The Michigan Association of Public School Academies (MAPSA) recently made public a Charter Branding Toolkit, described as “a resource for school leaders, authorizers, board members, and management company representatives to evaluate the messaging of the brand in the public and in the media in order to increase a more positive feeling about charter schools.”
While the document includes what you'd expect, it recognizes the “Michigan charter school movement has been hit with mainstream discontent. From contentious politics to fraud scandals and early school closure, charters have had their fair share of negative media attention.”
So where's the crisis communications plan, something that might have helped the Grand Traverse Academy competently deal with the Steven Ingersoll scandal, shown below in an excerpt from the MAPSA Branding manual.
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“Move on by changing the dialogue.”
Tried, but didn't work for the board.
But Steven Ingersoll didn't let grass grow under his feet back in 2013.
Less than 30 days after Ingersoll (1) told the Academy Board he was under federal investigation, (2) admitted he could not pay the estimated $3.5 million dollars owed to the school, and (3) asked to have the debt characterized as a loan, he made a $500.00 contribution to “Bill Schuette for Michigan”!
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Do I think that contribution made the difference in Schuette's office declining (so far) to investigate or prosecute Ingersoll's multi-million dollar misappropriation from the Grand Traverse Academy?
No, I don't.
However, if Schuette ends up winning the August 7, 2018 Republican primary, I'm sure the winning Democrat will have fun asking the Attorney General why he ignored that complaint.
To that end, I resubmitted my complaint today to head of the Michigan Attorney General's Criminal Division—something I plan on doing every week until I get an answer.
While the document includes what you'd expect, it recognizes the “Michigan charter school movement has been hit with mainstream discontent. From contentious politics to fraud scandals and early school closure, charters have had their fair share of negative media attention.”
So where's the crisis communications plan, something that might have helped the Grand Traverse Academy competently deal with the Steven Ingersoll scandal, shown below in an excerpt from the MAPSA Branding manual.
Tried, but didn't work for the board.
But Steven Ingersoll didn't let grass grow under his feet back in 2013.
Less than 30 days after Ingersoll (1) told the Academy Board he was under federal investigation, (2) admitted he could not pay the estimated $3.5 million dollars owed to the school, and (3) asked to have the debt characterized as a loan, he made a $500.00 contribution to “Bill Schuette for Michigan”!
Do I think that contribution made the difference in Schuette's office declining (so far) to investigate or prosecute Ingersoll's multi-million dollar misappropriation from the Grand Traverse Academy?
No, I don't.
However, if Schuette ends up winning the August 7, 2018 Republican primary, I'm sure the winning Democrat will have fun asking the Attorney General why he ignored that complaint.
To that end, I resubmitted my complaint today to head of the Michigan Attorney General's Criminal Division—something I plan on doing every week until I get an answer.