Erie Rise is closed and dissolving but charter school has three employees. Judge asks why

Erie Rise let nearly all of its employees go when the publicly funded charter school closed to students in June 2023 and started its process of dissolution.

But Erie Rise still has three employees, including a director of human resources who is earning $90,000 a year.

An Erie County judge wants the school to reevaluate its staffing needs and consider layoffs as its dissolution continues.

Erie Rise must take a "hard look at the outstanding staffing obligations for a nearly dissolved school," Judge Marshall Piccinini told representatives of Erie Rise at the latest court hearing on the dissolution.

The hearing was on Tuesday. An order followed in which Piccinini gave Erie Rise until April 25 to decide on staffing. That deadline is four days ahead of the next court hearing on Erie Rise, on April 29.

At Tuesday's hearing, Piccinini asked for the employment review at the request of the Erie School District, which is suing Erie Rise in an attempt to expedite its dissolution and preserve the school's assets. Virtually all of the assets — including more than $2 million in the bank — will revert to the district under state law.

The district in its suit succeeded in getting Piccinini to monitor the dissolution and order Erie Rise to provide records to the district. On Tuesday, Piccinini asked why Erie Rise still needs to employ a $90,000-a-year HR director and two other employees who each earn about $36,000 a year, according to testimony.

Erie Rise is also paying a Maryland-based educational consultant $76,000 in 2024 to oversee the winding up of the school's financial affairs. Erie Rise paid the same consultant, Christian Anderson, $110,000 in 2023, according to testimony.

Erie School District questions need for 3 Erie Rise employees

Anderson appeared at Tuesday's hearing by videoconference and said he would raise the staffing issue with the board of trustees at Erie Rise, whose full name is Erie Rise Leadership Academy Charter School. A lawyer for Erie Rise, Zainab Shields, of Philadelphia, also appeared via videoconference.

Anderson told Piccinini that the HR director, Aubrey Favors, has been managing employee records needed to close out accounts. The other two employees are Favors' assistant and the school's former cafeteria manager, according to testimony at prior court hearings.

Favors and the two employees have been working out of the Booker T. Washington Center, at West 18th and Holland streets. After it closed, Erie Rise left the building it had leased at West 10th and Cascade streets.

Also after Erie Rise closed, Favors' assistant and the former cafeteria manager helped erase student-related data and other confidential information from the hard drives of 600 laptop computers that Erie Rise students used, according to testimony. Erie Rise delivered all the computers to the Erie School District in late March.

Anderson on Tuesday also told Piccinini that Favors is needed for records related to a lawsuit filed against Erie Rise on March 8 over claims that its former principal made "unwanted advances" toward a female employee in 2022. The former principal is denying the claims. Erie Rise's insurer is handling the case, Anderson said.

A lawyer for the Erie School District, Michael Musone, acknowledged the existence of the lawsuit at Tuesday's hearing, but said the district wants Erie Rise to review its staffing.

"While there certainly is pending litigation, we are questioning whether all three of these employees are necessary going forward," Musone said.

Piccinini turned to Anderson. The judge said no one wants to see someone leave their employment, but that "we are in a dissolution process."

Erie Rise says it has retained firm to perform audits

Erie Rise, with about 300 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, closed on June 30, 2023, after the Erie School Board revoked its charter due to poor academic performance and other issues. The pace of the charter school's financial dissolution prompted the Erie School District to sue Erie Rise, starting in December.

At a Feb. 8 hearing, Anderson told Piccinini that Erie Rise would finish dissolving by May 30. At another hearing, on March 14, Piccinini scolded Erie Rise for failing to complete several tasks, including submitting final reports to the U.S. Department of Education.

On Tuesday, Erie Rise presented evidence that it is moving ahead with the reports, and that it had retained an accounting firm to do an audit of the school's finances for the 2022-23 academic year. The firm will then do a final audit of the school's financial records as part of the dissolution, Anderson said.

The audits will not be done by the May 30 deadline. The Erie School District has said it recognizes that Erie Rise will have to exist in some form for some time to deal with litigation and other open-ended issues. The district has also said that even if Erie Rise exists as a limited entity, its financial affairs should be wound up swiftly.

Piccinini ended Tuesday's hearing by saying he was encouraged by Erie Rise's progress since the previous hearing.

"I appreciate the ongoing cooperation and work," he said.

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie Rise is closed, but still has three employees. Judge asks why