Windrush Still in Legal Limbo, Hearing Postponed
There’s been a postponement of the court hearing that was set for yesterday, Wednesday, on whether debt-burdened Windrush School is living up to its pact with Wells Fargo Bank and can leave bankruptcy to finish the school year.
The hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to decide whether Windrush School has lived up to a painstakingly negotiated agreement with Wells Fargo Bank and can finish the school year had been set for yesterday, but it was postponed until Feb. 29 at the request of the bank.
The K-8 private school in El Cerrito has asked the court to certify that it has lived up the settlement agreement with Wells Fargo and to dismiss the bankruptcy case so that Windrush can continue operating for the remainder of the school year.
Wells Fargo, acting as trustee for the creditors of the debt-crippled school, requested the postponement of the hearing, saying it needs more time to assess the school’s compliance.
Numerous questions about the school’s financial records “remain unanswered largely because of Debtor’s chaotic and haphazard provision of data to the Trustee,” the bank said its motion requesting a delay. “The delivery of the required information has been a history of late and incomplete delivery, impossible to understand documentation, missing documentation and incomplete records.”
The school responded that the bank's allegations are wrong, that the bank asked for materials that weren't part of the settlement and that the school has met every benchmark established in the settlement. "Wells Fargo’s complaints arise only from its skepticism and unwillingness to accept the Debtor’s successes," according the Windrush court response.
The school's court filing on Feb. 1 also reported that the school met its enrollment and revenue targets required under the settlement. The pact said the school must have 105 students enrolled at the end of December and the end January. Windrush had 109 students as of Dec. 31 and 110 on Jan. 31, the school said.
It also exceeded the minimums rquired for revenue since Sept. 30, the date it filed for bankruptcy, reaching $1,046,020 as of Dec. 31 (compared to $980,000 required) and $1,219,467 by Jan. 30 (compared to $1,187,000 required), according to the Windrush filing.
The K-8 private school, which is in default on a $13 million bond debt, had reached a settlement agreement on Dec. 1 with Wells Fargo, which represents the creditors. The pact would allow Windrush to remain open the rest of this school year if it met certain conditions.
Wells Fargo earlier, on Jan. 25, asked the court to find Windrush out of compliance with the financial reporting requirements and to order that the school begin shutting down. The hearing that had been set for Wednesday was intended to review whether the settlement terms had been met.
The new hearing is set for Feb. 29 at 9:30 a.m. in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, 1301 Clay Street, Oakland.
For more background on the Windrush crisis, you can see our past stories by clicking "Windrush School" next to Related Topics below this article. For alerts on future Windrush stories, click the "Keep me posted!" button below the article. We've also posted a list of all Patch stories on the Windrush crisis at the top of our original article, "Crisis at Windrush School: Threat of Imminent Closure."
Anthony Stringer
8:26 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012
Ilana Kaufman...what ever have you done? Not only is the school left in shambles, the documents you were responsible for aren't getting accepted by the bank.
All your bad deeds and attempts to silence people and create secret deals have finally caught up to you Ilana Kaufman.
Does anyone know how many lawsuits were filed against Ilana Kaufman for mismanagement of the school?
Anthony Stringer
8:28 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012
We have heard Ilana Kaufman is searching for a new HOS position. If you were another independent school in need of a Head of School, would you ever consider hiring Ilana Kaufman for the position, or any other position at a school or working with kids or finances? Why or why not?
Lady Gogo
8:44 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012
Another school will be afraid of not hiring her, because if she applies and doesn't get the job she'll sue.
Luke Sides
9:04 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012
Anyone who knows what was in her court filing concerning potential lawsuits against the school should be scared to death just to see her application. I wonder though how easily for potential employer to do a background check either seeing articles here or in court filings. Surely hiring and paying for the removal of search results aren't enough....but who knows.
WR just continues to shoot itself in the foot with every decisions.
Ellen
9:40 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012
About the HOS position that IK may or may not be searching for. Listen, WR had a search committee when IK was hired. IK had a history of this type of bullying behavior BEFORE she was hired by WR. Yet, the committee chose her anyway, and even bragged about getting her. Again, when many parents were having problems with the way the school was run or with certain behaviors, we were told by other parents that "the school is not for everyone" or "I've drunk the Windrush Koolaid!" No one wanted to hear about what could possibly be wrong, nor did people want to hear about what was not working and move to fix it. Many of the people who helped choose IK, and who drank the WR Koolaid, left for Prospect Sierra this year. No accountability at all; just move on (we decided to stay at WR until June). My point is--schools have search committees, and those committees need to do their homework. If other schools and people in the independent school community knew of some of IK's issues, then the search committee could have easily discovered these tendencies, too. IK did some pretty damaging things, but she is also not an island. Where is the community/committee/board accountability and ownership in this disaster?
Lady Gogo
10:43 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012
Why did the committee brag about getting someone who has a history of bullying behavior? I thought WR was all about peace and social justice.
Ellen
10:56 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012
@Lady Gogo, you are right. WR is about peace and social justice. My point was that the committee did not do their homework, and were so gleeful at securing IK for HOS, when she had a pretty clear record of certain behaviors. And then the very people who were bragging about getting her bailed and went to a different private school this year, leaving the rest of us behind to pick up the pieces. Lots of anger on all sides, but these behaviors did not come out of nowhere in terms of IK. The committee should have delved deeper into her history and talked to former colleagues. And, when problems arose at WR, they should not have been swept under the rug or ignored. At the very least, some hard lessons have been learned, which can be applied to a new WR, or to other schools.
Lady Gogo
3:47 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
Does anyone know why she left the position she held before WR? What is the average length of time for a HOS to serve? It seems as if there's a high turnover in the private school sector.
Another Former Windrush Mom
12:42 pm on Friday, February 10, 2012
Ilana Kaufman was not Head of School in her previous position. She was an assistant to the Head of School at Lick Wilmerding High School in San Francisco. She also didn't have experience in elementary school education. The Windrush Board encouraged parents to email comments during the process of interviewing for a new HOS and these were comments I emailed to the board then.
caring parent
11:35 am on Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Based on Wells’ latest detail filing on Feb10 of Windrush School multiple defaults on the settlement agreement, it would be interesting to see how the school can get out of this predicament. Though the school might have excuses and decent arguments for subjective objections, most appears to be solid objective breaches that have paper trails. Also of interest and troubling is WFB’s analysis of WR’s budget that the school doesn’t have enough money to finish the school year. One can’t help but to ponder whether all this effort only prolong the inevitable, which is the premature closer of the school. The prolonged pain is unnecessary. It was noted many months ago in this struggle by WR’s counsel that a prolonged litigation will ensure the failure for the school to survive. If for no other reasons, I think the legal bill alone could cut deep into the school budget. I would be very surprise if the judge doesn’t end this on the 29th hearing one way or another. It almost feels like parents for months now, have just been having their things at the door ready to leave anytime.
Paul
7:41 pm on Tuesday, February 14, 2012
WR indicates that they had 110 enrolled on Jan 31, but I know that one former WR student just started at a new school this week... so they are teetering very close to their 105 limit... and maybe below.
Luke Sides
8:35 am on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
The enrollment # is one of the requirements for only the month of Dec and Jan. If it drops below 110 after Jan, it's fine. WFB doesn't even have to go there. The school breached in a number of areas of the settlement agreement.
Upon close scrutiny of WR's budget, I agree with WFB. Regardless of the objections, the school doesn't have the money to finish the school year. They over spent for the last two months, and neglected to count a few expenses in the budget (lawyers, IK settlement), and overestimated the incoming money for the remainder of the school year. I just hope everyone still remaining there is paying attention of how the school continues to put spin on the financial situation. WFB estimate the school run out of money by the end of March at current spending rate. Even if they cut back, it'll drag a little but don't forget they need a month worth of money to do an orderly closing of the school.
caring parent
9:58 am on Monday, February 27, 2012
The school admitted not having enough money to finish the school year. More cuts are happening today and fundraising is ongoing. It is so unbelievably troubling how the falling school continues to break promises after promises to the family, faulty and staff. Best wishes to all the faulty and staff that are getting the pink slips this morning.
Former WRS teacher
11:56 am on Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Regarding search committees: Few seem to do their jobs well and the higher the position they are searching for, the worse they do; anyone remember the fiasco of former Superintendent Walter Marks? It wasn't until after he drove Richmond into bankruptcy that it was "discovered" that he done the same thing in four other school districts... and after he left Richmond in disgrace Kansas City hired him as Superintendent only to have to fire him for financial issues. Teachers get grilled by hiring teams; superintendents (and HOS) get free passes.
Ellen
12:21 pm on Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Former, you are right. Often, a "search committee" already has a HOS, or a Director, chosen before the search begins. They then go through the (legal) motions, and in the end, hire the person they already chose before the search began. Not always, but sometimes. I do not know if this is what happened at WR, but I know of other schools where it has happened. However, when this does happen, it sometimes prevents the "red flags" from being noticed, and rules out good, solid candidates, because the search committee is in name only.