As for the other schools, she wrote: “We are also the victim! … The marietta bruschetta [sic] charter school did not pay for services of 1 substitute teacher for approx 9 days. The sankofa charter school has never paid an invoice for 1 substitute teacher for approx 1 month of teaching services. Both schools has never paid or responded to a payment plan option.”
No one at New Media or Sankofa responded to multiple interview requests. Ron O’Shea, a K-12 Staffing sub at Sankofa, says he never received what the agency owed him, but after he complained Sankofa began paying him directly. Walter Akens, administrative assistant at Mariana Bracetti, says, “To our knowledge, K-12 Staffing never sent us an invoice nor … anything about a payment plan.”
Rowe says she invited the unpaid teachers “to join us in taking legal action as co-plaintiffs, and none agreed.” But neither Vawters nor DeFrancesco received any such letter. O’Shea says Rowe did give him a chance to join legal action against Sankofa, but he declined. “I asked [Rowe] very specifically what was going on, and it was just misdirection, like talking to a politician or a lawyer or something,” O’Shea says.
As to the consequences of all this, they’ve been seemingly limited. Many of the civil lawsuits against her were dismissed because it proved impossible to locate and serve Rowe. And those who sought to garnish funds from her known bank accounts usually found themselves out of luck, since the accounts had been emptied.
Meanwhile, Philacare’s website is still live, though a DPW spokesperson tells CP the department will investigate. And Lisa Rowe says she’s running her own substitute-teacher-placement business this school year. She would not divulge the name of that business, but she says she has four or five client schools lined up.
That leaves landlords like Khalil, who says he was out more than $5,000, plenty agitated — but seemingly out of luck.
“I need my money,” he says. “If you find her, let me know.”
(editorial@citypaper.net) (@cpnakedcity)
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