Good afternoon and thanks for listening to the RogueCastaways:Hostile Takeover. I wanted to get this Bonus Episode out there this week, so that everyone that could not listen to the CCPS Board meeting last week was updated on exactly what happened. I know that Nick & Kelly Lichter have been posting their usual spin about what happened at the Board Meeting but I wanted everyone to know the facts, not their contrived fantasies.
But, before we get started, I wanted to remind you to go over to roguecastaways.com and click the subscribe button, if you haven’t done so already. That will allow you to receive the latest updates from us in your email, as we release them AND as our subscriber numbers increase, our webpage will show up in more relevant searches, spreading the word about the criminals that have hijacked Mason Classical Academy.
And don’t forget about our upcoming episode about the charter school consulting company that Nick, Kelly, David Hull, and Gina Smith started and what they did to the school that signed up with them in the Osceola School District.
We’re really excited to get that episode out to you, because it is a perfect example of the kind of fraud that has been perpetrated by these criminals for almost six years.
But now….on with the show
We’re going to start this episode by pointing out that CCPS is continuing to conduct their board meetings virtually in response to the covid-19 pandemic that has paralyzed much of the world. They usually hold their meetings in the Dr Martin Luther King Jr Administration Building here in Naples, however they do televise their meetings on the local Education Channel and via a streaming platform linked in their website. These meetings were televised prior to the pandemic, so the availability to watch or listen to these meetings without attending has existed for some time.
Something that was different for this meeting, though, was that the Board announced that due to the virtual nature of the meeting and there being no in person attendees, in accordance with the modifications enacted by Governor Desantis, CCPS would only allow public comments to be read during the meeting on items that were up for action or vote, but not for information only items.
Of course, this led to Nick & Kelly throwing their typical hissy fit about not being able to exercise their right to rant and lie ad nauseum. I do understand that the 2-3 speakers that MCA has during their virtual board meetings is considerably easier to manage than it would be for potentially hundreds of comments that could be presented at the CCPS meeting, but I also understand that NORMAL citizens may also have a problem with not being able to express their thoughts on every subject during the meeting as well.
But, I also want to point out the incredible hypocrisy of Kelly Lichter complaining about her first amendment rights being violated, when we’ve got dozens of examples of Kelly Lichter and David Hull going to extreme lengths to suppress the public’s first amendment rights, when anyone disagrees with their position. I am sure at this point that everyone has recognized the crippling narcissism and the unadulterated hate that exists in this woman.
I’ve been told by someone outside this fight, that everytime they speak with Kelly Lichter, it doesn’t matter what subject matter they are discussing, she immediately starts ranting about how horrible Erika Donalds is and how unfair it is that everyone focuses on her when Erika is a bigger criminal.
While Erika and Kelly may have been allies at some point, it is apparent that they’ve since had a falling out and given the fact that Erika has been successful at building a charter management company and Kelly has failed, I’m sure there is quite a bit of sour grapes that goes along with that……add to the mix the fact that Kelly Lichter, David Hull, and Gena Smith are ‘tainted’ in the eyes of the education community, and unlikely to ever work in education again after this incredible debacle and you can see how it is likely that Kelly is foaming at the mouth over Erika’s success.
That pretty much answers the question as to why a ‘volunteer’ would be going to such lengths. As more and more documentation has poured in from multiple sources, we’re starting to get an understanding about ‘where the bodies are buried’ and likely why this group has held on so tightly for so long. The MCA tax returns, independent annual audits, and the audit of the mediation agreement compliance, or lack thereof, have a lot to do with that……But thats a story for another day…..
We’ll skip over all the other formalities of the CCPS meeting and get straight to the MCA Information Session that everyone has been talking about. Jon Fishbane, the in-house attorney for the Collier County Public Schools presented to the Board first, listing several events and items of note as it pertains to MCA.
He pointed out that he had just received a letter from Kelly Lichter this week.
Kelly called Mr. Fishbane a liar for stating that Gina Smith had a provision in her contract that provided her the same lump sum payment for the remainder of her contract, like the other employees that allegedly attempted to steal almost $900,000 from the school. Mr. Fishbane produced a copy of the contract signed by Gina Smith in November 2019 showing that she appears to be a willing participant in the Golden Parachute Scandal. He also produced a document by Pam Vickaryous indicating that Mrs. Lichter instructed her to insert the lump sum terminology in the contracts of employees of MCA that have been sympathetic to Kelly Lichter’s ‘cause’.
A sticking point from the mediation in July of last year had been the continuation of David Hull’s employment as principal due to his unethical and illegal actions as it relates to parents, students and teachers at MCA. MCA brushed off this issue in mediation because Hull had resigned as principal. However, it has been pointed out that David Hull has been acting as the defacto principal since school resumed this year. MCA disputed this, but as Mr. Fishbane pointed out, David Hull’s Executive Director contract, was ‘similar’ to school principal’s contract.
Mr. Fishbane read the description of the Principal position in Pam Vickaryous’ contract and then read the description of the Executive Director position in David Hull’s contract. The language is identical.
They also touched on the firing of Richard Moore, the school compliance officer, who was terminated for doing his job as and notifying the MCA Board of the conflict with MCA contracting with Captivated Health, the insurance company that David Bolduc worked for as an insurance agent.
CCPS talked about being notified of a ‘toxic mold’ issue at the school that has existed for some time and apparently has remained un-addressed with the building owner. However, instead of just contacting the building owner and discussing the situation, MCA has engaged another attorney to approach the building owner about the issue.
Once Mr. Fishbane had addressed the more recent issues, he invited Jim Fox, outside counsel for the district, to discuss his progress in making sure MCA had complied with the agreement to operate within the law.
Mr. Fox stated that his firm sent three letters to MCA to address the many issues and violations before determining that the relationship with MCA was ‘untenable’.
Mr. Fox listed the multiple types of violations that have occurred that include but are not limited to violating State Law, the Constitution of the State of Florida, and the Constitution of the United States.
He pointed out that MCA has accused his firm of basing all of their conclusions on information obtained through a third party website. He denied using this website as an absolute reference and stated that his firm reviewed every meeting agenda and every set of meeting minutes to determine the violations of the sunshine laws.
Mr. Fox pointed out that using Emergency Meetings for every-day items, as MCA has done, is not acceptable. He stated that he can only think of two times in his years of experience working with government agencies that there was a need for emergency meetings: hurricanes and covid-19. MCA had responded to Mr. Fox that they only used the Emergency Meetings 35% of the time.
Mr. Fox pointed out that MCA’s attorney inappropriately referred to a case in an Alabama Supreme Court over a trust & estates matter as guidance to support their position here in Florida.
Additionally, they referred to a sunshine law case here in Florida that was previously cited by Mr. Fox’s firm. MCA’s attorney stated that the case supported MCA’s position for ‘substantial compliance’ in conducting a shade meeting, when in fact the MCA attorney had completely missed that the trial court AND the appeals court had determined that ‘substantial compliance’ was NOT acceptable, especially given how easy it was for agencies to comply with the requirements of the law.
Mr Fox wrapped up his presentation by stating that he didn’t know how to proceed with this group, as their actions have defied logic.
The Board thanked Mr. Fox asked Mr. Fishbane what actions he thought he would be recommending going forward. Mr. Fishbane stated that he thought that the school should re-open for the new school year, but that there was not much choice left but to detail the continuing issues and place MCA into a probationary status. The Board thanked Mr. Fishbane and quickly wrapped up the meeting shortly thereafter.
So, what does this all mean? Where is CCPS going with this probation and how will MCA leadership react? I think we are starting to see the direction that CCPS is taking with this group.
I believe they will give the MCA Leadership team one more chance to start complying with their own policies and the law. But at this point, I don’t think there is any possibility that MCA would comply with the law, even if they were capable of doing so. If we’ve learned anything, we’ve learned that this leadership group has reached a point in the operation of this school that it is too big for them to handle. They are not good at details and their response to failing is to blame others.
I truly believe that they have been trying to force the district to close the school. Why?
Well, if they are incapable of operating correctly and they know they are in over their heads, it’s better for them personally to allow the school to close and blame CCPS and all the other hundreds of co-conspirators, rather than own up to their own deficiencies. Try and salvage their own reputation….right?
But, I think there is another motive that is stronger than pride. MONEY. I think we’ve already seen a few of the attempts to ‘cash-out’ by board members and employees, but I think there is a large sum of money sitting out there that somebody thinks they will be able to put in their pocket and walk away, if CCPS closes the school.
That story….next time on RogueCastaways:Hostile Takeover…..
RogueCastaways:Hostile Takeover 