FORT PIERCE, Fla. — The government shutdown is stopping Creative Learning Lab Academy teachers from starting wage theft investigations.
Teachers at the now-defunct school weren't paid for about a month's worth of work at the private school in Fort Pierce. Each teacher has unpaid wages ranging from around $1,000 to $5,000, which they tell us is making it difficult to pay bills.
WATCH: Former teacher at Fort Pierce school says she's struggling to get anyone on the phone
“It just felt like I was just doing that [teaching] for no reason,” said Tayla King, a former preschool teacher at the school. “Like all that time that I put into working, like all of that was for nothing. Like I just wasted my time."
King said she left her job at a different daycare to work at the preschool because she believed in owners Chris and Balanga Madison's vision to create a Black-owned school for underprivileged children. She said she loved the kids and the other staff members, but she thinks it all fell apart when the school couldn’t make payroll back in August.
Education
WPTV learns this school's teachers are working without pay
“I’m very in financial debt,” King said. “I had to try to borrow money, try do something so I can borrow rent, try to pay bills and everything. I personally feel like they owe me more… now that they put me in a financial struggle.”
King said she had to borrow money from family and friends to make ends meet. She said she can’t afford a lawyer and since Florida dissolved its Department of Labor in 2002, she now has to file a complaint with the United States Department of Labor. King said she’s struggling to get a response or anybody on the phone during the government shutdown.
“You can’t even call anyone,” she said. “I call the line. They hang up on me. It’s just very frustrating.”
King said she’s also frustrated she didn’t get paid after spending money to decorate her classroom.
The school, according to Step Up for Students, received about $44,000 from taxpayer-funded scholarships from students attending the K-12 school. WPTV reached out to the St. Lucie County Early Learning Coalition about funds the preschool received and didn’t hear back by publication.
Education
Teachers report no background checks at this Fort Pierce school
Multiple teachers also told WPTV earlier this month that they didn’t receive legally required background checks before they started working at Creative Learning Lab Academy. However, King said she did receive a background check.
State law requires teachers and any other school employee to get a level two background investigation. Those investigations include sending fingerprints to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which did tell WPTV it had some prints on file for the Fort Pierce private school.
However, multiple employees told WPTV they didn’t receive any background checks before entering the school even though offer letters said a successful “background screening” was required for employment.
The Florida Department of Children and Families said it is still working to get our news team information about any possible investigation or regulatory action against the school’s owners for more than a month.
