School administrator Michael R. Hazelton, who has overseen three charter schools with financial problems or alleged conflicts of interest in four years, is now advertising a tutoring center to North County charter schools and aiming to open on Nov. 1.
I detailed the recent history of Hazelton’s charter schools in a two-part series earlier this year, spanning from the abrupt closure of Las Banderas Academy in 2005 outside of San Bernardino to the shutdown of Theory Into Practice Academy in Encinitas this year. At that time, Hazelton and his wife Deborah Hazelton had created a website for their new tutoring center, but had not specified an opening date.
Hazelton stopped by the Escondido offices of the Classical Academies, a system of charter schools that help homeschooling families with independent study, to distribute a two-page flyer advertising the new center, according to Chief Business Officer Cameron Curry.
Curry, who was out of the office when Hazelton stopped by, sent him and his wife and business partner Deborah Hazelton an e-mail, excerpted below:
I must say that I was surprised, to say the least, to hear that you are still in the “school business” after the [TIP] Academy incident, and your past experiences with schools that was well documented by the Voice of San Diego expose on your career. I would think that someone in your position would be vigorously seeking to clear their name of these accusation(s), rather than opening another educational program in San Diego County.
Based on the information that I have, I could not possibly refer your business to our families.