Longtime critics of the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, the now-closed but still controversial online charter school, say that more employees would come forward with accusations of student data manipulation had they not signed contracts with non-disclosure agreements attached.
Steve Dyer with the liberal think tank Innovation Ohio says these so-called non-disclosure agreements signed by ECOT employees cover up any possible data fraud with public money.
"If taxpayer dollars are being misspent or ill-gotten, we should find out about that immediately or as quickly as possible. A non-disclosure agreement for the public sector seems to really fly in the face of that principle,” Dyer says.
Dyer’s complaint comes in the wake of a former employee anonymously accusing ECOT of falsely inflating student participation data.
A spokesperson says Auditor Dave Yost does not believe a court would find this so-called non-disclosure agreement enforceable because it goes against public policy.
