Was Mavericks Charter Schools – Including Joe Biden’s Brother – Trying to Buy the Palm Beach School Board?
Campaign contributions by Maverick’s charter school operators, family members and employees are detailed in a stunning story today by Doug Martin. Records show that both school board member Chuch Shaw and board chairman Frank Barbieri have received contributions from Mavericks’ operators and people cloesly associated with them. The list includes Vice President Joe Biden’s brother and Maverick’s president, Frank.
Mavericks currently operates one charter school in Palm Beach County, but originally the school district was not a fan of the Biden-led company. After Palm Beach County’s department of charter schools determined that Mavericks’ application did not meet financial and other standards, Frank Biden, as Washington Post’s Valerie Strauss pointed out, met with members of the school board and persuaded them to change their minds. In early February 2011, they did.
Word at the time was Biden and Mavericks had promised to donate to various school board
