In a video address ahead of the fall semester, Epic Charter Schools co-founder Ben Harris claimed that what parents may have heard about the school in relation to an active law enforcement investigation is not true.
"Some of those families coming to us may be skeptical of sending their children to us because of the negative and unfair and often flatout inaccurate news about us the past few years," Harris said.
"The school has endured years of baseless, unfounded, and unwarranted attacks that have included such politically charged and dramatic words as 'fraud,' 'embezzlement, 'racketeering,' 'forgery,' and many others," Harris said.
Harris said that the school would end up cleared of any wrongdoing at the close of investigations. As reported in the Tulsa World, Epic is under investigation by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation on allegations of embezzlement, racketeering and forgery. It's also the target of an audit ordered by Gov. Kevin Stitt last year.
Harris said Epic is seeing record enrollment, as families decide the charter school's all-virtual model may be preferable to in-person learning at their public school districts as the coronavirus pandemic continues to worsen in Oklahoma.
