11/14/2001
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Martin
Waukazoo helped establish Oakland's American
Indian Public Charter School, which was created in 1996 with the mission of improving the
dismal performance of Native Americans in the Oakland schools... By early 2000,
things had gotten so out of hand that the school board seriously was
considering shutting the institution down... new leadership took the form of
Dr. Ben Chavis...
NOTE: After Chavis arrived, the
“American Indian or Alaska Native” (AI/AN) students at AIPCS were
systematically eliminated in order to make way for some of the highest
performing and most compliant students in the district. The enrollment of
AI/AN students at the AIM Schools was 45 in 2001-02 (Chavis’ first year),
then 42, 29, 27, 26, 17, 15, 18, 10, 6, and 6 by the time 2011-12 arrived. During
that same time period, the three AIPCS American Indian Model Schools’
enrollment climbed from 106 to 698. In 2011-12, OUSD enrolled 109 AI/AN
students in Grades 6-12. See this
page for the trends.
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12/16/2005
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... With
parental permission, Chavis
cut the hair of a student accused of stealing. A boy who admitted to
calling his classmate a derogatory name was pinned with a note that read "I'm an (expletive)"
in front of other students...
"My
child was traumatized," [Monica Peoples-Brown] said. "It hurt me to
sign him out. My child was really learning. But I can't deal with an administration
that is a dictatorship."
Some take
issue with what they call Chavis' inappropriate use of racial stereotypes,
cursing and name-calling to embarrass students at the school. Floundering
students become the public targets of labels like "stupid" and "lazy Mexican."...
NOTE: A huge number of these students and/or parents have either been forced out or have become highly dissatisfied and end up leaving. AIPCS’s Grade 6 to Grade 8 student retention for
the past two years averaged 66%. For AIPCS II it was only 57%. AIPHS’s Grade 9
to Grade 12 student retention for the past two years was only 56%.
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5/9/2007
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... In a series
of complaint letters... a Mills College professor of education, and four
of her graduate students, say [Oakland charter school principal Ben Chavis] repeatedly
called... a 25-year-old black Mills student, "a fucking black minority punk" during
a recent visit to Chavis' middle school. They also claim that Chavis... screamed
that he was going to kick
the grad student's ass, and called him a "worthless piece of shit."
The
letters... allege that Chavis, who says he is an American Indian with some
black heritage, also remarked to a white female Mills student: "You look like a mix
breed." When the student responded that her ancestors came from
throughout Europe, Chavis said, "Well, your people sure
fucked around a lot." He also referred to his minority students
as "darkies"
and allegedly called a parent of one of his students a "prostitute."...
Some
educators, however, are quietly questioning whether Chavis' success may hinge
upon a dramatic demographic shift...
NOTE: The enrollment figures for 2006-07
reflect an enormous spike in the number of AIPCS students reported as
“Multiple or No Response.” Since the school’s first year, the number of
students in this category had been zero. In 2006-07, that number jumped to 46
(26.4%). This is indicative of public records manipulation because, in the following
years, this group’s enrollment was 11.1%, 2.7%, 2.1%, 1.1%, and 1.6% in
2011-12. See this
page for the trends]
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6/6/2007
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The Oakland Unified School District
has launched an inquiry into several explosive allegations leveled against
Ben Chavis, the celebrated principal of American Indian Public Charter
School. As first reported here last month (
"Too Hot for School?," 5/9), Mills College prof Sabrina Zirkel
and four of her grad students accused Chavis of calling grad student Unity
Lewis "a fucking black minority punk" during the group's visit in
March. They also complained that Chavis had asked one of his own female students
if a certain boy "was
still trying to suck your titties."
More
allegations have now surfaced. A black parent complained that the school told
her there was no room for her son, even though Chavis was accepting
applications from white students. A former teacher accuses the principal of
pushing her down the school stairs while calling her a "fucking bitch."
Yet another cites a story that Chavis manhandled his own niece, threatened
her, and called her a "slut."...
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7/25/2007
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Under
fire recently for his heated run-in with a Mills College
professor and her grad students, foul-mouthed educator Ben Chavis has
resigned as principal of American Indian Public Charter School...
Full
Disclosure learned of Chavis' resignation after receiving a packet of
documents sent by American Indian Public Charter School to the Oakland Unified School District
as part of the district's inquiry into Chavis' behavior. Included in the
documents were the minutes from American Indian's March 15 board of trustees
meeting, which included this bombshell: "Dr. Chavis has noted that he
will work part time next year, 2007-2008 ... This will also be his last year
as the director of American Indian Public Charter School." The board
meeting occurred just hours after the Mills College
incident...
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7/26/2007
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Principal
Ben
Chavis of the American
Indian Public Charter School in Oakland - who has shocked parents not
only by his use of threats
and humiliation in teaching, but by his success at sending inner-city
test scores sky high -- has stepped down after seven years.
The
departure follows a dust-up with a Mills
College group visiting the autonomous public school that prompted new
scrutiny of Chavis by the Oakland
Unified School
District...
Meanwhile,
complaints about Chavis' style have also percolated for years, largely
overlooked and tolerated because the school delivered such outstanding scores...
Lately,
the complaints have escalated...
... In a
July 9 letter to the school's governing board, [Kirsten Vital, accountability
chief for the Oakland school district] said she had visited the school in
June and observed incidents bordering on educational malpractice, and that
came close to child
endangerment.
These
included an interview with a girl who said she was forced to clean the boys' bathroom as punishment
for misbehaving; Chavis' "repeated use of the words 'whities' and 'darkies' in the
presence of students"; and Chavis' reference to a former employee as a "white b -- -,"
also in front of students...
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10/30/2008
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The
problem, [David Montes de Oca, Oakland’s
charter schools director] said, was that the petition contained flaws relating to enrollment
processes, recruitment, special education, and arts education (Here’s
the report. If you can’t open that, go to the board agenda under N)...
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4/5/2009
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...
Here's more on the confrontation between [New York City Council member,
Charles Barron] and Ben Chavis...
Chavis
observed Barron berating one of the conference organizers, bringing that
person to tears, and didn't like it one bit -- he thought Barron was being a
bully, so and went up to him and, face only inches from Barron's, started
RIPPING him, saying (I'm not making this up): "You're a mother f-ing black pimp, you're f-ing
our kids. Come to the reservation and I'll beat your ass. You want our kids
to take Home Ec? YOU should wear a dress!"
Barron
replied, "Well we're here, so let's do it right now." Chavis
said OK and started heading for the exit. Barron, seeing Chavis was dead serious about
fighting him, quickly wimped out and instead threatened to having
Chavis kicked out of the hotel. They shouted obscenities at each other, with
Chavis getting the last words as they separated, saying "You're a pimp! You're a
pimp!"...
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5/31/2009
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...
"What we're doing is so easy," said Ben Chavis, the man who created
the school's success and personifies its ethos, especially in its more
outrageous manifestations. (One example: He tends to call all nonwhite
students, including African Americans, "darkies.") Although he
retired in 2007, Chavis remains a presence at the school...
Under
Chavis, the school also relied on humiliation to keep students in line, ridiculing miscreants and
sometimes forcing them to wear embarrassing signs...
...
De-Zhon and his mother had been fairly happy with American Indian...
But on
Jan. 20, De-Zhon stayed home to watch the inauguration with his extended
family... According to De-Zhon's mother, [principal Janet Roberts, who took
over from Chavis] said the boy would receive extra work as punishment and
that she might rescind
his recommendation to a private high school.
That,
said Grace, "took it to another level for me. . . . I felt that was
evil." She pulled her son out of the school...
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10/2/2009
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Founded
by Ben Chavis in 2006, American Indian Public Charter School is already the
fourth highest performing public high school in California. Its students are almost all African American or
Hispanic, and poor... *
NOTE: CATO's description is wrong. In 2009-10, the schools enrolled
a total of 462 students: 255 (55%) were Asian, 99 (21%) were Hispanic, and 69
(15%) were Black. In 2011-12, the schools enrolled a total of 698 students:
473 (68%) were Asian, 118 (17%) were Hispanic, and 70 (10%) were Black. See this
page for the trends.
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1/11/2012
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An AIPCS teacher
recorded this meeting to document the presentation of her concerns. Chavis was
a board member at this time. He arrives late to the meeting and kisses the teacher’s
video camera lens (1:15 min.) and makes another kissing gesture to the camera
after she reads her statement (9:15 min.).
NOTE: Ben Chavis on the tardiess of a graduate
student who was visiting AIPCS: "I told him he's a dumbass idiot,"
Chavis recalled. "An embarrassment to minorities. That's what I
said. He came late. White people are on time. What does he think, there's
black time? Mexican time? Indian time?” (per the San Francisco Chronicle)
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6/3/2012
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There is
some evidence that the controversial, and highly vaunted school, may be
cherry-picking the best students for admission in violation of district
rules...
But
there's evidence to suggest that the school's high scores aren't the result
of an unusually high caliber of teaching or organization, but rather the
educational equivalent of bringing in ringers — in this case, from nearby
Lincoln Elementary, a public school that is, in many ways, a beacon for the
district, consistently churning out some of the highest test scores in the
city... up to three-quarters of its students flock to American Indian Public
Charter II, according to Lincoln principal John Melvin...
...
According to Melvin, the school
appears to be asking parents to submit test scores as part of their student's
applications — which would be a direct violation of district rules,
which mandate a blind-admissions lottery. Another principal... said that
parents request report cards, grades, and test scores of students... though
he doesn't know whether the requests are for application purposes, which is
against the rules, or post-admission assessment and tutoring, which is not...
NOTE: Lincoln
Elementary, located in Oakland’s Chinatown, has had a majority Asian student body for
many years. For example, its enrollment has been 85-92% Asian for the past
five years.
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6/14/2012
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The
founder and governing board of three controversial Oakland charter schools could face a criminal
investigation into allegations of fraud, misappropriation of funds and other
illegal activities outlined in an official audit report released
Wednesday.
The
allegations against American Indian charter schools officials include $3.7
million in payments to businesses owned by founder Ben Chavis and his wife,
including money for rent, storage fees, construction projects and the
administration of summer school programs...
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9/26/2012
|
The
governing board for Oakland's American Indian
Model Schools -- which boast some of the highest test scores in California -- has been
put on notice: If they don't make swift changes to the way the organization
is run, it could be shut down.
A
1,080-page document from the Oakland
school district cites numerous
violations, from financial fraud and financial conflicts of interest to
nonexistent board oversight. It gives the organization 60 days to
remedy the problems and provide a written response or have all three charters
pulled.
The
violations -- and much, if not all, of the evidence -- compiled in the thick
document stem from a report published in June by the state's Fiscal Crisis
& Management Assistance Team. The inquiry was prompted by whistle-blower complaints from
former employees.
Investigators
found that founder and director Ben Chavis, his wife, Marsha Amador, and
their numerous real estate and consulting businesses received about $3.8
million in public funds between mid-2007 and the end of 2011. And the
organization's governing board, which is responsible for ensuring the proper
use of public money, did nothing to prevent it from happening, the report
concluded...
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1/21/2013
|
The American Indian Model
Schools organization, whose governing board was accused last year of
allowing its founder, Ben Chavis, and wife to funnel millions of tax dollars
into their own companies and pockets, has failed to make the necessary fixes and should be
shut down at the end of the school year, Oakland school district
administration has concluded...
If this
week the Oakland
school board agrees, the award-winning American Indian charter schools will
be one step closer to closure. The OUSD board decides Wednesday night whether
to issue a notice of intent to revoke the charter, as the OUSD Office of
Charter Schools has recommended.
If the
OUSD board approves the staff recommendation — up for a vote during a regular
meeting Wednesday night — a public hearing on the revocation would happen
next month. A final decision would follow, no later than March 24.
Even if
the OUSD board does vote to revoke the organization’s charter, American
Indian would have the chance to appeal to the Alameda County Board of
Education and, later, to the state board...
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1/24/2012
|
... On
Wednesday night, the Oakland school board
agreed, putting American Indian's three charter schools -- which boast some
of the highest test scores in California
-- one step closer to closure.
"I
am not swayed by the fact that this school has great test scores," board
member Jody London said. "It does not change for me that the people who
operate this school have violated the public trust."...
A public
hearing is set for Feb. 13, and a final decision will follow, possibly during
a special meeting on March 20, said board President David Kakishiba...
The
five-month state investigation by the Fiscal Crisis & Management
Assistance Team came in response to a whistle-blower complaint of fraud. Alameda
County Superintendent of Schools Sheila Jordan requested an investigation and
later forwarded the
findings to the District Attorney's Office, which has yet to file charges...
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Stay
tuned for the rest of the story!
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3 comments:
"A public hearing is expected on Feb. 27 [2013] and a final vote on March 20 to decide the fate of the three schools, which include a fifth- through eighth-grade school in Chinatown and a middle and high school in the Laurel neighborhood."
http://www.sfgate.com/education/article/3-top-Oakland-schools-at-risk-of-closure-4288834.php
Hello Sharon,
I have web site www.gagrule.net
I have your videos on and good articles you write O post them too.. great work
here is link about Azerbaijan chamber commerce have look see who is the members..
http://www.usacc.org/leadership/honorary-council-of-advisors
I will be making video on Turkish crime against humanity soon..
thank you
Wally Sarkeesian
Wally,
AIMS has changed a lot since you wrote this. In fact, three OUSD board members who voted to shut down AIMS three years ago, voted to renew our charter just three months ago.
Would you like a visit?n write me.
marcom@aimschools.org
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