Cape & Islands News

Will Lighthouse Charter School fundraising hurt others?

Lighthouse Charter School’s Tottering Education Foundation
Donor Loyalty, Poor Economy Present Grave Challenges

The Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School series so far listed chronologically.

In the previous article in this series on the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School, we reported on the school’s plans to conduct a $2,000,000 capital campaign to rehabilitate the Regal Cinema property in Harwich in to a new home for the troubled charter school.

We  have left several messages at the school today both at the main number and on the business manager's voice-mail asking if the school intends to go ahead with the fundraising campaign, but have not received a response.

Between 2002 and 2011 the school’s Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School Education Foundation, Inc. has raised $707, 438.  Over a nine year period that averages $78,604 per year.  However, in the last three fiscal years the Foundation’s revenue dropped precipitously – from $138,641 in 2007 to only $39,700 in fiscal 2010.

Late last year the school engaged Development Solutions of New England (DSNE)to study the feasibility of their capital campaign to raise $2 million to offset the costs of the East Harwich theater project.  DSNE delivered their report at the March meeting of the CCLCS board of trustees. It's reports warned of the effects of negative publicity, and the DSNE findings were made before the present revelations concerning the school's management.

No track record of fundraising management

Will local philanthropists do something generous for CCLCS at the cost of donations they presently make to other local organizations?

Cape Cod Today questions the charter school’s ability to support a campaign that needs $400,000 per year over five years to accumulate $2 million.  In March Rose Resnik of DSNE told the board that public relations “confusion and misinformation” regarding the school was a challenge to a capital campaign – and that was before the past six weeks of revelations and leaks that have come across the screens of Cape Cod Today’s readers. 

Ms. Resnik told Cape Cod Today that her firm does not anticipate being hired to run the capital campaign.  The school has not made announcements on when – or if – they plan to launch the proposed campaign, but the school has a purchase and sales agreement with presumably a hefty down payment on the building, and no one in charge of the completion of the sale since three board members on the building committee just left and the former director Kathy McNamara's last day is today, and no new director is on the horizon as the latest candidate withdrew her application.

Where will CCLCS raise $2,000,000 in pledges for the new school?

Ineptitude, negative press and inexperience aside, there is a larger question:  Where will CCLCS raise $2,000,000 in pledges for the new school?

Most older schools have a good network of alumni who are already accustomed to donating money to their alma mater.  In the case of CCLCS, however, their oldest graduates are in their mid to late 20’s which is hardly an age at which young parents start making significant gifts to their old schools. This means that the school foundation may be forced to rely on experienced philanthropists in the area who already have an interest in doing generous things for children.  The question arises:  will these folks do something generous for CCLCS at the cost of donations they presently make to other organizations?

Will splitting the pie hurt others?

In order to get a sense of “how significant” $400,000 per year is in the philanthropic community today on Cape Cod, we pulled the State PC-1 filings for several child-oriented non-profits in the area.

Specifically, we selected a pool of seven charities with a similar geographical footprint to Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School, a similar education or child-oriented mission and similar revenue numbers to those projected if the school obtains $400,000 per year in capital campaign pledges for five years.

We selected the most recent state PC-1 filing for each organization and used their “Gross Support and Revenue” line from that report. There are hundreds of non-profits on Cape Cod, and we chose a few which we felt were relevant to compare with CCLCS. Any writer would have chosen a slightly different group.

The list includes the CCLCS Educational Foundation, Homeless Prevention Council (formerly known as Interfaith Council for the Homeless), Brewster After School Child Care Program (Nauset Youth Alliance), Friends of the Snow Library, William Sturgis Friends of Education Foundation, Inc., Cape Cod Museum of Natural History and the Academy of Performing Arts, Inc.  These seven organizations raised a combined “gross support and revenue” of $2,290.383 according to their most recent PC-1 filings.

Will CCLCS's fundraising be the 800 pound gorilla in the non-profit 'hood?

The Charter School’s stated capital campaign goal of $2 million over a five year pledge period is nearly equivalent to all of these organizations’ combined revenue for a single year. Will this make the CCLCS's fundraising effort the 800 pound gorilla in the room?

Local Cape Cod Charities' Revenue Compared to CCLCS Capital Campaign
Source - Most Recent Form PC-1 "Gross Support and Revenue" Line

Organization                                                                                                                                     Amount

Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter projected annual capital campaign (Projected)      $400,000

Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School Education Foundation, Inc. (2010)                $39,700
Homeless Prevention Council (fka Interfaith Council for the Homeless) (2009)   $338,299
Brewster After School Child Care Program, Inc. (Nauset Youth Alliance)(2009) $251,947
Friends of the Snow Library (2010)                                                                                           $ 70,878
William Sturgis Friends of Education Foundation, Inc. (2009)                                     $294,465
Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, Inc. (2009)                                                             $647,781
Academy of Performing Arts, Inc. (2009)                                                                              $647,313
Total of Pre-Existing Organizations' Revenue                                                  $2,290,383

Some of the organizations listed are long established entities with substantial followings of adults older than 30.  Others have significant church or other organizational support behind them.  The William Sturgis Friends of Education Foundation, Inc. is the supporting organization for the Sturgis Charter Public School in Hyannis, with revenue of $294,465 in their last reported fiscal year.

A lowering tide sinks some boats

Like the rest of the nation, Cape Cod was hard hit by the economic downturn of the past three years.  Even with our thriving tourism industry the Cape’s population being quite careful with their money, especially with spiraling fuel costs both for heating our homes in winter and powered our vehicles throughout the year.

A further caveat on a capital campaign arose after the first article in this series was published.  Several commentors remarked that the decline in fundraising by the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School Educational Foundation, Inc. may have been due to donor dissatisfaction with the administration of Kathy McNamara at CCLCS.  This causes us to question the loyalty of the school’s donors.  Would they abandon their pledge if they weren’t happy with the incumbent director or something else that happened at the school? 

Recent developments at the Cape Cod Museum of Fine Arts are a cautionary tale for CCLCS.  Local media today reported that a museum donor is demanding the refund of a $250,000 donation because of issues surrounding governance and leadership at the organization.  If an established, stable organization like the museum can suffer this type of crisis, we fear for the CCLCS capital campaign with such a reportedly malleable donor base.

It is not reasonable to believe that the local philanthropic “pie” will magically grow by $400,000 per year when CCLCS launches its capital campaign.  In one scenario, these organizations would all end up competing for nearly the same pool of dollars. In this scenario, the capital campaign to build the new charter school might literally take food and clothing away from other children in the area presently served by organizations against which Lighthouse Charter would compete for money.  

In the second scenario, the enthusiastic parents and friends of CCLCS would fuel the campaign with their own dollars.  If among this group are some individuals who could write five or six figure checks, significant headway could be made in paying down the balance on the large mortgage needed to purchase and renovate the cinema.  One of the challenges in the second scenario is to keep parents of today’s students engaged with the school – and their pledges – for the next five years.  Over this five year period, the parent of a sixth or seventh grader will want to put away money for college and will encounter all of the unanticipated expenses that are the joy of any parent of kids in high school.

Over the longer term, there is an additional challenge of engaging alumni as they grow to an age where they start feeling philanthropic towards their old schools.  In that situation, most philanthropically-included folks we know in their 50’s and 60’s tend to lean towards their college and high school alumni fundraisers.  We don’t know anyone who gives money to their middle school if that wasn’t a direct part of their high school, as in the case with many private schools.

Falmouth's fallen hero remembered at Silver Beach vigil Wednesday

Remembering a fallen hero Wednesday

   A candlelight vigil to honor Gallagher's memory at Old Silver Beach in North Falmouth.

Candlelight Vigil at Old Silver Beach last evening

A graduate of Falmouth High School, U.S. Army Corporal Matthew Gallagher, was assigned to the 6th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, First Cavalry Division based at Fort Hood, Texas.

According to a release from the U.S. Department of Defense, Gallagher died on June 26 in Iraq of injuries suffered during a non-combat related incident.

The incident is under investigation.

David Curran video.

Lighthouse Charter School loses director applicant, board members

Director applicant withdraws, three board members not replaced
Are things coming apart at the Cape's only charter middle school?

By Walter Brooks

Chatham school Principal Lisa Sjostrom will not be the 8th director in 16 years of the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School.

The school room where last night's Cape Cod Charter School's (CCLCS) Board of Director's meeting was held had the feeling of a bunker with beleaguered people hunkered down to avoid an attack. The skylight was half covered with a tarp to protect us, and gave added meaning to the board's earlier decision to have their last director Kathy McNamara find a new home for the school.

But that prospect seems dimmer than ever as it was announced that the board's choice to replace recently resigned director McNamara had pulled her name out of consideration as the school's 8th director in its 16 years of existence.

Present Chatham school principal Lisa Sjostrom was expected to be introduced at last night's meeting, but instead board president Norman Michaud said she had withdrawn her application.

Faculty, finance, fiasco

Ms. Sjostrom had met with the CCLCS teachers, toured the buildings, and was expected to replace acting director Paul Niles who did not attend the meeting.

Perhaps more ominous, three members of last night's eight member board are retiring after the meeting, and the nominating committee reported that no new names would be submitted for consideration until at least the September board meeting.

"It really feels like the teachers are just in it for themselves. They make it fun for kids because they just want to have fun themselves. I'm very concerned about how my child did on the math MCAS."
         - A CCLCS parent.

The next three months are important in the negotiations to buy the Regal Cinema building on Route 137 in Harwich, and these departing board members were on the school's building committee.

All this while contending with the demands of newly unionized teachers and trying to raise two million dollars to buy the Regal Cinema building which the school has under a sales and purchase agreement.

Development Solutions of New England (DSNE) gave the board its positive feasibility study regarding a capital campaign in March, but much has changed due to the unionization, banks backing away from loans, and the bad press the school has recently received mostly through an almost nonexistent public relations efforts.

No pay raises for teachers, vigorous negotiations ahead for board

The Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School series so far listed chronologically.

Last night the board of directors adopted a $2,882,060 budget on its $3,053,553 income which comes mainly from tuition paid by the Cape Cod school districts when their students opt for the charter school. 

The school plans no salary increases, but that depends on the ongoing negotiations with staff which has recently joined an ALF/CIO teacher's union.

One assumes the negotiations will be more vigorous than in the past. One of the reasons suggested for the teachers joining a union was resentment over funding for the new school building in Harwich rather than pay raises for the teachers.

Some teachers have reportedly complained about the extra work which may accrue to them with the new Harwich location drawing more Mid Cape students needing extra tutoring and/or special ed.

Last night the budget was accepted as level-funded except for a 2 percent increase in student costs and an unspecified increase in legal fees, now at $15,000. The budget forecasts a $171,493 surplus, a little more than this year's $150,000 surplus.

News from inside the bunker

Sources inside the school tell us that Lisa Sjostrom was warned away from the director's job by many people.  It is reported that she decided she didn't want to deal with the hostile environment that a group of the teachers created for the previous director Kathy McNamara.

One parent told us last night that they were very disappointed with the charter school.  She said, "It really feels like the teachers are just in it for themselves. They make it fun for kids because they just want to have fun themselves. I'm very concerned about how my child did on the math MCAS. He thinks all the problems with math are because of the 6th grade teacher (one of three members of the same family who worked there simultaneously).

She added, "He says he didn't learn too much in 6th grade math. Now the poor 7th grade math teacher has been let go - made the scapegoat for the school's math performance. My son says even though the 7th grade teacher wasn't fun, he did learn from him! I hope he'll be able to catch up next year at Nauset Middle."

Stop the Pills, Stop the Hurt, Start the Music

Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Event: Stop the Hurt, Start the Music
Cape Cod Community College students form grassroots organization

By Patricia LeBoeuf

Almost everyone on Cape Cod knows this unfortunate truth: prescription drug abuse among teens and young adults is rising.

"There is a huge opiate addiction [problem] on the Cape...It's a lot more than people expect, because it can go unnoticed. It's easy to hide." 
   - Deirdre Arvidson, Public Health Nurse for Barnstable County.

This shocking fact incited a group of pill-opposed students at Cape Cod Community College to form a grassroots organization known as STOP (Students Opposed to Pills), which aims to address the growing opiate problem in Cape Cod and Massachusetts.

On Friday, June 24, STOP, in association with Gosnold of Cape Cod, the Freedom from Addiction Network, and the Cape Cod Justice for Youth Collaborative, hosted an event aimed to address prescription drug abuse, called "Stop the Hurt, Start the Music."

To begin the event, Chris Kelly, master of ceremonies and member of STOP, told his story, one that is all too common among people struggling with opiate addictions.

Abused drugs daily for 15 years

Kelly abused drugs and alcohol "daily" for fifteen years. He lived out of his car, and at one point was so mired in addiction that he did not get clean even after his mother died. Today, Kelly is a thirty-one year old freshman at 4C's and will celebrate his one-year drug-free anniversary in just over a month.

Other honored guests served to educate those present about the human cost of prescription drug addiction. Trudy Avery, mother of four sons and current director of Massachusetts Maritime Academy, has had personal experience with prescription drug abuse: one of her sons, Corey Avery, was addicted to opiates for several years. His path to addiction began with a prescription for Adderall at the age of 14. Within the next few years, he became addicted to opiates, specifically oxycodone and heroin.

Avery soon realized that there were major obstacles to getting her son the help he needed, mainly her insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield.

"[The insurance company] was the main determining factor in Corey not getting [the help he needed]," she said.

Avery fought long and hard and finally won her case in May 2010, in which Blue Cross Blue Shield agreed to pay for her son's treatment in full. He has now been clean for two and a half years.

"The community can no longer turn a blind eye on Cape Cod, because it [prescription drug addiction] affects all of us."
            - Corey Avery.

"The community can no longer turn a blind eye on Cape Cod, because it [prescription drug addiction] affects all of us," she said.

Other attendees also spoke about the seriousness of the issue and the effects of its pervasiveness.

"There is a huge opiate addiction [problem] on the Cape... It's a lot more than people expect, because it can go unnoticed. It's easy to hide," said Deirdre Arvidson, Public Health Nurse for Barnstable County.

Arvidson also commented on the politics of prescription drug abuse. She talked about how, as a school nurse, the schools she worked in did not generally talk about the problem, owing to the issue of school choice (the schools were concerned that if word got out about drug use, kids would not want to come to the school).

Much of the event also consisted of detailing the programs that are already helping people who may be in the grip of prescription drug addiction.

William Luzier, Executive Director of the Interagency Council on Substance Abuse and Prevention, mentioned several of these programs, all of which use many different methods but have the same ultimate goal: treatment for addicts and prevention of prescription drug abuse. The Prescription Monitoring Program, for example, monitors schedule 2-5 drugs.

Stop the "doctor shopping

This enables doctors to input a patient list and receive the patients' prescription histories, so that they can know if a person has been over-prescribed or has been "doctor shopping" (a process described by CNN Health's online site as "visiting numerous doctors to fraudulently get prescription drugs"). More along the lines of treatment for addicts is the Narcan Program. According to the Massachusetts government's website, this program trains opiod users and people they trust in the use of the drug narcan, which is an opiod antagonist that blocks opiods' effects.

Overall, event organizers seemed uninterested in berating, lecturing, or preaching about the definite problem of prescription drug abuse on Cape Cod. On the contrary, Chris Kelly's message was one of hope and faith in the community's ability to fix the problem: "We need your help... I want you to go home and tell your friends...that's how [it] works... It's a movement of the people," he said.

Read Patricia LsBeouf's previous reports here:

• Union says Lighthouse Charter School unionization is legitimate
  
• Gina Clark pleads not guilty to all charges in Barnstable Superior Court today
  
• New year, new beginning for Touched by Angels families
  

European Wind Power firm signs contract with Cape Wind

K2 Management Hired as Cape Wind Project Management Contractor
Opens North American office in Massachusetts

The latest development in the state's growing wind power industry received another boost today when K2 Management, a leading European project engineering and project management consulting firm in the offshore wind power construction industry based in Denmark, announced a contract to provide consulting services to Cape Wind and the opening of its North American office in Massachusetts.

K2 will train workers constructing Cape Wind. Project will hire between 600-1,000 people here.

Managing Director Mr. Carsten Ploug Jensen will be responsible for the implementation and development of K2 Management Inc. in North America to provide project management and engineering consultancy services to the rapidly developing North American offshore wind power market.

"What we are seeing now is an emerging offshore wind power cluster forming in Massachusetts because of Cape Wind and the leadership of Governor Deval Patrick, which is why K2 Management is choosing to base our North American operations here," said Mr. Jensen.

He added, "When we saw Siemens Wind Power opening their North American offshore wind office in Boston, Governor Patrick's plan to open a Marine Commerce Terminal in New Bedford to stage and assemble offshore wind turbines, and Global Marine System's decision to locate its US. office for offshore wind cable installation in Boston, we realized that Massachusetts was the right place for us to locate as well," Jensen continued.

"This is another sign of an emerging offshore wind sector in Massachusetts."
      - Jim Gordon, Cape Wind.

K2 Management plans to open its Massachusetts office in Riverside Center in Newton and plan to hire and train between 5 and 10 new employees from the local workforce in the coming period. K2 Management's core management team has direct hands-on construction and project management experience on many of the offshore wind farms now operational in Europe and will assist Cape Wind execute a contract with a Balance of Plant contractor and help Cape Wind oversee project construction successfully.

Cape Wind President Jim Gordon welcomed K2 Management's plans to expand into Massachusetts, "This is another sign of an emerging offshore wind sector in Massachusetts; K2 management will bring its experience and expertise to help Cape Wind be successful and to help train our local workforce in offshore wind construction project management."

Cape Wind is expected to create between 600 and 1,000 local jobs during project construction.

K2 Management was founded in 2007 by Lars Hammershoj and Per Melgaard to provide practical consultancy and project management services based on knowledge gained through hands-on experience in the offshore wind industry and have been involved in the planning and implementation of more than 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind capacity. The core management team at K2 come from various well known companies of the offshore wind industry including Siemens, Vestas, A2Sea, and Global Marine. K2 Management is a Danish consulting firm with subsidiaries in Germany, United Kingdom, and now also
in the United States.

The Case against DA Michael O'Keefe

Are you ready for THE story of the summer?
The case:  The Cape Cod murder of NYC fashion writer Christa Worthington.

By Laura Rossi Totten

Author Peter Mason is impracticable in seeking the untold story of our tarnished District Attorney.

The controversy: 

The book (REASONABLE DOUBT by Peter Manso) is explosive for many reasons, not the least of which is that Peter Manso reveals that the wrong man is likely in jail as the result of inept law enforcement and a trial fraught with racial profiling.

The story: 

Author Peter Manso (PTown: Art, Sex and Money on the Outer Cape; Mailer: His Life and Times, and Brando) has fought long and hard, and put himself in danger to tell this story -- refusing to be silenced. 

The story of the Worthington murder, the investigation and the crime has been covered in the news, but Manso tells the real story and why he thinks the murderer is still out there on the Cape.

One recent story about O'Keefe, "The DA's New Clothes, or, McCowen Unbound", drew over 220 comments.

The DA tried to silence him, now O'Keefe is under investigation

"It's unpleasant, but it's not going to disrupt my office." - Michael O'Keefe.

In 2008 The New York Times ran a story that focused on Mr. Manso's indictment on 12 charges brought by Cape Cod DA Michael O'Keefe who, it is widely believed, went after Manso in an attempt to silence his coverage of the Christa Worthington murder trial. Manso's new book, Reasonable Doubt is the product of that coverage.

Mr. Manso endured some 18 months of legal harassment before being vindicated with the assistance of the Authors Guild, the Massachusetts ACLU, the Media Law Resource Center and other groups.

All charges against Manso were effectively dismissed on June 26th, 2009, only months before the start of a Worcester, Mass., Federal Grand jury investigation of DA O'Keefe for his alleged misuse of office and involvement with mob-connected gamblers on Cape Cod. Manso's case was handled by Judge Richard Connon of Barnstable County Superior Court, case docket #  2008-112.

This story had quotes from six well-known authors and attornies including Alan Dershowitz who said, "Intrepid and meticulous, Manso gets it all ... This is the dark side of the Cape that whispers in bad dreams, screams down the alley ... and hides out of sight on sunny days when tourists wonder the quaint old streets or lie on the sand in bliss."

The real story about the Christa Worthington murder is finally told

The book which will keep DA O'Keefe awake for many nights to come. Buy itn on Barnes & Noble here or on Amazon here.

Reasonable Doubt presents a truer, more believable picture of Christa Worthington -- her life and her death.  

It chronicles the three-and-a-half year investigation, relying on the investigators' own reports, on state crime lab documents and grand jury transcript which have never before been made public.

With some fifty pages of endnotes listing each and every one of Manso's sources, the author's report is not only well researched but sets a new standard for accuracy in the field of true-crime books.

To date, Vincent Bugliosi, Alan Dershowitz, Barry Scheck, and others, none of whom knew Christa Worthington, have endorsed Reasonable Doubt. Reconsidering who this woman really was--and how she lived--readers will surely come away seeing this case in a new and different light, just as they will see Cape Cod differently, too.

Reasonable Doubt will be in bookstores on July 5.  CapeCodToday will run a two part interview with Peter Manso July 4th and 5th.

For more information on the book and Peter Manso's appearances please visit Peter's Facebook here, and read Peter's CapeBlog on Cape Cod TODAY here.

Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School series

The CCLCS stories so far:

To date we have over a dozen stories about the troubled Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School. Below is the list beginning with the first one on May 18, 2011.

• Cape Cod's Broken Lighthouse
  
• Lighthouse Charter School’s MCAS Shocker
  
• A parent speaks out about problems at Lighthouse Charter School
  
• Lighthouse School’s Threat to Monomoy Regional District
• Association of American Educators writes to the fellow teachers and board of directors of the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School
• What effect will a new Lighthouse Charter School have on the Mid-Cape?
  
• A concerned board member speaks out on CCLCS
  
• The Lighthouse was on, but no-one was home
• Would you entrust your child to this Cape Cod summer camp?
• Charter Schools moves quickly to register its summer program
• The Last Huzzah?
• Former CCLCS Director praised by parent
• $2 million fundraising campaign for Lighthouse Charter School about to start
• Charter school loses director applicant, board members

Laptops for KidZ places six computers at Chatham Elementary School

Home computers will help children stay on track with their peers

   Margie Klonel (Chatham Elementary School Nurse), Gaylene Heppe (CES Principal) and Jill Malinowski (CES guidance counselor) show off three of the six laptop computers that the Laptops for KidZ project delivered to Chatham Elementary School this month.  The donation of the computers was facilitated by Michael Anderson, St. Martin’s Lodge Masonic Angel Fund coordinator. MAF/LFK photo.

The Laptops for KidZ project of the Masonic Angel Foundation has placed six computers at Chatham Elementary School.  The Dell laptops were part of a group donated by a Chatham businessperson who wishes to remain anonymous.

Chatham Elementary School staff members were approached by St. Martin’s Lodge Masonic Angel Fund coordinator and Chatham Police Lieutenant Michael Anderson when he learned the machines had been donated.  While the Laptops for KidZ project’s volunteers refurbished the computers, the school staff identified six children to receive the computers.

The school selected six kids from families that could not afford to purchase a home computer.  Each of the children needs home computer access for skill practice and basic computer literacy as well as for child-specific needs in the area of reading, reference skills and creative skills needed at this level of education.

“We are happy to say that most Laptops for KidZ computers are placed in elementary schools,” said Mario Meré, LFK project director.  “Children absolutely need regular home computer access during their elementary school years.  To wait until middle school leaves them at a tremendous disadvantage in relation to their peers,” he continued.

Established in 2010, Laptops for KidZ (LFK) places laptop computers with local schools to be sent home with children who would not otherwise have computer access outside school hours.  LFK tries to focus on situations where there is a demonstrated educational need for which the school has a plan that requires the use of a computer to address that need.

LFK has refurbished and placed over 175 computers since April 2010.  A non-profit member of the Microsoft Registered Refurbisher program, the Laptops for KidZ project receives generous support from Microsoft in the form of deeply discounted licenses for Windows XP and Windows 7 as well as guidance and resources for those operating a non-profit computer refurbishing program.

In the case of the six Chatham laptops, the entire cost was only $69.72 to refurbish all six computers and provide a USB flash drive with each machine.  Refurbished Dell computers of this variety generally sell for $200 to $300 each on the retail market.

All Laptops for KidZ computers are configured with Microsoft Windows, OpenOffice, Avast! anti-virus and Adobe Reader.  Each laptop comes with a USB flash drive to facilitate easy transfer of files between home and school.

As with all activities of the Masonic Angel Foundation, the program's volunteers never know the identity of a recipient child. All transactions are conducted at arm's length with the school professionals working as a go-between to preserve privacy. LFK does not accept direct requests from potential recipients. Requests for laptops must come through a school or other partner agency.  LFK computers are configured in English and are only available to legal residents of the United States.  The Masonic Angel Foundation makes every effort to place a donated computer town where it originated.

LFK accepts donations of functional Windows-based notebook computers. "Functional" means that the laptop will power up and is accompanied by its proper AC adapter.  LFK generally does not accept donations of desktops or monitors nor any Apple product. Donations to the 501(c)(3) Masonic Angel Foundation, Inc. are tax deductible.

For more information about the Laptops for KidZ program visit www.laptopsforkidZ.org.

$2 million fundraising campaign for Lighthouse Charter School about to start

Lighthouse Charter School’s Teeter-Totter Education Foundation

Declining fundraising numbers, Bad Economy highlight challenge facing Capital Campaign

The Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School series so far listed chronologically.

At the March 2011 board meeting of the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School, a report was made by their “Capital Campaign” committee.  Below is the verbatim excerpt from the board minutes.  Editor’s notes are in [brackets].

A. Capital Campaign Committee

Carole [Ridley, a board member] introduced Rose Resnik of DSNE [Development Solutions of New England], who will report on DSNE’s feasibility study regarding a capital campaign.

Rose spoke about the results of the feasibility study and the answer to the question: Is the goal feasible?

The DSNE Report indicates support for a two-million dollar capital campaign.

 Rose noted the following challenges to a capital campaign: a need to update the CCLCS website; concerns regarding gossip within the community; public relations to address confusion and misinformation regarding CCLCS.

Rose also noted a sense of urgency to relocate CCLCS to owned – rather than leased - premises; a focus on the students; strong interest in including athletic fields in the first phase of renovations; interest in community use of the new facility; passionate alumni.

A very high percentage of those interviewed – 86% - expected to donate to the capital campaign. A two year campaign is anticipated; with a five-year pledge program.

Rose strongly recommended marketing CCLCS as the only charter middle school on Cape Cod.

Click here to see CCLCS Foundation Board Study.

Click the image to see the CCLCS Foundation turnover chart 2002-2008 in full size.

Click the image of here to see The CCLCS Foundation Revenue Graph 2002-2010.

With the school apparently ready to launch a $2 million capital campaign, we thought it appropriate to take a look at the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation that exists for the purpose of supporting the programs of its namesake charter school.

If CCLCS follows the model of the Sturgis Charter Public School in Hyannis, the charitable foundation will hold title to the real estate and will, essentially, be the school’s landlord.  Tax deductible donations would flow through the Foundation’s 501(c)(3) books.

First things first:  We wanted to see who the players are in the school’s Foundation.  With a non-profit, that typically involves a quick visit to the Secretary of State’s web site and a cross-check on GuideStar.

When we visited the front page of the CCLCS Foundation’s corporate page it showed three officers:  Don M. Krohn (President), Scott V. Barron (Treasurer) and Lloyd K. Avery (Clerk). 

However, when we went to the next screen to view the 2010 annual report filing, that document reports a Thomas Sullivan (President), Stefanie Fournier (Treasurer) and Susan Bloom (Clerk) as the Foundation’s leaders.    It also lists Katharine McNamara, Paul Niles and Norman Michaud as directors.

Avery's name listed 15 years after he left Foundation Board

When contacted by Cape Cod Today, Lloyd Avery said that he hasn't been involved with the CCLCS Foundation "since the original organizational meeting. Communication to me ceased as other people were set up as trustees and teachers." He stated that he should have been removed from the Foundation's corporate records over fifteen years ago.

That’s a bit odd.  It’s probably nothing more than someone didn’t know they need to file a Change of Officers form when the officers change.

As a cross check we pulled the Foundation’s PC-1, a required filing with the Attorney General’s Division of Public Charities, for all Massachusetts non-profits.  That document lists two different names as “Chairman” of the Foundation – an Audrey Miller (in Statement A-2) and an Amy Patterson (in Statement A-1).  Other directors are listed in the “Concordance of Officers and Directors” chart. 

Meanwhile, the school’s web site lists a chairman Tom Sullivan as leader of the Foundation board along with eight other persons listed as directors.The discrepancy between the names listed for the Foundation on the school web site and the regulatory reports may be caused by a mid-year change in leadership for the Foundation.  However, changes like that are supposed to be reported to the Secretary of State on a Certificate of Change of Directors of Non-Profit Corporations.

Inconsistencies in public filings related to CCLCS come as no surprise to Cape Cod Today.  After reading through a huge amount of material leaked to us from inside the school, sent in by parents and sourced from those formerly involved with the school, not much surprises us. 

While not as egregious as the unlicensed summer camp they ran since 2009, this does not bode well for a planned capital campaign. 

Nor do the wildly rising and falling revenues and the churning board membership of the Charter School’s foundation.  In order to put the Foundation’s activities in context, we pulled all of their PC-1 filings from 2002 through 2010. 

We focused on board membership and the “gross support and revenue” line of the PC-1.  The raw results of this research are shown in the “Gross Support & Revenue/Board Membership” chart.

CCLCS Education Foundation had its best year in 2007, when it took in $138,241. This was the top of a good pattern of improvement from 2002 through 2006.  However in 2008 the Foundation’s gross support dropped $66,787 and eventually dwindled to only $39,700 in 2010.

Over the same time period, the Foundation Board’s membership ranged from four members in 2008/2009 to as many as sixteen members in 2003.

As of the March meeting of the school trustees, it appears that CCLCS will use the services of Development Solutions of New England to launch a capital campaign that needs to bring in somewhere of the order of $400,000 per year.  At the same time, DSNE recognizes that even before the past month of news stories about the troubled school, the institution already had a problem with its public image.

We are eager to learn where the Cape Cod Lighthouse School Education Foundation and DSNE anticipate finding an average of 400 people to donate $1,000 a year for five years towards the capital campaign.  We hope they can come up with a more compelling strategy than “CCLCS is the only charter middle school on the Cape.”

The next article in this series will examine some of the other large non-profits on the Cape and speculate on how a CCLCS capital campaign will affect those others organizations.

Coast Guard calls off search for missing East Falmouth man

Coast Guard calls off search for missing East Falmouth man

Yesterday's search efforts off Mashpee. David G. Curran video.

The Coast Guard has called off a search that began yesterday afternoon for a missing East Falmouth man. Around 12:30 p.m. yesterday, the Coast Guard received a report of a 17' Boston Whaler driving in circles without a pilot off Popponesset Bay in Mashpee. The Coast Guard soon confirmed the report and the boat was towed to shore. An extensive search began with the assistance of the Mashpee Harbormaster and local and state law enforcement and rescue personnel.

This afternoon, WCVB Boston is reporting that the Coast Guard has officially called off the search for the missing man, identified as 21-year-old Danny Andrade of East Falmouth. Andrade, who had worked at the Little River Boatyard for seven years, had set off to deliver the boat to New Seabury yesterday morning around 8:30 a.m.  According to the Coast Guard, the trip should have taken about an hour.

The search was called off after 24 hours. Mashpee Fire Chief George Baker told WCVB that a person without flotation devices or protection gear could survive in the water for about 13 hours. Coast Guard crews searched an area of 180 square miles for for Andrade.

Read the original story here.