Founder of the impact charter accused of extensive personal use of the school’s money – the lawyer

The founder of Charter School in Baker has been accused of diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars from the school to pay for personal trips, leasing a car and work done at her house, according to a state audit published on Monday.

In the long -awaited audit report, Louisiana’s legislative auditor reveals the founder of Impact Chakesha Scott to use Charter School’s money for personal benefit.

The auditors have found evidence of a potential scheme for the refusal of the school contractor and questioned Scott’s decision to divert more than $ 1.5 million in a private organization known as the Harter School Friends of Impact, which it also leads.

State auditors claim that Scott has carried out some of these transactions without informing the Board of Directors of Charter School, or misleading members on board.

The Louisiana Legislative Audit Office refers the findings from his audit report on 173 pages to East District Prosecutor Batton Ruzh Hilar Moore and in the cabinet of US prosecutor Ronald Gate Gate Jr.. Investigation.

Lawyer Ronald Haley, representing the group, who manages the charter school, Education Explosion Inc., has released a 17 -page Revocut, which was included in the audit. Charter schools are public schools that work privately through charters or contracts.

“Although we respect the importance of supervision and accountability, this report contains significant incorrect characteristics, speculative conclusions and findings that do not have sufficient evidentiary support,” according to the written refutation.

Haley said much of what the auditors have gone wrong is not to relate to the school of the Friends of Impact Charter as a purely private entity whose activities should be beyond the scope of such a state audit.

The audit found Scott to use money at school for himself in different ways. They are:

• $ 166,520 in charter schools for rent and/or purchase of vehicles for personal use;
• $ 130,494 for personal travel expenses for herself, her husband and her daughter;
• $ 129,493 for the costs and improvements of a non-school building, which at one point was owned by Scott’s mother, Marilyn Web;
• $ 111,153 for work on Scott’s personal residence;
• $ 88,607 from her school credit card for articles, “which looked personal in nature.”

The audit also includes evidence that the company that cleanses the charter school, a friendly LLC finishing company, paid potential refusals of $ 50,625 and maybe more.

The state audit first came to light in May when, according to a search order, the auditors visited the Lavey Lane 4815 school campus, seizing documents and devices.

The audit delayed what would otherwise be an automatic renewal of the Charter for the Impact Charter School, which has a BCCademic Letter class.

The school charter has been renewed for six years, but the operational contract between the State and the School Elementary and Secondary Education Council has determined unspecified potential conditions “in anticipation of all investigative findings determined by the Louisiana legislative auditor”.

The school in December unsuccessfully filed a case against the State Council for elementary and secondary education to try to force a worse decision to renew the Charter.

In the meantime, the records show that the contractor of Sam Green & Sons Construction simultaneously performs construction work at the school and at the home of Scott and her husband, Eric Scott, headmaster.

Auditors say “Green seems to have overcome the school to work in a classroom building that was largely built by another contractor, and then used $ 105,997 to install a pool in the ground and yes They do another job at Scott’s residence. The company that took care of the grass at the Impact Chart school was paid $ 5,156 money at a landscaping school at Scott’s house.

The auditors have found evidence that suggests further refusals.

According to bank records received by auditors, Nathaniel Harrison, who works for a friendly finishing company, withdrew nearly $ 200,000 from payments received from education. The text messages received from the auditors “offer (Harrison), then make cash payments to G -Jia Scott.”

$ 130,494 in the alleged personal journey stems from the accusations that Scott made to his “explosion credit card” for 20 trips made between October 2021 and July 2023 by Scott, her husband and her daughter Courtney Scott. Costs ranged from $ 709 to travel to Chicago to $ 37,481 for a 17-day European trip to Paris, London, England and Amsterdam, with a stop in Paris in Disneyland. The audit includes screenshots of Scott social media publications, which “appear to indicate that much of the trip is personal.”

However, the approved travel budget of the Chaakesha Scott school and her husband during this period amounts to only $ 16,400.

“The educational explosion does not support documentation in support of the purpose of these trips and many of the travel expenses seem completely personal in nature,” according to the audit.

Lawyer Haley also says that the alleged misconception of inaccurate, since this credit card is actually Chakesha Scott’s personal credit card.

“The educational explosion has no financial responsibility or property related to this card,” Haley wrote.

Haley also said auditors ignored the documentation showing the professional goal behind these trips. For example, a visit to Disneyland Paris “included structured leadership training, development of curricula and network sessions, with a route dedicated to over 24 hours of professional sessions.”

This is a developing story.