Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Hyde Schools

Charter school 'Character Virus' now in Florida

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Ursus:
So... Hyde School has always targeted certain geographical pockets of the U.S. population, market strongholds so to speak, and Florida has always been one of them.

Part of that has to do with the fact that it's always easier to indoctrinate someone else when you're already indoctrinated yourself. "The power of belief," as they say, or something close to that.

Well, there's a new charter school in town, if you're currently ensconced in the Orlando area, and it's brought to you via the dedication and due diligence and, some might say, the cultic fervor of HAPA - otherwise known as the Hyde Alumni and Parent Association.

Take a coupla Hyde parents who are bit by the bug, and who are politically well placed and powerful enough to pull it off, and there ya go:


Central Florida Leadership Academy
 P.O. Box 1549
Orlando, FL 32802

(407) 480-CFLA (2352)[/list]

Ursus:
From CFLA's website:

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

About Us

The mission of the Central Florida Leadership Academy (CFLA) is to provide rigorous college preparatory academics in combination with after-school activities and family based character education in an environment that changes attitudes and develops leaders, enabling each student to achieve his or her best. The CFLA is modeled after the highly successful Hyde Schools, which have been the national leaders in family based character education for more than 40 years.

Our mission is based on the following beliefs:


* We believe that each student is gifted with a unique potential that defines his or her destiny.
* We believe that children of all races and income levels can succeed.
* We believe that attitude and effort determine the difference between achievers and non-achievers with the same potential.
* We believe that parents must acquire the attitudes, skills, and knowledge to succeed in their roles and that family involvement is a major factor in student success.
* We believe that the home is the primary classroom and parents are the primary teachers, so we ask parents to partner with the school in both the character and academic aspects of the curriculum.
The Central Florida Leadership Academy will open as middle school in 2010 with sixth and seventh grades, adding eighth grade in 2011. CFLA plans to have three classes in each grade level, with a maximum class size of 22 students in grades 6-8 and 25 students in grades 9-12. It expects to expand, adding two to three classes per grade annually until serving grades 6-12 in 2015.


CFLA BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Jody M. Litchford, Esq.
Attorney with a B.A. in Psychology and J.D., currently Deputy City Attorney for the City of Orlando, with many years of experience in working with youth related community groups, including experience volunteering with the Hyde Schools.

Hal K. Litchford, Esq.
Attorney with over 30 years of experience in complex commercial business and litigation as well as experience with the Hyde Schools.

Dean Maguire
Educator, with a BA in Education, an MA in Secondary Administration & Supervision and an MA in Elementary Administration & Supervision

Kathleen Russell
Director of the City of Orlando Office of Intergovernmental Relations, with a Masters Degree in Counseling and experience as a guidance counselor with an emphasis on juvenile rehabilitation, a juvenile justice planner and grant writer.

Clara Walters, Ed.D.
Retired OCPS Senior Director of Secondary Education, former Middle School and High School Principal and Educational Consultant with more than forty years of experience in education; first African American female secondary school principal and first permanent female high school principal in OCPS history.

Jéan E. Wilson, Esq.
Attorney with 25 years of experience in public finance; has served on the Board of Visitors of Florida A&M University School of Law, the Board of Directors of the YMCA Black Achievers Program, and the Valencia Community College Foundation


Copyright © 2009-2011 CFLAcademy

Ursus:
Here's an announcement of sorts from last year, published on Hyde's website...


A bit of an aside: I see that Jody Litchford's son Andrew was a former classmate of Frank McGill, who also graduated from Hyde-Bath in 2007. Frank's "invaluable life altering experiences" at Hyde, while certainly altering his life, to a terminal degree some might say, apparently did not present him with enough of those "daily small miracles" to inspire continued enjoyment of them.

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

Central Florida Leadership Academy – HAPA Pitches In
March 10, 2010 | By jrigney | Hyde Foundation


Jody Litchford and son Andrew (Bath '07)

When the Litchford family (Andrew, Bath, '07) graduated from Hyde, Jody Litchford, Andrew's mom, was sure of two things: 1) by attending Hyde all the members of her family had been blessed with real growth through invaluable life altering experiences; 2) there were thousands of students in her home community of Orlando, Florida who would benefit from the Hyde experience, but who could not afford private school tuition.

When Jody heard about the Hyde Charter Schools and learned that these schools were achieving similar successes in the non-boarding environment, she scheduled a trip to Washington, DC, to see the charter schools in action. She was accompanied that day by a colleague from Orlando, who was so impressed with the school that he agreed to form a non-profit corporation with Jody and to bring the Hyde Schools to Orlando.

Three years later, having won approval to operate as a charter school from the local district school board, and having received the support of the City of Orlando which offered a favorable lease on an appropriate facility, the Central Florida Leadership Academy plans to open in August, 2010 as a Hyde affiliated public school. The CFLA will offer grades 6 and 7 in 2010, eventually expanding to serve grades 6-12 by 2015.

During her time at Hyde, Jody was impressed with the "daily small miracles" that occurred in the lives of Hyde students and families. She is determined to bring those same daily miracles to the lives of struggling students and families in Central Florida.

CFLA is searching for a head of school and several "amazing teachers" for the 2010-2011 school year. Teachers must be certified, or able to be certified, in Florida and anyone with a Hyde background (graduates, former faculty, or HAPA) would be extremely valuable in helping bring the Hyde culture to Orlando. Anyone interested in teaching (or in helping out with family weekends) should contact Jody at http://www.CFLAcademy.org. Faculty positions will also be advertised through teachers-teachers.com.


© 2011 Hyde Schools

Ursus:

--- Quote from: "Hyde School's public relations dept." ---Three years later, having won approval to operate as a charter school from the local district school board, and having received the support of the City of Orlando which offered a favorable lease on an appropriate facility, the Central Florida Leadership Academy plans to open in August, 2010 as a Hyde affiliated public school.
--- End quote ---
Well... now that's a pretty disingenuous way of putting it! :D

Just how exactly does one "receive the support of the City of Orlando?" Well... working for it as a Deputy City Attorney sure doesn't hurt!

And funny how that "favorable lease on an appropriate facility" just happened to become available! I'm sure that nonprofit driving school, booted out eight years before the end of their lease, sure wasn't too happy about it!

It ended up costing the city of Orlando about $200,000 to break that lease. Moreover, the agreement with the charter school entails CFLA paying absolutely no rent for the first three years. Orlando must be rolling in the dough, eh?

Ursus:
Mark Schlueb from the Orlando Sentinel reported the disconcerting facts back in early 2010. The first paragraph pretty much says it all:

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Orlando Sentinel
Sentinel Exclusive

Orlando is out $200,000 for breaking lease, letting school in free

February 06, 2010 | By Mark Schlueb, Orlando Sentinel

With no public discussion, Orlando has booted a nonprofit driving school from a city-owned building near downtown so it could turn the property over to a new charter school being launched by a high-ranking city official.

It cost the cash-strapped city more than $200,000 to get out of its lease with the Florida Safety Council eight years early, an expense the City Council wasn't told about. At the same time, commissioners voted two weeks ago to lease the building to the fledgling Central Florida Leadership Academy rent-free for its first three years.

At the time the city began discussing terminating the Safety Council's lease, it was wrestling with how to make up a $41 million deficit. And while backers of the charter school say it will eventually repay the city for its short-term losses, they acknowledge there's no guarantee that will happen.

"I'm shocked to hear the city wasted $200,000 so they could rent this building for free," City Commissioner Phil Diamond said. "Anytime you have high-ranking city officials doing business with the city it raises concern. I think it stinks to high heaven."

The charter school, which opens its doors to sixth- and seventh-graders this summer, is the brainchild of Deputy City Attorney Jody Litchford. The school's board of directors initially had three members: Litchford; her husband, attorney Hal Litchford; and another Orlando attorney, Jean Wilson. It has since added three more members, including Kathy Russell, a staffer in Mayor Buddy Dyer's office.

"It's something I care about, something I believe in. I don't think there's anything improper about a city employee bringing a great idea to the city," Litchford said. She added that she'll receive no income from the school and checked with the state Ethics Commission to make sure her involvement violated no rules.

The plan for the charter school received high marks from Orange County Public Schools. Its application included letters of recommendation from Orlando police Chief Val Demings, the city's parks-and-recreation director and three assistant city attorneys, among others.

It is modeled after Hyde Schools, which operates boarding schools in Connecticut and Maine — which one of Litchford's sons attended — and charter schools in New York and Washington. The school will focus on students who may have struggled in other schools, preparing them for college while building character.

 Students will have primary responsibility for discipline and leadership, and families will be required to participate. Plans for the school call for adding classes until it serves 348 students in grades six through 12 by 2015.

Likewise, Litchford has always received high marks during her nearly 30 years with the city. She holds the No. 2 spot in the city's legal department, sometimes filling in as city attorney to advise the mayor and City Council. Commissioner Patty Sheehan, whose district includes the charter-school property, said Litchford's ethics are beyond reproach.

Litchford's involvement was no secret when the City Council voted to lease the roughly 27,000-square-foot building on Primrose Drive, near Orlando Executive Airport, to the school.

 "There's no nefarious cover-up," Sheehan said. "This school is a public benefit. I think it's a great public use, and I fully support the Central Florida Leadership Academy."

Dyer supports the plan, too, comparing it to other city initiatives for children, such as the city-sponsored Parramore Kidzone and Nap Ford Charter School.

"We've been focused on at-risk kids. This Hyde School model fits perfectly what we're doing," Dyer said.

Even so, commissioners — Sheehan included — were never briefed on how much it cost the city to break Florida Safety Council's lease. Some commissioners were left with the impression that the Safety Council had chosen to move on its own.

But the Safety Council, which pays about $67,000 a year in rent, had no plans to move. The 57-year-old organization teaches safe-driving and motorcycle classes to about 80,000 students a year, most of them at the Primrose building. When Safety Council board members received notice in May that the city was ending their lease, they at first hoped the decision wasn't final.

"We were pretty shocked," Safety Council spokesman Glenn Victor said. "We were quite surprised by the way it all transpired. It was kind of a weird deal."

The organization plans to move to another building on East Colonial Drive, where renovations are under way.

The city lease contained provisions requiring it pay the Safety Council to end the lease early. Records show it's costing the city $201,473, including $129,600 cash and $71,873 in waived rent and fees.

City staffers were discussing the cost of breaking the lease last spring, even as the council was discussing layoffs and deep budget cuts, records show. But those costs were never disclosed to council members.

 "I don't know why they wouldn't know that, to tell you the truth," Dyer said.

E-mail and other records indicate Litchford participated in those lease discussions and received reports from an assistant city attorney working on the project.

The school will pay no rent for the first three years but agreed to provide after-school care at no cost to the city. In year four, it will begin paying the city half the capital funding it expects to receive from the state. And in years five through nine, as the school's financial footing becomes more secure, it will also pay an additional $19,443 a year.

 Because the level of state funding for charter schools several years from now can't be known, there's no way to say exactly how much rent the Central Florida Leadership Academy will eventually pay. But Litchford said it will likely top $110,000 a year — more than what the Safety Council paid.

Litchford and Dyer said the charter school's rent will include an extra amount meant to reimburse the cost of buying out the Safety Council lease.

"The point wasn't to make the best business deal for the city," Litchford said. "But I think it turned out that way."

Two weeks ago, the City Council voted 6-1 — Diamond voted no — to approve the lease. The agreement also allows the school to use a nearby city-owned gymnasium, and the fields and volleyball courts next door in Festival Park.

Diamond lauded the school's mission but said there should have been discussion of the best use for the building, given budget cutbacks. He said the city could have earned much more in commercial rent during the nine-year term, perhaps more than $2 million.

"The bottom line is that the city will be losing a tremendous amount of money that could be better spent on pressing needs for our neighborhoods," he said.

Mark Schlueb can be reached at mschlueb@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5417.


Copyright 2011 Orlando Sentinel

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