If the recent allegations at Brighton Charter High School weren’t so serious – and criminal – it would be tempting to dismiss the tawdry twists as an improbable soap opera.
However, the incidents raise a host of serious questions about the set-up of the charter school, the infrastructure available to protect children, and the oversight role of the Adams 27J school board and school district.
Charter schools, established under state law more than a decade ago, are semi-autonomous public schools of choice, linked to the school district by a written contract, or charter.
Carrie McCandless, a 29-year-old teacher at the Brighton school, was charged this week with sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust. She’s accused of having sex with a 17-year-old student on a weekend field trip in late October. An odd twist: Her husband, Chris McCandless, is the school’s principal.
Just days before the field trip, former Brighton Charter substitute teacher David Wayne Mundy Jr. pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was no longer working at the school in December 2005 when, according to police records, he had three girls from the school over to his home. He kissed and fondled at least one of them and drank liquor from their navels. One teen jumped from his second-story balcony just to get away from the 31-year-old. Mundy will be sentenced Jan. 11.
An odd twist: His father, David Mundy Sr., is president of the Brighton Charter School. Mundy Sr. was charged this past week with failing to report child-abuse allegations and tampering with a witness – not in his son’s case, but in the McCandless case. Authorities say Mundy failed to comply with a law requiring school officials to report allegations of child abuse to police.
A half dozen parents called for Mundy Sr.’s resignation Thursday night, met with cheers from those gathered at a school board meeting Mundy did not attend. Chris McCandless was there, and parents expressed their support for him.
Even though the Brighton Charter School operates at an arm’s length from the district, it’s still a public school and receives tax money. The Adams 27J school district has the ability to revoke charters, or simply not renew them.
When school officials or staff members are linked to misconduct, the district should perform its supervisory role.
Parents, and taxpayers, expect district officials to review these incidences and correct any lapses that allowed them to occur – and the quality of education students are receiving.
