Charter school head is suspect in money theft

The executive director of a Minneapolis charter school is under investigation by the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office for allegedly embezzling school funds after a recent audit showed more than $160,000 unaccounted for.

Joel Pourier, head of the Oh Day Aki/Heart of the Earth school for the past five years, is suspected of writing checks to himself from school accounts, according to affidavits filed Thursday.

Among the alleged improprieties, he is accused of writing a $7,600 check to himself for prom, graduation and staff party expenses. But a confidential informant told detectives that there was no prom, that only Kool-Aid and cookies were served at graduation, and that Pourier did not attend or pay for a staff party.

In response to the investigation and to an audit's finding that the school lost more than $78,000 in potential state funds in 2007, the Minneapolis School District wants to end its sponsorship.

The school board has a vote scheduled on that question Tuesday night.

The school -- one of the first American Indian-operated schools in the country -- could be shuttered when classes start next month.

"We are quite concerned with some of the information we've received," Deputy Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson said. "More importantly, we are concerned about the welfare of the children and their families."

However, Principal Darlene Leiding said late Thursday that after seeing the school's bank records a few hours earlier that she now has reason to doubt Pourier's explanation.

Heart of the Earth, which serves about 200 students, most of them American Indian, opened in the 1970s as an alternative public school and combined with Oh Day Aki to become a charter school in 1999. Charter schools are public schools that can operate semi-autonomously.

Financial and academic oversight of charter schools has been an ongoing challenge. While the number and quality of charter schools has grown, many have failed because of financial mismanagement or outright theft. In 2004, the state Department of Education added midyear reviews and mandated special training for sponsors and board members of new charter schools.

Johnson said the district became concerned when the school didn't finish its audit for the 2006-07 academic year by the Dec. 31 deadline. The Education Department didn't receive that audit until last month.

The independent auditor told state education officials that the audit raised "a number of significant concerns."

On July 3, the Education Department asked the state auditor to conduct an investigation. The Sheriff's Office searched the school's financial records, with confidential informants providing further information.

Pourier is accused of:

• Writing checks to himself totaling $13,475 supposedly intended to pay for a school powwow, prom, graduation and an end-of-year staff party. The powwow and prom never took place, and the staff party was not attended or paid for by Pourier, an informant said.

• Using school money to pay personal credit cards bills and to cover the cost of a plane ticket and other transportation to settle his father's estate in South Dakota.

• Writing a $8,953 check to himself for a down payment for moving the school from one building to another. But an informant said a moving company said no down payment was received.

It's unknown if possible criminal charges will be recommended to the county attorney's office, spokeswoman Rondah Kinchlow said.

Late last month, Pourier and two other school officials attended an informal hearing in front of the Minneapolis school board that was attended by several parents and American Indian community leaders.

The school presented the district with some information that left Johnson and other district officials unsatisfied.

"They failed to implement a balanced budget, provide accurate information to state and federal authorities and couldn't account for some money they spent," Johnson said.

Leiding said that after this summer's audit, she asked Pourier about several missing receipts.

Then, Thursday, she went to the bank and asked to see the records. "That's where it just destroyed all the faith I had, because I saw check after check written out to him, signed by him," she said.

Leiding said her main focus is the future of the school and the well-being of the students.

"This school has been in existence for 38 years," she said. "It was created to help American Indian children ... that is what is destroying me.