Β CHARLOTTE, NC — Β Teachers who worked at a now shuttered charter school in South Charlotte are still waiting to be paid.
Concrete Roses Stem Academy shut down three weeks ago. Now two former teachers tell WCCBΒ that they are ready to take legal action to get their due.Β
“I’m due two weeks pay that I have not received,” says former CRSA teacher Patrice Robinson. “I’m losing pretty much all hope that I’m going to see it.”
Concrete Roses closed it’s doors September 19th. 15 former teachers and assistants have been waiting since then for one more check.
“Quite a few of us are struggling, and our only recourse at this point is to file a lawsuit,” says former WRSA teacher and administratorΒ Beth Berg. “None of us want to do that, but we need to get paid.”
About half those 15 teachers are still out of work.
The former director of the charter school, Dr. Cedric Stone, sent employees an email saying he was exploring options for how to get his former teachers their money; including what some call the far-fetched suggestion that CMS has the money, and refuses to pay the Concrete Roses teachers.Β
WCCB reached out to CMS. They sent us a statement saying:
“We are currently exploring what, if any, obligation CMS may have in this matter.”
Concrete Roses was funded for 300 students; only 126 enrolled.
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction told WCCB it froze funding for the school after Dr. Stone had withdrawn more than half the schools’ funds for the year, $285,000, less than a month into the school year.
“We had concerns as far as what payroll was estimated, and the basic operating expenses that we were aware of,” says Berg. “At that point, nobody had access to the books except for Dr. Stone.”
Several sources who are part of the investigation tell me that instead of paying employees, Stone allegedly bought himself a Chevy Impala.Β
“His last sentence was for the staff not to talk to the press, and direct all questions to him,” says Robinson. “I don’t work for him anymore, and whatever it takes for us to get what is due us, then I will do, legally.”
The state is still investigating Concrete Roses’ financial records.
We offered Dr. Stone the opportunity to do an interview for this story, either on camera or over the phone. He declined both.
