
Epic charter school start date update#
(Screenshot)Įpic’s attorney, Bill Hickman, provided a legal update to board members Monday night, which included dates for depositions surrounding the termination hearing of the charter authorization between Epic One-on-One and the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, which is scheduled to begin March 8.ĭepositions will begin this week and come from former SVCSB Chairman John Harrington, SVCSB Executive Director Rebecca Wilkinson, State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd and representatives from Byrd’s office. Termination hearing scheduled to start March 8 Superintendent of Epic Charter Schools Bart Banfield provides board members with an update during a meeting on Monday, Jan. “We do a lot of work with volume purchasing for different curriculum licenses, and that’s something I feel would be beneficial for our board,” Banfield said. Epic Superintendent Bart Banfield said those experiences will be useful to the board. Franklin, a Chickasha resident and former Epic parent with experience in the construction and contracting business.

The Epic board approved replacing Cantrell with J.P. I don’t think we’re the only entity that has had problems with them.”īyrd took issue with Cantrell’s criticism, issuing her own statement that is included at the bottom of this story. “I don’t know if they impeach state auditors, but this one may be in line for that. “When the dust settles and it’s all cleared, if the truth is ever known you’re going to find out that we’ve got a problem in our State Auditor’s office,” Cantrell said. However, according to court documents the hearing was stricken and parties were to “continue exploring (the) protective order issue.” 16 hearing in the Oklahoma County District Court. The state auditor’s lawsuit was slated for a Dec. It’s a principle more than it is an issue.” “They can look at the Learning Fund itself, but what they want is access to everything that that company does. “They don’t have a right to look at a private company’s records,” Cantrell said. Where were they before? Were they not doing their job for 11 years?”Ĭantrell has also criticized a lawsuit that State Auditor Cindy Byrd’s office has filed against Epic Youth Services in an attempt to access financial records regarding Epic Youth Services, the for-profit management company that manages the controversial Learning Fund. All of a sudden it becomes a political football and the state auditor and the State Department of Education all joined together and piled on. “The State Board has audited us, and we’ve been audited by their approved auditors ever since inception and never had a major problem. “It’s a very disappointing sham in my opinion,” Cantrell said.


During an October meeting of the State Department of Education, members voted to recoup $11.2 million in alleged over-expenditures on administrative costs and alleged use of state money to fund Epic Charter Schools California. He has also defended Epic throughout the investigative audit process run by the State Auditor & Inspector’s Office, which has alleged a misuse of state funds and has released thousands of pages of Epic documents to the public. “I’m really disappointed by the reaction of what I would call the ‘Oklahoma public education establishment’ to be so defensive and not receptive.”Ĭantrell, who has served on the board for both Epic One-on-One and Epic Blended since the virtual charter schools’ inception, said he resigned owing to health problems, and he praised the charter school for its innovation despite an ongoing criminal investigation. “I’ve stayed on the board for so long because I really do believe in what they’re trying to do,” Cantrell told NonDoc prior to the meeting. The Epic Charter Schools board accepted the resignation of 11-year member Mike Cantrell and appointed new member J.P.
