The Washington Post - 26.08.2019

B2 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.MONDAY, AUGUST 26 , 2019

because she is new to the

community and does not want

to be in the spotlight.

I found similar disagreements

at a low-staff-morale school I

reported on last year, Bethesda-

Chevy Chase High School, in the

same school district. Its positive

morale number was just

11.9 percent in 2017-2018.

Several teachers told me the

principal was to blame, but

other staffers and parents said

they liked her. She is still

principal.

School system officials don’t

seem to know yet how to deal

with this statistic and the

tensions it reveals. A little

investigation might help. The

district probably has phone

numbers or forwarding

addresses for the 23 departed

teachers Atwood-Moore counted

in that yearbook. Why not

contact them and ask why they

left Kemp Mill?

[email protected]

teachers told me they agreed

with Atwood-Moore’s

assessment.

Emily Hines, the only Kemp

Mill staffer who criticized James

on the record, was a music

teacher and the school’s head

representative for the

Montgomery County Education

Association teachers union. She

said she left the school in July

because she felt James “went out

of his way to disrespect and

intimidate me on an ongoing

basis.”

But Sara Kirner, parent of two

Kemp Mill students and PTA

president, said she found James

“responsive, engaging with the

students, and he has listened to

our suggestions and worked

with us” on common goals.

A mother whose child has

been at Kemp Mill since last

year said, “Dr. James has a

positive and calming presence in

the school.” That parent spoke

on the condition of anonymity

school in 2015. When she was an

elected member of the PTA

board, she said, she did her best

to support James. But she did

not like what she called his

fondness for “top-down

bullying.”

Her assessment was not

shared by all parents and

teachers, some of whom praised

the principal for his steady

leadership.

James says: “I am passionate

about this work and am

surrounded by dedicated staff

who believe that they can

substantially decrease and

eliminate the student

achievement and opportunity

gaps that exist.”

But Atwood-Moore said she

witnessed what she

characterized as intimidating

and oppressive behavior by the

principal.

Only one former staffer went

on the record criticizing James.

Twelve other current and former

the change,” Turner said.

Principal Bernard X. James Sr.

said: “We are moving toward

being a total immersion school”

in which all students would be

taught in both English and

Spanish. “This means fewer

opportunities for teachers who

are not bilingual/biliterate,” he

said in an email.

Turner said 100 percent of

Kemp Mill parents responding

to the most recent school-

climate survey said they felt

welcomed at the school and

believed their children were safe

there. Only 13 percent of parents

responded, but such rates are

typical for elementary schools.

The Kemp Mill staff response

rate to the morale question this

year was 46 percent.

A low morale percentage

often leads to discussions about

the principal. Atwood-Moore

said she traces teacher turnover

and the morale problems to

James’s appointment to head the

The just-released figure for

2018-2019 is 11.1 percent.

Staff morale is a relatively

new tool for assessing schools.

Maryland is one of 10 states that

require school-climate surveys,

which also ask about safety,

professional growth and other

matters. The importance of such

surveys is not yet clear, but they

can aggravate existing tensions,

as Kemp Mill’s experience

shows.

Montgomery County Public

Schools spokesman Derek

Turner said high teacher

turnover is common at schools

such as Kemp Mill, where most

students are disadvantaged.

About 87 percent of Kemp Mill’s

493 students come from low-

income families, he said, and yet

there have been achievement

gains in reading and math.

The school has also switched

to a dual-language model of

instruction. Some teachers

“have had a difficult time with

On her daughter’s
last day of fifth
grade this year at
Kemp Mill
Elementary
School in Silver
Spring, Angela
Atwood-Moore
joined other
parents leafing through an old
yearbook from when her child
was in second grade.
They loved seeing how much
their children had grown.
Atwood-Moore noticed
something else.
Only three of the 26
classroom teachers who were at
the school then were still at
Kemp Mill. Atwood-Moore
thought she knew why. The
Montgomery County school-
climate survey found that only
15 percent of Kemp Mill staff
members in 2016-2017 and
17.1 percent in 2017-2018 agreed
that “staff morale is positive in
this school.”

education

Staff morale surveys become a new gauge to assess schools. But do they work?

BY DANIELLE

DOUGLAS-GABRIEL

Toward the end of the 2018
spring semester, Robert Armour
learned that his colon cancer had
metastasized to his liver and ad-
vanced to Stage 4. The doctoral
student at Argosy University’s
Schaumburg campus in Illinois
took a leave of absence from his
psychology program to undergo
treatment.
While he was on leave, his
campus became among the first
wave of Argosy campuses to cease
operation. And when it shuttered,
Armour pursued his legal right to
have $100,000 in federal student
loans he borrowed for his degree
canceled. The Education Depart-
ment denied the request, claim-
ing he didn’t meet the criteria.
That decision left Armour
struggling to pay more than
$1,000 a month on his loans while
battling cancer.

On Friday, Armour, 54, sued the
department and Education Secre-
tary Betsy DeVos in an effort to
reverse the denial of his applica-
tion for a closed-school discharge,
a form of loan forgiveness provid-
ed to college students whose
schools shut down.
“He was denied due process...
and wasn’t provided sufficient
reason to understand the basis of
the decision,” said Alex Elson, an

attorney at the National Student

Legal Defense Network, a non-

profit group representing Ar-

mour.

The Education Department

did not immediately respond to

requests for comment.

Students are eligible for the

discharge if they were enrolled

when a school closed, were on an

approved leave of absence or if

they had withdrawn within four

months of the closure. Transfer-

ring elsewhere to complete their

degree makes students ineligible.

Armour considered continuing

his studies at first, but the nearest

schools offering his program were

in Chicago — three hours from

where he lived. His old two-hour

commute to the Schaumburg

campus was long enough. Giving

up nearly six years’ worth of

coursework was difficult, but at

that point it made the most sense,

he said.

“It was devastating,” Armour

said. “I had spent a large portion

of my time going to school. But

without graduating and being

able to make the extra money, it

felt like there was no other option

but to seek a discharge.”

He tried unsuccessfully for

months to obtain records of his

leave of absence from Argosy. It

turned out the for-profit chain

was in the midst of an upheaval.

The Education Department cut

off federal student loan and grant

money to Argosy in February af-

ter learning that the school used

more than $13 million owed to

students to cover payroll and oth-

er expenses.

Without the critical source of

revenue from federal student aid,

Argosy’s owner, Dream Center

Education Holdings, had little

chance of keeping the school

open. Within a week of the Educa-

tion Department’s decision to cut

off money, Argosy’s remaining

chain of 22 career schools stretch-

ing from Virginia to California

closed. Dream Center Education

Holdings has since dissolved.

Near the end of March, Armour

gathered his medical records and

every email correspondence with

Argosy Schaumburg about his

leave and submitted that material

with his application for loan for-

giveness. He received a letter

from the Education Department

weeks later stating that he ap-

peared to meet the criteria and

that his request was under final

review. But the agency ultimately

denied his application.

“I was shocked,” Armour said.

“The department told me, ‘Every-

thing looks good and we’re going

to send it up the chain,’ and then

they wrote back with no real

explanation other than to say,

‘You’re denied.’ ”

Armour filed a Freedom of In-

formation Act request for all doc-

uments and any correspondence

the Education Department relied

upon to reach its decision. The

records he received this month

showed the agency determined

he was on leave when the

Schaumburg campus closed.

Those records appear to contra-

dict what the department assert-

ed in its letter denying Armour

debt relief, when it said he had

withdrawn from the school more

than four months before its clos-

ing — outside the period that

would allow loan forgiveness.

There were also no documents

indicating that the Education De-

partment reached out to Argosy

or Dream Center to verify Ar-

mour’s leave.

“There is no real appeal proc-

ess, other than the department

saying you can send more infor-

mation for them to consider. But I

sent everything I had, so that left

me with no options,” Armour said.

This is not the first time the

Education Department’s closed-

school discharge process has

come under fire.

During a House Veterans’ Af-

fairs subcommittee hearing in

June, Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nev.)

questioned an Education Depart-

ment staff member about the

agency having incorrect closure

dates for multiple Dream Center

locations. Lee said the flawed in-

formation was used to deny loan

forgiveness for two former stu-

dents of the Art Institute of Phoe-

nix.

“It’s just hard to overstate the

personal risk and stakes here,”

Lee said during the hearing. “Be-

ing told that they don’t qualify for

full discharge, when in fact they

do, is the difference between a

lifetime of financial ruin or a

lifetime of freedom.”

In December 2017, the office of

North Carolina Attorney General

Josh Stein wrote DeVos urging

her to review the denials of stu-

dents who were on approved

leaves of absence when Charlotte

School of Law closed. The letter

said a breakdown in communica-

tion between the National Stu-

dent Clearinghouse, a nonprofit

group that tracks enrollment, and

the department’s loan database

resulted in a reporting error.

Armour said he knows there is

no way to recover the time and

effort spent pursuing his doctor-

ate, but having his loans canceled

would at least eliminate a finan-

cial burden. Every dime of stu-

dent debt he has is a result of

seeking that one degree.

Armour avoided taking out

federal loans to obtain his other

degrees in criminal justice and

psychology by working full time

as a corrections officer while at-

tending college at night. He had

planned to use the doctorate to

become a staff psychologist for

the Illinois Department of Cor-

rections.

“Had I had an opportunity to

graduate, the upside is you make

pretty good money as a doctor

and the repayment would not be

impossible,” Armour said. “But

with the school closing, it basical-

ly saddled me with $100,000 of

debt that I will never be able to

pay off in my lifetime.”

[email protected]

Student on leave when school closed files suit over denial of debt forgiveness

INTERIM ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES

Argosy University, a for-profit education chain, shut down its Schaumburg, Ill., campus while Robert

Armour was on leave during cancer treatment. He is suing the Education Department over its refusal

to cancel his $100,000 in student loans despite his approved leave of absence when the school closed.

Jay
Mathews

BY VALERIE STRAUSS

A founder of the KIPP charter
school network who was fired in
2018 after being accused of sexual
misconduct is suing the organiza-
tion, saying the allegations were
false and that his career and repu-
tation have been destroyed by the
actions of KIPP.
KIPP executives called the law-
suit filed by Mike Feinberg “base-
less and frivolous” and said they
“regret” that he is putting his ac-
cusers and the “entire KIPP com-
munity through further distress.”
KIPP has a major presence in
the District, with seven campuses.
Feinberg, who in 1994 co-
founded a Texas school that grew
into the nation’s largest charter
network, filed the lawsuit Thurs-
day and is seeking a jury trial and
punitive and other damages. He
has consistently denied an allega-
tion that he sexually abused a
student in the late 1990s. The
allegation triggered two investi-
gations.
A letter issued by KIPP on
Feb. 22, 2018, announcing Fein-

berg’s firing said an independent

probe had found that an allega-

tion of sexual abuse from two

decades earlier had “credibility.” It

said Feinberg denied misconduct.

The letter also cited an allega-

tion of sexual harassment against

Feinberg involving an adult em-

ployed by KIPP Houston; that

case involved a financial settle-

ment, the letter said. And it said

there was another “credible” but

uncorroborated allegation of sex-

ual harassment of an adult em-

ployed by KIPP Houston. Both

women were KIPP graduates.

Feinberg’s lawsuit says that he

was never given “detailed infor-

mation about the allegations”

against him and that if he had

been, he could have “provided

facts that would have disproved

them.”

“KIPP’s public statements fol-

lowing Mike’s termination were

false and inflammatory,” the law-

suit says. “KIPP knew that such a

serious allegation would destroy

Mike’s career in education and be

personally devastating to him, his

family and friends. But KIPP

didn’t care. What mattered most

to KIPP was that Mike be removed

and his career be ruined. In that,

KIPP succeeded.”

Sehba Ali, the chief executive of

KIPP Texas, and Richard Barth,

chief executive of KIPP Founda-

tion, said in a statement: “This is a

baseless and frivolous lawsuit. Mr.

Feinberg’s employment was ter-

minated last year after thorough

investigations uncovered credible

instances of misconduct incom-

patible with KIPP’s values. We

regret Mr. Feinberg is choosing to

put the women who came forward

to share painful experiences, the

witnesses who supported them,

and the entire KIPP community

through further distress.”

Feinberg’s firing shocked the

world of charter schools, entities

that are publicly funded but pri-

vately operated. He had been a

leader in the charter movement,

helping to pioneer the “no-

excuses” model of charter schools.

That model says that there are no

excuses for poor academic per-

formance by low-

income students and that the

achievement gap can be closed

with strict behavior codes, high

expectations and long school

days.

One of the exhibits filed with

the lawsuit is an Aug. 28, 2017,

letter that Feinberg received from

Ali, who was then serving as su-

perintendent of KIPP schools in

Houston. It said an investigation

— conducted by KIPP’s internal

counsel — found “no evidence of

wrongdoing” in the nearly two-

decade-old allegation of abuse of a

student.

“KIPP and I consider this mat-

ter closed,” she wrote. “Mike,

thank you for your professional-

ism and understanding while we

investigated the matter.”

But the 2018 letter by KIPP said

a subsequent investigation by

WilmerHale, a law firm with ex-

perience investigating allegations

of sexual misconduct, found in-

formation that led to Feinberg’s

firing.

[email protected]

Valerie Strauss writes The Post’s

Answer Sheet blog.

KIPP charter school co-founder sues after being fired for alleged misconduct

HARRY CABLUCK/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Mike Feinberg co-founded a Texas school that has grown into the

nation’s largest charter school network, KIPP. Fired last year, he

says allegations of sexual misconduct against him are false.

“With the school

closing, it basically

saddled me with

$100,000 of debt.”

Robert Armour, who was on a

medical leave of absence when his

Argosy University campus closed

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