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The Varnett Public School

The Varnett Public School is a state charter school network headquartered in the Varnett School Southwest Campus in Houston, Texas. The system has four campuses with more than 1,600 students. The school was founded as a private school in 1984 and became a public charter school in 1998.

History
The Varnett School opened in 1984. Dr. Marian Annette Cluff and her husband, Alsie Cluff Jr., started the school, In 2004 The Varnett School appointed Ronique Bastine-Robinson, a municipal judge of Stafford, Texas, to its board of directors. The Cluffs pleaded guilty in 2017. ==Operations==
Operations
Dr. Nita White was named superintendent in December 2022. Previously Annette Cluff served as the superintendent and campus director of the system. Her husband, Alsie Cluff Jr., was the operations manager. Alsie Cluff III the son of Annette and Alsie Jr., served as the assistant operations manager. Melissa Cluff, the daughter of Annette and Alsie Jr., is the assistant director of a kindergarten program. At one time a daughter in law of Annette and Alsie Jr. used to work for Cluff. Varnett did business with companies owned by the Cluff family. In the 2008-2009 school year the school paid over $1.5 million to Cluff-owned businesses. The school paid $822,000 to Texas School Bus Co. Annette Cluff said that the insurance carrier for Varnett School did not permit the Varnett School to own buses, so she had to create a separate school bus company. According to Annette Cluff, the state's charter agreement, which came into effect when Varnett became a public school, allowed the practice. The school also paid $786,400 to rent buildings from the Varnett Academy Inc., a Cluff company. In Texas traditional school districts and charter schools are permitted to do business in this manner as long as the people who would directly benefit from such arrangements do not vote in the matters, and all of the requirements for bidding are satisfied. The Texas Education Agency records state that for the 2008-2009 school year, Annette Cluff's annual salary was $252,000, while Internal Revenue Service records state that her annual salary was $372,961. TEA records state that Alsie Cluff Jr.'s annual salary was $166,800, Alsie Cluff III's annual salary was $68,900, and Melissa Cluff's annual salary was $48,000. Annette Cluff says that the individuals received high salaries because "[m]y people have to wear multiple hats" because "[w]e don't have the big administration building with lots of staff," like a traditional school district would have. As of 2012 Cluff's salary was $264,600, which would place her among the most highly paid school superintendents in the State of Texas. That year, the principal of Lamar High School in Houston, which housed two times the combined total of students in the entire Varnett system, had a salary of $127,000. Alsie Cluff Jr. had a salary of $175,166 during that school year. By 2012 the salaries of the Cluff's had increased by 32% in a three year period. ==Campuses==
Campuses
All campuses are in the City of Houston. • East Campus includes the administrative offices of the entire system. The headquarters was under construction in 2009. The headquarters houses the administrative divisions, including communications, curriculum, human resources, registration, and transportation. It also serves as a meeting space for the board of directors. The building houses a break room, a conference room, and a kitchen. Annette Cluff said that she had always envisioned having a headquarters facility built on the property of one of the campuses. ==See also==
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