Whitehat and OHDELA are very good at brainwashing their teachers, parents, and staff. You, evidently are very blind to the situation. Once you get out and look inside, you will see. Rather I met the people or not is irrevalent, I get all of my information right from OHDELA teachers and staff…plus, I can read about it all the time in the news. It’s no secret. Above all, I did not speak about anyone in my comment that I do not know. I speak the truth.
No, I was NOT allowed to work from home when I was on bedrest. However, I do contribute (and the doctor will agree) my high risk situation to the stress and abuse that I endured while employed at Whitehat. I had to lay in bed on a daily basis and worry about if another teacher was in OHDELA using my license and credentials or not. OHDELA did not pay me while I was on bedrest and I did not get any pay for maternity until six months after I came back to work and then, I had to raise hell to get that. I spent my time working for another school while was I was on bedrest. Which, I was told by Whitehat that I had to quit or I would be fired from OHDELA. I was not allowed to hold down another part time job while employed there. They tried to tell me what to do with my personal life…but I just ignored them…I worked part time jobs the whole time I was employed at Whitehat FROM DAY 1…no way in hell would I allow them to tell me what to do with my life outside of OHDELA. Since I left OHDELA, they have not been able to find a teacher who could teach Spanish and French. They have to hire more than one teacher to do the job that I did BY MYSELF. So see—their loss—not mine. Trust me, I spent my entire free time looking for another job while I was at OHDELA…like all teachers…I would have been out of there the first job opportunity I got. So while I was working at OHDELA, I was blinded and brainwashed too in many ways–so, I understand your thinking. But boy when I got out, I could not believe what I was seeing. Now, I can honestly say that Whitehat is the worst job experience I have ever had in life. I am ashamed to have anyone know that I was actually associated with that school in any way. And, all I can say is thank you Whitehat for showing me what education is NOT supposed to be. I was lucky to laid off, and yes, it was in 2005…too bad it wasn’t done sooner.
Yea, Whitehat paid about $3,000 of the $24,000 tuition bill (big deal—small pennies for David Brennan)…but I sure do not contribute any of my successes to life to OHDELA or Whitehat. All Whitehat did was hold me back from being successful. My online degrees (which includes a PhD) in education actually make me more qualified than anyone in that school. However, the online degree is worthless–most people just look at it and say “What the hell is that?”. Now, I am working towards another “real” MA and PhD at KSU…which will be more legitimate on my resume. That online college shit was just a waste of my time and money. You know first hand, that no one wants to hire Whitehat or OHDELA teachers. Every teacher in OHDELA and all of Whitehat would get the hell out the first chance they got.
I know what I said hurts you immensely, but the truth hurts. It is hard to be passionate about something so corrupt and messed up. How can you be passionate for a criminal like David Brennan? If any normal person would take money from the state of Ohio and pocket it, they would be locked up. Look at it from the public’s point of view…if the curriculum is so good, and the staff is so qualified…why are you in academic watch? How come in the 5 years of OHDELA’s existance you have not been able to pass the OGT tests or even come close? I know it is not the teacher’s fault. If it is not the administration or the curriculum…then WHY ARE THEY FAILING? WHY IS WHITEHAT COVERING UP AND HIDING NUMBERS? Just today, I talked to an OHDELA parent who said that she was ready to pull her 10th grade son out because there is no curriculum available. Why is there no curriculum for the students if today is September 10 and school started 2-3 weeks ago? I advised her that would be a smart move. Everyday her son has no curriculum is a day lost, that will never be recovered. David Brennan doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the kid’s curriculum….as long as he got the state money…that is all that matter to him.
Your wrong when you think that I am bitter. Bitter over what? Please, make me laugh. I consider my lay off as OHDELA’s lost-not mine. They lost their most qualified teacher. You know damned good and well that I am the only adminstrator OHDELA had who had the credentials to be in the position. I have a PhD in education…way more than any OHDELA administrator has. As I have proven…I can get any job I want. I did OHDELA a favor by staying employed there. It was just a waste of my time….I lost 4 years of my life..when I could have been off working a real job, with real morals, and real pay. I just wander that if I did stay there…if I would even be alive today? Do you really think that losing a $30,000 a year job was a big lost for me? The only thing I really lost from OHDELA was my pride and dignity—but thank God I was able to get that back. I can honestly say (and test scores will prove it) that compared to the other e-schools around the state…OHDELA sucks…and you know it. It is just hard for you to see and accept because you are so brainwashed. I hope you get the chance to look at it from the outside. One day, you will see.
I would surely not want to say that I came from the Cleveland Schools–that is an insult. They are ranked among the worst in the nation. So, I guess Mrs. Schnieder IS a perfect fit for OHDELA. GREAT CHOICE. I know Mrs. Schneider…I know about her piss poor work in Cleveland. Ever wander why she is no longer part of one of the worst public school districts in the nation????
No, I was not fired. I was laid off because OHDELA lost all of its students and money fell out of David Brennan’s pocket, so he could no long pay my minimum wage salary anymore. All I know, is I will be the one laughing when OHDELA is shut down because the school could not pass a basic 10th grade level test. What will Brennan do then? No students, no money…what a shame.
Everything these teachers say is true. If you think the Scene is not credible, maybe we should take this scandle and corruption to the Fox 8, iTeam. It is about time the truth be known.
I love how the loyal White hatters (the ones that weren’t bullied or fired) put such a friendly happy face on what is obviously (to everyone with half a brain) a morally, politically, socially corrupted absolutely evil corporation.
Denial of the public (including parents and employees) is going to be the downfall of America’s education system in this next decade. Watch.
yea if Brennan doesn’t own Fox 8 News..
Today is 9/11. As we remember the tragedy that happened to America 6 years ago today, let us also remember the attacks that David Brennan is making on the American Education System. Many students are losing their lives and futures because of the false hopes this educational terrorist is imposing on them. Pray for the future of these poor kids.
To a teacher who cares,
I am just curious. IF, and I do mean if, you are a *happy WhiteHat family*member, why did you not include your name? At least Dan had the decency to not hide under anonimity. The fact that you did not include your name leads me to believe that what you wrote is a farce. Maybe you are not as happy as you say you are? Hell, if I was a happy employee at OHDELA I would sign my name so that everyone would know. I know some teachers have already met with Ms. Castillo to vent how much they detest WhiteHat and OHDELA, are you one of them? Are you building up OHDELA on here so that you won’t get into trouble with Ms. Schneider and the administration? I have a feeling that may be the case. Do us a favor; if you really love the school, put your name out there. Be strong in your convictions, and let us know who you are…..I have.
Hello. I am an OHDELA high school student. I would like to tell you what my normal school day is like at OHDELA. I am so frustrated and I see that this article gets a lot of responses from OHDELA teachers. I never can get a response from them, so maybe writing here will help me get some answers.
I wake up in the morning around 8am and have breakfast. My mom and dad leave for work and tell me to have a good day. I am left at home with my younger brother who is in middle school (at OHDELA) to complete my school work and help my younger brother with his school work if he needs it. My younger brother goes over to the television and starts to play Wii station. I got to my computer and try to log in. I cannot log in to my OHDELA classes, so I call the help desk and I am put into an answering machine. I leave my name and number so they can call me back. (I wait all day and no call back) I then call my math teacher to see if there is something I can work on offline because math is my hardest subject. Once again, I get an answering machine and I leave a message. I then called my English teacher who did answer and told me to call the help desk. (ROFLMAO) He also told me to read my book until the computer could get fixed. I tried to call my other teachers to see if there was an offline assignment that I could work on, and as always, I get put through to voice mail.(again…all day…no call back).
So, I read my book. I read until about 11:30. Getting bored of reading, I decided to try logging into my computer again. To my surprise, I can get into my OHDELA homepage. I feel a surge of excitment about learning, but when I click on my classes, I find that there are no assignments posted. There is no class there. So, I call my advisor and after three tries, she finally picks up the phone. She informs me that I am enrolled in the classes, but they are not ready. She told me they should be ready and online in a few days or so. At this point, I have waited over a week to get started on something other than reading my English books. I have no books other than my English books. My advisor told me that my books and things would arrive in 2-4 weeks. So, sometime in October, I may receive my other books. (I hope).
So, while my younger brother is still playing video games, I decided to walk my dog down to the corner store and back. When I get back, my younger brother tells me the phone rang but he did not get up to answer it. I check the message and it is someone at OHDELA telling me that I am truent because I have not logged any learning hours. I panic at this point and I decided to call my mom at work. She said she would call the school to clarify things. So, not knowing what to do, I grabbed the newspaper and read the comic section. I also see that Whitehat management is on the front page of the paper again. It is a story about how board members are being overpaid or being paid to say the name OHDELA. I did not understand the article, but I want to be paid to say OHDELA too. I then I made us some lunch.
After lunch, my grandma calls and asks if we are doing ok. I told her that we had no school work, so she came and took us to the grocery store with her. When we got home, my mom was on the phone with my advisor. My advisor wanted to know why I was not working on my work and my mom tried to explain. However, all the advisor could do was say call the help desk and told my mom to log some hours. My mom told her that I had no education hours because I had not completed any online work. So, my advisor told her to log the hours I spent reading my english book under english (ok). She also told her to log my walking the dog as gym hours, my grocery store trip with my grandma as math hours (because I compared prices in the store), to log making lunch under an elective, and to log video game playing under Science because we were playing a Science Fiction game. She said that it did not matter what was logged as hours, as long as I had them logged. It did not matter if they were educational hours or not. She said life is a learning experience. But my question is how will walking my dog to the corner help me pass the OGT which I have not passed in 3 tries.
So, another day in OHDELA has passed and still no learning. I am still a 10th grader (for the 3rd year) and I should be a senior. I have managed to earn a few credit last year at OHDELA, but I have a hard time completing my classes because my computer does not work most of the time and when it does, the classes are not right or are not there at all. Many times I need help with my classwork and I never can get help from my teachers. So, I cannot complete my assignments. No one ever answers their phone at OHDELA and rarely can I get help from any one. Then they label me as a non worker or trouble maker. I hate being in OHDELA. I want to go back to public school, where I will have the opportunity to learn something. I hate being home everyday by myself. I want my mom to put me back in my old high school.
So, since I have no classes today or nothing else to do, I thought I would leave my comment. Maybe I can log my comment as writing in my English class. The school year has started once again, and I feel like I will never get out of 10th grade because no one will help me. What do I have to do to get good classes and good teachers at OHDELA? Please help me before it is too late. I don’t want to end up like my friends working at Taco Bell all of my life. Please.
Dear Ohdela HS student,
Go anywhere else. Get. Out. Now.
signed,
concerned
To the OHDELA high school student:
Sadly, you are the rule rather than the exception. If you still wish to utilize an online school, please consider OHVA or ECOT. Both e-schools are not in academic watch/emergency (as OHDELA consistantly is) and you will get a far better education along with the help you need. Please, remember you have options: Stop putting money into Brennan’s pockets for an education you obviously are not receiving.
To: A happy “White Hat Family” member
Amanda…shame on YOU for not revealing your name on your comment. If you are going to pose yourself as a member of the OHDELA teaching staff, you should be able to comment from the perspective of a teacher. Within 5 years at OHDELA, have you been completely oblivious? (Duh…I know the answer to that question). Teachers do not take things home to grade. They work on the tons of emails that they receive on a daily basis from home. If teachers took school work home to grade, they would need a uHall truck to get it back and forth. Above all, the computer grades a lot of the student’s work. As usual, you don’t even know what you’re talking about. I’m also sorry that you cannot even get my information right either. You rarely get anything right. But that part is understandable. I was lucky to get out before you came into the high school. I would never let someone like you–with absolutely no credentials or experience to be working with high school teachers– evaluate me or tell me what to do.
So please…like everyone always tell you….GROW UP. This is just a prime example of how OHDELA administrators are clueless about what high school teachers actually do. Take my advice, go get some credentials. (If you’re mature enough to handle graduate level work) Only OHDELA would hire you for the position that you’re in….once the school get closed down….you’ll never get another job in educational administration…you’ll be lucky to be back in the 2nd where you belong. A good administrator would not have their school in Academic watch anyway. Are you really that proud of your failing status? You would be.
Anyone notice how NONE of the “Happy White Hat Family” members nor teachers attached a full name to any of their opinions? Aren’t you supposed to put your full name on your homework to get credit?
Here is something to ponder:
Many of the teachers at OHDELA have school aged children. Why are they not attending OHDELA? Not one teacher has their son/daughter enrolled in OHDELA….That alone tells you the true pride and confidence OHDELA’s own teachers have toward’s their school. They say they are dedicated and they say they are happy….then why aren’t your kids getting their education from OHDELA? Point made.
Concerned,
That’s because no one who works for WhiteHat or OHDELA is truly happy. It’s a facade they put on so they can increase their numbers. If there is a truly happy *WhiteHat family member*, let your presence be known.
Here’s the thing about David Brennan:
Mr. Brennan is a BUSINESS MAN! He owns 1/2 of Akron for goodness sakes. While he may be an advocate for education (and aren’t we all), he does NOT have a background in education. In fact, the board members of WhiteHat do not have backgrounds in education. WhiteHat is run by lawyers and businessmen, which quite frankly scares me. How would you feel if you found out that the principal of your child’s school did not get a degree in education? Would you want your child at that school? I know I wouldn’t that’s for sure.
Why is it that the turnaround rate is so high at OHDELA? Most students have had at least 2 different teachers (for several subjects) within 1-2 years of being enrolled. Why is it that David Brennan has so much money, yet he *right sizes* the very school he considers the future of education?
If this is the future of education, we are all screwed
I think all of the “teachers'” comments here which are filled with spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors are hilarious. This article is nothing more than a vent by a disgruntled former employee who failed at teaching, both real and virtual. Thank God. Ms. Rankin found journalism, where poor performance has fewer long-term consequences. She, and people like her, are why people seek alternatives to the public education establishment. If one wanted to do some serious journalism (putting it clearly out of the reach of both Scene and Ms. Rankin), why not describe the transformation of the US public education system since 1970, including the rise of teachers’ unions, colleges of education, and the “guild” mentality of teaching professionals?
One thing everyone must remember is Brennan is a businessman. He is in business to make money. The root of the problem is that we are mixing profit and education, all with taxpayer dollars. Why are we wasting our time with these comments. Get in contact with your state reps and let them know how you feel. If they don’t agree, don’t vote for them.
Steve – I have found that most right wing blowhards like yourself who deride both public education and journalism couldn’t last a week in either field. My mother taught public school in Mayfield for over 30 years and most businessmen I’ve known aren’t fit to shine her shoes. Its a common right wing tactic to automatically assign everyone who dares to complain about their work or capitalism in general as unqualified malcontents – Limbaugh does it all the time. It’s the usual defense of management because as we all have been taught, management is never wrong. Ever. I trust the heartfelt comments of the real teachers who have written here and I believe that Brennan and people like him belong in prison for gross misuse of public funds and outright fraud in their ‘efforts’ to educate the communities’ children. And as for the Whitehat employees its always easy to spot the writings of shills. Its sad to me that such academic fraud is tolerated in the state of Ohio, but hey, the only pardonable sin in public life in America is turning a buck no matter who suffers.
If the teachers/employess/support staff are complaining there probably are reasons behind it. My suggestion is, contact the board for public charter schools and voice your disapproval of WhiteHat and all charter schools run by David Brennan.
Too Whom It May Concern:
Amy Rankin hit the nail squarely on the head. Her experience was very traumatic and unfortunate. However, I am so grateful that she had the courage to share it with America. Charter Schools are failing miserably in terms of educating our children. The majority are in Acdemic Watch or Academic Emergency. The proof is in the achievement scores. Public Schools are performing so much better than Charter Schools. Look at the data and see for yourself. Public dollars should be pumped into public schools. Charter schools are simply a way for the rich to get richer and low performing students to keep scoring lower. It’s time to correct this crime.
I just thought I would let you know that revenge is so sweet. I am having so much fun telling OHDELA parents about this article. I can proudly say, that I have directed many people to this article and as today, I have convinced at least 10 parents to pull their children out of OHDELA. It is time parents wake up to what this school is really doing to their kids. Their kids are not being educated here. David Brennan is only using their kids to make money. Imagine—your child as an educational prostitute. DAVID BRENNAN IS AN EDUCATIONAL PIMP WHO IS USING YOUR KIDS TO PUT MONEY IN HIS POCKET. No matter how bad Ohio Public Schools become, nothing is worse than OHDELA. I feel so sorry for those students who did receive a diploma from OHDELA…I hate to say it, but you are only a jackass….no way are you as educated as you should be at graduation. You were robbed of your high school education. It is all a financial game. Wake up….get out while there is still time. By the way…I have a question….has Ms. Breckner slept with Mr. Brennan to get her position or does she just dance for him like she did for me when I worked there?
Amy Rankin,
Thank you for your description of a day at OHDELA. By the way, your expose also lends itself as a very accurate depiction of a day at Whitehat’s Pennsylvania cyber operation–PDELA (Pennsylvania Distance and Electronic Learning Academy a.k.a. Pennsylvania Distance Learning Charter School). Just like Ohio and Colorado, Whitehat is also having difficulties with the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
Here is an eyeopening document: http://www.pdenewsroom.state.pa.us/charter_schools/lib/charter_schools/PDELA_Decision_6-29-07.pdf One statement from the article is: “Based on its review of PDELA’s renewal application, the [Pennsylvania] Department [of Education] … [has] found certain areas of PDELA’s operations that cause concern, and therefore, the Department is requiring that corrections be made regarding these areas of concern by December 31, 2007 or the Department will begin revocation proceedings.” The areas of concern as listed in the document include: Curriculum, Technology, Equipment, Financial Plan Finanaces and Budget, Special Education, Accountability, Facility, Admission Policy, and Parent Supplemental Education Account.
I point many people to read your article because it is a good reference for anybody inquiring about cyber charter schools in general. And by the way, Whitehat Management is not the only one profiting from taxpayer dollars. As long as cyber charter schools are operated by hidden for-profit managment companies, you can expect that they will solicit with bias and students entitlement decisions will be made by a “bean counter” and not by an education professional.
former PDELA employee
If the real truth be known…all online charter schools are the same. ECOT and OHVA are no different than OHDELA, they just hide it better. As the matter of fact, I can tell you that OHVA is probably worst than OHDELA. I worked for them for awhile (same shit– different school — same lack of support, lack of qualified administrators and staff who were clueless to how to do their job correctly, a curriculum that never worked properly, 250 students to 1 teacher, expected to perform slave labor 24 hours a day, 7 days a week without overtime pay, etc…). The concept of the online school is a great idea….that is if the right people who are properly educated to run the schools are employed. You just can’t take a bunch of businessmen, lawyers, and other lay people and put them into educational administrative positions and expect them to perform to standards. There is a reason that there are educational administrative degrees — because one should have the credentials before they do the job. However, something good did come out of Whitehat and all other online high schools in America — it has been proven that unqualified people cannot teach and run a school. Whitehat is a great poster child for America’s failing educational system. So, when they say anyone can be a teacher….they need to think again. The sad thing is that they could have been sucessful, but because of the unqualified staff not wanting to listen to and support the qualified staff, it has become America’s greatest educational failure. But I have now since opened my eyes and I will never work for another online school again. As the matter of fact, I am in the process of writing a book and getting it published about my experiences in online schools. I consider my skills and credentials to be something of value and to work at an online school would only deprive me of my true ability. I spent a lot of time, money and energy earning my degrees and no way did I ever prepare myself to be treated the way I was treated in these online schools. Working for online schools has robbed me of my life…I could have been doing so much more with my skills and my career, but I wasted a total of 6 years of my life in online schools. I was brainwashed, but thank God, I was able to open my eyes, get out, and finally get a reputable job where my work, skills, and efforts are supported, appreciated, and put to good use. As long as I worked for online schools…I had no future. When I was in the trap, I could not see it…so that is why these OHDELA, OHVA, and ECOT people try to defend it. They are still on the inside and cannot see the whole picture from the outside. Whitehat is very good at brainwashing its employees. But when they get out one day, they will see it. It is not their fault….I speak from experience. I once defended OHDELA, but while I was inside, I could not see what was really happening. Now I do, and I thank God everyday I was able to get out of that mess. Online schools are like the Titanic with her ass straight up in the air…the only way to go is down….those who quit, get laid off, or leave for whatever reason are those who get the life boats…the rest of you will go down with your ship….and the chances of you surviving are pretty slim to none. Any teacher or staff member who truly values their skills, credentials, and life would get out. Trust me…there are way better jobs out there that will pay you what you are worth and not treat you like a dog. This goes for teachers and staff in ALL online schools.
Kathy,
No offense, but most of the teachers aren’t brainwashed like you were. We are young with families and bills to pay. Ohio universities keep pumping out teaching degrees, and there are just not enough schools to support the amount of graduates.
Nobody goes to school for 4 years in education in the hopes they can sit in a cube and email kids they have never met. The fact of the matter is, getting a teaching job in Northeast Ohio is mainly about who you know. For those of us without the privilege of “connections,” Ohdela is a way to make ends meet. Unfortunately, now that we have White Hat on our resumes, our chances at getting a job in a “real school” are even slimmer.
Trust me, we all have resumes out and would jump at the chance to get out.
Sally,
Sadly, it’s not just teaching jobs that look down on seeing WhiteHat management on a resume. Once I was laid off, I could not get hired on anywhere. It seemed as though having OHDELA on my resume was hindering getting a job. I wound up having to go back through temp agencies just to get a job. I finally got hired on at the company I work at now, but again it was only through the help of a temp agency. I also am not making as much as I had been at OHDELA, but thankfully I am not dealing with a lot of the issues I dealt with there. I was there for 3 years, and I have to say that I was brainwashed into thinking that OHDELA was the best I could do. I do believe that there are some teachers who truly care about the students. I also know that teaching jobs are hard to find, but I think that by working at that school they are doing themselves a disservice. I wish any teacher who gets out of WhiteHat luck in their teaching search.
When will our politicians figure out that they are funding a “tax-dollar black hole”? I mean, c’mon, these management companies are competing with the politicians for the very same tax dollars.
While I do agree with much of what has already been said about OHDELA. I will say, as a current employee (for three years), that without charter schools like OHDELA, many students would not have an option to go to school. They would simply drop out and contribute to the undereducated and unemployed masses that already plague our country. For many students, OHDELA is not the right environment (trust me, I believe that!). Myself and the other staff at OHDELA are making great strides in improving the curriculum and programming at the school. Finally, let’s be honest…what school is perfect? If you can provide an example, I would love to talk to them to find out their secrets. I do agree that OHDELA should not be run by businessmen and lawyers who only care about profit. I also feel that every teacher, advisor, and staff member at OHDELA cares about our students and truly wants the best for all of them.
K wrote: “Finally, let’s be honest…what school is perfect?”
K, The answer is “none.” The problem here is that those for-profit business / money-hungry tycoons (like David Brennan) are sucking the money away from public schools that need the state funding to balance their budgets. What are we going to have when the profit dries up for the moneymongers? You will have public schools, many of which survived the recession caused by charter schools.
former PDELA employee
K,
The school my child attends may not be perfect, but I would rather send him there than deal with the half rate education he would get at OHDELA. Half the time the online curriculum doesn’t work, grades disappear from gradebooks, and many times the LMS is so screwy that you can’t log hours. The school my child attends is one of 3 in my district rated for excellence. That is DEFINITELY more than I can say for a school who hasn’t made AYP…EVER!!!!! What parent would want to send their child their after knowing that. Better yet, how can the teachers and staff justify this? You can sit there and say how much everyone cares about the students all you want, and that OHDELA is making great strides in improving the curriculum. The fact remains, OHDELA just can’t compete with other schools. I have a feeling that the higher up’s not having backgrounds in education might have a lot to do with that.
Let’s face it. No school is perfect. But just like OHDELA is destroying their student’s lives with their false, low quality education — they are also destroying the public schools. The public schools are far from perfect, but at least they are passing the test. The public schools would get better if charter schools would stopping stealing money for them. OHDELA and all charter schools are nothing but a bunch of educational terrorists who are a destroying society. Keep feeding your unethical, low quality curriculums and shit to these students and our entire society will be comparable to the war in Iraq sooner than we think. With people like George Bush and charter schools — the USA only has one way to go — straight to hell. OHDELA = The grandfather of the downfall of American education.
I find it a comedy that people are blindly falling for the “school of choice” position that Brennan and others are promoting. If the public only knew the truth…
Well, it is evident what is really going on here. The students who go to OHDELA are the ones that the public schools don’t want. The teachers are also the one’s that the public schools don’t want. They all have admitted that they cannot get jobs outside of OHDELA. Now, that all of the trash has been taken out of Ohio’s public schools and dumped into OHDELA and other charter schools, public schools are finally passing the test. All I can say is THANKS to OHDELA for taking all of that trash (both students and teachers) out and away from the public schools so that they can once again be good schools. OHDELA is just a dumping ground for rejects that were pulling the public school system down. Isn’t is obvious? According to the Akron Beacon Journal (December 16), all charter schools are failing and all public schools are now passing. Thanks to charter schools, Public school were able to get rid of their trash and become great schools again. So, we really should stop bashing OHDELA and other charter schools and start thanking them. They really are doing the public schools a favor.
All of the students in these charter schools were failing public school (if they went there). They were just pulling the system down. Most of them are students with problems due to decisions they made themselves (such as drugs, pregnancy, etc). So, by them leaving the public schools and going off to another school…the public schools may have lost money…but now we do not have students who fail the test because they are not internested in school.
None of the teachers in OHDELA can get other teaching jobs outside of charter schools because the public schools don’t want that trash back. They won’t get jobs. Principals and school districts know what type of person you are because of where you work. Public schools are finally passing, why would they want to take a step back by hiring low life charter school teachers? Give up. You ruined your career by accepting a job there in the first place. OHDELA is NOT teaching experience. It is sitting in a cube writing email experience. You will never be able to compare yourself to a real school teacher.
OHDELA administration…these are also society rejects. If they are business people, lawyers or even teacher…then why are they not out there working in their field? Because they too are rejects of their field and no one wants them.
So, come on people. Stop bashing this school and start thanking them. They are the trashmen of the educational world!
Hey, you know what they say…
Those who can do, those who can’t work for OHDELA! Enough said.
Well, it’s been just over a year since I was laid off from OHDELA. I must admit that I bawled my eyes out at the time and I felt completely lost. I kept thinking that I would never find a place that I would love as much as OHDELA. I thought they were the best I could do. After months of searching for a job on my own, I had to go through a temp agency because no one would hire me seeing OHDELA on my resume. Even through the temp agencies I still had a hard time. In August, I was placed with a wonderful company here locally. Yes, it was through a temp agency. This company saw my potential and not only kept me on, but they bought out my contract. I can honestly say that I am working for a company who TRULY values their employees…and shows them daily how valued we really are.
Now that I am working here, I can’t ever imagine how I thought I lost such a great job. Believe me, once you are out of that place you will see how much better off you really are!
OHDELA is just like PDELA–a mere office and name. The Pennsylania Department of Education is threatening to revoke PDELA’s school charter. You can read about it at this link:
http://www.pde.state.pa.us/charter_schools/lib/charter_schools/PDELA_Decision_6-29-07.pdf
OHDELA’s mirror offices (I hate calling these schools you know) in Colorado has had its charter revoked by the Colorado Charter School Institute. Read about it here:
http://coloradocharters.blogspot.com/2007/09/cdela-charter-rescinded.html
http://www.csi.state.co.us/downloads/agenda_12-19-07.pdf
Here’s more about the charter revocation from http://www.csi.state.co.us/meetings.htm
XII. Action Item – CDELA Review
Jay Brennan from White Hat Management, Diana Lopez, Principal, Carly Havlik and Mary AmAcher, teachers from CDELA were in attendance to present their report. Diana Lopez has resigned as principal for family reasons and CDELA will be making a transition with school leadership. The teachers presented anecdotal references to student successes during the year. They think they will have a 60% retention rate with their students. In order to recruit new students they are planning 36 Meet and Greet meetings to recruit students in areas where they know the school systems are in crisis. An updated budget was submitted to the board.
It was reported that on Friday the CDELA board took a “No Confidence” vote of White Hat Management. Peter expressed his concerns at a board meeting last Friday and another board member offered up a motion of no confidence. The motion passed. Dean expressed a concern about that.
Randy said that Russ McGreger thinks the enrollment might be at 150. He felt they were recruiting too late. Randy was concerned about the numbers and guessed 100 could be a better estimation. Randy said that June is a bit late to be recruiting students for the next school year.
Christine asked if Randy had spoken with the board. Randy said he had. One board member has resigned. Two more board members are ready to resign as of last week.
Dean said we need to entertain a motion for revocation.
John said the director has the ability to put the school on notice that revocation is a possibility.
Motion to direct our Executive Director to initiate the revocation process for CDELA. Motion by Dean Titterington. Seconded by Tina Leone
Discussion:
John said Randy would put the school on notice in writing and give reasons. The school would have a chance within 30 days to respond in writing. Within 15 days of receipt of that, a corrective action plan would be created. Then we would initiate a revocation hearing if the school has not complied with part or all of the plan for correction and the timeline is outlined in the plan. *The details to these procedures are in our rules.
Dean suggested that John give us all a memo regarding this process. This is the beginning of the process and we will gain more information from this process as well as open up the possibility for significant changes and improvements. It also communicates our concerns as to the severity of the issues that CDELA is experiencing.
Vote:
Christine Howard – yes
Keith King – yes
Don Lee – yes
Tina Leone – yes
Alex Medler – yes
Dean Titterington – yes
Motion approved unanimously.
Randy will begin that process tomorrow.
XI. Hearing on CDELA Revocation
-Mr. Arrington asserted because the location and time of the hearing were different than in the July 25, 2007 written notice provided to CDELA, the hearing was not properly noticed and the Board was not able to act.
-John Sleeman said there is no due process issue because of the change in location and time. He argued that the Board’s regular agenda did show the correct location and time, CDELA’s attorney was in attendance and hadn’t recited any prejudice to CDELA from the notice issue other than that some Board members might not have been able to attend and listen to the hearing. .
-Mr. Arrington proposed that the hearing be deferred until the next Board meeting.
-After discussion of the proposal, the Board determined to proceed with the hearing.
-John Sleeman began by offering the nine exhibits submitted with the Executive Director’s Position Statement into the record. There was no objection to the exhibits from CDELA. The issue at hand is whether or not the CDELA charter should be revoked because of non-compliance with the contract on two points. One is in Section 2.2 of the charter school contract and the other is that CDELA violated accepted standards of fiscal management by failing to maintain sufficient enrollment levels to remain financially viable.
– John Sleeman pointed to CDELA’s failure to ever enroll the number of students projected in its initial application and CDELA’s admission, on two occasions, that its enrollment was not sufficient to make the school financially viable if enrollment alone was considered. He argued that their current enrollment numbers weren’t sufficient and that there was no evidence before the Board about whether the students listed in Jay Brennan’s affidavit had actually logged in or concerning what, if any, screening process had been done to determine suitability of the students for online education. Mr. Sleeman contended that the unsigned proposed guarantee from White Hat Management is not sufficient. The document show an obligation that is to be drawn on by an entity other than the school. He pointed out other deficiencies in the document, including White Hat’s ability to draw on the account supporting the guarantee without the school’s consent, that the bank could terminate the agreement at will, and that the agreement could terminate on October 1, leaving the school without the guarantee for the rest of the year. He asserted that the marketing plan submitted by CDELA is speculative and there was no evidence before the Board that it will work and lead to increased enrollment. Mr. Sleeman requested that the charter be revoked or, in the alternative, that the charter contract be amended with specific performance measures. He provided a proposed revocation resolution.
– Mr. Arrington argued that there were 39 new students since May. 2007. Mr. Arrington argued that the standard for the Board to consider was what was best for the students. He conceded that there were problems with enrollment last year. Mr. Arrington asked that the Board focus on the trajectory of the school since July, 2007. Given the performance of the school since then in enrolling new students, it is reasonable to believe that the student count can go up to 300 by the October count date. Mr. Arrington reiterated the financial commitment of White Hat to the school. The letter of credit is to the bank and the guarantee is to the school. He said White Hat has a proven track record of making good on its commitment in supporting the school and that the Board should focus on White Hat’s performance in the past rather than the details of the proposed letter of credit. He contended that regardless of whether the letter of credit is terminated, White Hat’s guarantee will stand. Mr. Arrington argued that financial viability is based on more than enrollment, including staffing levels, equipment, and other factors that impact the finances, including the guarantee of the management company. He asserted that based on the trajectory in the past summer and White Hat’s guarantee, the school is and would remain viable.
-Keith King had questions about the guarantee agreement. He questioned the agreement between WHDL LLC of Colorado and the bank, not between the bank and the school. He asked how money transfers would take place. Mr. Arrington said that under White Hat’s accounting system, WHDL LLC is part of White Hat management. He argued that the
agreement was for the benefit of the school. Mr. Arrington contended that last year whenever there was a shortfall, White Hat transferred the money to the school, and that the agreement was not as important as White Hat’s commitment to the school.
-Dean Titterington clarified that the WHDL was a White Hat entity. Mr. Arrington conceded that the school had no control over the agreement. He reemphasized White Hat’s past support of the school as the important factor.
-Keith King questioned the assurance of the affidavit which documented the numbers of enrolled students. Mr. Arrington admitted that CDELA did not have numbers about how many students had logged on, but argued that many students were going through orientation and so may not have logged onto their computers. He argued that the students have submitted applications and have received computers in their homes.
Rebuttals:
– John Sleeman reiterated that the issue here is the violation of the contract and failure in economic sustainability. He argued that White Hat’s financial commitment was not sufficiently concrete. Mr. Sleeman said that there is no data that gives any confidence that students will stay enrolled in the program. The only thing we have to go on is their track record. Their track record is unstable in articulating student enrollment.
– Mr. Arrington responded that the track record has a positive fund balance. They made money last year as a school. White Hat lost $600,000, but the school had a positive fund balance. He said Mr. Sleeman’s assertions that White Hat may not continue to support the school or WHDL or that the school won’t reach the target of 300 students by the October count date are speculation. He said the school is financially viable.
Motion to revoke the CDELA Charter by Resolution 07-04. Motion by John Schlichting. Seconded by Craig Bowman.
Discussion: John Schlichting said his biggest concern is the enrollment and the shortfall of the enrollment. The school has not corrected its low enrollment numbers. He also says that he has a concern because the original board is no longer participating. Dean Titterington commented on the low re-enrollment percentage, even for an online school, that has been an acceptable number to White Hat. He questioned about whether the screening process (or lack of it) contributed to the poor retention figures. He also commented on the fact that CDELA had fallen far short of its enrollment targets. White Hat’s liquidity doesn’t mean much to him because the key factor is accountability. Keith King talked about the questionable ability of the governing board to have the ability to give input to some degree of how to make the school financially viable. He questioned when and if there would actually be an ability to make the
school financially viable. The Brennan affidavit did not provide the evidence that the students were actually being educated by the school. Alex Medler commented regarding the enrollment and financial viability particularly in light of the school’s history. He further noted that enrollment is an indicator of the quality of the school because if students are not attending, then this is indicative of how the school is performing. He thinks this is a leading indicator of overall viability of the school.
Mr. Arrington waived a complete reading of the resolution before the Board voted.
Vote:
Craig Bowman – yes
Keith King – yes
Tina Leone – yes
Alex Medler – yes
John Schlichting – yes
Dean Titterington – yes
The motion to revoke the charter carried unanimously.
CDELA Revocation
The State Board will meet on November 7 and 8 at which time they will consider the appeal. Randy and Lee reported that if the school closes, the October payment would be the last. Anything that the school owns, paid for by PPR, becomes CSI property, and it will be an administrative challenge to capture the assets. The CDE accounting department will have to design a process to identify what comes to CSI and what is property of White Hat, given that the school has been running at a deficit with White Hat Management covering expenses created by the enrollment shortfall. Questions about the impact on IEP students need to be addressed by John Sleeman and Randy DeHoff.
III. Hearing to Reconsider the Revocation of CDELA
John Sleeman spoke on behalf of the CSI Executive Director. Since the revocation resolution, CDELA has continued to enroll students and now has 266 enrolled. The Director feels confident that these are legitimate students. Mr. Arrington submitted an Account Agreement just before the meeting began that ensures a directly accessible agreement for financing of the school. The provision regarding the notice of Exclusive control is still a part of the agreement. Only after the notice was given would White Hat Management be prevented from drawing on that account without the school’s consent. Deleted was the provision to allow the bank to terminate the agreement simply on notice. The provision that if the school reached 300 students by the October count date was still present, and remained a concern. The Director’s recommendation is to rescind the revocation. The school is subject to the contract and is responsible for adhering to it. This will not prevent us from insisting they follow the contract and, if they do not in the future, from convening another revocation proceeding.
As an alternative to simply rescinding the resolution, Mr. Sleeman proposed that the
Board put some more specific stipulations in the contract to make explicit representations that had been made in the application. The result would be mutually agreed upon amendments to the contract. Alex wanted to know what would happen if CDELA is not in agreement with the amendments. Mr. Sleeman said the items discussed are already in their application so the items are already technically agreed upon. Mr. Sleeman said we could frame it as a mutual action: We agree to rescind if they agree to the amendments. He believes the rescission in no way affects our ability to hold them accountable for their contract.
Mr. Arrington deferred to CDELA Operations Manager Amy Brown, who reported that the current student count is 266 admitted students with 50 possible students who are interested in the program. Alex asked how many have logged on in the last couple of days. Ms. Brown was not sure how many. Tim Spencer said that 204 have logged on as of Tuesday.
Mr. Arrington addressed the account control agreement he submitted before the meeting and indicated they are willing to negotiate with CSI. He would not say he would agree today to all the specific items listed on the document that Mr. Sleeman had submitted. He said that if we give a conditional rescission of the revocation today, they would still move forward with the appeal. In particular, he expressed his concern with an approach that required CDELA to agree to revocation if they violated one of the provisions of the contract. This would not be acceptable to them.
Mr. Sleeman responded by asking if there is any portion of the conditions presented that Mr. Arrington could agree to today. Dean asked how long they’ve had this document. Mr. Sleeman said that the items were presented before the initial revocation hearing. Mr. Arrington affirmed he has had that document for a month.
Terri wanted to hear from Ronald Wooding, CDELA Board President, regarding our list of concerns. Mr. Wooding said his board had questions about our concerns. “If we have 299 students on October 1 instead of 300, does that mean our charter is revoked?”
John Schlichting asked if CDELA could come back to us with a response from their board. Mr. Sleeman clarified that the majority of the items in the issues listed are already a part of their current charter.
Amy Brown said there were a number of people who created the script for communicating the issues of the revocation, and that it came from Ohio, with White Hat management, the CDELA Board and state CDELA recruiters involved in it. The Board conveyed its strong disappointment with the script, and particularly that it was not in accord with the discussion at the revocation hearing and that the revocation resolution was not, as stated in the script, a political attack on the school.
Motion to rescind revocation Resolution 07-04 of August 28, 2007 as of today
with the stipulation that the contract as presented by this board in good faith with CDELA be upheld and amended by mutual agreement. Motion by Terri Hill. Seconded by Christine Howard.
Discussion:
Terri said she has been involved a long time with charters and it is very difficult for her to see a school like this. She asked that their representative help them. She was very concerned about the script that was used to contact the school community regarding the revocation and she wanted to remind them of what matters most in this process.
Dean asked if we could add a couple of items to the governance list. He wants to ensure that the CDELA board is independent from White Hat Management so that they operate independently. He would like to see the CDELA board get formal board training. He would like a separate legal counsel for the CDELA board, not a sole attorney representing both CDELA and White Hat Management.
Alex wanted to add another item to the governance list. He wants the CDELA board to have the ability to terminate their agreement between their board and White Hat Management at any time.
Vote:
Craig Bowman- yes
Christine Howard- yes
Tina Leone- yes
Alex Medler- yes
Terri Hill- yes
John Schlichting- yes
Dean Titterington- yes
Well, my main question is that if PDELA, CDELA, and OHDELA close down…will they oump their trash back into the public schools? Now that we got rid of the no good teachers and students who did not care…why would we want them back? I think it is a good idea to keep these school open, just so the trash stays out of the public schools.
Mr. Manny, A public school teacher.
“Well, my main question is that if PDELA, CDELA, and OHDELA close down…will they oump their trash back into the public schools? Now that we got rid of the no good teachers and students who did not care…why would we want them back? I think it is a good idea to keep these school open, just so the trash stays out of the public schools.
Mr. Manny, A public school teacher.”
Mr. Manny,
In a word, YES. You know that truancy laws would force the students towards their home school district, or another charter school But lets face facts, a savvy charter school would have a clause to prevent them from having to take any undesirable students (I won’t use the word “trash” in regards to students and I will reserve that word as a pronoun for administrators and management company owners who engage in despicable business practices).
What I found funny while employed by PDELA was the high number of my students who thought that cyber charter school would provide them with invisibility, or no educational accountability. Those students were sorely disappointed when I made my mandatory calls when they were delinquent. They learned that they had to turn in work at PDELA too! else face the truancy officer and magistrate in their school district of residence. In some of the cases of truancy that I reported to the S.D., the parents would immediately re-enroll their children in their S.D. of residence because they didn’t like being the “parent educator.” Many parents complained that nobody through the enrollment process informed them (parents) that they had to devote time, and study space in the home for their child. I had to be the bearer of the bad news (to them).
I have read this article and the comments with much interest. I take huge issue with students or teachers being called “trash.” I was a teacher at one of these schools and neither I nor any of the other wonderful people I worked with was “trash” that nobody wanted.
Each of us chose to embark on this type of schooling adventure because we believed in the concept of the program as an alternative for students that just did not fit in a traditional enviornment. The programs are no different than homeschooling, excpet there is more support and accountability for the parent educators.
In my state, each of the educators I worked with were passionate and VERY dedicated to the students. The students were our number one concern.
I have since left this company and have returned to the traditional school setting where I am happy to report that the administrators, students, and parents do not think I am “trash” and not only did they want me, but they appreciate me and the hard work I do each day to give the children the best education possible.
I love where I am at now and I enjoyed the experience of the online environment. If there was a separation between the school and the Ohio management, I would consider returning there. The concept is great, the management from afar was flawed.
Please do not judge the teachers or the students. We are people with feelings and not a single one of us is “trash.” The teachers saw an opportunity to become involved in a program they believed in. We all worked hard to earn our certification to teach and we all work harder to find a school setting that fits our philosophy of education. Children are our number one priority. We go where we think we will be able to best serve the children. Parents and students also have their own reasons for choosing the schools they do. Yes, a few choose for selfish reasons, but most honestly think that is the best setting for their child. The students are also not “trash.” Students who have been suspended or expelled(at least where I was) are not typically allowed into this program. Students who did not receive good grades at their previous schools are warned that the online setting may not be the best for them either because it takes a lot of self initiave to be successful with the program.
At any rate, the generalization of all teachers and students at the online schools being trash is insulting,hurtful and untrue. If the school does not fit your philosophy, don’t go there. Go where you fit.
Merry Christmas!
I have read this article and the comments with much interest. I take huge issue with students or teachers being called “trash.” I was a teacher at one of these schools and neither I nor any of the other wonderful people I worked with was “trash” that nobody wanted.
Each of us chose to embark on this type of schooling adventure because we believed in the concept of the program as an alternative for students that just did not fit in a traditional enviornment. The programs are no different than homeschooling, excpet there is more support and accountability for the parent educators.
In my state, each of the educators I worked with were passionate and VERY dedicated to the students. The students were our number one concern.
I have since left this company and have returned to the traditional school setting where I am happy to report that the administrators, students, and parents do not think I am “trash” and not only did they want me, but they appreciate me and the hard work I do each day to give the children the best education possible.
I love where I am at now and I enjoyed the experience of the online environment. If there was a separation between the school and the Ohio management, I would consider returning there. The concept is great, the management from afar was flawed.
Please do not judge the teachers or the students. We are people with feelings and not a single one of us is “trash.” The teachers saw an opportunity to become involved in a program they believed in. We all worked hard to earn our certification to teach and we all work harder to find a school setting that fits our philosophy of education. Children are our number one priority. We go where we think we will be able to best serve the children. Parents and students also have their own reasons for choosing the schools they do. Yes, a few choose for selfish reasons, but most honestly think that is the best setting for their child. The students are also not “trash.” Students who have been suspended or expelled(at least where I was) are not typically allowed into this program. Students who did not receive good grades at their previous schools are warned that the online setting may not be the best for them either because it takes a lot of self initiave to be successful with the program.
At any rate, the generalization of all teachers and students at the online schools being trash is insulting,hurtful and untrue. If the school does not fit your philosophy, don’t go there. Go where you fit.
Merry Christmas!
I have read this article and the comments with much interest. I take huge issue with students or teachers being called “trash.” I was a teacher at one of these schools and neither I nor any of the other wonderful people I worked with was “trash” that nobody wanted.
Each of us chose to embark on this type of schooling adventure because we believed in the concept of the program as an alternative for students that just did not fit in a traditional enviornment. The programs are no different than homeschooling, excpet there is more support and accountability for the parent educators.
In my state, each of the educators I worked with were passionate and VERY dedicated to the students. The students were our number one concern.
I have since left this company and have returned to the traditional school setting where I am happy to report that the administrators, students, and parents do not think I am “trash” and not only did they want me, but they appreciate me and the hard work I do each day to give the children the best education possible.
I love where I am at now and I enjoyed the experience of the online environment. If there was a separation between the school and the Ohio management, I would consider returning there. The concept is great, the management from afar was flawed.
Please do not judge the teachers or the students. We are people with feelings and not a single one of us is “trash.” The teachers saw an opportunity to become involved in a program they believed in. We all worked hard to earn our certification to teach and we all work harder to find a school setting that fits our philosophy of education. Children are our number one priority. We go where we think we will be able to best serve the children. Parents and students also have their own reasons for choosing the schools they do. Yes, a few choose for selfish reasons, but most honestly think that is the best setting for their child. The students are also not “trash.” Students who have been suspended or expelled(at least where I was) are not typically allowed into this program. Students who did not receive good grades at their previous schools are warned that the online setting may not be the best for them either because it takes a lot of self initiave to be successful with the program.
At any rate, the generalization of all teachers and students at the online schools being trash is insulting,hurtful and untrue. If the school does not fit your philosophy, don’t go there. Go where you fit.
Merry Christmas!
I have read this article and the comments with much interest. I take huge issue with students or teachers being called “trash.” I was a teacher at one of these schools and neither I nor any of the other wonderful people I worked with was “trash” that nobody wanted.
Each of us chose to embark on this type of schooling adventure because we believed in the concept of the program as an alternative for students that just did not fit in a traditional enviornment. The programs are no different than homeschooling, excpet there is more support and accountability for the parent educators.
In my state, each of the educators I worked with were passionate and VERY dedicated to the students. The students were our number one concern.
I have since left this company and have returned to the traditional school setting where I am happy to report that the administrators, students, and parents do not think I am “trash” and not only did they want me, but they appreciate me and the hard work I do each day to give the children the best education possible.
I love where I am at now and I enjoyed the experience of the online environment. If there was a separation between the school and the Ohio management, I would consider returning there. The concept is great, the management from afar was flawed.
Please do not judge the teachers or the students. We are people with feelings and not a single one of us is “trash.” The teachers saw an opportunity to become involved in a program they believed in. We all worked hard to earn our certification to teach and we all work harder to find a school setting that fits our philosophy of education. Children are our number one priority. We go where we think we will be able to best serve the children. Parents and students also have their own reasons for choosing the schools they do. Yes, a few choose for selfish reasons, but most honestly think that is the best setting for their child. The students are also not “trash.” Students who have been suspended or expelled(at least where I was) are not typically allowed into this program. Students who did not receive good grades at their previous schools are warned that the online setting may not be the best for them either because it takes a lot of self initiave to be successful with the program.
At any rate, the generalization of all teachers and students at the online schools being trash is insulting,hurtful and untrue. If the school does not fit your philosophy, don’t go there. Go where you fit.
Merry Christmas!
I have read this article and the comments with much interest. I take huge issue with students or teachers being called “trash.” I was a teacher at one of these schools and neither I nor any of the other wonderful people I worked with was “trash” that nobody wanted.
Each of us chose to embark on this type of schooling adventure because we believed in the concept of the program as an alternative for students that just did not fit in a traditional enviornment. The programs are no different than homeschooling, excpet there is more support and accountability for the parent educators.
In my state, each of the educators I worked with were passionate and VERY dedicated to the students. The students were our number one concern.
I have since left this company and have returned to the traditional school setting where I am happy to report that the administrators, students, and parents do not think I am “trash” and not only did they want me, but they appreciate me and the hard work I do each day to give the children the best education possible.
I love where I am at now and I enjoyed the experience of the online environment. If there was a separation between the school and the Ohio management, I would consider returning there. The concept is great, the management from afar was flawed.
Please do not judge the teachers or the students. We are people with feelings and not a single one of us is “trash.” The teachers saw an opportunity to become involved in a program they believed in. We all worked hard to earn our certification to teach and we all work harder to find a school setting that fits our philosophy of education. Children are our number one priority. We go where we think we will be able to best serve the children. Parents and students also have their own reasons for choosing the schools they do. Yes, a few choose for selfish reasons, but most honestly think that is the best setting for their child. The students are also not “trash.” Students who have been suspended or expelled(at least where I was) are not typically allowed into this program. Students who did not receive good grades at their previous schools are warned that the online setting may not be the best for them either because it takes a lot of self initiave to be successful with the program.
At any rate, the generalization of all teachers and students at the online schools being trash is insulting,hurtful and untrue. If the school does not fit your philosophy, don’t go there. Go where you fit.
Merry Christmas!
If you really are a teacher, maybe you shouldn’t be. People make mistakes, especially teenagers. If you cannot teach kids without being hateful and judgmental towards them (even if you’re only spewing your venom through an online website), maybe you should rethink your career choices. It seems as though it’d be hard to be a good teacher if you’re falling behind on the “being a good person” front.
Well I used work for the “help desk” so I had dealings with parents, students and teachers and the rest of the staff. Bad things can be said for all, but that’s how it is anywhere. We (students) only get out of school what we are willing to put in it. I went to public school, it doesn’t work for everyone. I don’t feel that the public school system is or ever will do a better job, they fail to but no one wants to talk about that. You only want to bitch about the bad time you had and about how much money they are taking. Levies are passed for public schools and with in a few years they are asking for more, mostly due to the fact they don’t know how to manage money. All I can say is people will have bad things to say about everything that ever goes on. As far as the pay for teachers at whitehat, well name one company that pays well any more? I was let go back in July and sure I could bash the crap out of them because I’m mad I lost my job, but I have better things to do, just remember people there are two sides to every story
I was in Ohdela for a couple of years. It sucked big time. Only way to answer my questions was Google (nuthin wrong with that though, right?), and reading the questions on the quiz’s and test’s made me feel like someone was stoned when they wrote them. I couldn’t take it anymore. My parents wouldn’t listen either.. Eventually I got sick of it and got kicked out for exploiting peoples account passwords because the teachers and the fellow students were retarded.
I’m now in high school in BOSS, its a lot better. They actually made me sign a paper saying I’d do my work when I was slacking behind. Unlike Ohella where I waited 9 months before doing any work.
P.S. I’d still rather do books or public school.
What I think is really sad about all of the previous comments is that none of you know the current student population, curriculum, administration, staff, or really anything that is going on at OHDELA. It has been 3.5 years since the author of this article worked for OHDELA. In her employee file, was written up on several occasions for not doing her job. Then she finally quit by not showing up to work and OHDELA administrators had to guess that she quit. She sat in her cube selling stuff on Ebay and checking her personal email. While the administrators at that time are to blame for allowing her poor performance, she takes the cake when it comes to lazy employees.
As for the other comments about the teachers/advisors not “forcing” the students to work…the students and parents at our school have a certain responsibility for their school work (just like any other school)and if students choose not to do what they are supposed to, they fail. I equate it to the student that comes to school every day and just sits in the back of class and sleeps; never turning in any work. There is not much that a teacher in a brick and mortar school can do and even less that a teacher at OHDELA can do with an unmotivated student.
The teachers and staff at OHDELA want very badly to work in “traditional” schools. However, there are not enough jobs available in the state of Ohio for them. The only other option they have is to move out of state in order to work in a brick and mortar school. In many cases, that option is not open to them. All of the teachers are held to the same standards as “brick and mortar” teachers, and many have passed Praxis III (several hold Master’s degrees).
As for the administration team at OHDELA…they are highly qualified to run a school. The administrator holds a PhD in education and has worked in K-12 for several years, as well as, higher education for many years prior to that. The K-8 administrator holds a Master’s degree in Education, is a licensed principal, and has had about 30 years of teaching/administration experience.
So, if you want to criticize something that you all know very little to nothing about…GO AHEAD…HAVE FUN…knock yourselves out. I just hope that someday we all realize that traditional education methods do not apply to everyone and that programs like OHDELA are necessary.
Any job that isn’t absolutely controlling and patriarchal would allow such freedoms as checking personal email and auctions so long as they meet “performance requirements” -which I did and that is why I was able to stay employed for over a year. You may check the contact logs and charts and see all of the parents that I contacted and all of the students that I faithfully led towards that illusory “graduation” which, at the time, was absolutely an illusion. Perhaps now, OHDELA has lowered the standards that lead to this end in order to herd more numbers, but at the time nobody had hopes of graduating unless they came in with a couple credits left.
When I was first employed, I was a star employee making 40-50 phone calls per day, without a headset. When I developed neck problems from typing with a phone squeezed between shoulder and ear, diagnosed as ‘repetitive stress injury,’ I, and other advisors, begged White Hat for headsets and was told “it’s not in the budget”.
Part of me being “Written up” was taking breaks to see a local chiropractor and other doctors about this. Finally, after SEVEN months, White Hat provided the advisors with headsets. I could have certainly sued them all under OSHA standards, but I was a loyal employee, increasingly disgruntled, who desperately needed a paycheck. I finally determined that the company in which I worked so hard for, did not care for me whatsoever and only wanted to hold me accountable to my “numbers”. At the end, I thought it best to depart in silence and determined to make the public aware of this depressing trend in education, which still grows and threatens everymore.
Even my boss could see how hard I tried to change the system from the inside. Working as a temp, I developed an Access database in my spare time at home in order to keep student information more efficiently. When I brought what I developed to my superiors to institute it for all advisors, I was told I would have to work with the helpdesk to get it installed for everyone, in my spare time. Every idea I had to improve the situation for students was met with the same “we think it’s a good idea, but we don’t have time, so good luck.” After so many months of realizing that management just didn’t care about making anything better, and didn’t in fact care about ME, of course that would cause some feelings of hopelessness in anyone who tried as hard as I did. I didn’t give a two weeks notice. So sue me. I didn’t think they deserved anymore of me. But did I say anything in my article that was untrue? I don’t think so.
Bob,
I read your comment, and I had to respond. During our lunch hour, we were permitted to check our personal emails and shop online. As long as we didn’t send any emails that were *unprofessional and inappropriate*, we could respond to our emails. I our emails were monitored and that was fine. One employee, would shop online DURING work hours, and this was permitted. Mainly I think because she kissed up to the higher ups.
You mentioned alot about the students. The main difference between OHDELA and a traditional brick and mortar school, is if the student does not do the work they fail. They don’t get 0’s, they FAIL. They also would get detention, or sent to the guidance counselor. If a student is truant, then the truant officers get involved. In the 3 years I worked there, I NEVER saw that happen. Then again, with the curriculum not working half the time I really think it is unfair that a student would be truant. The school is faulty…bottom line. They threaten truancy, but they really can’t do anything about it because of their charter rules. Now, things may have changed in regards to that, but when I was there they couldn’t even give F’s. I’ve listened to the teachers complain about management after meetings, I’ve spoken to the teachers about how much they hate their job and want out. It’s sad, but true.
I also find it strange that just 2 months after I had to file for FMLA to take care of a parent who was having surgery, I was laid off. Sure, they gave me a nice severance package, but they still laid me off. Before you accuse me of being bitter, please note that before I had been laid off I was a good employee. My reviews were always good, I had one write up in the time I worked there and that was back in 2003, which was bogus because I had a doctors note and it I could have filed a complaint against the company. They also denied me the opportunity to be with my father during his last day of life because I didn’t have any time off left. I was told it was see him or lose my job. I should have chosen my father.
Management is a joke. The assistant administrator was nothing more than a grade school teacher who got FIRED from the Akron Public School District. I would have loved to see her qualifications for management as when I was there she started out as a K-6 grade teacher.
So, while you are happy there Bob and you are getting out of the school what YOU want out of it, don’t belittle someone who speaks the truth about the sham of a school we known as OHDELA.
Bob wrote: “As for the other comments about the teachers/advisors not “forcing” the students to work…the students and parents at our school have a certain responsibility for their school work (just like any other school)and if students choose not to do what they are supposed to, they fail. I equate it to the student that comes to school every day and just sits in the back of class and sleeps; never turning in any work. There is not much that a teacher in a brick and mortar school can do and even less that a teacher at OHDELA can do with an unmotivated student.”
Actually Bob, you couldn’t be more wrong. There are PLENTY of things a teacher in a brick and mortar school can do that OHDELA can’t. If a student sits in class and sleeps, they are woken up and given a warning. If they do it again they are sent to the principals office and/or given detention. If a student does not do the work, both student and parent get called into the principals office and/or guidance office and have discussions. If it continues, a student can get suspended or expelled. As much as you say parents and students are held accountable, their not. Your school depends on numbers, so none of the teachers are going to make waves to get a student to leave or cause a parent to pull their child. Your curriculum is not near up to standards, and your school has never met AYP since it opened. The brick and mortar school my child attends is one of 3 in the district rated as a school of promise. Sadly, Bob, no matter how much you say your school is good, and your administrators have master degrees; it just can’t hold a candle to the traditional brick and mortar school. I would like to know something though. How can you justify the extremely HIGH turnaround rate? Mr. Brennan constantly right sizes the school, and it’s a wonder how any student can feel a sense of security and pride in his school if he has 2 or more teachers, in the same subject (sometimes in multiple subjects), in a school year.
Sincerely,
A Brick and Mortar school parent
I have 2 children enrolled in OHDELA this year, our first. Yes, there have been problems. Curriculum not always available, website not available at times, links that don’t work, and other such issues. But, overall, it has been a good year so far. We chose this type of school because my kids used to attend a private school and their education was not up to par and the other kids had vocabularies from the gutter. I often wondered what other parents were thinking – if they even knew that their 5th grade students were saying the “F” word during recess. So we looked for an alternative. Our local public school had even more problem kids. And these kids today cannot be disciplined. They are sent to the principal who does nothing. On the contrary, the other day my daughter had a student on an online class who was being a bit disruptive. After a warning, the child continued, so the teacher decided to take the student out of the class. No more disruptions. The class proceeded. Try to do that in a public school! Overall, the teachers seem to be very caring, but overworked. Our advisor is always helpful. Tech support is responsive – in fact, we got a computer part sent out in one day! I don’t know about who is making what money, but I do know that my children are learning, they are safe, and they are two happy kids. The only thing that they may lack is daily student interaction, which may not be all bad (as I stated earlier about swearing and other dicipline problems). They are both involved in extracurricular activities. They both have friends that they see on weekends. And, by the way, whoever indicated that OHDELA students are all public school problems don’t know my kids. They were straight A students before OHDELA, and they are still A students this year. My kids don’t wake up as early as they used to, but they also don’t play video games during their school day. Maybe it’s because we don’t allow it? Yes, that must be it. They listen to their parents. Imagine that. Oh, and one more thing – the school boards of public schools are also made up of business people – and people who are in other professions. Not educators usually. They are the ones teaching and administrating. Do I know anything about education? Well, my Dad was a teacher and principal, my sister is a teacher, my brother is a teacher, and another sister teaches in the federal prison system. Guess what? None of them believe that public schools are great places to be today – for the students or the teachers. We haven’t decided where our kids will go next school year, but if they go to OHDELA, I know they’ll be OK. Because they have two parents who will make sure of it. Everything in life has good sides and bad sides. If you are not happy at OHDELA, please leave – for those of us who are currently enrolled. And if you are happy there, then I thank you for your efforts – good teachers (even ones who don’t physically stand in front of their students) are much appreciated. Know that you have the ability to be a great teacher. My 4th grade student loves her teacher this year and so do we. If OHDELA is as bad as some of you say, then no amounts of money filling anyone’s pockets will change that. Having an educational alternative to public schooling is good for those families that need or desire such an alternative. Thankfully, we can still have such alternatives. God bless America!
Well, it is evident that OHDELA still continues to blind some of its parents. Hopefully, you’ll still be praising the school when every college your kid applies to laughs in their face. Any parent who does not have credentials to be a teacher should not be teaching their children. You’re not qualified. Do you think allowing your kids to sleep in every day is teaching them responsibility? Do you think that by not having your kids confront and deal with the problems in real schools that you are protecting them? How in the hell will your kids ever learn to deal with issues and problems if you keep them locked in the house on a computer all day? You did not even learn the same things in school as your kids learn today. Any parent who does not have teaching credentials and is teaching their kids behind locked doors at home is only hurting their kids. It should be punishable as a form of child abuse. They will never be educated to the same level as other kids who were taught by REAL teachers in real schools. Just because you gave them birth, does not make you qualified to teach them. Unless you have a college degree in education, I guarantee you are clueless about how to properly educate kids. There is more to education that simply teaching them ABC and 123. You really are hurting your kids more than you can ever imagine. OHDELA only makes you think you are doing it right. If parents were such great teachers, OHDELA would be passing the AYP and other tests. The school would not be failing. Think about it.
I just had to respond to that last article. Any parent that takes on the full time job of educating their children is a “real” teacher. Not certified perhaps,but certainly “real”. I have been an OHDELA parent for four years now,and despite a few problems here and there we have been satisfied with our experience. I am invested in my childrens eduaction 100 percent. I do not leave them to their own devices while I go to work,nor do I expect them to do lessons without help and guidance.Each students or families experience with the online school is going to be based on what they put into it.I do feel terrible for the staff though.I think that they work very hard,and I am sorry that the conditions and pay are not up to par.Oh by the way,my son will be graduating next year.
waking up to Whitehead’s underhanded management of our children. His handling of teacher’s who love their job, love their students is deplorable and I can personally give an example of a teacher was railroaded because she chose to speak up. This man has no business handling the education of our children!! Online High Schools | engineering degrees
OHDELA treats their employees like dirt. The teachers and staff really want to do the best that they can for their students but if you are not one of the administrators favorites, you will loose your job at the end of the year. If parents really understood what was really going on with this school, they would never send their children there. Many students never even sign into their classes only having the teachers calling and calling and advisors begging them to “log hours” so that the student is not considered truant. OHDELA had an employee who tried to stop this and get the students to actually attend classes but her job was eliminated. They also had an excellent administrator and his contract was not renewed. Probably because of his age. This is how the company works. If you don’t go out and drink with the administrator and kiss up to her, you are out at the end of the year. Imagine this-your child attends a school that the administrator takes her favorite employees out for drinks and gets so drunk that the other customers of the bar complained to WhiteHat Management. The administrator was giving a week off from work but she is still employeed there! One of the people she as out with who got very drunk-her contract was not renewed. I know all schools have problems but I would never send my child to a school like this and they are only interested in getting more students in and not getting your child the best education possible. Most importantly, the administrator is extremely prejudice so if you are not a gay or white, don’t even think about applying for a job here. Would you send your child to a school like this?
Oh and by the way, Mr. Brennan is now being sued by the state of Ohio and 12 of it’s own schools for poor performance and mishandling of funds. About damn time!