Many Unanswered Questions Linger Over PACE Career Academy Closure

PEMBROKE, NH — As the state's only public charter school started by a school administrative unit moves to close, many unanswered questions remain, many of which challenge the narrative being floated by its board of trustees — leaving its former executive director, parents, and students wondering what is really going on and what can be done to stop the successful school from closing.

Some members of the board of trustees for PACE Career Academy announced its closure last week citing staffing, lack of fundraising, and operational and financial shortfalls. The school was founded a decade ago as PACE, an acronym for the towns of Pembroke, Allenstown, Chichester, and Epsom. It offers an alternative pathway to graduation to assist students in designing their own academic, career, and personal growth path with individualized instruction and small educator-to-student ratios.

Since the forcing of an administrative leave of its executive director of two and half years and the closure announcement, students and parents have begun raising questions about the lack of transparency concerning the decision. Documents show the school is financially solvent while some challenge whether the board is structured with adherence to state law as well as other issues.

In reaction to the parents and students becoming activated, the school abruptly moved to remote learning sessions this week after a flurry of emails from parents and students to keep the school open. A lack of staffing was cited for the change to remote learning — something that was only allowed due to the coronavirus pandemic, while a state directive requires students to be in classrooms for the rest of the year.

On Sunday, the board sent out an email to students and parents informing them the school would be closed on Monday due to "recent staffing resignations have resulted in the absence of all core content teachers and other staff" and the school could not "deliver instruction nor provide services to its students." It is seeking assistance from the New Hampshire Department of Education on how to proceed in the final days of the school year.

Director Experiences Culture Shock In New Hampshire

Jorge Santana, the former executive director of the school who was dismissed in February, started working at the school in July 2018.

A high school dropout with a Master's degree in social work from Boston, Massachusetts, he admitted, while laughing, that he was a bit out of his element when coming to New Hampshire. After working for nonprofits in Beantown, exclusively with adolescents and families for about 20 years, he needed a change. At previous gigs, Santana said he would become bored and mentally unchallenged after long periods of time turning things around. Instead of coasting on the success, he would rather move on and try something new. After leaving his last job, Santana stayed at a friend's vacation home in Thornton and took some time off while considering his next move. He came to really like the Granite State and decided to look for work here which led to the PACE job.

"It sounds corny but I fell for the mission … I hated charter schools before I moved up here," he said, noting they are run differently in other states. "It was a unique model and it lined up with what I like to do. I have learned a lot in the nearly three years I was here. It was just about the need; there is a great need here for alternative (educational opportunities)."

Right out of the gate, Santana began to realize serious problems with the school that needed to be fixed.

PACE seemed to be "used as a punishment for students who were not achieving," he said. Pembroke Academy would move students there before they dropped out or failed, he said. The numbers "would look as if it were a transfer and not a dropout," he said, creating deceptive data.

"All of the students had this huge chip on their shoulders," he said, "It was like, 'What's the point … I'm a failure … that's why I'm here.' Students were struggling and failing at Pembroke Academy and were sent to PACE as sort of a last stop. 'Put them there and we'll figure it out later,' seemed to be the (ethos)."

One former board of trustee, he said, called him the "head n-word" at the school. But other than that, there were not many racial issues, Santana said — although it was a little odd for a man of color from the largest city in New England leading dozens of white students in a rural town in the center of the state.

"Culturally, I was not in Kansas anymore," he said, "but I was able to connect with these students and families."

Santana also quickly realized just how bad some of the students in Pembroke and New Hampshire had it when compared to inner-city students.

"It was worse for the kids in New Hampshire — there is nothing here," he said, noting that Boston had a bigger and better safety net for students. "That was really what guided me to families and young people. The issues were exactly the same and I knew the issues."

Santana built a three-year plan which was approved by the trustees and began working to change the culture at the school. He helped the students build value into their time at PACE as well as their futures. Santana met with anyone and everyone to talk up the school, in restaurants and bars, helping to place students in available jobs and internships, giving them opportunities that they were not able to get in regular school.

The results and change were dramatic, Santana said, a claim backed up by parents and others who have watched the public charter school grow from what it was. During the last two and half years, the vibe changed at the school — it was no longer just a place to put the students who were guaranteed to fail; students were enrolling in the school because they wanted better opportunities for themselves.

"Students weren't leaving Pembroke Academy because they were being punished but because they wanted to come to PACE, because of what PACE was doing," he said. "All the students began coming by word of mouth. The situation became one where I was competing with the district which the majority of my board worked for."

That, Santana said, may have caused issues with the board.

A Rejected Preschool Loan

One issue raised by parents that may have led to Santana's removal was a proposal by the Pembroke SAU to place a preschool in PACE's new building off Sheep Davis Road and a request that the charter school take out a loan to pay for it.

Santana confirmed the request and his role rejecting it — which seemed to lead to bad blood with PACE's board.

While it was only $100,000, was only refurbishing a small part of the building, and would derive a bit of rental income, he was already making plans to expand the program in this next three-year strategic plan — with the hope that at least some of the tens of millions of dollars in new federal charter school funds, targeted for at-risk students in New Hampshire, might flow into the PACE program, since it was already performing that work. PACE is unique not only in the capital region but the state, too. Originally a thrift store and a motorcycle shop, there was room for expansion.

"We were raising in the enrollment and increasing to 80 students or more (before any new funds kicked in)," he said.

Santana, instead, suggested a different part of the building for the preschool that had not yet been renovated. That idea, however, was rejected, and the tenor with the board turned a bit more.

One other incident involved a school sending a single student to PACE.

The district was sending tuition money as well as the state charter school money. A board member, unbeknownst to him, told the district it did not need to send the tuition any longer — at a time when PACE could have used the money, even if it was not a lot of funds. Ideally, school districts should kick in some money, too, since expenses tend to be higher than regular schools. It was certainly a savings to that district to educate that child.

"That is the kind of board I was dealing with," Santana said.

Is The PACE Board Legal?

Another issue being raised is the makeup of the PACE board and whether or not it is legally in compliance with state law.

According to RSA 194-B:5, the charter school board of trustee law, no greater than 25 percent of the membership of a school board or one member, whichever number is greater, may simultaneously serve as members of the board of trustees of a charter or charter conversion school or on a school board. A charter public school board of trustees shall include no fewer than 25 percent or two parents of pupils attending the school, whichever is greater.

On the PACE website, only five board of trustee members are listed: Clinton Hanson, the chairman, who is a community member; Kris Raymond, the vice-chairman, is an SAU 53 school board member from Allenstown; Gene Calvano is an at-large member; Karen Guercia is the assistant superintendent for SAU 53; and Amy Parkinson is the Pembroke Academy administrator and dean of students. Other board members not listed on the website but confirmed as members in other documents and by parents are Amy Manzelli and Eugene Gauss, both SAU 53 school board members; Adrienne Evans, a parent; Mary Wood, a community member; and Mary Verville, a PACE employee who is a board member.

The current board does not appear to be in compliance with state law since three SAU 53 board members, or 30 percent, are on the board. Also, a single parent is on the board, not two or three — which would be greater than 25 percent of a 10-person board. Two board members also have a financial interest connected to the school district — due to their employment status although that appears to be allowed under the school's bylaws.

PACE's bylaws limit the board of trustees to one Pembroke School Board member, one at-large board member, three community members, one at-large community member from the four communities, a Pembroke Academy administrator chosen by the SAU 53 superintendent, an SAU 53 administrator, one student, who is non-voting, and one staff member.

The decision to close the school was made by Hanson, Calvano, Raymond, Parkinson, and Guercia, with the board saying in a statement that the five members "constitute a majority of the full board" even though six members would be needed to constitute a majority of a 10-person board.

The New Hampshire Attorney General's Office was unable to confirm if complaints had been filed about the board of trustees or if the membership was under investigation at post time.

Financial Issues, Cash Flow, And Is This An Asset Raid?

A statement by the board of trustees said limited state aid to charter schools, about $7,200 per student, was the reason for the closure, and even with additional funds from the school district, it would not be enough to sustain the school.

But financial records provided by parents who contacted Patch privately with documents that were confirmed with the New Hampshire Department of Education show these statements to not be quite accurate.

Audits from the end of the fiscal year 2019 show the school with a surplus of $78,494. At the end of the fiscal year 2020, it was $97,774. Santana said for 2021, the school was slated to end the year with about $90,000 in reserves while also setting aside money for a new summer program at the school, he said.

Santana added, like a lot of public charter schools and some private schools, too, there were sometimes cash flow problems and fundraising was not as strong as it could have been — but they were working on it. One board member is owed nearly $19,000, after pumping money into the school years ago. Santana would often skip paying himself to ensure other staffers were paid first. He would get his money later after districts and the state made payments.

At an executive committee meeting of the board of trustees, a statement was made that the school was "in the red by about $400K." But none of the documents online or with the New Hampshire Department of Education show that. A projected cash flow ledger shows the school to be in the black by $22,284 in June.

Santana also challenged the assertion by the board that there were staffing issues.

"That is not true," Santana said. "I completely changed that staffing structure and the org chart and was working with a three-year plan and they agreed to. They voted on it … it is just stunning."

On the school's financial statement's website page, even with this staffing model change, a $100,000 deficit was projected, even if that information was not listed anywhere else on the website.

One financial mishap that hurt the school when Santana first came on board was the school leasing space in Allenstown, at a location with no running water, while also trying to create the current space.

"The board did not tell me that we were leasing the building we had not owned and had not been built out while paying rent in Allenstown too," he said, noting it was a waste of money to pay for two buildings.

There is also the issue of divvying up the assets of the school.

If and when PACE is dissolved, something will need to be done with the building which is assessed at $1.35 million and has increased in value in two years after it was purchased for $1.1 million in 2019. The school also has $516,000 in cash holdings and assets.

All of this money, it turns out, will go to the Pembroke School District.

Hanson, according to the Concord Monitor, stated he planned on recommending to the Pembroke school board that the district use the funds from the sale of the building to create a new alternative high school program within the district. While there is no guarantee of this happening, members of the PACE board of trustees are also school board members.

A number of parents who contacted Patch privately believe a takeover of the assets and building are the real reason PACE was being dissolved.

Another reason the school district might want PACE to be dissolved is the funding it sends to the school.

SAU 53 is required to pay 80 percent of its per-pupil cost. For the 2019-2020 school year, the district's per-pupil cost was $15,822 meaning each Pembroke Academy student that attends the school should cost the district about $12,658. Of the 64 students that attend PACE, 28 are from the district communities meaning they could be paying as much as $355,000 to PACE, a third of its budget.

According to PACE's 2020-2021 budget, Pembroke was slated to only send about $136,000 to the school while Allenstown, Chichester, Epsom, Deerfield, and other districts kicked in another $80,000 to pay for 30 students. That money, if it does not go to PACE, would go back to the district.

When looking at the vote to close the school being made by Hanson, Calvano, Raymond, Parkinson, and Guercia, two of those five members are employed by SAU 53 while another is a board member responsible for creating budgets for the school district — meaning the majority of people who voted to close the school have an interest in not sending money to PACE or acquiring its assets for the school district.

Other school districts sending students to PACE include Concord with 14 students, SAU 15 (Auburn, Candia, and Hooksett), which sends six students, and the Pittsfield School District, which sends four students. A few more districts send a single student. The state pays for all the non-Pembroke children attending the school — more than $380,000 for this school year.

Kathleen Murphy, the superintendent for the Concord School District, said she did not know what the city would be doing with the placements of its 14 students in the wake of a PACE closure.

Santana said he did not want to be "pessimistic" but believed PACE being at its 10th year and needing recertification before the state board of education was one of the reasons for the closure proposal.

The Pembroke School District has also had issues in the past — including a miscount of students in 2017 that led to a $1.3 million budget shortfall.

Administrative Leave, Threatening Email

Santana was dismissed on Feb. 21, by the executive committee of the board of trustees.

An email to staff, students, and parents, on March 1, did not explain why.

An email obtained by Patch to the PACE board from Feb. 28, stated the decision came about "after certain circumstances and issues were raised to the Executive Committee." After that, the committee and personnel committee met and voted on the action to remove him from his duties.

Santana said no reason was given for his dismissal and he still does not know why he was let go. He heard from students that staff at the school accused him of smoking and embezzlement — something he denied.

"I was probably pushed out for asking the wrong questions," Santana said. "My biggest mistake was not reading the room. I have never been in a situation where the better a program got, the more pushback I got, and the more worried (the board) became. I think that was the mistake I made."

Parents and students were shocked by the dismissal.

One former student wrote, "This was a terrible decision. Jorge is an amazing man and he really helped and cared for the students there. He really helped me grow and mature during my time there." Another student nominated him to be principal of the year in December 2020, stating he welcomed students with disabilities with open arms and went "above and beyond for me and the rest of the students at PACE." Another student wrote, "We miss our leader. School is not the same anymore. We have been crying and in so much hurt and no one cares." That student also made accusations against new staffers brought in the wake of Santana's dismissal.

Patricia Bedford, a parent from Bow, chastised the board for firing Santana and then complaining about fundraising — something he was working on and had done with her. Also, she said, there were plenty of charter schools succeeding on the $7,200 state stipend.

"He was able to move the school to a beautiful new building and increase enrollment," she wrote in a letter to the Monitor. "They replaced him with a person who has never worked at a charter school before. It's not that I do not think that fundraising is necessary. I personally volunteered hours of my time this year to write a grant for PACE. The grant was funded and now the money will have to be returned."

As the students and parents became activated, even before the announcement of the closure, Santana was warned to stop communicating with them, if he was — or the board would refuse to pay him for the rest of his contract.

"It has come to the attention of several members of the board, that you may have been in contact with a number of PACE students, parents or staff," Hanson wrote on April 4. "This email is to remind you that our offer of paid leave through June 30 is contingent on you not having contact with PACE or anyone associated with PACE, including students, parents, and staff. While we realize the difficulty of this situation, however, a clean break is in the best interests of all parties. Should any further confirmed contact between yourself and the groups mentioned, the board will be forced to consider terminating the 'paid leave' portion of our agreement. We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors and assume you wish PACE the same as both parties move into the future."

Santana said he was surprised by the email's threatening tone.

"I didn't come in with this set of ideas to help students in need for them to take it away and close it," he said. "There is still a lot of work to do. Students were driving more than an hour (to get to PACE)."

Patch reached out to Hanson and other board members and they either did not return emails or phone calls requesting comment or chose not to comment.

The PACE Career Academy board will vote as a full board on Monday to decide whether or not to close the school. The meeting is slated for 6 p.m. on Monday via Zoom which is linked here. The Meeting ID is 747 3866 3689 and the Passcode is N2fVKx.

On Thursday, the state board of education is scheduled to discuss a report about the school closing. The meeting runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. It is unknown when the issue will be discussed. Interested parties can watch the meeting via Zoom at this link.

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