Like when a district superintendent mishandles a simple charter school arrangement to a point of incompetency.
That turn into the big things.
What happens when a failing public school government becomes financially envious of a successful charter operation it oversees? It tries to take it over. That is the unspoken punch line in a story carried by Capital Confidential last year.
“Livonia Public Schools is the authorizer of Hinoki International School, but the school district now is moving to start its own Japanese magnet school in the same building used by Hinoki.”
In 2014, Livonia Public Schools used its power to put Hinoki charter school out of business by ending the school’s building lease one year before the charter authorization was to expire. Hinoki, a Japanese immersion ‘magnet school’ was in a growth phase, and showed financial strength that appeared attractive to the struggling LPS superintendent Randy Liepa.
Spurred on by a disgruntled Hinoki principal, Liepa and LPS cancelled the lease for the immersion program, while at the same time used the exact same location to start a district run Japanese immersion school. This of course left Hinoki, (the successful school that was growing) without a building. It also meant that the school would lose its charter authorization from the Livonia Public Schools in a 6-1 vote.
“Gosh, so sorry.. We really hate to see you leave..”
Hinoki did not operate for the 2014-2015 school year.
(12)Nuh Uh.
(2)
