Feds, state police search Erie Rise charter school, Booker T. Washington Center

Federal investigators are looking into a troubled Erie charter school and an Erie community center.

With the assistance of the Pennsylvania State Police, the investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Education searched the offices of the Erie Rise Leadership Academy Charter School and the Booker T. Washington Center on Wednesday, officials said.

The search, by the Department of Education's Office of Inspector General, comes as Erie Rise is in its final days. It is scheduled to cease operating as a school on June 30 after the Erie School Board in January voted to force its closing due to poor student test scores.

"The U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General can confirm that we are conducting an investigation," a spokeswoman for the Inspector General's Office, Catherine Grant, said in an email to the Erie Times-News.

She said the office would release no further information at this point, "as per our policy, we do not discuss details of our ongoing work."

The executive director of the Booker T. Washington Center, Shantel Hilliard, confirmed to the Erie Times-News that the state police and the Office of Inspector General searched both the center and Erie Rise, where Hilliard is on the board of trustees.

Hilliard declined to comment on the details of the searches, but said he believed they had little or nothing to do with the Booker T. Washington Center and "more so Erie Rise."

Erie Rise last enrolled 213 students in kindergarten through eighth grade in the former Emerson School building at West 10th and Cascade streets in Erie. Its last day of classes is scheduled for Tuesday.

Erie Rise has partnered with the Booker T. Washington Center as part of a federal grant program designed to provide additional services to students, particularly those who attend high-poverty and low-performing schools. The state Department of Education classifies 100% of Erie Rise's students as "economically disadvantaged," according to state data.

State police also part of search

A state police cruiser was parked in front of the Booker T. Washington Center, at East 18th and Holland streets, on Wednesday afternoon.

Lt. Mark Weindorf, crime section supervisor for state police Troop E in Lawrence Park, confirmed that the state police assisted in searches at the Booker T. Washington Center and Erie Rise.

"The investigation is ongoing," he told the Erie Times-News.

Weindorf said he had no further information. The state police referred further questions to Grant, the spokeswoman for the Inspector General's Office.

Erie Rise has hired a consultant to wind down its operations of the school. The consultant, Christian Anderson, of the Washington, D.C., area, said he was aware of the searches.

"The school was fully cooperative with the agents," Anderson told the Erie Times-News.

He declined to comment further.

The lawyer who has represented Erie Rise as its solicitor, Thomas Fitzpatrick, of Philadelphia, could not be immediately reached for comment.

What type of federal funds has Erie Rise received?

Erie Rise has been funded primarily with local taxpayer funds, which the Erie School District has sent to the school in accordance with state law. The amount of funding has been based on Erie Rise's enrollment. The Erie School District pays about $3.4 million a year to cover the students' tuition at Erie Rise, which is a public school.

Erie Rise also has received federal funding.

It gets federal money for Title I services, to help low-income students. It also received a 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant, which the federal government funds and the state Department of Education administers. The grants are to establish community learning centers that provide academic, artistic and cultural enrichment opportunities for students and their families, according to the state Department of Education.

The state Department of Education in August 2017 awarded Erie Rise a $400,000 annual grant, over six years, under the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program. That grant ends this year. The Booker T. Washington Center received funding from Erie Rise to provide services to students as part of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, according Erie Rise financial records.

The treasurer of the Booker T. Washington board is Ed Williams, who is also on the board of trustees for Erie Rise, where he serves as the board's vice president and treasurer. Williams, who is also the deputy treasurer for the city of Erie, could not be immediately reached for comment.

Why did the Erie School Board vote to close Erie Rise?

The Erie School Board forced the closing of Erie Rise following the recommendation of district Superintendent Brian Polito. The board's vote, on Jan. 18, also came after the district allowed Erie Rise to improve the school, which operates separate from the district but falls under a district charter.

When it moved to close Erie Rise, the Erie School Board voted to invoke a "surrender clause" in an improvement plan that the school district and Erie Rise signed in November 2019 to keep the school open. The clause required Erie Rise to close if the school failed to meet academic standards it negotiated with the district as part of the improvement plan.

Erie Rise opened in 2011. In 2014, the state Auditor General's Office faulted Erie Rise for its academic performance and other issues. The Erie School District has raised similar concerns for years.

Erie Rise enrolled about 300 students when the Erie School Board voted to force it to close. The school's enrollment proceeded to plummet to 213, the most recent enrollment figure available.

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

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Feds, state police search Erie Rise charter school, community center