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Looks like there may be some issues at Northstar Academy....

https://www.echopress.com/news/complain ... yYvIwad-kI

Complaint alleges misconduct, mismanagement at Northstar Christian Academy in Alexandria
The complaint seeks equitable relief through a "forced reorganization" of Northstar's board of directors and to remove various directors the suit claims have "mismanaged the organization."

Northstar Christian Academy is the subject of a complaint that alleges misconduct and mismanagement from coaches and the school's board of directors.

Alexandria Echo Press file photo
By Travis Gulbrandson and Al Edenloff
Today at 1:00 PM

ALEXANDRIA — A civil complaint has been filed that alleges misconduct and mismanagement by coaches and board members at the Northstar Christian Academy in Alexandria.

The complaint seeks equitable relief through a "forced reorganization" of Northstar's board of directors and to remove various directors the suit claims have "mismanaged the organization to the significant detriment of NCA."

The complaint was filed on June 15 by John Albers, a member of the board of directors.

Northstar is a private Christian academy and hockey school that opened in 2016.

The complaint alleges "egregious conduct by the board, specifically members Brent Smith, Keith Anderson, Kaylene Schulz, Jerod Ochsendorf and Tim Cullen, which ... has caused immeasurable damage to the school and threatens to shutter the school entirely."


According to the complaint, Albers became aware of "serious" allegations against several of Northstar's hockey coaches. These allegations were:

One of the coaches was allegedly engaging in "verbal, emotional and physical abuse of the students and staff members, including hitting one of the players with a hockey stick and making another player cry for making a mistake during a hockey game."
This same coach is alleged to have engaged in a pattern of "bullying staff members by mocking them, belittling them and making them cry."
One coach is alleged to have accepted unreported "significant" cash payments from players' parents in exchange for playing time.
One coach allegedly forced students into doing personal tasks for his own benefit.
The complaint alleges that when Shannan Randazzo, codirector of Northstar, and Rick Randazzo, executive director of Northstar, attempted to address the issues, the coaches would openly complain about the school's leadership to players and parents, and "instructed parents to hide the coaches' problematic behaviors … so that Rick and Shannan Randazzo would not receive additional information."
When Rick Randazzo moved to terminate the employment of the coaches, the board suspended the Randazzos, the complaint alleges.

Board members Schultz and Ochsendorf then raised concerns about the conduct of the Randazzos, saying that they contributed to a "toxic work environment" at Northstar, which warranted their termination, the complaint alleges.

However, the complaint alleges that "no specific incidents or corroborating evidence" against the Randazzos was presented.

The complaint alleges that the statements about the Randazzos were made "to distract from or curtail the board's proper investigation of the problematic coaches, some of whom were long-standing personal friends."

In addition, the complaint alleges that "only a small subset of the board" participated in the investigation of the coaches, and that the investigator's report was "biased and incomplete."

On or about April 21, the coaches were reinstated, the complaint alleges.

On or about April 26, Shannan Randazzo's employment was terminated, followed by Rick Randazzo's a short time later, the complaint alleges.


"The board's improper investigation and wrongful termination of Shannan and Rick Randazzo launched the school into a period of chaos and uncertainty, causing significant harm to the school and endangering its ability to continue operations into the future," the complaint reads.

For example, when Shannan Randazzo's employment was terminated, Northstar students staged a walk-out to protest it, the complaint reads.

As a result of the walk-out, "only two students remained enrolled at the school," the complaint alleges.

The complaint alleges that it is "likely" that no students will return to Northstar next year.

Northstar currently has 10 members on its board of directors: John Albers, Keith Anderson, Tim Cullen, Mark Jenson, Jerod Ochsendorf, DuWayne Paul, Jeff Roste, Kaylene Schultz, Brent Smith and Fred Townsend.

Based on advice from its legal counsel, a member of the Northstar board, DuWayne Paul, issued a statement to the Echo Press on behalf of other members of the board: “We can’t make any comments except to say we will vehemently deny and vigorously defend against the charges.”

Meanwhile, Paul said the academy is moving ahead.

“We have two teams who will be led by strong coaches and a supportive staff who are all excited for the coming academic year. A 55-game schedule for the Knights is in place. We’ve hired a new academic director and we will be adding two or three teacher positions also."


Paul added that other than a few staff changes, there has been no change to Northstar’s mission.

"Personnel changes can be hard but we are moving ahead and after hearing all of the positive feedback from future players and parents last weekend we know our mission is on track,” Paul said. “NCA’s facilities will remain open for public use just as it has been and we’d love to see the community cheering on the Knights at their home games."

BSUBeaver wrote: ↑Thu Jun 22, 2023 2:38 pm Looks like there may be some issues at Northstar Academy....

https://www.echopress.com/news/complain ... yYvIwad-kI

Complaint alleges misconduct, mismanagement at Northstar Christian Academy in Alexandria
The complaint seeks equitable relief through a "forced reorganization" of Northstar's board of directors and to remove various directors the suit claims have "mismanaged the organization."

Northstar Christian Academy is the subject of a complaint that alleges misconduct and mismanagement from coaches and the school's board of directors.

Alexandria Echo Press file photo
By Travis Gulbrandson and Al Edenloff
Today at 1:00 PM

ALEXANDRIA — A civil complaint has been filed that alleges misconduct and mismanagement by coaches and board members at the Northstar Christian Academy in Alexandria.

The complaint seeks equitable relief through a "forced reorganization" of Northstar's board of directors and to remove various directors the suit claims have "mismanaged the organization to the significant detriment of NCA."

The complaint was filed on June 15 by John Albers, a member of the board of directors.

Northstar is a private Christian academy and hockey school that opened in 2016.

The complaint alleges "egregious conduct by the board, specifically members Brent Smith, Keith Anderson, Kaylene Schulz, Jerod Ochsendorf and Tim Cullen, which ... has caused immeasurable damage to the school and threatens to shutter the school entirely."


According to the complaint, Albers became aware of "serious" allegations against several of Northstar's hockey coaches. These allegations were:

One of the coaches was allegedly engaging in "verbal, emotional and physical abuse of the students and staff members, including hitting one of the players with a hockey stick and making another player cry for making a mistake during a hockey game."
This same coach is alleged to have engaged in a pattern of "bullying staff members by mocking them, belittling them and making them cry."
One coach is alleged to have accepted unreported "significant" cash payments from players' parents in exchange for playing time.
One coach allegedly forced students into doing personal tasks for his own benefit.
The complaint alleges that when Shannan Randazzo, codirector of Northstar, and Rick Randazzo, executive director of Northstar, attempted to address the issues, the coaches would openly complain about the school's leadership to players and parents, and "instructed parents to hide the coaches' problematic behaviors … so that Rick and Shannan Randazzo would not receive additional information."
When Rick Randazzo moved to terminate the employment of the coaches, the board suspended the Randazzos, the complaint alleges.

Board members Schultz and Ochsendorf then raised concerns about the conduct of the Randazzos, saying that they contributed to a "toxic work environment" at Northstar, which warranted their termination, the complaint alleges.

However, the complaint alleges that "no specific incidents or corroborating evidence" against the Randazzos was presented.

The complaint alleges that the statements about the Randazzos were made "to distract from or curtail the board's proper investigation of the problematic coaches, some of whom were long-standing personal friends."

In addition, the complaint alleges that "only a small subset of the board" participated in the investigation of the coaches, and that the investigator's report was "biased and incomplete."

On or about April 21, the coaches were reinstated, the complaint alleges.

On or about April 26, Shannan Randazzo's employment was terminated, followed by Rick Randazzo's a short time later, the complaint alleges.


"The board's improper investigation and wrongful termination of Shannan and Rick Randazzo launched the school into a period of chaos and uncertainty, causing significant harm to the school and endangering its ability to continue operations into the future," the complaint reads.

For example, when Shannan Randazzo's employment was terminated, Northstar students staged a walk-out to protest it, the complaint reads.

As a result of the walk-out, "only two students remained enrolled at the school," the complaint alleges.

The complaint alleges that it is "likely" that no students will return to Northstar next year.

Northstar currently has 10 members on its board of directors: John Albers, Keith Anderson, Tim Cullen, Mark Jenson, Jerod Ochsendorf, DuWayne Paul, Jeff Roste, Kaylene Schultz, Brent Smith and Fred Townsend.

Based on advice from its legal counsel, a member of the Northstar board, DuWayne Paul, issued a statement to the Echo Press on behalf of other members of the board: “We can’t make any comments except to say we will vehemently deny and vigorously defend against the charges.”

Meanwhile, Paul said the academy is moving ahead.

“We have two teams who will be led by strong coaches and a supportive staff who are all excited for the coming academic year. A 55-game schedule for the Knights is in place. We’ve hired a new academic director and we will be adding two or three teacher positions also."


Paul added that other than a few staff changes, there has been no change to Northstar’s mission.

"Personnel changes can be hard but we are moving ahead and after hearing all of the positive feedback from future players and parents last weekend we know our mission is on track,” Paul said. “NCA’s facilities will remain open for public use just as it has been and we’d love to see the community cheering on the Knights at their home games."

Wow This is a not a good look for a program on the ice that has really gotten better and better over the last few years and pulled away some good top tier talent for MN high school hockey. For a school and program that has really hammered home the values and religion piece to go along with great hockey development.... If the above is true YIKES! Lots of unethical behavior .... Curious to see how this plays out.

Northstar has been hit with a second lawsuit. Based on what was in the first lawsuit, this one doesn't surprise me at all.

https://www.echopress.com/news/northsta ... UJ2BEN7J8w

ALEXANDRIA — Another civil complaint has been filed against [Northstar Christian Academy](https://northstarknights.com/) , this one seeking more than $50,000 in damages.

Following a recent complaint that alleged misconduct and mismanagement, the new complaint alleges wrongful termination of one of the school's co-directors.

The complaint was filed on June 26 by Shannan Randazzo, whose employment was terminated by the board of directors in April.

According to the complaint, Randazzo and her husband, Rick, were among the original members of Northstar, and also founded and developed the school's hockey program.

The complaint alleges that in late February 2023, Northstar's board "began certain targeted activities that were clearly aimed at removing Rick … from the Northstar organization, including the Knights hockey program."

In late February or early March, the board expressed "unnamed concerns" over Rick Randazzo's behavior and threatened an investigation regarding the same, the complaint reads.

In early March, both of the Randazzos were informed they were on administrative leave, the complaint reads, but that no details were given on the allegations.

The board then reinstated the Randazzos, but sent an announcement to all employees that Northstar was seeking formal complaints against the Randazzos, the complaint reads.

On March 7, the board changed its position again and placed Shannan Randazzo on administrative leave, citing a need for investigation into "employee misconduct," the complaint reads.

The complaint alleges that again Randazzo was not told of any of the allegations about her, and that a third-party investigation took place "which lacked transparency, fairness, structure and integrity."

While some board members objected to the investigation, "those in control of the board continued their actions," the complaint reads.

The board also demanded that Randazzo not communicate in any way about the investigation, and "ignored current employees who requested to speak on behalf of their experiences with the Knights hockey program and refused to consider multiple witness letters from past and current Northstar families," the complaint reads.

The results of the investigation were never shared with Randazzo, and the board only allowed Rick Randazzo to see a redacted version, the complaint alleges.

On April 21, Northstar agreed to maintain Shannan Randazzo's employment, subject to a Performance Improvement Plan, but gave no explanation as to why one was necessary, the complaint alleges.

On April 26, Randazzo's termination letter cited the following reasons for termination: Concern over student safety, the results of the investigation, the failure to abide by the PIP, parent concerns and communications, and comments made during a Zoom meeting a month earlier, the complaint reads.

Randazzo made a written demand of the amount of compensation remaining under her current employment agreement, but Northstar refused, the complaint alleges.

The employment agreement also precludes Randazzo's employment being terminated "at will," the complaint reads.

The complaint reads that Randazzo has been damaged in an amount in excess of $25,000, and that she is entitled to recover compensatory damages, punitive damages, loss of past salary and future wage loss, plus her costs, expenses and reasonable attorney fees, bringing the amount to more than $50,000.

The previous complaint alleges that Randazzo was terminated because she and her husband attempted to address allegations of misconduct and mismanagement by several of Northstar's hockey coaches.

The initial complaint also reads that when Shannan Randazzo's employment was terminated, Northstar students staged a walk-out to protest it, the complaint reads.

As a result of the walk-out, "only two students remained enrolled at the school," the initial complaint alleges.

As was the case with the previous civil suit that was filed against Northstar, board members declined to provide a detailed response to Shannan Randazzo's allegations.

"We won’t comment," said board member DuWayne Paul. "It's been turned over to our litigation people and we will deny the allegations and vigorously defend our position."

Northstar must reply to the lawsuit within 21 days.

Northstar Academy has filed their answers in regards to the lawsuits filed against them.

https://www.echopress.com/news/northsta ... seYucA0Mp4

ALEXANDRIA — Northstar Christian Academy has filed answers to the two civil complaints it faces, denying the majority of the allegations.
The documents were both filed on Friday, July 21.
The complaints were both filed in June, the first alleging misconduct and mismanagement, and the second alleging the wrongful termination of one of the school's co-directors.
The first complaint seeks equitable relief through a "forced reorganization" of Northstar's board of directors and to remove various directors the suit claims have "mismanaged the organization to the significant detriment of NCA." The complaint was filed by John Albers, a member of the board of directors.
The second complaint was filed by Shannan Randazzo, whose employment was terminated by the board of directors in April.
The complaint reads that Randazzo has been damaged in an amount in excess of $25,000, and that she is entitled to recover compensatory damages, punitive damages, loss of past salary and future wage loss, plus her costs, expenses and reasonable attorney fees, bringing the amount to more than $50,000.
In its answers, Northstar "denies each and every allegation, matter, statement, and thing contained in plaintiff’s complaint except as admitted or otherwise qualified herein."
Most of the admissions concern direct quotes of the school's bylaws.
FIRST COMPLAINT
In the answer to the first complaint, Northstar denied "that plaintiff’s claims have any merit, that a forced reorganization is necessary, or that any mismanagement has occurred."
According to the complaint, Albers became aware of "serious" allegations against several of Northstar's hockey coaches. These allegations were:
One of the coaches was allegedly engaging in "verbal, emotional and physical abuse of the students and staff members, including hitting one of the players with a hockey stick and making another player cry for making a mistake during a hockey game."
This same coach is alleged to have engaged in a pattern of "bullying staff members by mocking them, belittling them and making them cry."
One coach is alleged to have accepted unreported "significant" cash payments from players' parents in exchange for playing time.
One coach allegedly forced students into doing personal tasks for his own benefit.
In its answer, Northstar alleges that while there were concerns raised by parents and students, they were about the behavior of Rick and Shannan Randazzo.
The answer reads, "Despite these concerns and the requirement in Section 3.01 of defendant’s bylaws that, “The property, business, and affairs of this corporation shall be managed by or under the direction of the Board of Directors,” plaintiff voiced objection to addressing the concerns and instead wanted to not have the board get involved in management of defendant."
The answer also denies that Rick Randazzo moved to terminate the employment of the coaches in question.
The answer denies the temporary suspension of the Randazzos or any of the coaches, although it does read that the Randazzos were placed on paid administrative leave "while an investigation took place."
During the investigation, the answer reads, "(The) investigator interviewed two board members, nine employees, and six students/parents over the course of several days. The investigator noted that she considered all submissions as part of the investigation and ultimately released her report on April 6, 2023, which was 680 pages long."
Additionally, the answer denies the complaint's assertion that students staged a walk-out in protest of Shannan Randazzo's termination, and that only two students remained enrolled at the school.
"Defendant avers that it currently has 44 students enrolled at the school and has multiple more families interested in enrolling, as well as having a full coaching staff," the answer reads. "In addition, defendant (asserts) that it has hired an education director and is fully prepared for the upcoming school year and hockey season."
SECOND COMPLAINT
In the answer to the second complaint, Northstar again denied the allegations.
According to the complaint, Shannan Randazzo and her husband, Rick, were among the original members of Northstar, and also founded and developed the school's hockey program.
In its answer, Northstar denied that the Randazzos were among the "visionary" members of the academy, but "admits that Rick Randazzo and plaintiff were among the founders of and helped develop the Northstar Knights hockey program(.)"
The answer also reads, "NCA admits that plaintiff had not received any negative performance reviews but notes that plaintiff never had performance reviews during her tenure with NCA and was supervised by her husband.
"By way of further answer, NCA generally admits that plaintiff had areas of her job in which she was a good employee but denies that plaintiff was an exemplary employee and that no negative concerns or comments were ever raised about her during her tenure before March 2023," the answer reads.
Northstar also denied what the complaint termed "certain targeted activities that were clearly aimed at removing Rick … from the Northstar organization, including the Knights hockey program."
In early March, both of the Randazzos were informed they were on administrative leave, the complaint reads, but that no details were given on the allegations.
In its answer, Northstar said the details were not shared "in an effort to maintain the integrity of the investigation."
The board then reinstated the Randazzos, but sent an announcement to all employees that Northstar was seeking formal complaints against the Randazzos, the complaint reads.
In its answer, Northstar admitted to sending the email, but denied it had anything to do with the reinstatement of the Randazzos.
The answer also admits Shannan Randazzo was subject to a performance improvement plan following her reinstatement, but denied it provided no explanation as to why one was necessary.
Shannan Randazzo's employment was terminated on April 26, five days after receiving the PIP.
In the answers to both complaints, Northstar requested a jury trial, or that the cases be dismissed with prejudice.
Documents say a jury trial could take place on or after July 15, 2024, and is expected to last four days.

Shouldn't it be deeply disturbing that, in addressing a complaint about a situation that it says could threaten the school's ability to stay open, board member DuWayne Paul responds by saying the school will have two strong hockey teams coached by quality coaches and that they hope to see the community supporting the teams at home games?