Ohio Department of Education officials say they have forwarded allegations of sexual misconduct, test tampering and other possible criminal misdeeds at a Dayton charter school to Montgomery County Children Services and Dayton police. Four former teachers at Horizon Science Academy told the state school board this week about sex games, racial slurs and test tampering. The academy is operated by Chicago-based Concept Schools, which is the subject of federal and state investigations. Amy Hansen of member station WCPN in Cleveland reports.
State Auditor Dave Yost says his office is launching a special audit of nineteen Concept schools, prompted by questions raised about the integrity of its testing systems and procedures.
YOST: “We had received reports that there may have been some folks who were acting outside of the proper rules and protocols, so we’re going to take a look at that.”
One such report came in a June letter from the Ohio Education Association, and includes an account from a former teacher at Concept Schools’ Horizon Science Academy in Dayton, claiming he may have witnessed test data being altered or otherwise manipulated.
Yost’s audit is separate from the Department of Education’s examination of that same school, after it heard testimony from several former teachers alleging racism and sexual misconduct .