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School's structure to change shape
By KENT FISCHER, Times Staff Writer
The board of directors from Deerwood Academy charter school and Pasco County school administrators will meet this afternoon to hash out a new administrative structure for the school, which is under investigation for financial mismanagement. District officials say they want to revamp Deerwood's board of directors to give the district a three-fifths majority, which gives it enough votes to run the school as it sees fit. The district already took control of the school's finances last week. It also appointed a district administrator, Ken Brown, to take over for the school's founder, Hank Johnson, who resigned Wednesday. An investigator with the State Attorney's Office began sifting through the school's financial records Monday. Last week, the St. Petersburg Times reported on more than $65,000 worth of invoices submitted to Deerwood for air conditioning work that was never done. One company that submitted $40,000 of those invoices was set up by a Clearwater man who later became the school's bookkeeper. District officials allege that much of the money went to Jeffrey Alcantara, a Port Richey man with a long history of credit card fraud, bad check writing and other white collar crimes. Alcantara worked at Deerwood for nearly a year and, for a time, his daughter was the school's bookkeeper. Jonathan Bentley, the newly elected President of Deerwood's board of directors, said he expects a shakeup of the board as a result of today's scheduled meeting. He said the financial questions raised by the Times and, now, the state attorney, happened on the board's watch over the past 18 months. Ultimately, he said, Deerwood's board of directors is responsible for the school's finances. "If you're on the board, how could you not ask your executive director for basic things like financial statements?" said Bentley, who was first appointed to the board last month. Bentley wouldn't comment on the district's desire to hold three of the board's five seats. He did, however, acknowledge that school officials are pretty much calling the shots at this point. "The fact that they're sitting on the checkbook brings with it an awful lot of implicit power," he said. After Deerwood's board and district administrators meet this afternoon, they'll attend a meeting for parents at the school set for 7 tonight. The district's takeover of the school angered many parents who turned out for a meeting last week. Bentley said he hopes that parents keep their tempers in check tonight. "I'm anxious to get Deerwood out of the limelight and to get a new working management structure in place," he said.
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From today's Pasco Times Letters |
