A standoff between Guided Online Academic Learning (GOAL) Academy administrators and Caesar Chavez Schools Network (CCSN) CEO Lawrence Hernandez came to a head Monday afternoon in Pueblo. The CCSN executive showed up at GOAL's offices, inside the Pueblo Mall, demanding access codes to student information. After refusing to hand over the codes, Ken Crowell, the now former administrator of the GOAL Academy, was fired for insubordination.

Sources close to the situation tell 11 News the information was taken by physical force. GOAL Academy is currently going through the process of breaking away from CCSN, having just completed filling out their board of directors. According to Lee Barratt, the interim-director for the Colorado Charter School Institute (CSI), Hernandez and CCSN are now considered to be an educational management organization responsible for running the daily operations of the schools. Barratt also tells 11 News that CSI and CCSN are working under a memorandum of understanding, to which GOAL and another former CCSN school will be breaking away to create independent non-profits.

Meanwhile, CCSN claims they do not have to consult the new board to make personnel changes because they are still in a transition phase, and because all the GOAL employees still work for CCSN. "Dr. Hernandez and the rest of the administrators can make that decision, that's not a board decision," says Dennis Feuerstein, board president for CCSN.

The chairman of the newly created board for GOAL academy, Bob Mestas, disagrees. He tells 11 News, he gave the order to keep the codes from Hernandez and Crowell was just following his orders. Wednesday, the new GOAL board is scheduled to hold a special meeting to hire an attorney. They will also have the opportunity in the near future to decide if they want CCSN to continue to act as the management organization for the online school. Mestas says, the situation that occurred this week will make that a very difficult decision.

No one is sure who is legally in control of the school at this point. Mestas says, if it turns out CCSN wrongfully terminated Crowell and another GOAL employee, they will be hired back immediately.

According to Feuerstein, Hernandez has been requesting final numbers for student enrollment. These numbers are mandated by the state, and are used to determine how much money each school will get from the state. If GOAL decides to keep CCSN in place as the managing organization, they will have to negotiate a contract. Each managing organization charges different amounts for their services, often it's based on the number of enrolled students. Knowing how many students are enrolled through GOAL would give CCSN an idea of what they may charge them to manage the school. Barratt says, enrollment numbers are not difficult to find out. Additionally, the money received from the state must be used in that school. If CCSN loses access to this revenue because the new board decides to cut-ties with them altogether, it may affect the salaries of CCSN executives. Those salaries are under scrutiny because of how high they are, and the fact CCSN had to close one of their schools in Colorado Springs.