The commercial ends with the “ECOT Senior” reading the final line of the script, “If ODE closes ECOT, where will I go?”

The good news is that it won’t be a problem, since she would not have been enrolled in ECOT next year regardless of what happens to the mega e-school.

As it turns out, Summer was simply playing a role in the commercial and, thanks to her independent efforts, she will be going to college next year.

We reached out to Summer when pictures surfaced of her at this year’s ECOT graduation ceremony in her cap & gown, along with posts about her graduation party that occurred on June 17, a month and a half prior to the commercial being released (July 29).

When we asked Summer about the content of the commercial, she did not address the disconnect between the script and her real life, and simply told us that she was finishing her necessary coursework in summer school, receiving her diploma in August, and will be enrolling in college.

Congratulations again, Summer, on working independently and taking advantage of the learning opportunities offered to you by ECOT, to obtain your diploma.

ECOT must have figured the formula was a good one, so they took another crack at it.

Gabriel Young, the actor in the latest commercial released on August 9, is an impressive young man. The story he tells of bouncing around foster homes is true, and he has risen to become the current president of the Ohio Youth Advisory Board, a statewide organization of young people (aged 14-24) who have experienced foster care.

But, as with Summer, Gabriel was ultimately just following the script. Excerpts from a December 26 article in the Youngstown Vindicator covering Gabriel’s remarkable story:

Young, 18, of Austintown, has lived in 21 foster homes, and, for six years, ending at age 13 in an adoptive home, from which child welfare officials removed him and returned him to foster care. Young, who is studying culinary arts at the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center in Canfield and has a 2.9 grade-point average, works part time as a cashier at a Youngstown-area McDonald’s. Young has accepted an offer of admission to Sullivan University in Louisville, Ky., where he intends to earn a bachelor’s degree in event and tourism promotion. [emphasis-added] (Youngstown Vindicator, 12/26/2015)

It is despicable that ECOT is continuing to put these young adults on television to spread a false message about the actions taking place by the Ohio Department of Education, which is simply trying to ensure that you are operating in the best interest of all students and truly providing a structured educational system that is more than “home schooling resources” that parents may use to teach their children.

It becomes even worse when we find out the true stories about the students being used by ECOT in two of these commercials is quite different than the one ECOT’s hired scriptwriters have crafted, and it continues to undermine anything the charter school is claiming to be the truth.

Shame on you, ECOT, and shame on Third Wave Communications, ECOT owner Bill Lager’s daughter’s (Jessica Lager Harris) media company and producer of these commercials, for continuing to spread the lies all in order to keep the money flowing to you.

More on that connection soon…