Ten charter schools that had been operated by White Hat Management believe they own the computers, desks, supplies, and other equipment the management company bought with state funds it was given to run the schools.

The schools will make their arguments before the Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Seven Hope academies and three Life Skills Centers hired White Hat in November 2005 to run the day-to-day operations of each community, or charter, school. The schools receive money from the state to educate each public school student, and they paid about 95 percent of the taxpayer dollars to White Hat for their services.

The schools argue that White Hat is accountable for how it spends the public funds because it is providing the government function of educating students. White Hat also had a fiduciary relationship with the schools given that it acted primarily for the schools’ benefit in running the schools, the charters contend. And White Hat was the purchasing agent for the school when it bought equipment and supplies, so any purchases are school property, they conclude.

White Hat counters that it was hired as an independent contractor to provide a service and that the funds were no longer public money once paid to the company. It also asserts that the contracts state that White Hat owned any property it purchased.

The court will consider the case, Hope Academy Broadway Campus v. White Hat Management, and two others on Tuesday, September 23 at the Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center in Columbus. Along with the brief descriptions below, the Office of Public Information today released summaries of the three cases that will be heard on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, September 24, the court will hold an off-site session in Ravenna. Students from area high schools – now 12 of them – will attend to hear arguments in three cases. Last week, CNO published an article about the off-site session and the appeals that will be considered, along with case summaries.

The court’s sessions begin at 9 a.m. each day. The arguments will be streamed live online at sc.ohio.gov. The Columbus session will also be broadcast live on The Ohio Channel.  

Cases for Tuesday, September 23
In addition to Hope Academy, these two cases are before the court on Tuesday:

• A former Franklin County judge faces suspension from the practice of law for doctoring a court document to dismiss a traffic ticket his attorney had received and later trying to cover his tracks. In Disciplinary Counsel v. Hale, the state disciplinary board recommends for a second time that the judge be suspended for six months.
• A Cincinnati nursing home and a third-party care provider ask the court to bar a retaliation claim from a fired employee in Hospice of Southwest Ohio, Killian, and Brookdale Senior Living v. Hulsmeyer. A manager at the facility was told of suspected abuse of a patient. The manager, who is also a nurse, reported the suspicions to her supervisor, the facility’s nursing director, and the patient’s daughter, but not to the head of Ohio’s health department. The company then fired the manager. The facilities argue that a retaliation claim cannot be brought against them unless the former employee first filed a report of suspected abuse or neglect with the Ohio director of health.