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Enid News & Eagle

Epic obtained personal information of state teachers

By Dylan Goforth To keep up with the demand for more
The Frontier teachers, Epic needed to add hundreds of
faculty members to its ranks.
In late April, Norman High School “Epic’s highest paid teacher earned over
teacher Jeremy Davis received a recruit- $133,000 last year including benefits,” the
ment email from Epic Charter email read. “Imagine getting
Schools, an online Oklahoma The school, founded paid what you deserve.”
charter school that has earned by Ben Harris and A few weeks later, Davis
praise, criticism and scrutiny in David Chaney, both got another email from Epic,
recent years during a period of of Oklahoma City, about Bart Banfield, the char-
rapid growth. was investigated ter school’s new superinten-
The email, titled “Epic is years ago by OSBI dent. Then last month, Davis
hiring faculty in your area of after fraud allega- got a physical recruitment let-
Oklahoma,” boasted of the char- tions were made, ter in the mail from Epic.
ter school’s high teacher pay, fig- but no charges were Davis never signed up with
ures that far outstrip what teach- Epic for any emails, and he
ever filed.
ers in traditional public schools had never given them his home
earn. The email stated the aver- address. Turns out, Epic had
age first-year Epic teacher made nearly acquired his contact information, and that
$60,000 in 2018, and that the highest-paid of thousands of other certified public school
first-year teacher made almost $90,000. The teachers across the state, through different
average first year public school teacher in means.
Oklahoma made only $36,601, the email
stated. See TEACHERS’ INFO, Page A3 Epic Charter School’s Tulsa offices at 3810 South 103rd East Avenue. (Dylan Goforth / The Frontier)

Property of OPS News Tracker and members of the Oklahoma Press Association.
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Enid News & Eagle
TEACHERS’ INFO
Continued from Page A1
On April 5, Epic spokes-
woman Shelly Hickman sent
an open records request to
Oklahoma State Department
of Education asking for
physical addresses of every
person certified to teach in
the state of Oklahoma.
While state law prohibits
state agencies from releasing
the home address of their
employees through a records
request, the Oklahoma Open
Records Act requires agen-
cies to release information
provided by “an individual/
non-employee.”
Because certified teach-
ers had given this informa-
tion to the state Education
Department it was now
considered an open record,
OSDE general counsel Brad
Clark said in the email chain
with Hickman.
Steffie Corcoran, a
spokeswoman for the
OSDE, said the department
turned over a spreadsheet
with the personal informa-
tion of thousands of actively
certified teachers across the
state to Epic.
Epic refers to itself as
a public school, and brings
in tens of millions of dol-
lars each year in state fund-
ing. Yet as a virtual charter
school, it has never been held
to the same transparency
requirements as traditional
brick-and-mortar school sys-
tems. The attempt to siphon
away public school teachers
would seem to deepen this
divide between Epic and tra-
ditional schools.
For Davis, a union mem-
ber who proudly marched
during last year’s teacher
walkout at the state Capitol,
the email came as a slap in
the face.
“You’re putting in all this
effort to be a part of educa-
tion and to have a say in fix-
ing things and then you have
this entity come along that
plays by completely differ-
ent rules and try to lure you
away,” Davis said. “It’s dis-
heartening … they’re pulling
teachers we desperately need
out of physical classrooms.
It adds to the strain.”
Epic says it serves
“approximately 24,000” stu-
dents across Oklahoma. In
the teacher recruitment email
sent in April, the school sys-
tem said that while it cur-
rently employees “700 fac-
ulty,” it was set to hire more
than 600 new teachers for
the upcoming school year.
Hickman and Epic Charter
Property of OPS News Tracker and members of the Oklahoma Press Association.
Schools administrators were potentially due to alleged of Epic Schools earlier this The bill was laid over but
unavailable for comment. “dual enrollment” of stu- year after legislation was Oklahoma Watch reported
Emails to Hickman were dents. passed restricting the ability last month that Fincher plans
met with automated replies Some students were to serve as superintendent to “revive it in 2020.”
stating the school was closed allegedly enrolled at Epic and own the company that Epic’s growth has come
this week and responses to and various private schools operates the school. Chaney as the school has spent thou-
media questions would not simultaneously, something praised HB 1395, authored sands of dollars on Facebook
available until July 8. that could violate the law as by Tulsa Republican Sheila and television advertise-
Last week Oklahoma public funds cannot be used Dills, which also added sev- ments, as well as sponsored
Watch published a story in to aid private schools. Epic eral reporting and transpar- articles dressed up to look
which “at least seven for- receives tens of millions of ency requirements on charter like news stories that have
mer teachers” claimed Epic dollars each year in state schools in Oklahoma. appeared online in both
administrators had been funds. It is operated by Epic Another bill, filed by The Oklahoman and Tulsa
“allowing, encouraging Youth Services, a for-profit Bartlesville Republican World.
or pressuring” teachers to that collects a 10 percent Derrel Fincher, would have
withdraw poor-performing cut of the school’s revenues theoretically ended Epic’s
The Frontier is a nonprofit focusing on
students in order to boost each year. ability to enroll students
employee bonus pay. The Chaney, co-owner of year-round, instead creat- investigative and watchdog journalism.
school, in a response writ- Epic Youth Services LLC, ing two annual enrollment For more information or to donate, go
ten by two former journalists resigned as superintendent periods for virtual schools. to www.readfrontier.org.
who’ve been hired by Epic
to teach journalism, denied
the allegations. Oklahoma
Watch executive editor
David Fritze published a
note on Monday saying the
organization stands by its
reporting.
Scrutiny and controver-
sy are nothing new to Epic,
however. The school, found-
ed by Ben Harris and David
Chaney, both of Oklahoma
City, was investigated years
ago by Oklahoma Bureau
of Investigation after fraud
allegations were made, but
no charges were ever filed.
OSBI opened up a new
investigation into the school Bob Clemens is retiring, and
earlier this year, which the Bell Jewelers is
Tulsa World reported was
CLOSING THE DOORS FOREVER!
Prices slashed on all Loose Diamonds