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Ohio DOE Releases Bishop Sycamore Report

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What a time for me to be home for the holidays. 

 

https://leagueofjustice.com/breaking-ohio-dept-of-ed-releases-bishop-sycamore-report-asks-attorney-general-to-investigate-but-says-school-can-continue-to-operate/

 

Highlights (emphasis mine):

“Consultation with the Attorney General is warranted regarding a potential legal action against Bishop Sycamore High School to prevent the school from continuing to operate without meeting the minimum standards for non-chartered, non-tax supported schools,” The report also drew attention to the weaknesses in Ohio law that allows non-chartered, non-tax supported schools to operate with little to no regulation. The Department concluded that schools that do not receive taxpayer money are not regulated by the state and schools that have firmly held religious beliefs may operate without any regulation besides an annual paperwork requirement. While the Department said it could not figure out whether Bishop Sycamore had any closely held religious beliefs, it still did not have the power to regulate or discipline the school even if it did not meet the minimum requirements under state law.

“It appears that Bishop Sycamore does not have truly held religious beliefs that led the school to pursue a course as a non-chartered, non-tax supported school. It appears instead that Bishop Sycamore took this route because it could become established merely by submitting a form and some accompanying documents. All that was left was to assemble players for the next high school football powerhouse.” The report shows that as many as 400 schools carry the distinction of non-taxed, non-chartered schools that lack state regulation and evade state enforcement power. It called for widespread reform under Ohio law to prevent schools like Bishop Sycamore from operating without meeting educational requirements.

The investigation recommends the attorney general investigate Bishop Sycamore to see if there is any liability in other areas of the law, including criminal or civil that may fall under consumer protection laws. Sources say the recommendation will allow the Department of Education to share the information it uncovered during the investigation, including allegations of non-payment to school providers and promises made to parents that may not have been fulfilled to see if there is criminal liability for fraud. The investigation also concluded that Bishop Sycamore was operating and competing in football games on the high school circuit even before its annual registration was approved and before it was placed on the state list of non-taxed, non-chartered schools. The investigation also found that Bishop Sycamore misrepresented its instructional activities and educational structure.

It listed the following findings:

Bishop Sycamore was not open for instruction for the requisite hours for the 2020-2021 school year.

Students’ enrollment in Bishop Sycamore High School was not reported to the treasurer of the respective school districts of residence for the 2020-2021 and the 2021-2022 school year.

The Department was unable to confirm that Bishop Sycamore High School verifies that teachers and administrators meet the requirements.

The Department was unable to verify Bishop Sycamore High School’s representation that it has provided the required courses of study for its students.

The Department was unable to identify any criteria used by Bishop Sycamore High School to promote students from grade to grade.

The Department was unable to confirm whether Bishop Sycamore High School ensured compliance with appropriate state and local health, fire, and safety laws.

 

The Department of Education’s says its investigation was hampered by a lack of cooperation by the owners and coaches at Bishop Sycamore and conflicting statements in the media, according to the report.

“The public statements about the school have been consistently inconsistent. The current head coach denies Bishop Sycamore’s status as a school, then the school files another annual certification with the Department. Andre Peterson, the administrator of the school, was quoted as saying there were around 80 students in the school, 48 yet the school’s forms disclose only three students for one year and one student for the following year. This pattern of misdirection leaves one concerned about the truth regarding the school’s operations.”

It went on to say:

“Further, Bishop Sycamore officials were given the opportunity to provide additional information to demonstrate the school’s legitimacy and compliance. They declined to do so. Without the clarification from the school to prove its compliance, common sense leads one to the most obvious explanation: Bishop Sycamore is not a school as it purports on paper to be.”

“Sue Cosmo, Director of the Department’s Office of Nonpublic Educational Options, directed her staff to attempt to contact the school and identify its address. Staff reported back that there was no phone number or address on the school’s website, only a vague representation that the school was located between Bexley and Columbus. Staff found that under the “Students” tab on the school’s website to enroll, the user was directed to the Ed Options Virtual School. Department staff contacted Ed Options but was informed that Bishop Sycamore was not a client of the virtual school.

Staff found Bishop Sycamore’s football team on the high school sports website MaxPreps, which listed an address of 2759 Winchester Pike in Columbus. After searching the address online, staff reported that the Google Street view for the address was a parking lot and a strip mall. With little more information to go on at the time, staff did not review any further.

YouthBuild reportedly ended the relationship with Bishop Sycamore after the community school learned that Bishop Sycamore players had been evicted from where they had been staying and after the school received an invoice for roughly $6,000 for football uniforms and equipment that had not been approved by the community school’s governing board. The Post reported that YouthBuild sent a cease-and-desist letter to Bishop Sycamore after Bishop Sycamore continued referencing an affiliation with YouthBuild, including on the MaxPreps website.

The staff and advisory board were listed on page 12 of the report. Those listed were: Carinne Blackwell, Katrina Jarrett, Jill Collins, Tim Dewberry, Andre Peterson, Deryck Richardson, and Joshua Harris. Across from each name are what appear to be acronyms of universities (i.e., ODU, OSU, YSU, and BGSU).

By late October of 2020, having not received updated information from Bishop Sycamore, the Department had yet to add the school’s name to the 2020-2021 list of non-chartered, non-tax supported schools. Nevertheless, on October 26, 2020, Andre Peterson posted on his Twitter account, @CoachAndrePete1, that “2021 Bishop Sycamore is going to be Epic!!!!” Peterson’s Coach Andre Peterson Twitter profile includes that he is “Director,” “Coach Bishop Sycamore Centurions,” and “Preacher of the Gospel.”

The school followed up with Department staff on December 26, 2020, and January 4, 2021, asking what actions the school needed to take to be included on the list of schools. Staff from the Office of Nonpublic Educational Options informed Cosmo that they spoke with Roy Johnson, formerly of COF Academy, who explained that he was now affiliated with Bishop Sycamore. Johnson – reportedly, the head coach of the Bishop Sycamore football team – told staff that Bishop Sycamore students were taking classes through APEX, an online learning platform. While staff members continued to express concerns about the school’s legitimacy, they also questioned whether the Department had authority to take any action since the school was representing in its filings that it was following the minimum standards for non- chartered, non-tax supported schools.

The school finally provided a new address on January 19, 2021, which was a post office box in Columbus. Staff responded by asking for the physical location of the school where students attend. Bishop Sycamore provided an address of 3599 Chiller Lane, Columbus, Ohio 43219, which is the address of the Resolute Athletic Complex, which is described on its website as “central Ohio’s premier sports center for lacrosse, indoor soccer, athletic training, and more.” Despite providing a physical address, the school expressed that its preference was to have the post office box listed as its address on the list of non-chartered, non-tax supported schools. Staff identified the athletic complex as the building that Bishop Sycamore represented as the location of the school. Staff also received an email from Andre Peterson asking for a call at staff’s “earliest convenience.” He asked staff to provide the date and time of the call. Peterson reiterated that Bishop Sycamore had a physical address, and, in support of the preference to list a post office box, he mentioned that several schools were included on the list with a post office box for the address of the schools.

Having received a new address and this clarifying information, on February 10, 2021, the Department issued a letter acknowledging that Bishop Sycamore High School would be included on the list of non-chartered, non-tax supported schools for the 2020-2021 school year and that the list on the website would be updated to reflect the school’s addition.

In response to this notification and despite its persistence in seeking inclusion on the list, the school next asked the Department if it was necessary for its name to be listed publicly on the Department’s website. Staff responded that the Department would continue to list the school because employers and post-secondary institutions use the list to verify the school’s operation.

In response, the Department received a September 9 letter from attorney Byron L. Potts, who informed the Department that he represented B.S.F. Bishop Sycamore Foundation and Damond and Brandy Porter.35 Mr. Potts explained that his clients have “no affiliation with B.S.F. Bishop Sycamore High School.”36 Nevertheless, Mr. Potts requested “all of the records pertaining to Bishop Sycamore High School.” Mr. Potts concluded his letter by advising that his clients “have no intention to submit the documents that you requested in your letter for inclusion on the non-chartered, non- tax supported school list for [the 2021-2022 school year] or any other year.”

On September 17, 2021, the Department sent a second notice to the school, to the attention of R. Andre Peterson, at 7637 Swindon Street, Blacklick, Ohio 43004, which the Department has reason to believe is Peterson’s residence. The letter requested the same documents as requested in the September 3 letters. The school’s deadline to submit the documents in response to the second notice was September 24, 2021.

The Department did not receive the requested documents by the September 24 deadline. In fact, as of the date of this report, the school has not submitted the requested documents to the Department. But on September 30, 2021, at 12:59 a.m., the school emailed the Department its annual certification materials for inclusion on the non-chartered, non-tax supported schools list for the 2021-2022 school year, as well as a seven-page annual report for the school .

Additionally, Peterson shared that the school provides religious study, but he said the study was not reflected on transcripts. He mentioned that the name of Bishop Sycamore was influenced by a story from the biblical Gospel of Luke where a man named Zacchaeus climbs a sycamore tree in order to be noticed by Jesus, who was passing through the town.40 Peterson said it was his favorite story in the Bible. He explained that the title of Bishop was included in the school’s name because it means “overseer.”

The minimum standards in OAC 3301-35-08 are intended to apply to schools for which compliance with the minimum operating standards for other chartered nonpublic schools would require the schools to violate their truly held beliefs. The challenge for the Department in this case is that schools are not required to submit any description of their truly held religious beliefs to the Department. On the annual certification report for the 2020-2021 school year, Bishop Sycamore checked the box to indicate that the school was “not chartered or seeking a charter due to truly held religious beliefs.” The school also checked the subsequent box to indicate that it had given written statements of its beliefs to parents. The Department’s annual certification report form for the 2021-2022 school year does not include the prompts regarding the school’s truly held religious beliefs and its written statement to parents about the beliefs.

Peterson’s statements suggest that the school has religious beliefs, but the Department is unable to identify with specificity what those religious beliefs are. And without identifying the school’s religious beliefs, the Department could not begin to ascertain whether those religious beliefs are truly held.”

How did our dearly departed friend GSB take the news, you might ask, well by retweeting this:

 

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OldTerrapin Grand Master

OldTerrapin

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What Feds?   Feds aren't looking into this.. yet

 

League of Justice is just some shock jock sports news blog site with massive amount pop up ads. Amy Dash is a clown and just entertainment news. She has egg on her face from this DOE report from her other articles taking the BS was cyber bullied angle and defending them. Her research equated to what she found on twitter and contains many falsehoods and incorrect information regarding D1 offers and how reclassing works and how it relates to NCAA.  

Nothing in the DOE report says BS can continue to operate as a "school" just that the Ohio Dept of Ed can't charge them with anything but they won't approve their applications to be on the list of those type charter schools. 

The only investigation so far is by the Ohio Dept. of Ed as it relates to actually being a school. , nothing federal or from any law enforcement entities. Yet

Read the report here..  

https://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Ohio-Education-Options/Private-Schools/Non-Chartered-Non-Tax-School-Information/bishop-sycamore-report.pdf

 

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Severino Rising Star

Severino

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On 12/18/2021 at 1:18 AM, OldTerrapin said:

What Feds?   Feds aren't looking into this.. yet

The bank fraud case required the bank to file a Suspicious Activity Report with the U.S. Secret Service.  Roy Johnson and Jay Richardson have admitted they were questioned by the Secret Service.  In a recent USA Today article about Bishop Sycamore, a spokeman for the Secret Service said it "does not confirm the existence or absence of a potentially ongoing investigation."

The FDIC doesn't cover losses due to bank fraud, the bank would have private insurance for that but has to prove fraud.  The court has granted summary judgment against Johnson and Richardson, meaning there was no dispute of the material facts, and the case will be concluded after a damages hearing on January 25, 2022.  Any related criminal charges now would put three years of civil litigation on hold just before the victim is about to prevail.  After the 25th I'd be very worried.

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Severino Rising Star

Severino

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1 hour ago, Oldballcoach said:

Bottom line is these guys are grifters just like  all these pop up fly by night schools that come out of no where and dupe people as long as they can or until the HC can shake someone down for a college position 

This guy was different, he never really asked for tuition or playing fees, and he's definitely not a footballl coach.  He was up to something else.  When the rest of the story comes out it will make what has transpired so far seem frivolous by comparison.

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Cossacks Grand Master

Cossacks

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2 hours ago, Severino said:

This guy was different, he never really asked for tuition or playing fees, and he's definitely not a footballl coach.  He was up to something else.  When the rest of the story comes out it will make what has transpired so far seem frivolous by comparison.

We talking this stuff:

 

BB13AA7F-58B1-4550-90E1-B3B13D2FFB20.gif

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OldTerrapin Grand Master

OldTerrapin

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15 hours ago, HooverOutlaw said:

We were told everything was on the up and up.  I wonder how bad this HBO documentary will make some people look. 

Subjects in a documentary should NOT be paid. Once you pay someone, they are working for you and it blurs the line of ethical, unbiased storytelling. Period. It shouldn't be done.

 

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Severino Rising Star

Severino

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12 hours ago, Nolebull813 said:

Looks like old info posted by a racist, fringe site. Can you post the link to a reputable source? 

The court awarded the damages four days ago.  You can check the Franklin County Clerk of Courts web site unless you think that's a racist fringe organization too.

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Severino Rising Star

Severino

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On 1/28/2022 at 7:02 PM, Cossacks said:

We talking this stuff:

 

BB13AA7F-58B1-4550-90E1-B3B13D2FFB20.gif

Maybe not that bad.  But when you add up all the hotels, apartments, bus compnies, etc. that they ripped off over the years, it's a lot of money.  Probably close to $500K.  They even bounced a $1400 check at the Earl Chambers camp in Georgia and stiffed the hotel.

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