This is not a vendetta. I started researching education policy because of my own, brief experience as a charter school teacher. I have no connection with Haas Hall Academy, the charter school that is currently rated (under our state’s terrible grading system) as the best high school in Arkansas.

Still, after I wrote my first (snarky) Haas Hall article, I found myself at the center of a web of excited informants.

I tried to follow the clues I was receiving. They seemed to point toward a story of corruption, nepotism, and cover-ups. In order to figure out what was really true, I started submitting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests directly to Haas Hall. Their attorney hemmed, hawed, and hedged, but I verified enough details to write another blog post.

My second blog post got shared by education researcher Mercedes Schneider, so I got even more responses. Some readers expressed disbelief: How could a public school — even a charter school — get away with the financial juggling, school board shenanigans, discrimination, and deception of which I was accusing them? Surely, if these things were true, somebody with actual authority (instead of just a blogging habit) would have stepped in to address them, right?

The Arkansas Department of Education has been keeping certain, sordid details to itself, thus sheltering Haas Hall from the investigative attentions of the State Board of Education.

In 2016, Haas Hall Academy existed as two separate school districts (in Fayetteville and Bentonville) both governed by Superintendent Martin Schoppmeyer, Jr. In an effort to grow his charter schools, Dr. Schoppmeyer applied for an amendment to Haas Hall’s charter that would allow Haas Hall Academy to expand into Springdale, at the Jones Center. (Spoiler Alert: It worked, eventually.)

In the middle of this bureaucratic process, a recently-fired Haas Hall teacher filed a formal complaint with the ADE. I have a copy of this complaint (and you can easily request one too) but I’m going to use the pseudonym “Whistleblower” instead of the complainant’s real name. The Whistleblower’s formal complaint listed 20 areas of concern, including:

School employee (without a background check) bullies students.

Fundraiser money for specific programs disappears. Students have to pay a second time.

Enrollment lottery results do not match students listed in APSCN student register.

There is no record of who calls students to inform them of lottery results, when they call, or whether the students accept offered positions. (Leads to the possibility of lottery winners being excluded at the discretion of the person making the phone calls.)

Haas Hall’s landlord sued school and won financial judgment regarding broken lease and damaged property.

Unlawfully large class sizes (>28 students.)

Students unable to meet 2.75 GPA are asked to transfer to another school, so that they do not negatively impact reported 100% graduation rate. No tutoring offered.

Faculty meetings include interrogations about which students are likely to perform poorly on end-of-course exams. These students are then removed from the class roster.

Faculty not allowed to discuss enrollment lottery publicly.

Whistleblower had expressed these concerns internally to Dr. Schoppmeyer in August & September, 2015. In retaliation, Whistleblower had been fired almost immediately.

The Whistleblower filed this complaint on February 17, 2016. Within hours, Haas Hall’s lawyer, Mark Henry, filed a FOIA request to the ADE for a copy of the letter. The next day, three members of the Schoppmeyer dynasty (Martin, Marilyn, and Carin) went with Haas Hall’s attorney, Mark Henry, to the ADE office to meet with Mary Perry, Alexandra Boyd, Kendra Clay, and Jennifer Davis. This meeting had no written agenda, and no written minutes. The ADE never transmitted the complaint to the State Board of Education.

The Whistleblower wasn’t the only person to write to the ADE regarding concerns like this.