April 17, 2018
Mr. Eddie Williams
President, Board of Directors
Smothers Academy Preparatory School
2012 Jefferson Hwy.
Jefferson, LA 70121
Dear Mr. Williams:
This letter serves as a Notice of Breach of the Charter School Performance Compact for violating Section 2901 of
Bulletin 126, which states that a charter school “shall not employ members of the immediate family of a charter
board member or the chief executive officer or leader of the non-profit organization’s school, or schools, in the
case of a non-profit organization that operates more than one charter school” except in certain circumstances.
Louisiana law clearly defines immediate family members which include children, spouses of children, brothers and
their spouses, sisters and their spouses, parents, spouses, and parents of spouses.
Bulletin 126 establishes an exception for family members that were “employed for one year prior to their family
member becoming a charter board member or chief executive officer or leader of the charter school’s non-profit
organization.”
Based on the documentation submitted by the school along with other publicly available evidence, the Louisiana
Department of Education (LDOE) it is evident that Damon Smothers and Kemic Smothers are brothers. Damon
Smothers became the Chief Executive Officer of Smothers Academy, Inc. as the operator of a public charter school,
upon the effective date of the charter agreement between the non-profit organization and the Board of
Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), July 1, 2016.
Kemic Smothers was a board member of the Louisiana non-profit organization Smothers Academy, Inc. from its
inception on May 21, 2013 through February 1, 2016 according to reports submitted to the Louisiana Secretary of
State. He was not then an employee of Smothers Academy, Inc. for at least a year prior to July 1, 2016. As such,
the exception referenced above does not apply in this instance.
As such, the Department is hereby requiring Smothers Academy, Inc. to take the following actions:
• Terminate the employment of either Kemic Smothers or Damon Smothers on or prior to the end of the
2017-18 school year (June 30, 2018);
• Provide a written attestation to the LDOE that either Kemic Smothers or Damon Smothers is no longer
employed by Smothers Academy, effective on or before June 30,2018.
Additionally, the Department asked for documentation in its letter dated April 4, 2018 regarding problems
identified in Smothers Academy’s 2016-17 annual audit. While the documentation that was submitted
demonstrated that the school is actively addressing the findings included in the audit, some items remain

 outstanding. Please submit the following evidence to demonstrate that all audit findings have been addressed on
or before June 30, 2018:
• A copy of the school’s 2017-18 finance policies and procedures manual;
• Evidence that a payroll deduction was made for Damon Smothers in the amount of $1500 on February 2,
2018 or some other evidence that reimbursement in the amount of $1500 was paid to the school from
Damon Smothers;
• Additional information about the Unrestricted Funds Donation used to reimburse Smothers Academy for
credit card purchases made by Damon Smothers; and
• Additional information about the $2000 payment made to Kemic Smothers on page 2 of the document
titled “06302017 Bank Reconciliation Register Balance.”
Should you have any questions, please contact me at Laura.Hawkins@la.gov.
Sincerely,

Laura Hawkins