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Lionheart Academy is pushing back on founder Fred Ward’s concerns that the school is in financial trouble, touting a new audit and an anonymous $5 million pledge. 

Ward, who has given $700,000 to the Peterborough school, had attorney Richard Lehmann send a letter Thursday to New Hampshire Board of Education Chair Drew Cline outlining what he sees as red flags. A day after Ward’s letter was sent, however, Lionheart attorney Robert Best sent Cline a response calling Ward’s claim “outrageous.”

“Dr. Ward’s allegations are ill-informed, inaccurate, and frankly, defamatory. The school is shocked and saddened that a founder of the school would work in such a manner to attempt to damage the school,” Best wrote.

According to Best’s letter, the school expects a clean bill of health from the pending audit by the accounting firm of Nathan Wechsler. The school is doing so well, in fact, it anticipates paying off its operating line of credit in the coming months, Best wrote.

Lionheart’s Kimberly Lavallee did not respond to NHJournal’s request for comment on Thursday after Ward’s letter was sent to Cline. Hours after being contacted by NHJournal, the school also announced a pledge for a $5 million endowment from an anonymous donor. 

Best’s letter does not give many details on the $5 million gift. Instead, he focuses on the the school’s self-reported strong financial position. The school spends less per student than other charter schools audited by Nathan Wechsler, Best wrote, and Lionheart does a better job than other Nathan Wechsler charter school clients of attracting donations and grants.

Speaking to NHJournal last week, Ward said the school ran a significant operating deficit since it opened in 2021. His frustrations over the board’s lack of transparency and concern about the school’s future moved him to act, he said.

According to statements Nathan Wechsler accountants made during a board meeting after Ward’s letter was sent, Lionheart spent $7,862 per pupil in its 2024 fiscal year, and received $9,000 per pupil from the state, a surplus of $1,138 per child.

Best wrote the school is heading into 2025 with better than expected finances. 

“Lionheart’s FY25 financial position is ahead of budgeted expectations as of September, 2024,” Best wrote. “Lionheart exceeded its budgeted expectations on a number of revenue streams in FY 2025.”

But the new influx of donated dollars doesn’t address one of the main concerns regarding the school: the lease Lionheart has for its Sharon Road building. According to Ward, former Lionheart Board Chair Barry Tanner negotiated the $24,000-a-month lease with building owner Ophir Sternberg without disclosing he has a potential business relationship with Sternberg.

Sternberg, a Miami-based entrepreneur who resigned as chairman from the nearly bankrupt BurgerFi chain this summer, did not respond to a request for comment. Tanner declined to comment on his relationship with Sternberg.

Sternberg also negotiated naming rights for the school with Tanner. Sternberg owns Lionheart Capital and agreed to a $1 million donation in exchange for the naming rights. However, after making one $100,000 payment on that pledge, Sternberg changed the arrangement.

According to Ward, Sternberg gave the school stock in Lionheart Capital rather than cash. The stocks were locked as part of the agreement, and by the time the school could access the account last year, they were worthless, Ward contends. 

Best’s letter does not address the Sternberg/Tanner relationship, nor does he yet refute the concerns about Sternberg’s $1 million donation. Instead, Best promises a more detailed response soon.

“Lionheart also disagrees with and finds his allegations of poor board oversight or conflict of interest to be equally outrageous. We look forward to providing a more thorough response to those elements of his letter in the coming days,” Best wrote.

Lionheart is one of many new charter schools in New Hampshire that got start-up money from a $46 million federal grant to the state. Lionheart received $1.5 million in 2019 through the grant.

Lionheart uses a classical education curriculum developed by Hillsdale College, a non-denominational Christian school. Kristina Vourax, communications director for Hillsdale’s K-12 Education Office, reached out to NHJournal last week to put some distance between the college and Lionheart. 

“Lionheart is not part of our Member School network, nor do we work with its board or headmaster. In addition, the Hillsdale K-12 Education Office did not assist Lionheart in its founding effort,” Vourax stated in an email. “Lionheart has signed a curriculum license agreement with Hillsdale College to use our K-12 classical curriculum scope and sequence.”

Lionheart Classical Academy (LCA) in Peterborough was supposed to be the refuge for parents and families in the Monadnock region who wanted an escape from a secularized public education where unaccountable bureaucrats rule.

But now, the K-7 charter school is in danger of financial collapse after questionable board deals that were hidden from the public, according to Lionheart founder Fred Ward.

“We have two problems, and they are at war with each other,” Ward said. “We want that school to work. But the thing we’re pissed off at is that, the way they are going, they are going to go bust.”

Lionheart Classical Academy

Lionheart was one of the many tuition-free charter schools that got start-up funding from the state in 2021. A $46 million federal grant for New Hampshire to expand charter schools resulted in $1.5 million for Lionheart. The school officially opened in 2022 with grades K-5, with plans to eventually expand to a K-12 school.

Ward and Lionheart parent Kevin Brace are now calling on the state Board of Education to intervene. Ward’s attorney, Richard Lehmann, sent a letter to BOE Chair Drew Cline on Thursday laying out the alleged history of conflicts of interest, insider dealing, and a board of trustees that kept parents in the dark with illegal, non-public meetings.

“I was just shocked at the incompetence of the board,” Brace said. 

The school takes its name from the investment firm owned by donor and landlord Ophir Sternberg. Sternberg got former board chair Barry Tanner to agree to name the school after his Miami-based Lionheart Capital. Sternberg also owns the Sharon Road building Lionheart leases. The lease agreement obtained by NHJournal shows the base payments started at more than $24,000 a month in 2023, and going up three percent a year as the school uses more space in the building.

But, when the naming rights and lease agreements came together, Tanner hid the fact he was in a business relationship with Sternberg, according to the letter. 

“Dr. Ward and/or others have been told that Tanner and Sternberg together made an offer to acquire the Hancock Inn, in Hancock, New Hampshire when that property was listed for sale in the summer of 2021,” Lehmann wrote.

Tanner made his academy agreements with Sternberg without any transparency or board oversight, according to Lehmann. Reached Thursday, Tanner declined to comment on the letter, saying he has not seen it. He also declined to comment about his alleged business relationship with Sternberg. Tanner said he’s no longer on the board, but said he is still somewhat involved in the school.

“I’m just a fan, I guess you could say,” Tanner said.

Tanner still makes financial donations to the school, but declined to say how much he’s given. Ward, who like Tanner was part of the original founders group, has given $700,000 of his own money to Lionheart.

Sternberg did not respond to a request for comment.

But the lease isn’t the only red flag Ward and Brace see. Sternberg agreed to make a $1 million donation to Lionheart when he was first approached by Tanner. The initial donation was to be paid in $100,000 a month increments. But Sternberg changed the arrangement in 2022 to instead give the school stock in his company worth $1 million.

Sternberg’s stock donation, however, was locked up until the fall of 2023 and the school could not sell, according to the agreement. By the time Lionheart Academy could access the stock, it was worthless, Lehmann wrote. 

“Even though LCA effectively gave away its naming rights for no consideration, the Board appears to have done nothing to address the situation and protect LCA’s interests,” Lehmann wrote.

Brace said he only recently learned about the worthless stock because the board tried to keep the problem quiet for months. Brace has been sending his youngest daughter to Lionheart since it opened and has been an avid Lionheart booster and school volunteer. But he became concerned when Tanner and the rest of the board fired Executive Director Kerry Bedard this summer without explanation.

“I always thought the school was in good hands,” Brace said.

Brace started going to board meetings and was shocked by what he witnessed. The board members refused to answer questions, did not make records of past meetings available in violation of state law, and ignored charter rules about members.

Under the charter, the board is supposed to have two to three members from the professional or educational community, two to three members from the founder or major donors group, and one to two parents. Currently, they have one professional, two donors, and five parents on the board. 

Board Chair Kimberly Lavallee did not respond to a request for comment.

More troubling is the fact the current board has been meeting in secret, communicating about school business through a messaging app, Brace said. Charter schools receive public funding and their boards are subject to the same Right to Know laws as public schools. Other Lionheart parents just now learning about the problems are upset, Brace said.

“They are just appalled at the way the board has conducted itself. We put so much faith and trust in this school,” Brace said.

Ward is worried the financial situation will sink the school he helped create. Lionheart spends about $10,000 per pupil while getting about $9,000 per pupil from the state. Charter schools do not receive any direct funding from local property taxpayers the way public schools do. With about 250 students right now, that means the school is running a deficit of at least $250,000 a year, Ward said.

On top of that, the school’s growth plan is to add a new class every year. Next school year, it will go from a K-7 school to a K-8 school. That will add at least 40 students, increase the operating deficit, and further squeeze the classes. The school library already doubles as a classroom for two separate classes, Ward said.

“The money is running out, the space is running out, and the numbers don’t work,” Ward said.

The current board isn’t saying how it plans to close the financial gap, according to Ward. In the past, it relied on large donors like him. But Ward’s stopped giving and won’t start again until he gets some answers. And he’s telling others to do the same.

“I can’t recommend other people donate until the school cleans up its act,” Ward said.

Ward points to the Sharon Road lease as one of his prime concerns. Lionheart’s lease with Sternberg requires the school to pay for all of its expansion improvements as well as upgrades to the building’s HVAC and plumbing. And all of that expense is on top of the $24,000 a month in rent. However, after making all of the improvements, the school has no written agreement that it will be able to purchase the building outright at any point. 

“The money is going to improve Ophir Sternberg’s building. I’m not going to take money out of my pocket and put it in Sternberg’s pocket,” Ward said.

Ward and Brace want the state to step in and investigate LCA’s finances and its board. They also want the school put on probationary status until the whole picture becomes clear.

“In the face of the apparent conflict of interest, the disadvantageous lease provisions, the failure to address the failure of consideration in the naming transaction, and the failure to ensure that public funds are expended solely to benefit LCA’s public purpose, the need for immediate investigation and potential corrective action by this Board is clear.” Lehmann wrote.

Lehmann’s letter to Cline comes as Lionheart is scheduled to go before the state BOE next week. The school’s board of trustees is seeking approval to change the Lionheart charter to allow more parents on the board, effectively so the board is no longer in violation of its own rules.

Cline did not respond to a request for comment.

Lionheart offers a classical education based on the curriculum plan from Hillsdale College. The conservative, non-denominational Christian college operates the Barney Charter School Initiative to help start up charter schools across the country, or to assist independent charter schools like Lionheart. Lionheart is not a Christian school.