Charter school, now defunct, investigated

After an audit found possible criminal activities at the now-closed Oak Hills Charter School, the Butte County District Attorney's office opened an investigation.

[I hope the DA hangs Jill]

I hope the DA hangs Jill out to dry. I wrote letters to the school district and her bosses about her and they did nothing. Finally, the chickens come home to roost.

[E Rubber Duckie]

How about your State Investigating Team start sniffing out all of the waste in the State's education system. That would save enough to balance the budget and more. Then the more needs to go back to the taxpayers, the way Sarah Palin gave the monies back to her constituency.

[criminal]

E Rubber Duckie wrote:

How about your State Investigating Team start sniffing out all of the waste in the State's education system. That would save enough to balance the budget and more. Then the more needs to go back to the taxpayers, the way Sarah Palin gave the monies back to her constituency.

My God, don't stop at the education system. Keep going door to door downtown! We may find we don't need income tax!

[Public School Parent]

This sort of fraud in the Charter Schools is common. They get our tax money and there is no public oversight. This school was run by State Senator Sam Aanestad Chief of Staff, Josh Cook! Aanestad is a big supporter of these charter schools. No wonder. Cook hired his friends and relatives and falsified the enrollment.....got 40 or 50 k more than the real enrollment. All tax money. So much for this great reform movement. The fraud is rampant in charter schools. I hope the DA does his best to put these guys away and send a message to these folks that just because the law gives them free reign with public funds doesn't mean they can line their pockets with it.....

[Happens in Chico also]

Don't kid yourself. I am a CUSD teacher, and it happens in our district. The attendance we take is so inaccurate so often. Kids go on vacation and there is pressure on us to come up with a bogus "independent study" packet so that we can count the student for ADA. We all know it's bogus, but the pressure is on to do it.

[sowhat]

Happens in Chico also wrote:

Don't kid yourself. I am a CUSD teacher, and it happens in our district. The attendance we take is so inaccurate so often. Kids go on vacation and there is pressure on us to come up with a bogus "independent study" packet so that we can count the student for ADA. We all know it's bogus, but the pressure is on to do it.

So stop whinning and put the stupid packet together one night after dinner. There really is no reason to complain if the student is not in class. It is just one less ignorant little crap to deal with in the classroom. Wow.. Huge pressure for you as you sit on your butt all summer long!

[Teacher]

It isn't the putting together of the work. We can all do that. It's that some packet supposedly makes up for two weeks of absences and justifies charging the state. The kid could go to Disneyland for two weeks and get counted for attendance. We got a letter from our superintendent yesterday encouraging us to do this exact sort of thing. The funny part is if they are absent less than a week, we aren't expected to give them work, but more than that, they can abuse it to the hilt. The reason attendance has dropped in our district is because our schools are too crowded, behavior is an issue in many classes, and our schools are lacking in cohesion. If we had better schools, we would see increased attendance. I think faculty would say the same thing. I can't even control my own temperature gauge in the classroom because the school district wants to treat all of us like children and tell us when we can use it. There is so much waste. We have a vice principal who is worthless and no more than a glorified campus supervisor but he makes more than any teacher. It's all so depressing at times.

[No one needs to be hung]

So you think they should hang Jill. You must not have been to close to anyone that went to the school. At least Jill showed up for her job and worked well into the night to make sure the students had a place to go. I volunteered more time to that school than Josh ever did getting paid for it. He was never there. He just wanted a way to make a paycheck even though he was on the school board, which is against the law. He also wanted to have his bills paid. The people that they say were hired by Jill were not. They were hired by different school districts that the charter school was sponsored by. Josh new these people to. He knew that they were hard workers or he would have showed up to make sure the school was running smoothly. So to the person that think Jill should be hung...maybe you should have had the courage to same something directly to Jill or maybe gotten invloved with the school to see how much really went into making it run. Maybe you should look at yourself before you start casting stones!

[Jen]

Jill Khan and Josh Cook both used the charter school as a tool for funneling money into their own pockets1 Jill is well known for being greedy, gossiping, vindictive, and manipulative. She always tried to inflate student numbers by using friends and family. She also charged many things by credit card for personal use and left the school with the bill. Read the extraordinary audit of Oak Hills Academy online. This is a neutral third party spelling out the fraud both of them committed. She worked hard to keep the school open in order to continue to skim money from it! The person who wrote "no one needs to be hung" was probably Jill herself. Now she is trying desperately to clear her name and make herself look better. Good luck!

[anonymous]

Jill purchased alcohol on the school's credit card, "2 bottles of champagne" on a Cash and Carry receipt, according to the extraordinary audit found online. She also paid her boyfried to do work for the school and then deposited the money into her own account. What a fine example to put in charge of our public schools and ultimately our children. Hang her, the sooner the better.

[anonymous]

No one needs to be hung wrote:

So you think they should hang Jill. You must not have been to close to anyone that went to the school. At least Jill showed up for her job and worked well into the night to make sure the students had a place to go. I volunteered more time to that school than Josh ever did getting paid for it. He was never there. He just wanted a way to make a paycheck even though he was on the school board, which is against the law. He also wanted to have his bills paid. The people that they say were hired by Jill were not. They were hired by different school districts that the charter school was sponsored by. Josh new these people to. He knew that they were hard workers or he would have showed up to make sure the school was running smoothly. So to the person that think Jill should be hung...maybe you should have had the courage to same something directly to Jill or maybe gotten invloved with the school to see how much really went into making it run. Maybe you should look at yourself before you start casting stones!

Jill- you are an idiot!

[Parent]

No one needs to be hung wrote:

So you think they should hang Jill. You must not have been to close to anyone that went to the school. At least Jill showed up for her job and worked well into the night to make sure the students had a place to go. I volunteered more time to that school than Josh ever did getting paid for it. He was never there. He just wanted a way to make a paycheck even though he was on the school board, which is against the law. He also wanted to have his bills paid. The people that they say were hired by Jill were not. They were hired by different school districts that the charter school was sponsored by. Josh new these people to. He knew that they were hard workers or he would have showed up to make sure the school was running smoothly. So to the person that think Jill should be hung...maybe you should have had the courage to same something directly to Jill or maybe gotten invloved with the school to see how much really went into making it run. Maybe you should look at yourself before you start casting stones!

I have looked at myself and I am not under investigation for fraud, nepotism, inaccurate student numbers, or misuse of school funds. Since the school's closure, I have not had to run around drumming up support to try and mend my reputation. I sleep quite well at night while Jill is trying to get rid of this nightmare. She will pay for this, it was only a matter of time before she got caught.

[January]

Happens in Chico also wrote:

Don't kid yourself. I am a CUSD teacher, and it happens in our district. The attendance we take is so inaccurate so often. Kids go on vacation and there is pressure on us to come up with a bogus "independent study" packet so that we can count the student for ADA. We all know it's bogus, but the pressure is on to do it.

I have worked in attendance positions and have to agree. Teachers know how inaccurate the attendance is and the staff doesn't have the time to double check anything. Ask any high school student how accurate their report card is that lists absences and they will laugh. Chico isn't under the threat of state control because of the economy. Word has it that they were fudging big time on attendance figures. I don't think Brown and Francisco got removed for no reason. My point is not to just point at the charter school. That's why school boards exist. My guess is that they fired the superintendents as soon as they found out.

[anony246]

After reading the Extraordinary Audit of Oak Hills Academy online, both Jill Khan and Josh Cook have alot of explaining to do. In my opinion, they are guilty and need to be held accountable for their actions. Just because other districts nudge student numbers this does not mean it's ok. Falsifying attendance results in more state money funds and that is stealing. This is just the tip of the iceburg. Charter schools need more oversight to prevent opportunists from taking what rightfully belongs to the students. We also need to be more careful about who we put in charge of our children while they are in school. Jill and Josh are poor examples and role models for our kids to be around.

[Public School Parent]

Josh Cook was State Senator Sam Aanestad's Chief of Staff during the time that he started this "school." It was, as we will soon find out from the court case, that he was ripping off the taxpayers. Josh, like his boss is very vocal about taxpayers and protecting them. When will Aanestad explain how a trusted member of his staff could wind up dong this while on Sambo's payroll. Heard Aanestad on the radio today slamming someone. He employs Cook. What a &*^$ing hippocrite. Sam, issue an explanation.

[Public School Parent]

Now Aanestad is running for Lt. Govenator! Still no word on his boy Cook who stole from kids and a "Charter" school. Still no newspaper reports about Aanestad's chief of staff being investigated for running a phony school to line his pockets with tax dollars. Wow. Where is the paper and where is the holyer-than-thou Aanestad?

[Just curious]

The last I heard Butte County DA was investigating Jill Khan and Josh Cook. Does anyone know the status of this? I've been told that the DA has one year to press charges after the start of the investigation. Just curious.

[In my opinion]

After reading the school audit and various other media on Jill Khan, I believe she will be doing jail time. No one is commenting now on the investigation because they don't want to compromise anything. I don't think she will walk away from this unscathed. It's sad because many people say she doesn't really think anything is going to happen to her, she feels that everyone else is to blame. A rude awakening is coming her way.

[A bit cynical]

In defense of Jill Khan, maybe she had a good reason for stealing money from the charter school. I mean it's got to take alot of money to convince someone to give her that God awful bleach job!