Teachers at a recently closed charter school received a letter today saying they would in fact receive the summer paychecks they are due for work performed during the school year.
Teachers at the Michigan Technical Academy were told last month that money that was supposed to pay them would instead go to pay off the school’s debts. In an email at the time, the school’s management company, Matchbook Learning, said the matter was out of its control.
Company CEO Sajan George sent followup letters to update the situation, including one at the end of July describing attempts to find other ways to pay teachers.
But attempts to recoup funds that were going to pay debts failed or were too slow. So the company decided to pay teachers out of its own funding, using private donations to foot the bill, George said in today’s letter.
“Even though Matchbook has not been paid itself in the past five months, we have come up with the money to make our employees whole,” George wrote. “Matchbook will continue to pursue the funding owed to us, but whether we receive it or not, we are using this funding from private sources to fulfill our commitment to you.”
A payment made, with interest, this week to cover two previous paychecks, and another final payment will be made on Aug. 30, according to the letter. Here’s the letter he sent:
August 22, 2017 Dear Former Employee: As I’ve related in my previous letters, we have been doing everything possible to get you the summer pay you’re owed. We’ve had little success, as the bond holders have insisted on taking the July and August State Aid payments entirely for themselves. The Michigan Finance Authority has informed us that, while they are sympathetic, they can offer no assistance. CMU has offered no help. And working through the court system to get a Receiver appointed is going to take longer than we thought – too long to benefit the people who need these payments to be able to make ends meet. So we are paying you ourselves. Even though Matchbook has not been paid itself in the past five months, we have come up with the money to make our employees whole. Funds have been made available, through the generosity of our supporters, to pay employees the summer pay they are due. Matchbook will continue to pursue the funding owed to us, but whether we receive it or not, we are using this funding from private sources to fulfill our commitment to you. We have already ordered payments to be made via direct deposit from our payroll processing vendor Paychex into your bank accounts that Paychex has on file from our last payroll run. Payments covering what was owed from July 30th and August 15th, should be deposited into your bank accounts today and tomorrow – with interest from those dates. Your final payment will be made before it is due on August 30th by the end of this week. Any questions can be directed to hr@matchbooklearning.com. We are a small nonprofit organization, but we feel an overriding commitment to the people who worked so hard to benefit our students all year. We know this has been a challenging process, but I’m pleased at least to be able to provide you with the pay you deserve. Thank you very much. Sincerely, Sajan George Founder & CEO, Matchbook Learning, a non-profit corporation