Sacramento district demands new investigation into St. Hope coach following Bee report
Following a year of controversy — including an audit report alleging major violations, revelations that students did not have adequate access to books and curriculum and allegations that the school mishandled an investigation into inappropriate staff behavior — St. Hope Public Schools will be subject to stricter operational standards and a number of additional corrective measures.
Sacramento City Unified School District is tightening its reins on the charter after public criticism that its oversight of the school had been insufficient. A new corrective action plan proposed by the district includes a number of requirements, including that St. Hope conduct a new investigation into the school’s administrative staff. During a previous board discussion, board members cited concerns about an investigation into staff allegations that a Sacramento Charter High coach partied with students, as originally reported by The Sacramento Bee.
Other terms in the proposed agreement surround St. Hope Public Schools’ troubling fiscal relationship with other St. Hope nonprofits, the recruitment and retention of teachers with adequate teaching credentials, improving board transparency and preventing conflicts of interest among leadership.
The district board at its June 5 meeting refused to approve the draft memorandum of understanding with the charter school as it was, directing staff to add more robust terms in response to community concerns about St. Hope.
There are two versions of the draft memorandum of understanding included in Thursday’s agenda — a two-year MOU that allows more flexibility for the charter school and a five-year MOU with firmer terms affecting the school’s leadership and its relationship with other St. Hope entities.
What is in the St. Hope draft agreements
▪ St. Hope must retain an independent investigator (approved by the district) to thoroughly investigate allegations that administrative staff inappropriately engaged with students within six months. The results of the investigation must be shared without redaction with the district.
The district will also review the school’s written complaint and investigation policies to verify that they meet legal standards and are “being implemented with fidelity” and will require the school to turn over evidence of all mandated reporter training completed by their staff in the 2024-25 school year.
▪ Cassandra Jennings’ role in the school’s interim leadership triumvirate will either be limited or eliminated, depending on the version of the MOU the SCUSD board approves. Jennings was forced to resign last year after being cited by an auditor for a potential conflict of interest because of her dual roles on the school board and as CEO of St. Hope Academy and St. Hope Development Company, which each contract with the school. Jennings was paid $190,840 in 2023, according to St. Hope Academy’s 990 filing.
The St. Hope board appointed Jennings and two others to an interim leadership triumvirate following the May 1 death of former superintendent Lisa Ruda. The two-year version of the MOU allows more flexibility for Jennings but would preclude her from approving the expenditure of funds or executing contracts on behalf of the school, relegating her to an advisory role. The five-year version would require that she vacate her interim leadership role and can no longer oversee, direct or manage St. Hope Public Schools.
According to St. Hope Public Schools board minutes, Jennings has already been empowered by the board to approve an administrator’s salary adjustment, help choose a superintendent search firm and pursue loans and negotiate loan terms for a Public School 7 Elementary construction project. Jennings has not responded to The Bee’s request for comment regarding her interim position.
▪ The school must sever their relationship with Kevin Hiestand, its primary legal counsel who led the investigation into allegations that Drayton partied with students. He was paid a $4,000 monthly retainer in the 2022-23 school year.
Hiestand currently serves on the board of the St. Hope Endowment and previously held dual roles as school founder Kevin Johnson’s personal lawyer and the school’s Title IX officer. After a 17-year-old Sacramento High student reported in 2008 that Johnson, interim principal at the time, inappropriately touched her, a Sacramento Bee investigation found that Hiestand questioned the student before the authorities were notified. This was a major violation of the school’s responsibility as a mandated reporter. The lawyer was also a part of what St. Hope referred to as “an impartial three-person panel” that determined the claims unfounded.
Hiestand did not return a request for comment.
▪ The school’s relationship with other St. Hope nonprofit entities will be more heavily scrutinized. For years, St. Hope Public Schools has contracted with related nonprofit St. Hope Academy for back-office fiscal services, but concerns about its poor accounting practices and the potential comingling of funds caused the district to require the school implement a competitive request for proposals for these services.
The school sought work proposals earlier this year and again chose St. Hope Academy, this time in partnership with Charter Impact, a company that provides financial management for schools and nonprofits. If approved, the five-year MOU would bar any St. Hope entity from providing back-office financial services to the school. St. Hope Academy could still contract with the school to provide other services (like its afterschool and internship programs), but it must seek alternative choices for the back-office accounting, budget and fiscal services. St. Hope Public Schools previously estimated it would pay St. Hope Academy $300,000 for such services in the 2024-25 school year.
The two-year MOU does not preclude St. Hope Public Schools from getting back-office services from St. Hope Academy, but it mandates that the school cannot seek back-office services from any entity in which an employee or director is also an employee or director of the school. Under either agreement, St. Hope Public Schools will be required to submit an annual report to the district reviewing the value of its contracts with the other St. Hope entities.
▪ The school must make every reasonable effort to hire and retain fully credentialed teachers and avoid the use of emergency permits and waivers. The 2024 audit showed that the rates of teachers with appropriate credentials started low and plummeted in recent years at Sac High and Public School 7, both operated by St. Hope. . The school will also provide annual reports on teacher turnover and quarterly reports with the names, teaching subject and credential of all certificated staff.
The district board will vote to adopt one of the two MOUs Thursday, after which it will be sent to the St. Hope Public Schools board for its signature. St. Hope leaders have not returned a request for comment on the terms in the draft MOUs.
