Africatown Update
The District is considering an MOU with Africatown, but something familiar is proving an obstacle: Africatown's use of a District building without paying any rent or utilities.
See the minutes of the Finance Committee meeting of November 13. I've copied and pasted it here. I did the highlighting.
Directors asked about how rent has been paid in the past and Mr. Ruiz confirmed the City of Seattle provided $8,000 to pay for the first 6 months of the lease, but the last 6 months have not been paid. He spoke about a letter that the District’s former Superintendent wrote to Africatown indicating the agency would only be charged 50% of the rent after finalizing the MOU with them and that this would be retroactive to January 2013. If this were to happen, the $8,000 that Africatown received from the City of Seattle would cover their rent at a 50% rate below fair market value until October 2015. It was noted that Africatown has not made any payments for utilities or rent.
Directors asked about the urgency of the memorandum of understanding and resolution being approved immediately and Mr. Ron English noted that Africatown never exercised an extension on the lease so there is currently no agreement in place. Directors noted their concern that the District has allowed an organization to remain in the building since May with no contract and no compensation. Directors spoke about the risk of this being determined a gift of public funds.
Directors asked about how Africatown has improved African American student success at Seattle Public Schools, and whether the Assistant Superintendent for Teaching & Learning has been active in the determination of student academic progress or lack of.
Directors asked how the rent would be paid going forward and Mr. Ruiz noted the Africatown program director has spoken about opening an escrow account with the funds to cover at least three months of rent at a 50% discount from fair rate market value but this has not been confirmed and we have not received proof of such account.
Directors asked if there is a department managing properties and Interim Superintendent Larry Nyland agreed to research and provide this information to the Committee. Directors asked about mechanisms in place to flag issues such as this one and Mr. Gotsch confirmed there is a department responsible for real estate transactions.
Mr. Gotsch thanked Mr. Ruiz for his hard work and Directors agreed to send questions, concerns and other feedback to Mr. Ruiz and Mr. Gotsch so that the item could return to the December 11th Committee meeting agenda. Mr. Gotsch noted he would ensure the item was near the top of the agenda.
The Committee did not recommend the item for consideration or approval by the full Board until more information could be provided.
The MOA with Africatown was, in fact, on the agenda for the Finance Committee meeting of December 9.
See the minutes of the Finance Committee meeting of November 13. I've copied and pasted it here. I did the highlighting.
Directors asked about how rent has been paid in the past and Mr. Ruiz confirmed the City of Seattle provided $8,000 to pay for the first 6 months of the lease, but the last 6 months have not been paid. He spoke about a letter that the District’s former Superintendent wrote to Africatown indicating the agency would only be charged 50% of the rent after finalizing the MOU with them and that this would be retroactive to January 2013. If this were to happen, the $8,000 that Africatown received from the City of Seattle would cover their rent at a 50% rate below fair market value until October 2015. It was noted that Africatown has not made any payments for utilities or rent.
Directors asked about the urgency of the memorandum of understanding and resolution being approved immediately and Mr. Ron English noted that Africatown never exercised an extension on the lease so there is currently no agreement in place. Directors noted their concern that the District has allowed an organization to remain in the building since May with no contract and no compensation. Directors spoke about the risk of this being determined a gift of public funds.
Directors asked about how Africatown has improved African American student success at Seattle Public Schools, and whether the Assistant Superintendent for Teaching & Learning has been active in the determination of student academic progress or lack of.
Directors asked how the rent would be paid going forward and Mr. Ruiz noted the Africatown program director has spoken about opening an escrow account with the funds to cover at least three months of rent at a 50% discount from fair rate market value but this has not been confirmed and we have not received proof of such account.
Directors asked if there is a department managing properties and Interim Superintendent Larry Nyland agreed to research and provide this information to the Committee. Directors asked about mechanisms in place to flag issues such as this one and Mr. Gotsch confirmed there is a department responsible for real estate transactions.
Mr. Gotsch thanked Mr. Ruiz for his hard work and Directors agreed to send questions, concerns and other feedback to Mr. Ruiz and Mr. Gotsch so that the item could return to the December 11th Committee meeting agenda. Mr. Gotsch noted he would ensure the item was near the top of the agenda.
The Committee did not recommend the item for consideration or approval by the full Board until more information could be provided.
The MOA with Africatown was, in fact, on the agenda for the Finance Committee meeting of December 9.
Comments
If we don't have an agreement with a tenant, and they're not paying rent, and we don't yet know if they are having a positive impact on students, is there any reason why we don't lock them out?
- The Obvious
8th Class Result 2015 PEC
I had reported this previously and I am still unhappy.
There are many African-American groups in this city who have better proven (and can provide proof) track records.
I have consistently asked "where's the proposal that Africatown has given to the district for services with programs, who created them, who will enact them, measuring outcomes, etc." Never seen it to this date and I don't believe it exists.
I believe that - once again - there is something behind the scenes that is keeping the district in a relationship with Africatown that makes - no - sense.
Who allows a group - that didn't pay rent and refused to leave a rented building - to do the same thing AGAIN? Answer: SPS.
NEmom
In brief, it says this is illegal. The district is required to seek "maximum long-term economic benefit" and "maximize long-term revenues" in competitive bidding. There is an exception if they can prove direct support and substantial benefit for youth education.
The question is what happens if they violate this policy. Any consequences? And at what point does this get beyond just violation of Board Policy and into embezzlement?
I suppose the deal works both ways: I'm not sure SPS pays "market rate" to, say, the City to use facilities.
I believe the Y, preKs and FEL health clinics that occupy space in buildings also get reduced rents.
It is the policy of the School Board that facilities and properties owned by the district which are not currently needed for district purposes will be managed to carry out the following objectives:
Reflect the district’s short, intermediate and long-term educational needs;
Provide revenue and other financial support to district needs; and
Support, to a limited extent, youth education activities.
It goes on to state:
Support, to a Limited Extent, Youth Education Activities: The district also recognizes the importance and value of supporting efforts to address the needs of children outside the formal K-12 educational process. Rent for Youth Education Centers may be adjusted to reflect the extent of benefit provided to youth education activities, and in particular to low income youth, as provided below.
SPS has never even tried to systemically deal with the achievement gap, but for years has chosen to give power to the loudest voice in the room.
That way, they can look and feel like they are doing something. But more importantly, it keeps those voices off their backs and buys them time...to keep doing nothing.
--enough already
Africatown - Our lease with Africatown Center for Education and Innovation, the group renting
space in the Columbia Annex, ends on Nov. 15. We are working with the group and are in discussion with them to sign an MOU to extend their lease until the end of August 2015. They have met the requirements to continue to rent space from our district and continue to serve our
students. They are providing a concerted effort to change the t
rajectory of African-American
students by providing community voice, leadership and action plans to support our students. We will report back with more details as the MOU becomes finalized
bold mine - seems like someone thought something was being "done" then - what a wishy-wishy description though.
reader47
First Place Scholars Charter School isn't leasing space from Africatown. Africatown has no property and is using space (apparently without a lease and without paying rent) owned by SPS.
Africatown has yet to offer any data to support the contention that they provide academic benefit. I'm not saying that they don't provide academic benefit; I'm saying that they have yet to document it.
What else could we have done with that money? Garfield High School will be required to release a teacher at the end of January because the district can't afford to keep him/her on for the second semester.
Does anyone think there's a chance providing space to Africatown provided more educational benefit to SPS students than an actual teacher in the CD's high school?
I thought they meant the same building, since I knew that when First Place served homeless students ( as did BF Day) they were far from being exclusively African American.
If the district is not using all its space, what about making space for some of these families, so no child has to sleep outside this winter?
the lease on the Columbia Annex did not terminate on November 15th. He also says that the Tenant has paid rent and utilities and is current through October. This is, of course, the opposite of what Mr. Ruiz and Mr. English told the Board.
As a more general response, I'm not even surprised by this anymore.
FYI - Africatown's board neglected to file the required annual report with the Secretary of State and their registration expired September 30th. The corporation can be administratively dissolved if this error isn't corrected.
I continue to believe there is something else unseen going on. I have no idea why the district would want to encourage and even protect Africatown but that's what it looks like.
Either Skowyra provided false information to Charlie (and Flip Herndon should be able to clear that up) or Ruiz and English provided false information to the Board.