Up North Progressive
Politics and commentary for Northern MichiganA Brief Overview of Castlebond Enterprises LLC’s New Charter Schools
Sunday , 6, September 2015 Section 16 9 CommentsRecently, there was good news for public education. The Washington State Surpreme Court ruled on September 5, 2015 that for-profit charter schools taking public tax money away from real public schools is unconstitutional. Educators and parents across the country celebrated with Washington State this important victory in fighting back against corporate reformers trying to dismantle the public school system in the United States.
Here in Michigan, unfortunately, it’s business as usual for the for-profit charter school cancer working it’s way through the state. Castlebond Enterprises, a “family owned” business is one such tumor currently working to add to the disease. Of course, Mario and Luigi are convinced they’re doing good things for education.
Our sole purpose is finding success and sustainable results for our Education and School-based clients. Castlebond is involved in the day- to-day development and implementation of educational services from all perspectives, including new school development and school management.
The Castlebond team currently has three charter schools under their management. Let’s take a look at the status of each school receiving “success and sustainable results”.
Great Lakes Anchor Academy
In Macomb County, former Walled Lake elementary teacher Amy Neibert wants to create a special for-profit charter school that focuses on STEM and also provides a disciplined, naval theme to the school. Great Lakes Anchor Academy received their charter from Ferris State University in May of 2015 and plans to open for the 2016-2017 school year. This is the current home for Great Lakes Anchor Academy:
That’s because the permanent home for GLAA is still under construction, sharing a building with this fine establishment.
Already GLAA’s board raised eyebrows in the community when they decided to hold one of their required by law public meetings in a local bar instead of the trailer the school organizational team is currently housed in. There are issues with the board not notifying the public of upcoming meetings, also required by law. According to the GLAA website, meetings for the school are held in the Mount Clemens Public Library. Another problem with the for-profit charter school is their association with the Sea Cadets, something already provided by Mount Clemens schools. The for-profit charter school and board are currently under investigation by the Macomb County Prosecutor.
Hinoki International School
This school in Farmington Hills used to be called the Japanese American School of South East Michigan and originally opened in 2010. In 2015 they chartered with Saginaw Valley State University and changed the name to Hinoki International School. Until recently, the school shared the same building that housed the Montessori School on 12 Mile, but then came bad news:
It is with deep regret that Hinoki International School announces that we will not be opening our doors this fall as planned, due to the sudden closure of Schoolhouse Montessori Preschool and the sale of our facility to Aim High School, a private school for students with special needs. Hinoki’s charter-authorizer is preserving our charter, and many of our stakeholders are encouraging us to start again in a new location in 2016-17. Many thanks to our hundreds of supporters and volunteers for your support of our school’s bilingual education mission!
Aim High School it seems doesn’t want to share the building with Hinoki, so until Hinoki can find a new home, they will not be open.
Gateway To Success Academy
This for-profit charter school, like all of the other Castlebond-managed schools, isn’t set to open until 2016 because they still need $1.5 million in start-up costs and their grocery store needs to be refurbished into something that can reflect the egos behind the project. The local oil tycoon teamed up with an alternative ed principal and found they shared a common purpose – to close down an alternative junior-senior high school and instead open a for-profit charter school based on California’s High Tech High. High Tech High uses project-based education where students complete hands-on activities in a very non-traditional school setting. Reviews left on Great Schools are very mixed. Students profess their love of the school with reviews filled with spelling and grammar errors. Frustrated parents complain their children weren’t prepared for college. Also, High Tech High fulfills their claim that 100% of their students go to college by requiring all students to fill out applications to community colleges.
This is the program Gateway To Success Academy wants to emulate. There is nothing wrong with project-based education, but if Ludington Area Schools didn’t want Journey in their district any longer due to low state test scores, what happens when Gateway To Success has the same problem?
Castlebond Enterprises LLC so far is off to a great start as a charter school management company. The image that describes their success can be best depicted with this image recently posted to Gateway To Success’ Facebook page:
The Next Representative of Michigan’s First District Lon Johnson’s Labor Day Schedule
Saturday , 5, September 2015 Candidates, Elections Leave a comment
Bill Schuette Can’t Stop Being Schuette: Calls On The Nerd To Impose Sanctions On Iran
Tuesday , 1, September 2015 Bill Schuette, Nerd Problems Leave a comment
In a letter to The Nerd dated August 31, 2015, Attorney General Bill Schuette encouraged Snyder to impose state-level sanctions against Iran in the event that the forty year old federal sanctions are lifted. President Obama and the State Department spent months negotiating with the Iranian government to find an agreement where they cease all efforts to acquire a nuclear weapon, and in return trade sanctions would be lifted against them, including selling oil on the international market.
Naturally, because the White House worked to make the world safer and gasoline less expensive, the Republicans are against it. Calling Iran a nation of terrorists and human rights violators, the Attorney General wants the state of Michigan to impose trade sanctions.
Schuette lists four reasons why Governor Nerd should impose state sanctions:
First, Iran engages in some of the world’s most severe human rights abuses, oppressing women, and persecuting people of nearly all faiths, including Baha’is, Jews, and Christians.
Second, Iran continues to be the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism, providing weapons to terrorists, functioning as the central bank for terror, and sheltering members of the world’s most notorious terrorist groups.
Third, Iran continues to hold American hostages, including a journalist, a Marine, and a Christian pastor jailed for sharing his faith. A fourth hostage holds the unfortunate record of being the longest-held hostage in American history.
Finally, the controlling regime in Iran remains dedicated to the total destruction of our ally Israel and the complete genocide of its people. Regardless of political affiliation, people from all States can agree that none of these stances should be tolerated, much less supported by funds flowing through and from the States.
It’s laughable when any Republican points a finger at another country and insists they’re a repressive regime. Republicans in the United States openly support oppressing women, minorities and LGBT people by denying them their constitutionally protected right to choose their own health care, disenfranchise voters, and basic civil rights such as marriage. Just a few days ago one of the Republicans running for president suggested using tracking numbers on undocumented workers in the United States, not unlike another repressive regime did about 70 years ago.
Many Iranian practices should appeal to American Conservatives. They’re a religious theocracy and demand everyone there, even visitors from other countries, follow their restrictive laws based on strict religious interpretation on women and LGBT people, just like Republicans in Michigan have publicly stated they want. Women who have abortions in Iran are stoned to death. Gay people are hanged.
Currently Iran is dedicated along with other governments in the Middle East fighting a common enemy – ISIS. The Islamic State came into existence thanks to the vacuum created by the Bush administration and the totally unnecessary war in Iraq. They are the biggest threat to the Middle East, and nations in the region that used to fight each other now work together to defeat the closet thing that exists to Hell on Earth.
Leonard Peltier, Mumia Abu Jamal, Private Chelsea Manning, The Cuban 5 (released 2014), Guantanamo, Ricardo Palmera, All of the members of the Black Panther Party still in prison, Jeremey Hammond, and on and on and on …
And Israel, already a nuclear power, continues to illegally “settle” Palestinian land, refuses to come to the table to settle the crisis between Palestinians and Israelis, and committed acts of war and terror on the people of Gaza, the largest prison concentration camp in the world. It will be a glorious day when the United States stops supporting this repressive regime.
Bill Schuette will always continue to be Bill Schuette. With eyes on the Governor’s office he never ceases to disgust and offend the decent people of Michigan. The White House negotiations with Iran will ensure there are less nuclear weapons in the world. The Republicans are lying about the Iran deal, and it has more to do with the oil lobby than any country or people the Iranians are supposedly oppressing. Iran is not a threat to the United States, power hungry politicians like Bill Schuette are the real threat.
Meet Castlebond Enterprises LLC: The Downstate For-Profit Charter School Management Coming To Scottville
Monday , 31, August 2015 Section 16 4 CommentsThis article was modified because it allegedly violated the host company’s terms of service.
All for-profit charter schools in Michigan have a specific hierarchal structure to them. There is the authorizer, which oversees the not elected by the public school board. The board is responsible for keeping track of the management company’s management of the school. The management company is a for-profit corporation tasked with managing the school, the employees, and the finances.
Notice how much of a priority education is in this figure. This graphic is from Castlebond Enterprise’s website.
Who owns Castlebond Enterprises? The corporate team is made up of two people: Mario and Luigi. Castlebond Enterprises first incorporated in 2007, as seen here.
Mario contacted a LegalZoom.com attorney and with their help incorporated Castlebond Enterprises with Michigan’s Licensing and Regulatory Affairs department. The date the paperwork was filed with the state is September 17, 2007, with a business address of 20893 Woodland Glen Drive, #102, Northville, MI. Here is a picture of that business location.
Mario in 2007 was superintendent of West Village Academy. Xe held that job for a whole eight months. Before that, Xe was the principal of the same charter school. Xe had that job for an entire year. In fact, the longest xe’s ever worked for any for-profit charter school is Madison Academy for The Romine Group, another private charter school management company. Xe managed to work over three years at Madison Academy. Xe does have some public school experience. For three years xe worked at Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia as a sixth grade teacher before leaving that job to move upward in xis career as an … assistant manager at Borders … yes, the book store that is now out of business.
What about Castlebond Enterprises during that time? It appears that Mario forgot about xis LLC for a while, because in 2011 there’s new paperwork filed with LARA Dated August 23. 2011.
Looks like that LegalZoom lawyer forgot to tell Mario that corporate entities in the state of Michigan are required to file annual reports so the state knows if you’re making any money or not. There’s a new address on the reinstatement form too. 4519 Knollcrest Drive, Ann Arbor. Annual reports for 2008 through 2011 are also filed on the same day as the reinstatement form.
There seems to be some confusion if Knollcrest is actually a Road or a Drive, but it doesn’t matter really. Manta, the business listing website says Knollcrest is a road and has a snapshot of what the company provides.
If you’re wondering what Castlebond’s business location looksed like, click on the image. 
Notice that bit over on the right side of the image above? This house was sold on June 5th of this year.
The 2014 annual report was filed by the other partner of Castlebond Enterprises, Luigi.
Before being part of the Castlebond team, xe worked for the Michigan Association of Public School Academies, or MAPSA. Before MAPSA, Luigi worked in charter schools.
If the house in Knollcrest Drive (or Road) was sold this past summer, where does Castlebond Enterprises currently reside? The online Yellow Pages website claims the LLC operates at 6985 Woonsocket Street in Canton, MI.
A company started in 2007, forgotten until 2011, and how many for-profit charter schools do they operate? The Michigan Department of Education lists three. None of them will be open this coming school year.
Meet the team from Castlebond Enterprises who will manage Gateway To Success in Scottville. The economically sound business model the Heflins provide must surely guarantee that the school replacing Journey Junior Senior High School will welcome back every alternative ed student with open arms by Jamie Bandstra. He’s doing it for the kids, right?
Scottville’s About To Get A Taste of For-Profit Education: New Charter School To Replace Alternative Ed
Saturday , 29, August 2015 Section 16 6 Comments
So you have an alternative education program in a small Northern Michigan town with a dedicated teaching staff and successful program with over 100 students enrolled consistently year after year. There’s just no way you could possibly screw this up, right?
There is a way, and Ludington Area Schools did just that this summer when they decided to no longer support Journey Junior Senior High School. This past June, Journey closed their doors forever, despite having good attendance. The students of this alternative education program must now find a new school for the 2015-2016 school year. Their former principal, Jamie Bandstra, won’t be sitting idle however. He’s now president and future superintendent of a new for-proft charter school called Gateway To Success, with plans to open in Scottville in the fall of 2016.
Will Gateway be just like Journey? No. The charter school will offer “project-based” education to students grades 6-12 and not just be for at-risk students, which means the unique school culture created by Journey’s alternative education program will not exist at the for-profit charter school. The school will be located at the former Foster’s Market in Scottville. Here’s a picture of what it looks like right now, and an artist’s rendering of what it will look like when students enroll in the fall of 2016:
Of course, one thing still in the way of this project being successful is money. For-profit charter schools get taxpayer money for teaching the students, then only use a portion of it for the kids because the management company has to make a profit managing the school. Bandstra and the for-profit charter school board currently need about $1.5 million more dollars in start up money, despite donations and $350,000 received from the state of Michigan. This is the only way the state still admits charter schools are not real public schools, they have to raise funds from private sources to start their school.
So while this new charter school tries to figure out ways to convince the local community a new charter school is just what Scottville needs, the local community needs to remember that two for-profit charter schools opened in the area before and both closed down from lack of students, which means the management company couldn’t make a profit from managing the school.
And no one in Scottville has paid attention to the enormous mess only a few miles away in Traverse City where another for-profit charter school, Grand Traverse Academy, struggles with what to do about a loss of $1.6 million from a total of $3.5 million embezzled by their former management company, Smart Schools LLC, because the owner of that company was convicted of federal felony fraud in March of 2015. Both this blog and Miss Fortune have covered the catastrophe extensively. How do more people not know what a rip off for-profit charter schools are?
As for the former students of Journey High School, the new charter school president can give them pizza parties and tell them how great this new charter school will be a whole year away into the future, but these kids still have a year of school to attend before they can go to Bandstra’s shiny new grocery store turned institution of learning. They have a year to settle into a new school, make new friends, and connect with a new school culture. A year from now, many of Journey’s former students may decide they like the school they’re going to, so why switch to a new school?
And that’s for the students who do have the option of attending a different school. Many students who attend alternative education programs do so because no other school will enroll them due to behavior issues or juvenile criminal records. This is why they are called at-risk students and need schools like Journey.
Something’s just not right about this new charter school plan. Why would a school district with a successful alternative ed program toss it aside and pursue something that needs millions to launch and may not even be able to open next year? What or whom convinced Jamie Bandstra and Ludington Area Schools to make such a poor choice for their students? Perhaps that answer can be found in the downstate management company working to open Gateway To Success Academy. We’ll take a closer look at Castlebond Enterprises LLC next time.
What Has Tea Party Charter School Founder Pasquale Battaglia Been Up To Lately?
Friday , 28, August 2015 Section 16, Tea Party Charter School 4 CommentsAs of April, 2015, Tea Party Charter School aka Livingston Classical Academy was still in search of an authorizer for their for-profit charter school. It’s been rather quiet since this past spring, when a member of the public attempting to attend an open to the public open house was arrested because the owner of the building felt personally threatened.
Pasquale Battaglia, the man behind the God and Country Education Project/classical charter school, still openly shares his racism and bigotry on social media whenever possible. So what has he been ranting about lately? The usual.
He’s still calling the president ‘Potentate O’.
MATH IS HARD. And would someone tell him there is no connection between the rhinovirus and global warming?
American history also appears to be difficult for poor ole Pasquale. The United States didn’t exist 400 years ago, and even then religion took second place to a bunch of entrepreneurs looking to exploit a new world for profit. 200 years ago the founding fathers decided they didn’t need religion at all to run a country.
No idea at all.
Here Pasquale not only laments illegally detained immigrants being set free, but now they’re going to get lots of free stuff!
Where to even begin here. So now another budget crisis is looming for the country, and Republicans think they’re going to force the defunding of Planned Parenthood by threatening to shut down the government again because that worked so well for them last time they did it. What does the confederate flag have to do with Planned Parenthood? Nothing. Perhaps the tea party thinks an organization offering low-income women health care and cancer screenings is the same as centuries of racial oppression and slavery. The videos claiming to show Planned Parenthood employees talking about selling fetal parts has been thoroughly debunked, but never let the truth get in the way of your moral obligation to argue your point even when you know you’re wrong, right Pasquale?
THIS MAN WANTS TO OPEN A SCHOOL.
And a bonus tweet screen grab, just because.
Nothing has changed with Pasquale Battaglia. He still hawks his classical academy plans in between racist tweets about anchor babies, Potentate O, and the free stuff illegal immigrants get from the government, and so on.
Pipe Out Paddle Protest Scheduled for September 6 At Mackinac Bridge
Monday , 24, August 2015 Enbridge Line 5, Environment, Upper Peninsula 4 Comments
Enbridge Line 5 – the heavy crude pipe that runs through the Straits of Mackinac under the Mackinac Bridge is 62 years old. After the disaster that happened in the Kalamazoo River with Line 6B in 2010, the people of Michigan want Governor Snyder and Lansing to know that it’s time to remove the pipeline from under the Straits before it’s too late.
Keeping the potential disaster fresh in people’s minds through outreach and media has made the problem of Enbridge Line 5 a major issue in the state. Attorney General Bill Schuette paid lip service to people’s concerns and promised to do something, but that something hasn’t really been explained, or happened yet.
It’s up to the people to keep the pressure on our elected officials until they remove the pipeline from the straits. That’s why on September 6th and 7th, 2015, protests will take place at the Mackinac Bridge to demonstrate that the citizens of Michigan’s voices must be heard and Line 5 removed from under the bridge before a catastrophe happens, just as it did in the Kalamazoo River. On September 6th, a “Pipe Out Paddle Protest” flotilla will take place in the morning. On September 7th, groups of protesters will participate in the annual bridge walk across the Mackinac Bridge.
Calling for all lovers of the Great Lakes, we are calling for the SHUT DOWN of Enbridge Line 5 OIL PIPELINE Under The Straits of Mackinac!
Line 5 is a 62 year old pipeline beneath the Straits of Mackinac. It carries light crude oil and natural gas and is owned by the same irresponsible company, Enbridge, which allowed the Kalamazoo River oil spill to occur.
Both days will be lots of fun.
Kayakers and bridge walkers wanting to participate in one or both protests can register here. Details and schedules for both day are included.
Public Comment Period Extended For Yellow Dog Watershed Lease
Friday , 21, August 2015 DNR, Upper Peninsula 2 Comments
Three weeks ago the Michigan Department of Natural Resources announced Eagle Mine wanted approval for a mineral lease for 40 more acres in Michigamme Township, Marquette County, in the Upper Peninsula.
The parcel in particular – NE1/4 NE1/4, Section 8, T50N,R29W. – contains the headwaters of Anderson Creek and the Yellow Dog River. The region is home for rare flora, fauna, and endangered species. Mining in the area will cause extensive damage to the land, especially the headwaters that feed Anderson Creek and the Yellow Dog River.
The standard 30 day period for public comment has been extended another 30 days. People wishing to express their views about Eagle Mine’s intention to disturb more delicate wetlands in search of mineral ore for profit in the Upper Peninsula now have until September 25, 2015 to contact the Michigan DNR. Interested parties may contact Karen Maidlow, Property Specialist, Office of Minerals Management, DNR, P.O. Box 30452, Lansing, Michigan, 48909-7952, or by email at MaidlowK@Michigan.gov.
The Consequences of Voting For People With An ‘R’ Next To Their Name
Thursday , 20, August 2015 Section 16 Leave a comment
This is why it’s really important to take the time to answer that survey posted to this blog earlier this week. Religious fundamentalists, tea party morons and corporate interests certainly will make sure their voices are heard, then Michigan’s children will be taught things like the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery, the founding fathers were modern right-wing dominion theology Christians, and accepting climate change as a real thing is communism.