School struggles to pay bills School struggles to pay bills
By Randy Ellis
Published: June 10, 2007
Pay day was an adventure at Bayard Rustin Living Learning Center.
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Former employees said they never knew whether they were going to receive a bad check, an excuse or a check that would actually clear the bank.
"It was a huge fiasco. There were numerous bounced checks,” said Ryan Totten, a former teacher at Bayard Rustin who blames school founder Toshav L. Storrs for the institution's problems.
Former cafeteria worker Janie Fagan said she lost her bank account because she cashed a check from the school, it bounced and she didn't have enough money in her account to cover it.
"He (Storrs) pretty much wrote hot checks to everyone who came in association with the school,” said former Bayard Rustin principal Sean Lee.
"It was unbelievable,” Totten said. "We had landlords coming down there trying to collect rent. The electric and phone got turned off.”
The financial turmoil dramatically affected education, Totten and Lee said.
"None of the teachers wanted to teach,” Lee said. "Kids were fighting and teachers were walking out of there because they were not getting paid.”
Storrs acknowledged that money was a constant problem.
"We have struggled to exist,” Storrs said. "We are a small, private school and don't get public funding. ...Within our ability to pay, we paid.”
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