Kerry Bedard says in a lawsuit filed this week that she was fired as Lionheart Classical Academy’s first executive director after she warned the board about an unsustainable $10 million lease.
Bedard’s whistleblower lawsuit, filed in Hillsborough Superior Court, claims donor Ophir Sternberg pressured the board to fire her when she started questioning why the non-profit charter school was paying him a king’s ransom to lease the 30-year-old Peterborough warehouse.
“Kerry’s diligence and commitment to the success of Lionheart’s students would ultimately lead to her termination at the Board’s hands when Kerry committed the cardinal sin of questioning a disturbing financial arrangement between Lionheart and a ‘donor,’ Defendant Sternberg,” Bedard’s attorney, Craig McMahon, writes in the complaint.
Bedard’s been silent since her firing last summer. But the lawsuit airs her version of a tumultuous period for the school. According to the filing, Sternberg insinuated himself into the school with the promise of a $1 million donation. For that promise, he got naming rights, a lucrative lease contract, and key allies on the school board.
In exchange, Lionheart Academy got a building that cost more than $2 million to turn into a functional school, on top of its costly lease, according to the lawsuit. As for the donation of $1 million, Sternberg’s promise was bigger than his delivery, the lawsuit states.
Bedard, who has a background in finance, politics, and leading nonprofits, was...
Karnataka There are also some allegations by a section of media that there was no student named Ananya at a medical college in Manipal. MANGALURU: Activist Snehamayi Krishna from Mysuru on Thursday...