In a letter to staff members, a former African-centered education program notified teachers that managers were unable to make their final payroll.
According to Afrikan Centered Education Taskforce Inc. chairman Ajamu Webster, the bank the company worked with had removed $110,000 from the bank account used to make payroll payments and put that money toward a loan. This, Webster told staff members, was going to be resolved in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case. His goal is to let the courts sort it out so teachers can receive their final paychecks.
The bank, Liberty Bank and Trust, has been unable to comment. Still, regional president Sidney King stated that there were a number of inaccurate statements made in the letter that went out to staff members. While he maintains that he is unable to discuss the inaccuracies, King did state that it is common for institutions to make false claims knowing that the bank must remain silent. Instead, King blamed poor financial management for the lack of payroll funds while maintaining that it was not the fault of the bank.
The claim that will be filed in bankruptcy court will be on behalf of each of the employees. Still, payroll will be at least 60 to 90 days late.
The taskforce was created by the Afrikan Centered Education Collegium Campus program, a program highly supported by parents and the community and one of the top-performing schools in the Kansas City area. The program was established after decades of trying to start an ethnocentric program in the Kansas City school district. The Kansas City School District ended their contract with the taskforce at the end of the 2011-2012 school year and have since taken over the African-centered program.
