Charter School Lawsuit That Alleged Problems Settled, Audit Not Finished

A lawsuit that alleged problems and potential criminal activity at a local charter school has been settled.

In court records viewed by LevittownNow.com this week in Doylestown, the lawsuit had been marked “settled, discontinued, and ended without prejustice” as of last month. No details on what caused the case to be settled or what the settlement entailed were made public.

The lawsuit was filed by the Center for Student Learning Charter School at Pennsbury’s former business manager Terri Sparango. It claimed that Sparango was wrongfully discharged after she refused to take part in what she believed was “ongoing criminal activity.”

Detailed in the lawsuit were claims that she was punished for not agreeing to “falsify audits with fraudulent numbers.” She also said she ended up leaving the job after declining to take part in what she claimed were illegal activities.

Revenue to the charter school between June 30, 2012 to June 30, 2016 was $14,668,296 while expenses for that period were $14,748,447. The roughly $80,000 loss resulted in the charter school withdrawing extra cash and refinancing their mortgage in 2015, according to the lawsuit.

Sparango said that documents filed by former staff were “deliberately fabricated” and that she was asked to inflate enrollment numbers.

Earlier this year, charter school CEO Dr. Charles Bonner said the allegations were “baseless.” He added that the charter school “looked forward” to addressing the allegations in court.

However, with the settlement, it appears that will not happen.

The charter school did not reply to a request for comment.

When reached by phone, Sparango declined to comment on the case.

Sparango did tell this news organization before the lawsuit was settled that she reported “financial irregularities” to the Pennsbury School District, which charted the Center for Student Learning Charter School at Pennsbury.

After Sparango made her claims public and spoke at Pennsbury School Board meetings late last year, the body voted in December to review the charter school’s finances and hire Philadelphia-based Heffler, Radetich and Siatta LLP for a cost not to exceed $22,000.

A Right To Know request filed by this news organization revealed the auditor planned to analyze the charter school’s books and report “impropriety and proper financial disclosures” that were found. However, the letter also states that the firm is unable to guarantee it would “disclose all errors, irregularities, or noncompliance with laws and regulations, including fraud or defalcations.”

“The School District has not received any form of written document as to the result of the CSL audit,” Pennsbury spokesperson Ann Langtry said on Wednesday.