Lincoln Academy Founder Sues School District

PALMETTO – Ed Hundley, founder and former principal for Lincoln Memorial Academy, a private, non-profit charter school that has been taken over by the Manatee School District, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the district this week. Hundley was joined in the suit by several former employees of the school, including Melvia Scott, Juana Phillips and Katrina Ross.

In a press conference Monday, attorney Roderick Ford accused the district of having "divested Lincoln Memorial academy of due process and procedural rights under the U.S. constitution, as well as the right to engage in a financial recovery plan, which is guaranteed under Florida law."

Ford is representing the plaintiffs through the Methodist Law Centre and the PMJA Legal Defense Fund.

The district took over Lincoln Memorial Academy last summer, claiming the move was both justified and necessitated by the failure of Lincoln's administration to remain financially viable. Lincoln officials, however, have long accused the district of conspiring to block funding owed to the school and presenting false financial documentation in order to facilitate a takeover it desired for political and financial reasons.

A hearing by Florida's Division of Administrative Hearings previously upheld the district's decision to revoke Lincoln's charter and ruled that the takeover was justified, though Lincoln officials claim that a water utility bill from the City of Palmetto–a key piece of evidence used to support the takeover–had been falsified, citing a discrepancy between the 17 days it had been past due and the 45 days cited on a statement that had been sent to Manatee Schools Superintendent Cynthia Saunders.

The district has countered that even if a mistake was made on the bill, it wouldn't have changed the school's financial viability. However, the plaintiffs are also claiming that the district withheld "funding allocations" that led to other deficits, which the judge in that hearing called "unsupported by any evidence or facts."

At the press conference, Hundley reminded those in attendance that the judge had cited the water bill as a major factor in his decision and blasted the local media for accepting the school district's narrative without requiring them to support it with evidence.

"If we're showing you that the water bill was fraudulent, you should not allow Mitch Teitelbaum or anyone in the district to say that the water bill isn't a big deal," said Hundley. "We need some level reporting and support here. Find facts and then report."

Another component of Hundley's argument is that LMA was singled out for circumstances that were not different than other schools. Hundley has produced water bills showing Palmetto High to have much larger, longstanding arrears in their utilities, despite never getting a shutoff notice from the city, claiming that no school has previously received one, no matter how far in arrears they've been. When the question of race was raised by reporters, Hundley said you could call the discrimination whatever you want.

"You've reported that we were $1.5-2 million in the red and then (the district) has to put their public reports on the website, and it shows we were $300,000 in the red," said Hundley. "It also shows another charter school, comparatively, $1.4 million in the red, same year, only difference is we were run by a group, a community of minority people that came together to get this school, and that other school perhaps is run by a large management organization. I do feel even more so than racial that there's definite discrimination. You can wrap it around whatever you like, but there was discriminatory treatment between us and the others."

Hundley finished by challenging the local press not to allow the school district to control the narrative.

"I want to be brutally honest," said Hundley. "I'm so grateful that you all are here, but I'm hoping my disappointment ends because, in the same manner in which you're willing to ask me questions and I answer, I need the district to be held accountable. I need them not to be able to say, Oh you caught us with a fraudulent water bill, the water bill doesn't really matter when you all know it was presented as a reason (for the school board) to vote on (the takeover). You know it was presented in a DOAH hearing. You know the judge cited it in a final ruling, but we allowed them to say that. My other concern and request is, let this be about what this is about. When you report this this evening, please don't report it and then follow back and come behind it with a bunch of unvetted facts just spewed by (the district). I challenge any of you, and you all have my number, find something that they accused us of that you have facts to support. Or, conversely, find something that we've shared with you and given documentation of that's not true. Please, let us report facts and let this be about what this is about."