Grand Traverse Academy superintendent, Susan Dameron, today announced the layoffs of three staffers in an email to GTA parents. According to Dameron, although the school ostensibly saved a significant amount of money after it kicked Mark Noss to the curb, sinking enrollment and stricter financial controls required today's human resources reengineering.
In her email, Dameron maintained a “condition of the loan agreement was that we retain a certain amount in our fund balance, or cash reserves, each month.”
What Dameron apparently forgot to mention?
The shitty track record the school's had during the last several years, frequently violating a condition of its $16.2 million 2007 bond by letting its general fund balance sink as low as $18,112. The school has violated that covenant during four of the last five years, after Steven Ingersoll left in 2014.
Once Ingersoll was no longer artificially propping up the school's financials with his prepaid expense/accounts receivable/lease contributions financial statement fraud tricks, the tide went out...and everyone saw who was swimming naked.
Here's the truth: the Grand Traverse Academy worked with PNC Bank, part of PNC Financial Services Group Inc., to issue a short-term municipal bond.
Although its unclear from Dameron's email if the deal has actually closed, PNC Bank is underwriting the bond offering, which will likely bundle payment of the Grand Traverse Academy's now-delinquent $2,330,000 Traverse City State Bank loan with a multi-million dollar state aid note anticipation loan. However, the Michigan Treasury is not directly involved with the transaction.
In fact, the Treasury Department's spokesperson exclusively confirmed the following to me in an August 28 email: “Grand Traverse Academy hired a financial advisor who worked with the academy and PNC Bank to develop a customized solution for their School Aid Note. To date, no money has been provided to Grand Traverse Academy. We expect final credit approval, paperwork and processing in two to three weeks.”
Here's Dameron's email:
Dear GTA Families,
As you may know, our school board in June voted to discontinue Grand Traverse Academy’s relationship with our former education service provider in favor of becoming self-managed. As a result, they have also engaged the services of a professional employer organization to oversee human resources and an accounting firm to manage our finances. This move has saved us a substantial amount of money and will provide us with the expertise necessary to ensure that our organization remains professionally staffed and fiscally sound.
Unfortunately, in looking at our staffing numbers, we are overstaffed for the number of students that we currently have. Due to this overstaffing, we needed to reduce our elementary staff by two classroom teachers and one curriculum enrichment teacher. Parents whose children will be affected were contacted individually today so that the transition to a new teacher will be as smooth as possible. This was an extremely difficult decision, and I assure you that it was not made lightly or without a thorough review of every other alternative as we work to maintain and improve the financial health of our school.
We are pleased to report that these positive changes were recognized by the Michigan Finance Authority, which enabled us to refinance our outstanding state aid anticipation note through their partnership with a local bank. A condition of the loan agreement was that we retain a certain amount in our fund balance, or cash reserves, each month. This provides a financial cushion and is an indicator of our school’s financial health. Upon review of staffing by the schools leadership team it was determined that our school was overstaffed based on our current enrollment. The conclusion was that staff reductions were unfortunately necessary in order for us to be financially responsible. These layoffs are so unfortunate and we regret the loss of any of our valued GTA family. However, we are confident that this is a temporary financial situation and that we are well on the way to rebuilding our fund balance by continuing to stay within our means.
Looking back, we have so much to be proud of in just the past year:
1. U.S. News & World Report awarded GTA with a bronze medal in their 2017 Best High Schools list (one of only five districts in our region to have received an award).
Our high school English proficiency rate was nearly twice that of the state, and significantly higher than every other school district in the region in their analysis, and our high school math proficiency rate exceeded that of the state, and was higher than all but one district in the region.
2. The Class of 2017 received a record $1,526,000 in college scholarships, a testament to their college readiness through the education they received at Grand Traverse Academy.
3. Elementary NWEA Measures of Academic Progress results for 2016-17 indicate the kind of improvements from Fall to Winter to Spring that we want to see; what’s more the average scores of GTA students are above or well above the grade level averages in all areas but 1st grade reading, which is only behind by two points.
4. Grades 3-8 M-STEP testing data from Spring 2016 to Spring 2017 show significant improvement in English Language Arts and Math proficiency, as well as a very large increase in student academic growth.
5. Spring 2017 PSAT aptitude test score averages for 8th- 9th graders and 10th graders are significantly higher than the state average. In addition, our students’ college and career readiness scores are significantly higher than state averages.
Grand Traverse Academy has established itself as a leading school of choice for parents across the region who seek an alternative public education for their children: a dedicated staff, loyal parents, hard-working students, a challenging curriculum, character education, and much more! We appreciate the confidence you have placed in us, and want you to know that we have a clear plan for continuing to move forward. As always, please contact me or member of our board if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely, Susan Dameron
Superintendent/Principal Grand Traverse Academy
Looking back, eh Susan?
Next week, I'll be looking forward...