Summerville Charter School - Charter School Associates Sends Fake Invoices to Parents to make extra money for the school. Homestead Florida
Summerville Charterschool in Homestead, Florida is a ripoff! They are owned by Charterschool Associates in Sunrise, Florida and the get money from Dade County Public school ( Obviuously,not enough beacuse they like to bill parents for services they don't use)
School Lunches, Before care and Aftercare must be prepaid. We do not participate in before or after care and we send our child to school with a packed lunch always.
Several months into the school year we get an invoice from the school office for $3.00 for 1 day of before care and $2.00 for a lunch item. When the teacher handed my child the invoice and told her that her parents owed the school money $2.00 for lunch and $3.00 for aftercare, all of the kids looked at the teacher strange and said to the teacher "XXXXX" never eats lunch at school she always brings her lunch and she does not go to before care.
Mind you the teacher approached my child in front of the class during instruction time in front of all of the students instead of just contacting the parents directly on this bogus matter.
I have talked to several other parents that got invoices for school breakfast one was for $12.00 and the other for nearly $40.00! Both parents said that their kids did not eat breakfast at the school! They argued with the School Principle about the bogus bill and Ms. Aguilar had the nerve to tell them they were getting an attitude with her!!
On top of all of this my child participates in soccer and is to be picked up from school at 4pm. We were running late and called to let them know we would be there at 4:05. Promptly at 4:00 my child was placed in the aftercare program and then we were billed $7.00! for being 5 minutes late.
So now this peice of crap school says we owe them $12.00.
Our child won't be attending this school next year. I posted this to warn other parents about this school. Your child will be banned from field trips, trips to the library and even activities inside the school on fun days if you don't pay their fake invoices!
I plan to file a complaint to the BBB and The Dade County Public Schools as well.
Lorene
Homestead, Florida
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Melissa Aguilar, Principal
Miami,Florida,
U.S.A.
Principal
#2REBUTTAL Individual responds
Wed, June 25, 2008
This is a rebuttal written by Ms. Melissa Aguilar, Principal of the Summerville Charter School to an emotionally charged but factually incorrect statement from a former parent over a $12.00 fee charged by the school. Because this forum does not check the facts of those who create posts then the only opportunity the School has to clear its superb reputation is to lay out the facts for others to make their own opinion of how this school truly serves the many satisfied families now enrolled.
Summerville Charter School (operated by Sunrise-based Charter School Associates, Inc.) charges fees to those parents utilizing Before/After School Services and for lunches purchased by students. These are normal expenses charged by all public and charter schools. The School outlines these fees in a Student/Parent Handbook that is issued to all students at the beginning of the school year. Students and parents are asked to sign a form acknowledging that they have read the handbook containing the school policies.
Unfortunately, Lorene from Homestead, Florida has decided to misrepresent facts surrounding the fees owed to Summerville and is using this forum to slander the School for its responsible actions of collecting past due charges from this parent.
Simply stated, the School has clear documentation for the accumulated fees ($12.00) charged to Lorene and when an attempt was made to collect these fees the parent refused to pay. Regardless of who is right or wrong in this manner, this is hardly the responsible way for mature adults to behave when teaching life's lessons to children. The School will continue to enforce it's policies in a fair and equitable manner while always keeping the purpose of its existence at the forefront of its policies and actions and that is to ensure the greatest opportunities possible for students to succeed academically, emotionally and physically.