Lawsuit Raises Allegation Of ‘Ongoing Criminal Activity’ At Charter School

A lawsuit and public comments made by a Tullytown charter school’s former business manager have raised allegations of possible problems with the organization’s finances.

The allegations of financial mismanagement first came to light in a lawsuit filed in Bucks County Common Pleas Court last October by Warminster resident Terri Sparango, the former business manager at the Center for Student Learning Charter School at Pennsbury. The complaint alleges that Sparango was wrongfully discharged after she refused to take part in what she believed was “ongoing criminal activity.”

Sparango is seeking damages in excess of $500,000 from the charter school, which has operated in the Pennsbury School District since 2002 and receives students and tuition from numerous area districts.

The roughly 50-page lawsuit filed by Sparango names the charter school that sits in a former church building on Lakeside Drive and several top officials and board members in it.

In court papers, Sparango said that she served in the business department and was removed from her duties after she did not take part in activities relating to “falsify audits with fraudulent numbers.” She said she ended up having to leave her job because she did not want to take part in violations of the law.

Sparango, who has previously worked in a similar capacity with for-profit businesses, noted in her lawsuit that she had serious concerns over the financial health of the charter school, claiming information was left off audited annual reports to cover financial problems. She called attention to the alleged actions by a past business manager as a way to pull off “deceitful audits” to mislead lenders and investors.

The lawsuit details that 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. Sparango said in the court papers that the roughly $80,000 loss resulted in the charter school withdrawing extra cash and refinancing their mortgage in 2015.

Among the claims in the lawsuit were that Sparango was forced to cut back on communications with fellow staff after she began raising concerns.

She also said that documents filed by former staff were “deliberately fabricated.”

The former business manager further stated in her lawsuit that she was asked to fill out documents with inflated enrollment numbers.

According to publicly available information, the sixth to 12th grade charter school has about 150 students enrolled.

Sparango said in an interview with LevittownNow.com and public statements at Pennsbury School Board meetings that she found “financial irregularities” and reported them to the charter school and the chartering district. She stands by the allegations in her lawsuit and said she believes there was financial mismanagement in the charter school.

Sparango has received support from Jim Thompson, who was married years ago in the former church where the Center for Student Learning Charter School is based and recently served as the charter school’s facilities manager. He said he witnessed incidents at the school that have caused him to stand behind his former colleague.

“The Center for Student Learning Charter School at Pennsbury denies the baseless allegations detailed in its former employee Ms. Sparango’s amended complaint. The school looks forward to addressing Ms. Sparango’s allegations in the context of the litigation … we have no further comment at this time,” charter school CEO Dr. Charles Bonner said.

Sparango and Thompson have said they met with lawyers for the Pennsbury School District and a former Pennsbury School Board member to provide them with information on the alleged problems at the charter school. Sparango said she worries the information fell on deaf ears.

In a statement, the school district said they take their responsibility regarding charter schools seriously and said their duties involved “carefully reviewing any concerns brought to its attention and working with local law enforcement when necessary.”

While there have been rumors that there has been an active criminal investigation into the allegations against the Center for Student Learning Charter School at Pennsbury, LevittownNow.com was unable to confirm the existence of an active investigation. Michael Clarke, the solicitor for the Pennsbury School District, has previously stated the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office was involved, but prosecutors confirmed late last year that they had no active probe.

In December, the school board voted to take a closer review of the charter school’s finances and hire Philadelphia-based Heffler, Radetich and Siatta LLP for a cost not to exceed $22,000. The district acknowledged the audit was being conducted after the allegations were made by Sparango.

In an interview, Sparango said she was concerned that the audit would not be thorough enough, noting the maximum expenditure of $22,000.

Bonner, the charter school leader, said the organization is cooperating with the audit.

According to the county court dockets, no trial date for the case has been scheduled.