State Board of Education launches investigation, requires background checks for charters

HARTFORD, Conn. – The state Board of Education will investigate a charter school management company, but its future — and the future of children attending its schools — is still unknown.

The investigation was prompted after Michael Sharpe, the charter school management group’s CEO, resigned last week when his criminal past was revealed in news reports. Sharpe also admitted to a Hartford Courant reporter that he had never received a doctorate in education and also had not graduated from New York University, despite claiming those titles for years in published literature and in remarks to the state legislature.

The state Board of Education voted Monday to hire a special investigator to look into the finances, governance, familial relationships, properties, and operations of the Family Urban School of Excellence (FUSE) — the charter school organization that oversaw Jumoke Academy and Hartford’s Milner Elementary School. The group also has a contract to manage Bridgeport’s Dunbar Elementary School and had planned to manage New Haven’s Booker T. Washington Academy, which is scheduled to open in the fall.

The Booker T. Washington Academy’s board of directors met Sunday and voted to sever ties with the embattled management group, leaving the state Board of Education with more questions than answers Monday.

See the complete story at CT News Junkie.