AL Political Reporter: “Managing Raleigh’s Torchlight Academy was a lucrative family venture for Don McQueen. The school paid McQueen nearly $3 million in management fees between 2016 and 2020, financial audits submitted by the school show.
The Raleigh businessman ran the K-8 charter school with a reported 600 students (state officials could only confirm 489 during a recent on-site headcount) through his educational management organization (EMO), Torchlight Academy Schools, LLC. He created the firm in 2015, along with his business partner and wife, Cynthia McQueen.
Don McQueen is also the school’s executive director, and Cynthia McQueen is Torchlight Academy’s principal. Each was paid $160,000 during the 2020-21 school year, a $60,000 increase over the $100,000 each reportedly received the year before. Those hefty salaries are in addition to the hundreds of thousands of dollars they are paid to manage the school. The arrangement raised conflict of interest concerns among Charter School Advisory Board members, which recommended to the State Board of Education that the school be closed. Last week, the state board followed that recommendation, citing McQueen’s “self-dealing” and “conflicts of interest” and missteps in the school’s special education program.
The school has appealed the decision and the state board will establish a panel to hear the appeal.”