Florida investor plagued by lawsuits, one by former teachers not paid...wants to open new school.

madfloridian

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Fri Aug-12-11 10:19 PM
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Florida investor plagued by lawsuits, one by former teachers not paid...wants to open new school.

And he thinks he will get permission to do so from the Manatee school district.

He had formerly invested in a private school called Bradenton Prep Academy whose campus was repossessed in July 2010. The teachers are suing him for back pay. He says they can't prove it was his fault they didn't get paid.

Now he wants to open a charter school.

Bradenton Prep investor wants charter school

GRANT JEFFERIES/gjefferies@bradenton.com Bradenton Prep CEO Hendrik Lamprecht and coach Walt Williams

Lamprecht -- who still owns a Bradenton Prep successor called The Prep Academy at 7700 Cortez Road W. -- has filed a request for a county charter school. If the charter is approved, Lamprecht says he plans to start the school for the 2012-2013 school year under the name Pembridge Prep Inc. Charter School. He plans to continue operating The Prep Academy.

Lamprecht invested in Bradenton Prep in December 2009 when the school owed more than $1 million in federal payroll taxes, according to the Internal Revenue Service. The full dollar amount of his investment in the school was never revealed. But shortly after he invested, a lender won a $3.68 million foreclosure judgment against the school and repossessed the school’s former campus at 7900 40th Ave. W. in July 2010.

Lamprecht has been embroiled in at least five other lawsuits. One lawsuit was filed by 12 former teachers of Bradenton Prep who said they weren’t paid last year. Those lawsuits are still open, according to the county’s clerk of court website.

Lamprecht says the plaintiffs cannot prove he is financially liable for the school’s debts. Until they can, he said, “I care less with what they say.”

Here is more on Lamprecht's request to open a charter in addition to the private school he still owns.

From WTSP in Tampa Bay:

Bradenton school owner facing lawsuits applies for charter school

"He's not a man who is an educator never been a teacher if he's suppose to be finance man his proven track record shows he's not reliable ," says Cheryl Gaynor, she's one of 13 teachers suing Lamprecht for 10's of thousands of dollars in back pay from their teaching days at the now foreclosed Bradenton Prep Academy. Gaynor says Lamprecht, who served as the school's CEO, owes her close to "$25,000."

Ten News has been following Lamprecht's financial troubles since last year. It began when Bradenton Prep Academy hired him to help the school fix its finances. Except former teachers like Gaynor say he made the problems worst. Bradenton Prep Academy foreclosed last summer. Lamprecht reportedly owed $1,000,000 in federal payroll taxes according to the IRS. He faced code enforcement and permitting issues, law suits from teachers, an investor, and parents for tuition refunds and playing football players over the age limit.

..."If approved by the Manatee County School Board, Lamprecht will open The Pembridge Prep, Inc Charter School in August 2012. This school would be for low performing students using a virtual school curriculum. Lamprecht would receive between $3,869 per student from state taxpayers. If approved, Lamprecht's projects having more than 900 students enrolled by the 5th year.

Now that's a lot of money. 900 x $3,869.

The last time WTSP had an interview with him he hit a camera man over the head.

Ten News spoke with Hendrik Lamprecht over the telephone. He said the earliest he can speak with Ten News on camera would be the week of August 22nd. Even then he says he'll only talk about the charter school he wants to open up and not about any pending litigation. But the last time we set up a meeting with Lamprecht it did not go well.

In July of last year our photojournalist went to Bradenton Prep for a 10 a.m. scheduled interview Lamprecht was not happy to see us. The photographer says Lamprecht came up from behind and hit him over the head. Lamprecht apologized, but did not keep the interview. Ten News will try again later this month.

There is almost no oversight of private schools in Florida, yet many or most of them get vouchers from the McKay foundation for handicapped and learning disabled students. Here's an example of Lamprecht and how he got accredited though it is not a requirement for private schools that get vouchers.

From 2010:

HERALD-TRIBUNE ARCHIVE / 2010 / CHRISTOPHER O
Prep Learning Academy wants to operate from this building but has no permit.

BRADENTON - Bradenton Preparatory Academy owner Hendrik Lamprecht recently told parents the school had received a new accreditation from a “prestigious international accreditation body.”

The school's accreditation was also recently renewed by a major accreditation agency. Both came despite the school's owing the IRS $1.2 million in unpaid taxes and some teachers' claims that they have not been paid.

Florida does not regulate the more than 2,000 private schools that operate in the state. The schools set their own grading standards and curriculum, run their own finances and issue their own diplomas.

I miss the days when we knew that schools were being required to meet certain regulations, when families knew where their kids would go, when the parents knew the teachers, and vice versa.

I think those days are gone pretty much though. The days of profit are here along with the movement to turn teaching into a temporary job instead of a profession.