Crossroads: We’re fixing management and money problems

Since 2001, Crossroads Charter High School has been offering an alternative for dropouts and teens who struggle in traditional high schools.

Last year, its test scores and graduation rate trailed well below any Charlotte-Mecklenburg high school. Meanwhile, auditors and state officials have spent two years warning Crossroads leaders that the school’s board and staff were falling short on financial management.

A statement sent Friday by Crossroads’ lawyer and board of directors says the school is working with the state in hopes of remaining open past this year.

“We are an important part of the community. Kids need the school to be open,” board Chairman David Jean said in a brief phone interview.

Crossroads, on North Tryon Street, got an F for performance on last year’s exams, a score no CMS high school received. The 2015 graduation rate was 20 percentage points below any CMS school, including those that serve high concentrations of disadvantaged students.

At a time when graduation rates have been rising across the state, state reports show Crossroads’ graduation rate and enrollment slumping. Two years ago, Crossroads reported 54 graduates from a class of 74, a 73 percent rate. Last year, 16 of 31 students graduated, or 52 percent.

A state advisory board says after 15 years, it’s time to stop channeling public money to Crossroads, which received just over $2 million last year and ran a $62,000 deficit.

Public details about Crossroads’ vision for the future remain minimal, while state documents detail recent struggles.

Concerns about spending arose with an audit of the school’s 2012-13 academic year, which went to the state in December 2013. That report, by accountant Elizabeth Keel, noted “errors in judgment” and problems with internal controls and cited a lack of receipts for $21,531 in credit card purchases.

In May 2014, Alexis Schauss of the N.C. Department of Public Instruction wrote to Crossroads Principal Gentry Campbell demanding a refund “from local funds” by June 13. Letters obtained by the Observer show several more exchanges before Crossroads repaid the state in November 2014.

In February 2015, the state received a 2013-14 audit for Crossroads. It cited even bigger problems: The school finance officer’s abrupt midyear resignation, failure to properly train the new officer, continued failure to provide receipts for credit card purchases and a lack of board oversight.

In July, the state notified the Crossroads board that it owed the state $27,948, put the school on financial probation and notified Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools about an additional $53,893 in questioned costs paid from local money.

Both the state and CMS now say they’re waiting for the school’s 2014-15 audit, which the state received Jan. 5, to work its way through the review process before deciding whether or how to pursue collection.

Schauss said recently that the questioned costs don’t necessarily mean the money was misspent, only that it wasn’t properly documented.

The 2015 audit indicates that Campbell reimbursed the school $6,920 after Crossroads “reconstructed documentation for credit card charges” in the prior year.

In its pitch for charter renewal, Crossroads told the charter advisory board it had engaged Global Psychological Services, a Michigan-based education consulting firm, to craft a turnaround plan. A November memo from GPS to the state says Crossroads “has a history of providing a safe, hopeful, supportive environment for 9-12th grade students” but needs to make extensive changes, including “reconstituting both board and administrative leadership immediately.”

Jean, the Crossroads board chairman, told the Observer and the state that the board has been reconstituted, though he provided no details. The Crossroads website lists nine board members’ names with no biographical or contact information. Jean declined to answer a reporter’s questions about his own background or changes in the board.

The website lists no information about future board meetings, and the most recent minutes are for September 2015, when Jean apparently was not chairman. As of Tuesday, the site also listed Campbell as principal.

At the December advisory board meeting, panel members asked why Campbell was still running the school. Board members said they were considering leadership changes.

In response to the Observer’s questions about leadership and financial oversight, an email sent through lawyer Edana Lewis said the board revamped its oversight in October 2014, and that “as of December 2014 Ms. Campbell is no longer employed at CCHS.” Jean later said she left in December 2015. He declined to say whether Campbell resigned or was fired, but said faculty member Gayle Arrington is leading the school.

This story was originally published January 19, 2016 at 6:28 PM with the headline "Crossroads: We’re fixing management and money problems."