Colorado Springs Gazette article for reference:
gazette.com/premium/four-banning-lewis-academy-board-members-resign-amid-accusations-of-poor-governance/article_04090bb2-f727-11ec-b334-ff9d0eaa17d6.htmlText of Gazette article, 28 June 2022. ‘Four Banning Lewis Academy board members resign amid accusations’
Four school board members at a Colorado Springs charter school resigned en masse earlier this month.
Former Banning Lewis Preparatory Academy (BLA) board members Heather Zambrano, Deann Barnett, Alexandra Tomei and Krisell Creager-Lumpkins all submitted letters of resignation June 10, according to the school. A fifth member, treasurer Matthew Pacheco, will also be leaving when his term expires Thursday.
Newly elected member Leigh Bolton will begin her term July 1 as the sole board member.
Without citing evidence, the four resigning members alleged wrongdoing, abusive treatment from community members, and a lack of support from District 49 as primary reasons for leaving.
D-49 leaders tell a different story. According to a February report, a monthslong review of the charter school turned up evidence of poor governance, a lack of transparency, and a failure to adhere to the bylaws outlined in its charter.
In a comprehensive review of the school’s academic programs, enrollment, financial status, leadership, teacher quality and overall culture, D-49’s evaluation team interviewed students, teachers, parents, board members and administrators. They also visited both schools in person.
Nearly every facet of the school’s operations was found to meet or exceed expectations with the exception of governance — particularly, the school’s board of directors.
The team interviewed stakeholders and examined minutes from meetings, policy reviews, hiring practices and the board’s election process, the document stated.
The school has had 10 administrators in the position of head of school, principal or regional vice president since Banning Lewis Preparatory opened in 2017, according to the report.
“The fluctuation of building and organizational leadership is a serious concern,” the report read. “The board’s commitment to prioritizing staff retention is not evident by the actions of the board.”
The evaluation team found little evidence of board member elections taking place. Voting-eligible stakeholders told the district that they had never voted in a board election “because they had never been given the opportunity.” Rather, candidates were simply approved by the board, according to the report.
“This raises a number of concerns within the BLA community,” the district stated.
The evaluation team concluded that the board’s governance model was insufficient, its role in day-to-day school operations was unclear, and that an overall lack of transparency and communication had led to a lack of public trust in the board.
“While board members’ intent is to operate in good faith, the perception that the board … operates beyond the boundaries of the bylaws, lacks transparency, amends agendas without notice, eliminates elections … has significantly eroded trust within the BLA community.”
The district issued two notices of concern to the school earlier this month, saying the board had made a series of decisions that rendered it “out of compliance with the charter contract.”
In a June 10 email to the district, Zambrano said the board had been falsely accused of wrongdoing.
“You are accusing the board of violations and asking for corrective action plans for something that we are not in violation of,” she wrote.
The four board members tendered their resignations on the same day.
Barnett contended that the district’s review had “blatant inaccuracies,” and that D-49 seems to have accepted unfounded accusations as truth.
“I have lost all faith in the District and can no longer continue to work with them,” Barnett wrote.
In a 10-page letter, Creager-Lumpkins accused the district of treating the board unfairly and allowing a minority of stakeholders to damage board members’ reputations.
“We have been the subject of impossible decisions and unwarranted public backlash,” Creager-Lumpkins wrote. “I no longer wish to be called vile names in public by other professionals, have chairs thrown at me, fingers pointed in my face, and be physically threatened and intimidated by grown men.”
In a June 14 email to the district, Zambrano echoed the sentiments of her fellow board members, saying that D-49 leadership has chosen to believe the vitriolic accusations of a minority of people.
“A small group of community members and toxic administrators have been allowed to behave like bullies, harass, intimidate, and spread defamatory statements repeatedly,” she wrote. “The only people fighting for the students, staff, and programming are the 21/22 BLA Board members. It’s unfortunate how the abuse doesn’t cease.”
Attempts to contact the district and former board members for comment were unsuccessful.
In a message to families, Banning Lewis administration announced the en masse resignation and expressed gratitude to the former board members for their service to the school.
“We expect that the board will engage in a transparent, thoughtful process in conjunction with D-49 and ACCEL schools to be sure that board membership is appropriately reconstituted,” the message read.
