North Valley Military Institute, accused of failure and possible fraud, closes school

Poor educational outcomes, financial mismanagement, failure to secure classroom space and claims of possible fraud — these are among the many criticisms leveled at North Valley Military Institute (NVMI), which is ceasing operations this fall.

The NVMI Board of Trustees formally voted to suspend operations on Friday, Aug. 25, leaving scores of families scrambling to find a new school for their children. Last year the school served about 800 middle and high school students on campus space in Sun Valley and Tujunga that was leased from the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The board’s decision to close the school was based on the fact that the school failed to secure leases for facilities to operate on this year. However, it also comes in response to significant pressure from the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE), which authorizes the school’s charter.

On Aug. 15, LACOE issued a Notice of Violation to NVMI’s management informing them of its intent to pursue revocation of the school’s charter unless the management by Aug. 30 provided a compelling plan for addressing a laundry list of concerns. In addition to the lack of facilities, LACOE’s concerns include underperforming academic standards, failure to meet financial obligations and alleged misuse of public funds.

Facing a seemingly insurmountable pile of problems, the school’s board of trustees voted to voluntarily forfeit its charter instead of waiting for LACOE to make the decision for them.

NVMI Superintendent Mark Ryan expressed sadness over the outcome, and fear about what it means for the futures of the vulnerable youth that the school catered to — such as low-income, migrant, homeless and behaviorally challenged students.

“I realize that not everybody agrees with my assessment of this, but I believe that the closure of NVMI is a significant loss to the community at large,” Ryan said in an interview with the Los Angeles Daily News. “The reality is that this school faithfully and diligently served a group of kids, many of whom nobody else wants to serve.”

Many NVMI families expressed a strong desire to keep the school open.

In July, they held a protest outside the Los Angeles Community College District headquarters in an unsuccessful bid to convince the LACCD Board to lease classroom space where NVMI could operate. At the latest NVMI Board meeting, several parents pleaded with the board to find a way to keep the school open.

“Please see in your hearts that many children are suffering, many families are suffering,” said parent Isla Miranda, in Spanish. “My student has been sitting at school all week, I don’t like the school he’s supposed to attend. Please keep the school (NVMI) open.”

Despite this loyal support, the school has been the subject of controversy for years.

It failed to get its charter renewed for a brief period at the end of 2017 and has received eight notices of concern or of violation of the law from LACOE during the past three academic years.

LACOE’s latest Aug. 15 notice of violation painted a portrait of a failing institution.

“In reviewing academic outcomes, through multiple metrics, and compared to State, County, LACOE and Dashboard Alternative School Status (DASS) charter schools, NVMI continues to underperform in almost every comparison,” stated the letter.

For example, 1% of NVMI’s 11th grade students met or exceeded math standards on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP), compared to 26% of 11th graders in the county in the 2020 to 2021 school year. And 26% of 11th grade NVMI students met or exceeded CAASP standards for English Language Arts compared to 54% of students in the county.

Superintendent Ryan said these data points painted an unfair picture of NVMI, which primarily served a population of disadvantaged students. He instead pointed to the school’s 94% graduation rate as evidence of its success.

While LACOE’s letter acknowledged that this was a very high graduation rate, it also pointed out that less than 40% NVMI’s of students went on to pursue higher education.

LACOE also expressed strong concerns about the school’s past and present financial practices.

On March 7, LACOE requested an audit of the school’s finances following allegations that it misused more than  $90,000 in public funds for a staff leadership retreat in Las Vegas.

That audit is currently being carried out by the Fiscal Crisis Management and Assistance Team, an independent and external state agency whose mission is to assist California’s K-14 local educational agencies to identify, prevent and resolve financial, operational and data management challenges, said LACOE Public Information Office Van Nguyen.

“Based upon our review of receipts and internal documents of NVMI’s recent leadership retreat, there is reason to believe that fraud, misappropriation of funds, or other illegal fiscal practices may have occurred,” stated  LACOE’s Aug. 15 letter.

NVMI’s Superintendent Mark Ryan has denied these allegations.

“When all is said and done, there is going to be zero evidence of any wrongdoing,” he said.

LACOE also expressed fears that the school would not be able to meet future financial obligations.

The school failed to meet its payroll obligations in April 2023 and failed to pay its California State Teachers Retirement System obligations for the months of April, May, and June in 2023, according to LACOE’s letter.

Ryan said that the school’s financial challenges primarily stemmed from the fact that it was unable to find a central site to operate on and was spreading students across three locations — two LAUSD campuses and an early college program at L.A. Mission College.

Ryan also said that on behalf of the NVMI community, he would love to find a way to reopen the school in the future, but isn’t sure that is a realistic goal.

“The families have made a very loud call for NVMI to find a way to start again, and I think the board very much wants that,” he said. “I don’t see that as a very likely occurrence, but if it’s all possible we will continue to try to make that happen.”