Problem charter school's leader has troubled past

Oakland's acclaimed University Preparatory Charter Academy has been accused of cooking test scores, and its director is reported to have intimidated teachers and staff. The director, Isaac Haqq, is a former Pasadena city councilmember — then known as Isaac Richard — who was a handful there too.

Thanks to Oakland's NovoMetro for pointing out this interesting article in the Pasadena Star-News. The boldfaced paragraph in the article piqued my interest too — a question that goes beyond just this "miracle!" charter school: the head of the school's board of directors questions how well its alumni are doing in the colleges to which they've proudly been accepted.

Ex-councilman faces accusations
By Janette Williams
Staff Writer
Pasadena Star-News
07/02/2007

Former Pasadena Councilman Isaac Richard — whose antics and brushes with the law in the 1990s kept him in the headlines and twice led to council censure for "antisocial behavior" — has been accused of doctoring academic test results and intimidating staff and students at a charter school he runs in Oakland.

Eight former staffers who taught at the University Preparatory Charter Academy until May wrote to the Oakland Unified School Board and school district officials on June 8 alleging that, as the school's executive director, Richard — now known as Isaac Haqq — engaged in behavior and actions that call school operations and claims of stellar academic results into question.

"The matter's in litigation" after a former school staff member sued, following the test-score controversy, Haqq said by telephone Monday evening.

"You'll have to contact my attorney." But, Haqq added, "I'm responsible for everything that happens at the school. With regard to the voided test scores, I take full responsibility for that - but I can't speak out about the issue until we've resolved the lawsuit. I think it will be very clear soon there was no intention to deceive on the part of anyone currently on the staff at U Prep."

He added the recently completed term was "our most successful year in terms of college recruiting - 39 kids have gone to the best colleges in the country."

Haqq's school, which was granted a charter in 2001, lists Prentice Deadrick, former Pasadena Unified School Board president and long-time former assistant city manager, as chairman of its board.

Deadrick, who left Friday as chief executive director of the Center for Community and Family Services in Pasadena, could not be reached Monday for comment.

The Oakland school's five-year plan shows 360 students in grades nine through 12 with a projected budget of more than $2 million and a heavy emphasis on academics.

The Oakland school board wrote to Harold Pendergrass, president of the charter school's governing board, asking for a response by last Friday to "serious allegations" by teachers, including STAR testing irregularities, grade and transcript changes made by administration, intimidation and arbitrary discipline of students, improper firings, use of coercion and withholding of pay.

Oakland Unified School District spokesman Alex Katz said Monday that Haqq had not met the deadline.

But Pendergrass, a former Oakland district board member, said he had "overseen the timely compliance with their request" and that it should have been received.

Pendergrass said he was aware of the problems listed by the teachers; Haqq told him the test results had been altered, but that the changes were made by a consultant hired to prepare students and oversee testing. "There was an admission it was done," Pendergrass said.

There have been complaints from parents about Haqq's behavior, Pendergrass said, that have now been resolved.

"They were mostly personal, and I concluded it was personality conflicts," he said.

Haqq had a troubled tenure in Pasadena civic life, feuding with then-Mayor Rick Cole and other council members and being cited for brandishing a gun: In 1993 alone, Councilman Chris Holden filed a restraining order against him, there was a police report that he sexually assaulted a woman — no charges were filed — then-City Clerk Maria Stewart alleged he sexually harassed her, insulted her national origin and used obscene language during a meeting, and attempted a filibuster of a council meeting by reading "War and Peace."

Pendergrass said he is aware of the problems some have cited with Haqq, but stressed that they happened in a city and district with "intractable problems, and a history of failure and dropouts."

Pendergrass said the charter school's board had been pleased with the rate of college acceptance — the school Web site boasts "Elite Colleges Scrambling for Grads of Local Charter School" — but he now questions that success in light of students' retention rate in college.

The high turn-over rate of teachers is also a concern, he said.

Pendergrass said he has had no confrontations with Haqq, but is aware others have had a different experience.

"I find him strongly opinionated," he said. "How he actually performs day-to-day, well, I've vowed to spend more time at the school — it's definitely inconsistent, the complaints from parents and the way he relates to me. I attended a meeting of teachers, and some were so strongly critical it caused me to have some questions. But I'm not ready at this point to abandon the school. I'm convinced it must stay alive, and its track record has not been (officially) refuted."

— Caroline