Schools

Mismanagement Ruins Charter School, Critics Say

A Steve Miller Band concert leaves a nonprofit organization -- and Steve Miller -- out in the cold.

 

A charter school that recently failed left a nonprofit group -- and the Temecula school district -- with hefty bills.

The Fender Center, a nonprofit group based in Corona, helped Context Middle School organize a concert to pay for music education for its students.

Find out what's happening in Temeculawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Steve Miller, made famous for his work in the Steve Miller Band, donated his time to put on the show, which was held outside the Civic Center on Sept. 18.

The concert was supposed to raise funds for Context's Kids Rock Free program, which gives free and low-cost music instruction.

Find out what's happening in Temeculawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Instead, the school folded, leaving the Fender Center owing thousands, said Debbie Shuck, the nonprofit's executive director.

"The Fender Center is stuck with the bill," she said.

To read about the school's closure, .

Nonprofit stuck with bill

Though Steve Miller donated his personal time, the show still cost thousands to rent equipment and hire additional staff and supporting musicians, according to the charter school's documents.

To read about how much the show cost, click here.

The concert was the second of two shows, called the Steve Miller Rock Symphony, that started in Corona the day before the Temecula concert.

"Michelle Smith (a board member for Context) wanted to bring (the show) to Temecula to raise awareness," Shuck said.

The charter school and the nonprofit signed an agreement to split the cost 50-50, she said.

Miller agreed to do the show for free, he performed for what was billed as a sold out crowd, and shortly thereafter, the school stopped communicating, she said.

"Two weeks after we held the concert down there (in Temecula), management (for Context) was silent," she said.

The Fender Center received a payment from the school of $35,000 -- less than half of what the school owed. It also received accounting paperwork that was missing information, Shuck said.

"This further raised our misgivings," she said.

After the school gave up went under, the nonprofit was forced to pay its part of the bill, which amounted to $38,150, according to financial records.

The concert was not, however, the cause of the school's failure, Shuck said, because the $35,000 the school paid came out of the concerts proceeds.

Fingers point to organizer

Michele Smith, one of the charter school's founders, was primarily to blame for the concert's failure, said Jeffrey Bennett, the president of the Fender Center's board of directors.

She falsified -- either intentionally or accidentally -- documents that showed how many tickets and sponsorships were sold, Bennett said.

Smith was kicked off the board of directors in October, and whether it was because of the concert was unknown.

Minutes to Smith's final school's board meeting may give a clue. During the same meeting, the remaining board members instituted a system by which two board members would have to sign to spend any of the school's money.

They also voted to hire an independent third party to audit Context's financial records and "ensure all financial decisions and actions are legal and in the best interest of (Context)," the minutes show.

When asked whether Smith was the cause of the school's failure, Rose Ann Gasser, the school's principal, declined to comment.

Smith did not return a call by publication time.

School district foots another bill

The school district had to open an "annex" to continue to educate the more than 100 students left without teachers after the school closed.

To read about the reopening,

The school had only a few days to hire about 6.5 teachers to run the site. "We had to do this quick," said Lori Ordway-Peck, the assistant principal of business services for the .

The district hired five teachers, a food services worker and had an administrator from another site dedicate about half her time to the annex, Ordway-Peck said.

The school had to pay for the new staff out of its already stretched-thin budget.
The budget is stretched so thin, the school had to hand out pink slips to more than 100 teachers this week in preparation for more cuts to its budget.

To read about the pink slips, .

Effect on Steve Miller

Shuck was afraid the school's failure might reflect badly on Miller, who has given the nonprofit more than $1 million in time and money during the last 10 years.

"The school's closure has nothing to do with the Fender Center or Steve Miller. It has to do with mismanagement," she said.

Steve flew in from his home out of state and stayed for a week before the performance to rehearse, she said.

"Steve is just as devastated as we are that the kids who were thoroughly enjoying the program… don't have it anymore," said Bennett, president of the Fender Center.

During the last two summers, he took students from the Kids Rock Free program on a 15-20 city tour with the Steve Miller Band.

During each show on the tour, he took a few moment to talk to the crowd about how music programs are disappearing from schools, Shuck said.

"He stops the show and talks to his fans about how music education is being taken out of schools," she said.

Then, he brings out the students and plays a few songs with them. "Everyone in the crowd goes crazy in support of bringing music back," she said.


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