The Pinellas County School Board voted Tuesday to terminate the charter for an embattled charter school.

  • Newpoint Education Partners LLC was indicted for grand theft and money laundering
  • Newpoint ran charter schools in Pinellas County; officials believe similar issues may have happened there
  • Parents fighting for school, which they started self-managing months ago

Newpoint Education Partners LLC was indicted in Escambia County for grand theft and money laundering in connection with charter schools. School officials have reason to believe similar issues existed in its Pinellas County schools: Windsor Preparatory Academy and East Windsor Middle Academy.

Parents and staff joined forces to manage the school, hoping to get things back on track. Parents started a petition last week to present to Pinellas School Board members Tuesday. The petition has more than 1,000 signatures of support.

Jessica Ismoilov has two children who attend Windsor Preparatory Academy and East Windsor Middle Academy.

"Windsor is a family school," she said. "That's the No. 1 thing you walk in the door and you feel."

Ismoilov is among a group of parents fighting to save the school. Depending on how school officials vote Tuesday, the charter could be forced to close within 90 days.

"Our school is great," she said. "It's not our school's fault, it's not our kids fault, or our staff's fault. It was Newpoint's fault, and they need to be indicted in Pinellas County."

The parents started self-managing the school months ago after they say Newpoint Management went AWOL.

"It started with a couple of parents," Dorothy Dulau, a parent, said. "We were small, and I decided to start a Facebook group called 'Hope for Windsor,' and we have over 320 parents in the group now."

Now, parents say they have a new board of directors and everyone associated with Newpoint is gone. They want Pinellas County Schools to take notice and give them the time they need to make Windsor even stronger.

"We want to show them we are not only putting a good faith effort forward, we're proof positive that we can turn this around," Ismoilov said. "We just need more time."