Administration staff of closed N. Charleston charter school left unpaid

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Former staff members of a North Charleston charter school say they were told at the end of May that the school did not have the money left to pay the administrative staff.

Gates School in North Charleston, which primarily serves students with dyslexia, was shut down this month after a history of violations and instances of noncompliance.

The findings were made by the Charter Institute at Erskine, the organization tasked with authorizing charter schools in South Carolina.

The four members of the administrative staff include the former principal, director of operations, receptionist and director of student services who have been left without three months of their monthly income.

When the teachers and administrative staff were notified at the end of May that they would not be paid, the teachers came together to fight that decision.

“We had heard word that the teachers were banding together trying to make their personal deal with Erskine to be paid, so that’s when the four of us banded together and said, ‘Okay, we need to do something for ourselves now,’” Former Gates School Director of Operations Rachel Jones says.

Superintendent Cameron Runyan said teachers were paid by Erskine.

“We are committed to doing everything we can to ensure that the tragically avoidable closure of your school will not be used in an opportunity to cause you and your families additional harm,” Runyan said in an email.

But administration employees were told the Gates School Board is responsible for their pay, not Erskine.

“The Gates Board is telling us that they have no money and that if there’s no money, it’s going to be up to Erskine to pay us,” Jones says. “We’re caught in the middle here, we don’t know who to believe.”

The contract that staff members signed on employment says that they would be paid through July of 2023 and states that any loss of funding would result in an employee furlough, reduction of salary, or termination of employment.

Jones says the administrative staff received emails of termination last week from the Gates School so the four could receive unemployment.

“Our income has been cut in half; things are very tight at the moment,” Jones says, “It’s a struggle worrying if you’re going to be able to pay your mortgage, or even put food on the table for your kids. It’s a struggle every day, and it takes an emotional and physical toll on you.”

The last paychecks anyone on the administrative staff received were for the month of April.

Gates School Board Member Jane Walsh provided the following statement:

On Thursday, May 25, John Li, the Chief of Finance and Operations for the Charter Institute at Erskine (CIE) presented written notification to the Gates’ School accountant that stated “It the Institutes’ recommendation that the school uses current cash on hand of approximately $65,000, and issue payment for both May and June bond obligations immediately.  Once confirmation is confirmed the Institute will push the school’s current monthly state appropriation to the board owned bank account so that the school can honor it’s commitments to teachers and staff” Gates was required to pay the interest payments to the bond holder, totaling over $60k.  CIE agreed that when the obligation to the bond holder was made, the state funding would be released thereafter.  Had the state funding been released, as legally required, all staff and the bond holder would have received payments.  While payments were facilitated to the bond holders, CIE spoke with teachers directly, which resulted in CIE paying the teachers their full contracted amounts plus payment for any tax liability, as they were not hiring the teachers as employees, and funds towards COBRA payments.  Although not aligned with the agreement made previously, the Gates Board supported any way in which the staff was to receive payment.  While the board continued to wait for responses from SCDE to ensure that all agreements with the state funding were aligned with the laws of charter school funding, and neither the staff nor the school would be in violation by supporting CIE’s direct payment to staff, we received word that the Administrative team would not be paid. CIE was well aware that Gates depleted all current funds to pay the bond payments.

The Board stands by the fact that all Gates staff deserve to be paid for the work they have done.  Without release of state funding, the control was removed from Gates and the decisions were made by the Charter Institute at Erskine.

The Charter Institute of Erskine also provided the following statement:

The Gates School is being closed for one reason only - the abject failure of the Board and Administrators to provide for the children in their care as the law requires. When the Institute learned that not only were children suffering but also that guiltless teachers were not going to be paid, we stepped in to protect these vulnerable workers and provided for their salary and healthcare. Subsequently, the Institute also learned that Gates Board members were using school funds that could have gone to pay staff to dishonorably repay themselves, while all others were thrown to the end of the line. The Gates Board members made sure to take care of their financial needs while others continue to be left empty-handed. Accordingly, it remains the sole responsibility of this Board to use the remaining funds it has to pay its outstanding obligations including to the administrators they employ.