Last school year, he received $120,000 from the district. [They] hope Pegasus can offer more opportunities for the students to get accepted to the UC system.". In Long's 2018 letter to UC admissions staffers, he ticked off some examples: the annual three- to four-week summer program specifically for Pegasus students, campus representatives who visited Pegasus to meet with students and parents, and the university's assistance in recruiting its graduates to teach at the high school. But there were some notable differences between the Chinese high school and its California counterparts. ", Former WASC president Fred Van Leuven confirmed to Insider that Pegasus lacked the proper licensing. A review by Insider, including consultations with experts, turned up only two examples of international schools both in China engaged in dual-degree programs with public schools in the US in which foreign students can earn diplomas without ever attending the American schools. Long acknowledged that his consulting firm purchased tickets for Torlakson's travel but said the firm was reimbursed by Pegasus. "How do you recommend I respond to/route this information?" Nonetheless, the school's efforts apparently paid off: In June 2020, Long said at a virtual Val Verde school-board meeting that UCI's admissions director called him personally after 9 o'clock on a Saturday night to say that 46 Pegasus seniors from the class of 2020 had been accepted into the UC system. Back in California, teacher salaries started at about $56,560 (senior teachers with a master's degree or significant experience could make up to $121,100), without perks like free room and board. "According to the news this Pegasus school reports, the student from this school can get privileges when they apply to UCR," she said. Three former staffers told Insider that some parents held government positions and that the school was asked to admit a student who didn't pass the entrance exam because her father was a high-ranking general. Top UC schools Berkeley, Los Angeles, and Irvine among them are prized among the Chinese elite, and every year those schools admit tens of thousands of graduates from California's public high schools. In 2013, the Riverside County Board of Education opened a 30,000-square-foot, $13.5 million regional learning center in his honor. ", When asked about the appointment, Long first downplayed it before becoming tongue-tied. Tuition and Fees Financial Aid FAQs Visit Pegasus Admissions for 2024-2025 will open in September. (408) 928-5440. fax: (408) 928-5445. Aldrich responded to Long that, after reviewing the 15 applicants, he projected that nine students would probably be accepted, with an additional three on the border. (By 2019, he made $318,901. The Pegasus School I Pre-K-8 Private School in Huntington Beach, CA Where Bright Minds Soar Learn More 595 Students Pre-K-Grade 8 9:1 Student-Faculty Ratio Matriculation to Top High Schools Pegasus At A Glance View Calendar Admissions Lower School Middle School Athletics The Arts Summer Programs Pegasus Through Your Child's Eyes Alumni "Butthe idea was to foster international cooperation between our two countries, and I'm in favor of that.". In 2019, Val Verde conducted an investigation into its Chinese affiliate, records show, after it received an anonymous complaint alleging that Val Verde "issues diplomas to an unaccredited, for-profit school in China.". And although Long is no longer around to bolster relationships with California universities and officials, Pegasus for a time at least had a new chief principal to pick up the slack and keep parents happy. I love working with international. But Americans weren't the only targets indeed, wealthy Chinese families were some of Singer's most lucrative clients. M.Ed. Two U of California campuses accused of going too far to recruit Pegasus High School Torlakson's political influence proved extremely beneficial as Ma pursued his business dealings in China. "Definitely by the end of my tenure there, I knew that things were wrong," Riedel told Insider. Ma denied that the appointment was designed to help Pegasus rather, it was a way of using his and Long's success at Pegasus to help California. Robbins was puzzled by the Pegasus relationship. A former teacher said that during one such visit, he approached Torlakson, asking what California's superintendent of public instruction was doing at a private Chinese boarding school. "I am still unclear why Val Verde is conferring diplomas for Pegasus," he told McCormick and other district staffers, according to the emails. By 2014, ThinkTank Learning was generating annual revenue of over $18 million, with clients who were predominantly Asian families lured by the lofty promise that for tens of thousands of dollars the company's VIP contract ran between $300,000 and $2 million their kids would be admitted to their dream schools. One former Pegasus staffer said she heard rumors that Long and Ma had a falling out. Insider spoke with two former Val Verde board members, Suzanne Stotlar and Shelly Yarbrough, who voted to authorize the relationship. "Have we approved any late application appeals at this point for any other students?" Jihong Xie, a 2019 Pegasus grad currently attending UC Davis, was one of those students accepted to UC Riverside. Dear Preparatory International Students If you have decided the international education and are about to enroll in an international school in China this autumn, congratulations! Pegasus High School. 3434 Silver Creek Rd. In an interview with Insider, Riedel said he was directed to meet with school admissions officers by his boss, David Long, a former California secretary of education, and by Torlakson. While the memorandum of understanding doesn't mention guaranteed admission, the document does describe a slew of other arrangements agreed on by the university, including "customized programs that would serve students from PCS High School" and the provision of "office, meeting space, and marketing capabilities to UCR for programs within Qingdao and the Shandong Province. Reset Contrast High . ", Pegasus repeatedly described itself as a nonprofit in marketing materials and in communications with Val Verde and the University of California. Riedel, the former Pegasus headmaster, personally invited UC Irvine admissions staffers to China, according to a 2018 email exchange. Evera Spears, a former associate director for the University of California's Office of the President, was so alarmed by Pegasus' efforts to ingratiate itself with UC schools that she sent an alert in 2018 to admissions directors at all nine undergraduate UC campuses reminding them that Pegasus was "not WASC accredited; does not have a UC A-G Course List, and does not have a College Board School Code." An Insider investigation has found that some of California's highest-ranking education officials and leading public universities worked closely with a swaggering entrepreneur who launched a. Pegasus California School-| Emails also show that in February 2020 Long sent Aldrich a list of Pegasus seniors who had applied to UC Irvine. "I find it appalling if it is true that UC Riverside has guaranteed admission for these graduates. said Mandy Loh, assistant director for international and out-of-state recruitment and evaluation. At least one employee contract, viewed by Insider, promised a prospective Pegasus school staffer "shares in Pegasus Stock." The Pegasus School is a co-ed, non-profit, non-sectarian, private day school on a 14-acre (5.7 ha) campus in Huntington Beach, California. The Pegasus School is a private school located in Huntington Beach, CA. This public California school district bestowed diplomas to students at At this point, Ma told Insider, his expansion plan is no longer feasible. #265 in California High Schools. ", Long denied that he ever made that statement. But he also encountered challenges once he arrived in China. "My impression was that it was unusualfor a California school to provide diplomas to foreign students," Stotlar acknowledged. That kind of ends the conversation. Torlakson did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story. "We were sort of told to dial back on the American elements.". Accepted, not necessarily that they go there. Just two days after the document signing, UC Riverside was already having concerns about how Pegasus was promoting its relationship. The Pegasus School - Huntington Beach, California - CA - GreatSchools The spokesperson said UC Riverside didn't have any similar arrangements with any of Val Verde's public high schools. Ma said that Pegasus has yet to break even, and that the project has four investors three Chinese nationals and Ma himself. ", He later guessed that "it's some fishing scam.". "[He] told usif they wanted to, they could go directly to UC Irvine no problem." I've never heard that." As Val Verde's superintendent, McCormick was a staunch Pegasus supporter. "The goal of public education in the state of California is to support California children, and higher education does allow [students] from other countries, but we don't guarantee them admission," said Eastin, the former California superintendent of public instruction. To get them here, many wealthy Chinese families send their children to expensive international private schools. "It was hard to build the kindergarten schools without a name," he said. But I was told that the Chinese were in full support of this school and their education department made all the arrangements," Yarbrough told Insider. Buyers find it difficult to envision an empty space and how they would furnish their new home. An Insider review of Pegasus diplomas, provided by a source and through a records request, has confirmed that the documents were indeed conferred by Val Verde. It was a truism made even more vivid by the 2019 Varsity Blues college-admissions scandal in which dozens of prominent parents including the actress Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, as well as actress Felicity Huffman took part in admissions counselor Rick Singer's criminal scheme to game the admissions system so that their kids could attend the University of Southern California, Yale, Georgetown, Stanford, UCLA, and other elite institutions. They are being very persistent about trying to meet with me and also sending letters to the Chancellor," the admissions director said. A UCI spokesperson said that the school's executive director of undergraduate admissions denied making such a call, adding that it was unlikely that anyone at UCI would've had access to system-wide data about Pegasus admissions. I'm not an expert in education.". Enrollment After passing the test, go through the formalities of fee payment and registration and sign an Enrollment Agreement. And the majority of its 20,000 students come from low-income families and are eligible for free or reduced lunch. "Dave and Steven had a business model that they thought they could make money at, and I think honestly they were trying to do the right thing with Chinese kids, but how they were kind of doing it was a little slippery. "This is new and appears sketchy!" Attached to the email was a letter on California Department of Education letterhead from Torlakson, who applauded Pegasus as a "true partnership between our California education system and the Chinese education system" and urged the UCLA admissions office to meet with Allen Riedel, the headmaster of Pegasus. And even though it conferred a Val Verde diploma to graduates, Pegasus California School was really a private academy exclusively serving Chinese students in Qingdao, China, a city of more than 9 million bordering the Yellow Sea, some 6,300 miles from Val Verde. "Let's work on this together and get these students appealed and applied asap," he added, sharing with Long the instructions for how to submit a late-application appeal. Pegasus California School - Facebook What is Nicole Borja's latest job experience? But as Ma basked in the riches of early success, ThinkTank began to falter: Employees accused the company of beingan academic sweatshop, with long hours, no overtime pay, and no breaks as they tirelessly tutored privileged students. Luckily, Long had the relationships to make that happen. In the evenings, Pegasus students had mandatory teacher-supervised study hall, where they received one-on-one instruction to ensure they stayed on top of their classwork. On May 10, 2019, an assistant provost emailed Long, demanding that Pegasus delete the WeChat announcement and take the sign down. This person added that another parent invited teachers to a private party on her yacht. "I've been an expat before when I was a kid, and the opportunity to go be the headmaster in China was not only a career opportunity but an adventure," Riedel, who left Pegasus in 2019, told Insider. What UCR has agreed is that every student that graduates from Pegasus will have admission to UCR.". The public servants, records show, gave Ma and his associates official state appointments and helped grease the skids to give Pegasus students a leg up in the increasingly cutthroat University of California admissions process. "That way, if the media (or an entity that provides oversight) gets involved, we can say we complied with our obligation to investigate," he wrote in December 2019, according to emails obtained by Insider. Former staffers said the students came from wealthy families. Tuition is $26,975 for the highest grade offered. Just three months into his term as superintendent, according to an email obtained by Insider, Long encouraged Torlakson to appoint McCormick to a state education task force, describing him as a "valuable asset!
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