Solemnly Declaration

Recently, an article titled "Pegasus California School sells inside track to top US universities to Chinese elite" from a US website called "Business Insider" was spread among the international education through a domestic self-publisher. The article contains a lot of fictitious facts, intentionally misleading readers and slandering the reputation of our school. In response, our school solemnly declares the following:

 

1.The law is sacrosanct.

 

The Internet is not a lawless place. However, if such slanderous and inaccurate reports target the school's reputation and students' studies, the school will do its best to protect students and reserves the right to report and file lawsuits with public security and judicial authorities.

 

In response to the inaccurate report of Business Insider magazine, Mr. Zhenyi Ma, the founder of Pegasus, has commissioned a lawyer to defend his rights in the United States and officially started the judicial process. A team of domestic lawyers has also started to collect evidence and monitor the situation, and Pegasus is determined to defend its legal rights with the law.

 

2.Facts speak louder than words
 

The article contains extensive language that attempts to prove that our graduates have "privileges" to advance in the University of California system. On February 7, 2020, after more than three months of investigation and evidence, the Val Verde Unified School District Board of Education publicly responded to the ten complaints: all were false and unfounded allegations.

 

The link to the original Education Committee response is as follows

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20744807-val-verde-response-to-complaint

 

The following is a summary of the factual information gathered in the investigation coinciding with the requests for remedy that were received via email on 11/30/2019: 

 

（1）Regarding allegations that teachers or administrators have been paid by the taxpayers of the Val Verde Unified School District and at the same time work for Pegasus California School. – Unfounded. 

It was confirmed that teachers that have chosen to teach at Pegasus California were not paid by the taxpayers of Val Verde Unified School District. The teachers from Val Verde that are teaching at Pegasus receive all of their pay, insurance, apartment, and other contractual obligations from Pegasus; they were provided an unpaid leave of absence from the District. 

 

（2）Regarding allegations that Pegasus California School has made fraudulent claims on their website. – Unfounded. 

 

（3）Regarding allegations that Pegasus should commit to a real accreditation process, for example with the 

Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), which accredits private, for-profit schools in 

China. – Unfounded. 

 

It has been confirmed that accreditation is not a consideration for entrance to a U.S. university. It has also been confirmed that WASC accreditation applications and back up material has all been completed by Pegasus in conjunction with WASC and is waiting for the permanent campus element to be completed. 

 

（4）Regarding allegations that Pegasus California School must immediately cease and desist in its claims that it can guarantee its students can enter a Top 100 university in the United States or anywhere in the world. – Unfounded. 

 

This guarantee is from the school and not from the counselors. There is no evidence to confirm that this guarantee is unethical or unlawful.

 

（5）Regarding allegation that teachers are pressured to not judge students according to California state standards and to record that evaluation honestly. - Unfounded

 

It was confirmed that the Pegasus counselor is in complete control of the application process, and there is no evidence that would indicate that a grade has been dishonestly modified or changed. There is no evidence that would suggest that teachers have been pressured to change a grade. 

 

（6）Regarding allegation that students at Pegasus who do receive "bad" grades (like a C) can retake courses and replace the poor grades with better ones. - Unfounded

 

The verified content is identical to the requirements of the "grading system" in the Pegasus Student Handbook

 

（7）Regarding allegation that Pegasus has never adhered to this basic standard of hiring credentialed California teachers based upon agreement. – Unfounded. 

 

（8）Regarding remedies requested:

 

 a.To communicate with all teachers who wish to make a statement upon their having to report, 

without fear of reprisal. Teachers should be allowed to report their problems without their names being recorded in the report. 

 

This remedy was completed in the investigation process by the compliance officer. 

 

 b.The results of the report to be entered in detail into the record of the Val Verde School Board district meeting

 

The request for remedy for detailed results of the report entered into record is denied; 

the final investigative report will be provided to the Board of Education in review of renewal of agreement. 

 

（9）Regarding the request for remedy that criticism of Superintendent McCormick should be read into the record at the December 10th, 2019 meeting of the Val Verde School Board and reflected in detail in the minutes of the meeting: The request for remedy is denied. 

 

（10)The allegation that Val Verde Unified School Board members should not visit Pegasus California School in any capacity, especially in an official oversight capacity which violates California law on private organizations conferring gifts (travel, lodging, food, transportation) to public employees, nor should they confer diplomas to students of Pegasus California School until a plan to rectify these issues has been officially submitted to the School Board and found acceptable, with clear lines of oversight to ensure that it has been successfully implemented. Val Verde School Board members are not authorized to operate in a capacity which provides educational oversight, that is outside the bounds of a school board's responsibilities and is the purpose for which they hire a superintendent. Unfounded

 

There is no evidence to suggest that the Board of Education is unlawfully issuing diplomas to those students that meet the minimum requirements for graduation.

 

Additional findings of fact that were discovered in the investigation and potentially pertinent to the complaint:

 

There was a former student of Pegasus California International High School that had attended as a 9th, 

10th, and 11th grade student. The student received two F's and two C's during the second semester of the 11th grade year. The student transferred to another school by the name of M* at the end of the 11th grade year. For admittance to a university in the U.S., the original high school must send a transcript for the student and the current school must also send the official transcript for their graduation. Pegasus sent a transcript to the University. The University discovered that the transcript from Pegasus and the transcript from M* did not match. The two F's from Pegasus transcript had been deleted on the M* final transcript to the University. It was reported an official from M*'s headquarters in New Mexico contacted *University saying that the student had taken two other courses that would take care of the F's. In September 2019, when *University noted the discrepancies, they rejected the student’s acceptance. 

 

To protect the parties involved, the specific details of the article are omitted

 

3.Rumors stop at the wise

 

Since its inception in 2016, Pegasus has produced three classes of outstanding graduates who have collected more than 600 offers from foreign universities. in addition to the University of California mentioned in the article, Pegasus graduates have gained admission to top schools from different countries such as Vanderbilt University, Carnegie Mellon University, New York University, University of Rochester, University of Toronto, University of Sydney, and all of these students have quickly adapted to university life and received university recognition after attending the university, and have never been investigated or terminated for inaccurate reporting of what was stated in the report. This is a testament to the fact that top universities from all over the world look to Pegasus students for their excellent grades, quality and overall excellence.

 

We insist on not believing rumors, not spreading rumors, and not creating rumors about the recent inaccurate reports published by some self-published media against Pegasus School.

 

4.Everything for the child

 

Pegasus insists on cultivating students' comprehensive literacy and advocating academic purity. We promise never to commit academic fraud and never to maliciously attack our competitors, so as to create an environment and atmosphere of integrity and goodness and honesty for student’s healthy growth.

 

 

Pegasus California School          

 

2021.6.18