Epic Charter Schools board late Wednesday ended its relationship with the for-profit management company created by its founders.
New school board leader, Paul Campbell, says Epic is now a self-managed nonprofit organization. He says don’t expect the for-profit company that’s managed Epic since its inception and made the virtual charter behemoth the target of so much controversy to have anything to do with the school.
"The relationship is done as long as this board’s in place," said Campbell.
The yearslong Epic saga has largely been the result of the management of founders David Chaney and Ben Harris and their company Epic Youth Services.
Earlier in May, Oklahoma's multicounty grand jury issued a report saying their company’s relationship with the school was "ripe for fraud." That comes after a state auditor's report found they'd been funnelling state money into the founders pockets, misreporting administrative costs to avoid millions in penalties and refusing to cooperate with state officials.
By the end of the night, each member that had been on the board since before the audit handed in their resignation.
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