Nonprofit AMIKids Pasco denies teachers their promised pay after district cancels contract

Crista Howell said she felt ripped off. When she took a job at AMIKids Pasco teaching children with behavior problems, she got a salary offer of $40,000. The money would be paid in 24 biweekly checks, including into the summer after classes ended.But now, the Pasco County School District has canceled its contract with the Tampa-based nonprofit, saying it wants to run the program for up to 120 troubled teens in-house. And AMIKids has told its Pasco teachers they won't be getting all their withheld pay."What they're saying now is, because the district terminated their contract, the offer letter is null and void," Howell said. "They still owe us around $7,000."That figure is what the teachers are owed individually in their remaining checks, plus the amount that had been prorated out of the earlier ones. AMIKids offered staffers a three-week severance package and is trying to help them find new jobs, spokeswoman Jessica Aspiras said. The 47-year-old organization with two dozen other youth programs across Florida had a contract with the Pasco district, not the school's workers, she said. "When the contract ends on June 30, all operations will cease," Aspiras said. "The severance package and teacher pay will end at that point."Even with the severance, Howell and others said, the teachers still will be out about $3,900. She struggled to understand why the organization wouldn't provide it all.The school district confirmed it already paid its contract to AMIKids — close to $565,000 — and the organization also had money from other sources, including a state grant. The annual budget for AMIKids Pasco is about $1.8 million."The money should be there," Howell said. "What are they doing with the additional funds?"Former AMI teacher Frank Cappello, who resigned in February, shares her concern."They took so much money from Pasco County, and so much money from the state. … (Yet) we were understaffed for so long," said Cappello, who recently took a job with a Hillsborough County school. "I've asked, 'Where is my money?' " Cappello said he's been trying to get the pay that was held out of his paychecks before he left, too. He figured the amount that he has yet to receive to be about $316 per pay period."It is money earned that they didn't pay," he said.Some of the school's eight teachers and 10 aides have called the school district seeking help. Student services director Melissa Musselwhite said the district is interested in hiring many of those people into the school it creates at the AMI site.But the district can't help with the salary, she said."I'm encouraging them to contact the appropriate people," Musselwhite explained. "They have their contract with AMI."Musselwhite's discomfort with AMIKids' operations in the fall prompted superintendent Kurt Browning to recommend ending the district's relationship with the organization in November. At the time, Browning said he had many concerns related to student safety at the school.Those issues were later resolved, and the School Board rescinded its vote to terminate the contract in early 2016. However, Musselwhite said, the district staff later decided it wanted greater ownership in the education of the AMI students, and that's why it decided to take over starting July 1.Howell, a 14-year teacher, said she hopes to get hired by the district, where she has worked before. She praised the district for helping as much as it could.She remained hopeful that she'd get the rest of her money from the group that she said had potential to be "amazing," if only it did things properly.Teachers worked long hours without breaks and rarely complained, Howell said. "But to be treated like this in the end … "She and others have discussed pursuing the issue further with a lawyer or government agencies. Contact Jeffrey S. Solochek at jsolochek@tampabay.com or (813) 909-4614. Follow @JeffSolochek.

Nonprofit AMIKids Pasco denies teachers their promised pay after district cancels contract

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