Agassi Prep problems are ‘fully correctable’

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Monday, March 8, 2004 | 9:38 a.m.

An investigation into the Agassi College Preparatory Academy's operations revealed incomplete record-keeping and employees with insufficient credentials -- findings that could lead the Clark County School District to revoke its charter of the school if the problems aren't corrected in 90 days.

All of the problems at Agassi are "fully correctable" within the three-month time frame set down by state law, said Craig Kadlub, director of public affairs for the district and the charter school liaison.

"The school has been very cooperative every step of the way," Kadlub said. "We expect them to show compliance quickly."

Perry Rogers, executive director of the Agassi Foundation and chairman of the governing board of the school, said this morning the academy was taking the district's report "extremely seriously" and that the necessary corrections would be made immediately.

"The district has been absolutely professional in their treatment of us and gave us the findings of their audit in a timely manner," Rogers said.

A certified "letter of revocation" was sent Thursday by district officials to the governing board of the West Las Vegas charter school, founded in 2001 by the tennis superstar to serve the primarily black neighborhoods surrounding the Lake Mead Drive campus.

The school serves about 250 students in grades three through seven and plans to continue adding a higher grade each year. Dignitaries, from Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., to President Bill Clinton have visited the campus and hailed it as a model for the rest of the nation.

Among the district's findings:

An employee who was not a licensed teacher taught a social studies class.

An employee listed as the school's psychologist did not have the required state license.

No records were on file indicating employees had been observed during the 2003-04 academic year.

Scrutiny of the charter school came after parents and former employees complained that the new principal, Kim Allen, had been firing teachers without proper notice. Allen replaced Wayne Tanaka, a veteran school district educator, as principal last summer. After a brief stint as the school's executive director Tanaka retired.

While the Clark County School Board must approve a school's charter, the daily operations of the school are not under the district's control. District officials were unable to find a state statute that allowed them to review Agassi's employment practices, according to the letter.

Since the district began allowing charter schools about five years ago six letters of revocation have been sent out to various campuses, Kadlub said. This is the first such letter for Agassi Prep.

The district has only revoked one school's charter in that time -- Techworld Academy in 2000, which was forced to shut its doors just nine weeks after opening.

A community meeting held at the school Feb. 12 erupted into chaos when Marzette Lewis, a member of the west Las Vegas organization WAAK-UP, refused to sit down and struck a Metro police officer on the shoulder. She was then hauled outside and arrested.

At the meeting audience support appeared split. Some parents said Allen had been racially insensitive to students and unfair to the fired teachers. Other parents voiced support for the school and said Allen's actions were akin to "cleaning house."