Up North Progressive

For-profit Charyl Stockwell Academy likes to call itself a school district even though they don’t have boundaries, an elected school board, nor can they hold elections to approve bonds or millages. Those are methods of funding reserved for real public school districts that have real boundaries and real elected school boards. Charyl Stockwell Preparatory Academy plans to expand their business to a third building just for the middle school aged customers in 2020.

When for-profit charter schools want to expand, they have to either take out a loan or ask for donations. Sometimes, they even embezzle money from one for-profit charter school to pay for another, and then ask the non-elected board of the first for-profit charter school to call the stolen taxpayer’s school funding a loan so they can avoid paying taxes on the money they embezzled.

Last spring Chuck Stockwell, founder of Charyl Stockwell Academy, decided to show parents of children attending the middle school in 2020 designs for a brand new building at their big fundraiser event, the Beluga Ball. Parents were impressed with the plans for the new school Stockwell promised to break ground that spring, and would be completed in time for fall of 2020. The location for this project was “Brighton Interior Drive just around the corner from the present CSPA campus.” Plans shown to the parents with images and a video consisted of a new, breathtaking modern school with enough land to provide adequate outdoor space for students.

The catch of course was in order to begin construction this new building for the CSA franchise Chuck needed money to fund the project. Parents believing they were getting a brand new school building dug deep and donated funds to CSA.

In August of 2019 while CSA students and parents were conveniently out of sight the local news ran a story that CSA had purchased an office building across the street from the current middle/high school located at 1032 Karl Greimel Drive. Snugly nestled in a developing industrial center, the building is one of those multiple office buildings with all of the surrounding property paved for parking. Behind the office building is a large German-owned factory where they build automobile exhaust systems. On either side of the office building CSA purchased for their new middle school are even more office buildings. The location of this existing structure doesn’t have enough room for any outdoor space for students as described in the plans presented to parents at the Beluga Ball. Chuck didn’t even bother to inform parents of the switch until the story hit the news.

Real estate is one way the for-profit charter school industry turns operating schools into a profitable business. So much taxpayer money now goes into purchasing property for charter schools there are entire real estate firms in the United States dealing exclusively with charter school-related property purchases. Real estate is the new niche investment scheme people use to enrich themselves and buying up property to be converted into for-profit schools is part of the investment plan for many. Don’t forget, Chuck Stockwell’s first charter school partner, Dr. Steve Ingersoll, bought up blocks of Bay City, Michigan, to create his own company town fiefdom using embezzled taxpayer dollars meant to fund his for-profit charter schools. Charter school real estate is so hot there is concern it may be the next real estate bubble to burst.

To the parents of Charyl Stockwell for-profit Charter School: The last day to register your children at a real public school and have the per-pupil tuition grant go to the new school is Wednesday, October 2, 2019. After that day, Chuck Stockwell will get that money no matter where you children attend school for the 2019 – 2020 school year.