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<ul class="summary-list"><li>An <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-education-public-school-children-chinese-elite-colleges-2021-6">Insider investigation</a> has found that some of <keyword id="2379" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="California">California</keyword>'s highest-ranking <keyword id="6355445" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="education">education</keyword> officials and leading public universities worked closely with a swaggering entrepreneur who launched a private high school, <keyword id="11428559" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="pegasus-california-school">Pegasus California School</keyword>, for elite families in <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword>.</li><li>Pegasus also developed a relationship with the <keyword id="11458199" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="val-verde-unified-school-district">Val Verde Unified School District</keyword>, a public school district in Southern California.</li><li>That relationship included all Pegasus students in China receiving <keyword id="11458198" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="val-verde">Val Verde</keyword> diplomas. Experts consulted by Insider said that a public school district giving high-school diplomas to private-school students in another country raises red flags. </li></ul><p>A public school district in Southern California bestowed its diplomas to students at a private high school in China, Insider has learned.</p><p>That school district, the Val Verde Unified School District in Riverside County, developed a close-knit arrangement with the school, Pegasus California School, based in Qingdao, China. In addition to the diplomas, the arrangement also drew resources and teachers away from Val Verde, a struggling school district, for the benefit of wealthy Chinese students. Experts consulted by Insider said that a public school district giving high-school diplomas to private-school students in another country raises red flags.</p><p>"We're not for sale here, and so you can't sell diplomas because of a relationship you have," said Delaine Eastin, who served as California's state superintendent of public instruction in the 1990s and early 2000s. "You're not a California student [and] you're not entitled to a California diploma, so if they are doing that it's wrong."</p><p>An <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-education-public-school-children-chinese-elite-colleges-2021-6">Insider investigation</a> into the elite Chinese boarding school has found that <a href="https://www.insider.com/emails-obtained-by-insider-show-how-californias-top-education-official-helped-a-private-school-for-wealthy-chinese-kids-2021-6">some of California's highest-ranking current and former education officials</a> - including <keyword id="1431239" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tom-Torlakson">Tom Torlakson</keyword>, then the state superintendent of public instruction, and <keyword id="5210048" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="David-Long">David Long</keyword>, who previously served as the state secretary of education before becoming principal of Pegasus - worked closely with the school's founder, a swaggering entrepreneur named <keyword id="11428558" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="steven-ma">Steven Ma</keyword>, to help set up Pegasus as a California public school in China, and give its foreign students preferential treatment that seemed to elude American public-school students.</p><p>Ma's school officially opened in 2016 based on the premise that - by mimicking the curriculum of a public high school in California - he could increase the chances that his wealthy Chinese students would gain admission to top U.S. colleges and universities. The school even guaranteed parents, in writing, that <em>every graduate</em> would gain admission to one of the top 100 US universities.</p><p>The public servants, records show, burnished relationships with leading public universities and a California school district - Val Verde - to establish that school, which was advertised to elite Chinese families as a California high school in China.</p><div type="image" title="Val Verde" height="1266" width="1689" msid="83575612" hostid="261"></div><p>But, Ma had a problem: to open a California high school with students graduating each year, he needed to figure out a way to bestow them with credible state diplomas. That's where Val Verde proved helpful. In the spring of 2017, The district <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20743728-boarddocsr-agenda-item_-n6-approval-of-three-year-diploma-pilot-program-for-pegasus-california-high-school-located-in-qingdao-china">approved a three-year diploma pilot program</a> for Pegasus, authorizing all Pegasus graduates to receive a Val Verde diploma and pledging at a school board meeting to "continue to serve the students of Pegasus California High School in various administrative and teaching capacities." The Val Verde website was updated to <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20744938-pegasus-on-val-verde-website">include Pegasus</a> in the list of the district's schools.</p><div type="image" title="The Val Verde Board of Education approved the diploma pilot program for Pegasus in April 2017" height="541" width="2401" msid="83575615" hostid="261"></div><p>An Insider review of <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20743735-pegasus-california-school-diplomas">Pegasus diplomas</a>, provided by a source and through a records request, has confirmed that the documents were indeed conferred by Val Verde.</p><p>"The bottom line was they needed a school district that would provide a high-school diploma," one former Pegasus employee told Insider. "I thought it was odd that an American public school was giving a diploma to clearly what was a private Chinese high school. I could not get my head wrapped around that one. I never did understand how that worked." </p><p>In addition to the diplomas, the district superintendent, Michael McCormick, encouraged Val Verde staffers to leave their posts in California for China, offering some sweet benefits: furnished apartments, meals, excellent pay with health benefits, and - perhaps most noteworthy - a promise from the district to hold their positions while they were abroad. Over the years, at least 13 Val Verde employees left the district to work at Pegasus.</p><p>By February 2018, Val Verde and Pegasus signed a <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20743742-memorandum-of-understanding-between-val-verde-and-pegasus-california-school">memorandum of understanding</a> to further formalize their relationship: In return for receiving diplomas from Val Verde, Pegasus agreed to bring 10 students from the district to China each year for only $300, with all other expenses paid by the private school. The agreement also provided for McCormick and two Val Verde board members to travel to China for the annual grand opening event, to observe class instruction, and to award diplomas at graduation - with travel, lodging, and meals paid for by Pegasus. The memo explicitly stated that Torlakson was in full support of the arrangement.</p><div type="image" title="Citrus Hill High School" height="1266" width="1688" msid="83575616" hostid="261"></div><p>Two former Val Verde board members who voted to authorize the relationship with Pegasus said that they felt the district benefited from the arrangement because of the opportunity for Val Verde students to participate in the international exchange program, and that they were reassured because of Val Verde's long-standing relationship with Long, who previously served as the Riverside County Superintendent of Schools.</p><p>"My impression was that it was unusual...for a California school to provide diplomas to foreign students," Suzanne Stotlar, one of those board members, acknowledged. "But...the idea was to foster international cooperation between our two countries, and I'm in favor of that." </p><p>The Val Verde Unified School District declined to comment for this story.</p><h1>READ OUR FULL STORY: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-education-public-school-children-chinese-elite-colleges-2021-6">Insider investigation reveals officials helped sell access to California public schools to Chinese elite</a></h1>

This public California school district bestowed diplomas to students at a private high school in China

<ul class="summary-list"><li>An Insider investigation has found that some of <keyword id="2379" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="California">California</keyword>'s highest-ranking <keyword id="6355445" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="education">education</keyword> officials and leading public universities worked closely with a swaggering entrepreneur who launched a private boarding school for elite families in <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword>.</li><li><keyword id="1431239" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tom-Torlakson">Tom Torlakson</keyword>, California's former state superintendent of public instruction, used his position to help establish <keyword id="11428559" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="pegasus-california-school">Pegasus California School</keyword>, which attempted to mimic a California public high school education for wealthy students in Qingdao, China.</li><li>The school's founder, <keyword id="11428558" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="steven-ma">Steven Ma</keyword>, contributed thousands of dollars to Torlakson's 2014 campaign for superintendent. Ma said that supporting Torlakson politically was not a quid pro quo.</li></ul><p>On September 17, 2018, Brennan Burnett, an associate director in UCLA's admissions department, received a strange email. It was from an assistant to Tom Torlakson, then California's state superintendent of public instruction - the state's top education position.</p><p>"I am writing to ask that some time be set up to introduce your university to a wonderful bi-national program," the staffer <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20743462-ucla-records#document/p66">wrote</a>. "This is a joint venture between the Chinese Government and California Institutions seeking to help elevate the quality of scholastic endeavors taking place between the two nations." Attached to the email <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20743462-ucla-records#document/p68">was a letter</a> on California Department of Education letterhead from Torlakson, who applauded a Chinese high school called Pegasus California School. He described Pegasus as a "true partnership between our California education system and the Chinese education system" and urged the UCLA admissions office to meet with Allen Riedel, the headmaster of Pegasus.</p><p>Burnett, records show, was confused by the note. Why was the California Department of Education teaming up with the Chinese government? Why was the state's chief educational officer trying to set up a meeting between the admissions department and a Chinese private school? Unsure of what to do, she forwarded the email to a colleague. </p><p>"How do you recommend I respond to/route this information?" <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20743462-ucla-records#document/p66">she asked</a> Ffiona Rees, a senior associate director in the admissions office, according to records obtained by Insider.</p><p>"This is new - and appears sketchy!" Rees <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20743462-ucla-records#document/p2">shot back</a>, copying Gary Clark, UCLA's director of undergraduate admission.</p><p>"I got the same email!" Clark <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20743462-ucla-records#document/p2">responded</a>. "Don't reply… odd coming from the Superintendent's office." </p><div type="image" title="Emails from UCLA admissions staffers regarding Pegasus California School" height="1800" width="2400" msid="83525672" hostid="261"></div><h2>"He was excited about the idea"</h2><p>A recent Insider investigation into the elite Chinese boarding school Pegasus California School has found that some of California's highest-ranking current and former education officials - including Torlakson and <keyword id="5210048" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="David-Long">David Long</keyword>, who previously served as the state secretary of education before becoming principal of Pegasus - worked closely with the school's founder Steven Ma to help set up Pegasus as a California public school in China, and give its foreign students preferential treatment that seemed to elude American public-school students.</p><p>The letter that Torlakson wrote in support of Pegasus was drafted <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20743509-cde-emails">at the request of Riedel</a>, the Pegasus headmaster. Emails obtained by Insider show that when some schools proved unreceptive to his overtures, Riedel asked Torlakson to use his influence as superintendent to set up meetings with the hard targets such as UCLA. (In a statement, UCLA said no one from the admissions office ever met with Riedel or any other Pegasus administrator.)</p><p>Riedel told Insider he was directed to meet with school admissions officers by Torlakson and Long.</p><p>"He was excited about the idea," Ma said of Torlakson. "I told him that it's best if we could somehow get his endorsement of this because we want to create an authentic California education and it's going to be hard to do it without some kind of support from him. And then that's why he decided to support this on a personal level... and also a professional level." <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20744703-memo-to-uc-admissions-directors-about-pegasus-california-school#document/p3">In a 2016 letter</a> from Torlakson to Ma that was later circulated to colleges, the then superintendent said that he was "pleased to endorse the use of California's academic curriculum by Pegasus." </p><p>In addition to reaching out to schools like UCLA and urging them to meet with the Pegasus headmaster, Torlakson helped Ma in another way: he secured him an official state appointment.</p><p>In October 2015, Long emailed Torlakson, <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20743687-dave-long-to-tom-torlakson-email-oct-2015">according to records</a> obtained from the California Department of Education, to pitch him on the idea of establishing a new role within the department: international education liaison, to help California school districts that need guidance in areas like "diploma issuance to 'sister schools' in other countries."</p><p>Two years later, at a <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20744920-pegasus-press-release-international-liaison-positions">swearing-in ceremony</a>, Torlakson <a href="https://newsroom.ocde.us/state-superintendent-taps-ocde-partner-to-help-lead-global-education-initiative/">appointed</a> California's first-ever international education liaisons: Steven Ma and David Long. <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20743696-cde-emails-regarding-international-education-liaisons">According to emails obtained by Insider</a>, Long helped Torlakson draft the letter officially naming them to the position.</p><div type="image" title="international education liaisons" height="834" width="1496" msid="83525673" hostid="261"></div><h2>Torlakson became the chief principal at Pegasus</h2><p>Torlakson and Ma had a close-knit relationship. As a former employee at ThinkTank Learning, Ma's previous business which <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20743583-thinktank-learning-inc-bankruptcy-document">filed for bankruptcy in 2020</a>, told Insider: "Steven was very politically connected."</p><p>Before Torlakson helped Ma establish Pegasus, Insider has learned, he was the frequent beneficiary of their political largesse. Campaign-finance disclosures show that <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20743832-receipt-committee-campaign-statement#document/p4">Ma</a>, his brother <a href="https://www.followthemoney.org/entity-details?eid=23504417">John</a>, and another ThinkTank Learning employee, <a href="https://www.followthemoney.org/entity-details?eid=23504429">Chin Tsai</a>, together contributed a total of $28,422 to Torlakson's 2014 campaign for superintendent, an elected position in California. ThinkTank <a href="https://www.followthemoney.org/entity-details?eid=250757">donated another $11,100</a> to the campaign and created a committee, "California Educators for Excellence in Leadership, supporting Tom Torlakson for Superintendent of Public Instruction 2014 sponsored by Think Tank Learning Inc." According to Torlakson's personal financial disclosures, he accepted nearly $6,000 from Long's company, Dave Long &amp; Associates, and the Chinese government from <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20743864-tom-torlakson-statement-of-economic-interests-2017#document/p9">2016</a> to <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20743874-tom-torlakson-statement-of-economic-interest-2019-copy#document/p3">2018</a> to travel to Qingdao.</p><p>In an interview, Ma said that supporting Torlakson politically was not a quid pro quo. "Tom is a personal friend to begin with, and as I would do for other friends who are in the political arena, I will support them financially when I can," Ma said. "It's not something that, 'Hey, I'm helping you out here so in the future you help me out.' No, it's not like that."</p><p>Years later, Pegasus announced on its school website that, after he had finished his tenure as superintendent in 2019, Torlakson had taken on a new position: he was the Chinese high school's chief principal. But when Insider asked Ma about Torlakson's appointment in May, Ma said the former superintendent of public education had stepped down from the role a few months before, citing health reasons.</p><p>But four days after that interview, Robert Taylor, the school's academic principal, contradicted Ma's account. Torlakson, Taylor said, was still his boss, and was still the chief principal of Pegasus. </p><p>Torlakson did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.</p><h1>READ OUR FULL STORY: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-education-public-school-children-chinese-elite-colleges-2021-6">Insider investigation reveals officials helped sell access to California public schools to Chinese elite</a></h1>

Emails obtained by Insider show how California's top education official helped a private school for wealthy Chinese kids

<ul class="summary-list"><li>An Insider investigation has found that some of <keyword id="2379" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="California">California</keyword>'s highest-ranking <keyword id="6355445" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="education">education</keyword> officials and leading public universities worked closely with a swaggering entrepreneur who launched a private boarding school for elite families in <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword>.</li><li><keyword id="11428559" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="pegasus-california-school">Pegasus California School</keyword>, in Qingdao, billed itself as part of the Val Verde Unified School District in Riverside County, California, and bestowed Val Verde diplomas on graduates to help them get into the <keyword id="73593" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="University-of-California">University of California</keyword> system.</li><li>Val Verde's superintendent said at a school board meeting that the University of California at Riverside had guaranteed admission to every Pegasus graduate, a charge the school denies. </li></ul><p>An Insider investigation has found that some of California's highest-ranking education officials and leading public universities worked closely with a businessman named <keyword id="11428558" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="steven-ma">Steven Ma</keyword> to help set up an exclusive private boarding school in Qingdao, China, called Pegasus California School. The school, which cost roughly $34,ooo per year, purported to be a replica of a public high school in California, and was nominally a part of the Val Verde Unified School District in Riverside County, California.</p><p>California's former top education official and a former state secretary of education were involved in the effort, as were senior Val Verde officials and a retired senior staffer within the University of California Office of the President, the headquarters of the UC system, who continued to work as as a contractor for the University of California at Irvine even as Pegasus was paying him to help its students gain admission.</p><p>The public servants, records show, gave Ma and his associates official state appointments and helped grease the skids to give Pegasus students a leg up in the increasingly cutthroat University of California admissions process. Not only did UC Irvine offer summer-school programs specially arranged for Pegasus students, it dispatched admissions staffers to the school's China campus to talk to students and their parents, and specifically monitored Pegasus students' progress through the admissions cycle. At UC Riverside, the ties were even closer: The university pledged to work with Pegasus students to help them become competitive applicants and offered them special permission to submit applications after the deadline had passed.</p><p>Val Verde's superintendent publicly proclaimed that UC Riverside guaranteed admission to all Pegasus graduates, according to the minutes of a public-school board meeting. One former California education official described the arrangement, if it exists, as "appalling."</p><p>In an interview, Ma said Pegasus students never received preferential treatment from California education officials, and said the notion that any Pegasus students were guaranteed admission to UC schools was "ridiculous and false." </p><p>In a statement, a spokesperson for the University of California Office of the President said that UC admissions staffers do not "guarantee, nor would our campuses honor, any promise of admission. Applicants are evaluated based on a comprehensive review of their record.... It is concerning that an individual not affiliated with the UC system may have misrepresented those discussions without our knowledge or authorization."</p><p>In response to Insider's inquiries about Pegasus, a California Department of Education spokesman said the department has referred the matter to the state attorney general for investigation.</p><p>"State Superintendent [of Public Instruction Tony] Thurmond was not aware of these allegations before they surfaced in . . .  Insider's reporting, and asked the California Department of Education on May 6 to refer this matter to the state Attorney General's office and the Fair Political Practices Commission for further review.</p><p>"It is imperative that these serious allegations of misuse of state funds and conflict of interest during or after the former Superintendent's term, or whether the relationship between the school district and the Chinese school are legal, be reviewed by the appropriate outside agencies with authority to investigate this matter."</p><h1>READ OUR FULL STORY: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-education-public-school-children-chinese-elite-colleges-2021-6">Insider investigation reveals officials helped sell access to California public schools to Chinese elite</a></h1>

California's top education official helped an exclusive private boarding school in China aimed at getting the children of elite families into American universities

<ul class="summary-list"><li>An <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-education-public-school-children-chinese-elite-colleges-2021-6">Insider investigation</a> has found that <keyword id="2379" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="California">California</keyword>'s highest-ranking <keyword id="6355445" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="education">education</keyword> official and leading public universities worked closely with a swaggering entrepreneur to give special accommodations to students at a private high school for elite families in <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword>.</li><li>UC Irvine offered summer school programs specially arranged for students at the private academy in Qingdao, China, dispatched <keyword id="49587" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="admissions">admissions</keyword> staffers to its campus to talk to students and their parents, and reported on the students' progress through the admissions cycle.</li><li>At UC Riverside, the ties were even closer: The university pledged to work with the school's students to help them become competitive applicants and offered them special permission to submit applications even after the deadline had passed.</li><li>The superintendent of a Southern California school district that worked with the Chinese school publicly proclaimed that UC Riverside guaranteed admission to all of its graduates, according to the minutes of a public-school board meeting.</li></ul><p>The infamous 2019 <keyword id="1958698" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Varsity-Blues">Varsity Blues</keyword> <a href="https://www.insider.com/category/college-admissions-scandal">college-admissions scandal</a> revealed that wealthy parents will  do whatever it takes to ensure their children are admitted to elite colleges.</p><p>Dozens of prominent parents - including the actress Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, as well as actress Felicity Huffman - took part in admissions counselor Rick Singer's criminal scheme to game the admissions system so that their kids could attend the University of Southern California, Yale, Georgetown, Stanford, UCLA, and other elite institutions.</p><p>But Americans weren't the only targets - indeed, <a href="https://www.insider.com/college-admissions-scandal-biggest-clients-were-reportedly-from-china-2019-4">wealthy Chinese families</a> were some of Singer's most lucrative clients involved in the scandal. As Varsity Blues grabbed headlines, though, Insider has learned of another scheme that, for years, quietly helped wealthy Chinese students seeking admission to top American colleges, particularly at the highly touted <keyword id="73593" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="University-of-California">University of California</keyword> system.</p><p>An <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-education-public-school-children-chinese-elite-colleges-2021-6">Insider investigation</a> has found that admissions staffers at at least two University of California campuses - UC Irvine and UC Riverside - as well as a retired senior staffer within the UC Office of the President, the system's headquarters, worked with a swaggering businessman, Steven Ma, who sought a leg up for the students at his elite private high school in  Qingdao, China. The help offered to Ma's students, records show, included specially tailored summer programs, a written pledge to work with students so they'd be competitive applicants for admission, special permission to apply even after the university deadline had passed, and - at least according to one local school official in California who worked closely with the Chinese school - guaranteed admission to UC Riverside for all graduates.</p><p>One former California education official told Insider such an arrangement, if true, would be "appalling."</p><div type="image" title="UC Irvine" height="1266" width="1688" msid="83557065" hostid="261"></div><p>Ma's school was called <keyword id="11428559" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="pegasus-california-school">Pegasus California School</keyword>, and it officially opened in 2016 based on the premise that - by mimicking the curriculum of a public high school in California - he could increase the chances that his wealthy Chinese students would gain admission to top U.S. colleges and universities. The school even guaranteed parents, in writing, that <em>every graduate</em> would gain admission to one of the top 100 US universities.</p><p>Ma worked with <a href="https://www.insider.com/emails-obtained-by-insider-show-how-californias-top-education-official-helped-a-private-school-for-wealthy-chinese-kids-2021-6">some of the state's highest-ranking current and former education officials</a> - Tom Torlakson, who at the time served as the state's superintendent of public instruction, and David Long, who previously served as state secretary of education before becoming the principal at Pegasus. With Torlakson and Long's help, Ma forged critical relationships with leading California universities and school districts to legitimize his operation - advertising to Chinese families that their children would be attending a school with a California curriculum. He also fostered a relationship with a struggling school district in Riverside County that issued official public school diplomas to his students.</p><p>Ma worked to establish what he called a "favorable relationship" with UC Irvine and UC Riverside, both of which embraced the Chinese high school. That included paying a retired UC staffer who continued to work for UC Irvine as a contractor. Daniel Aldrich, a retired staffer for the UC Office of the President (as well as the son of UC Irvine's founding chancellor) worked for both UC Irvine and for Pegasus, Insider has learned. </p><p>Records show that Aldrich contacted UC campuses on behalf of Pegasus, and he also supplied UC Irvine officials with a list of Pegasus students interested in attending the university, so those staffers could monitor the students' progress through the admissions cycle. One senior admissions staffer specifically told Aldrich that the students looked like competitive applicants for UCI. Aldrich communicated with UC personnel about Pegasus using his active University of California email address. </p><div type="image" title="David Long sent Daniel Aldrich a list of Pegasus seniors" height="2106" width="2401" msid="83557068" hostid="261"></div>Long told Insider that Pegasus paid Aldrich as a consultant. "Especially with international students and parents, it's helpful to have someone that has had or is connected with, previously or currently [with the University of California]. We try to stay away from the current, but he's a consultant so it's not that big of a [deal]," Long added.<p>Aldrich confirmed to Insider that he was paid to consult for both UC Irvine and Pegasus, and that the high school also paid for him to travel to China. He said he never did anything improper in his work for Pegasus, which "produced quality students, and we look for quality students in the University of California."</p><p>UC Irvine told Insider in a statement that Aldrich contacted the university to see if Pegasus students' applications were missing transcripts or other necessary documents, and never discussed admissions.</p><h2>"I'm not an expert in education"</h2><div type="image" title="The University of California at Irvine" height="1266" width="1688" msid="83557071" hostid="261"></div><p>Beyond Aldrich, Pegasus was close to UC Irvine in other ways. The university hosted an annual three- to four-week summer program specifically tailored to Pegasus students, and sent representatives to the school's China campus to meet with students and parents. And in an interview, a former Pegasus headmaster told Insider that Long said that UC Irvine pledged to accept at least some Pegasus graduates.</p><p>"Dave Long always spoke about his connections with UC Irvine and with the president there," Allen Riedel, the former headmaster, told Insider. "[He] told us...if they wanted to, they could go directly to UC Irvine no problem." When asked to clarify, Riedel said: "Dave Long reported that to me that they wouldn't take all of our students but they would take some of them."</p><p>Long denied that he ever made that statement. "I don't even know the president," he said. "And about a statement to say if you just come from Pegasus you can get in automatically, that's not correct. You have to reach the minimums to even be considered."</p><p>Yet, <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20743606-allen-riedel-email">in an August 2018 email obtained by Insider</a>, Riedel explicitly invoked "Dr. Long's connections" as he pressured the school's guidance counselor to meet admissions goals: "These kids need to go to their top universities," he said. "We need to...get some of these kids at least accepted in Ivy League schools. Accepted, not necessarily that they go there. We imagine our next 16-28 will go to UCI (or comparable) with Dr. Long's connections and my visit to some universities." </p><div type="image" title="An email from the former Pegasus headmaster to the school's counselor" height="790" width="2401" msid="83557076" hostid="261"></div>Ma acknowledged that Pegasus worked to establish what he called "a favorable relationship" with both UC Irvine and UC Riverside. But he insisted that the goal was to help "bring educational insight to Pegasus California School students" rather than secure them a leg up in admissions, which he said would be "impossible" anyway. Asked why Long might say that his connections could help Pegasus students applying to UC Irvine, Ma replied: "I don't know. I'm not an expert in education."<p>In a statement UCI said it never guaranteed admission to anyone.</p><h2>"According to the <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> this Pegasus school reports, the student from this school can get privileges when they apply to UCR"</h2><p>At UC Riverside, the favorable relationship that Ma described seemed especially obvious. During a May 2019 school board meeting for the Val Verde Unified School District, a Southern California school district that developed a close relationship with Pegasus, the district's superintendent, Michael McCormick, went so far as to publicly proclaim that UC Riverside guaranteed admission to all Pegasus graduates, according to the minutes of a public-school board meeting.</p><p>"Essentially what this means," he explained, <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20744830-val-verde-unified-school-minutes-may-7-2019#document/p3">according to public meeting minutes</a>, "is that UCR and Pegasus will have an agreement to exchange professors and students. What UCR has agreed is that every student that graduates from Pegasus will have admission to UCR."</p><div type="image" title="Image of public Val Verde board meeting minutes" height="411" width="2401" msid="83557080" hostid="261"></div><p>"The goal of public education in the state of California is to support California children, and higher education does allow [students] from other countries, but we don't guarantee them admission," said Delaine Eastin, who served as California's state superintendent of public instruction in the 1990s and early 2000s. "I find it appalling if it is true that UC Riverside has guaranteed admission for these graduates." </p><p>In a statement, a spokesperson for UC Riverside said McCormick was mistaken. "It appears that an individual made some incorrect statements at a Val Verde school board meeting, about which statements the University had no knowledge until they were later brought to the university's attention."</p><div type="image" title="UC Riverside" height="1266" width="1688" msid="83557084" hostid="261"></div><p><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20744862-uc-riverside-emails#document/p95">According to records obtained by Insider</a>, UC Riverside admissions staffers also offered Pegasus students the opportunity to submit late admissions applications to the university, giving them an advantage over students who abided by the UC-wide November 30 deadline.</p><p>In December 2018, Long sent the school a list of 18 late Pegasus applicants who wanted to apply to UC Riverside. <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20744862-uc-riverside-emails#document/p95">Emails show</a> that the university's interim associate vice chancellor of enrollment services personally authorized a late application through December 15 - giving Pegasus students an extra 15 days to apply.</p><p>The spokesperson for UC Riverside said that of the 18 applicants sent to the school, 13 had actually already applied on time, and that none of the remaining five ended up submitting late application appeals. Both Ma and Long said that it was not uncommon for students to apply to universities after the admissions deadline.</p><p>At least one prospective Pegasus student, however, was confused by the high school's arrangement with UC Riverside. A Chinese student living outside of Qingdao <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20744862-uc-riverside-emails#document/p25">contacted the university</a> and expressed interest in transferring to Pegasus. she had read online about an official cooperation between the college and high school, and was under the impression that being at Pegasus would bolster her chances of being accepted to UC Riverside. She wanted to know if what she read was true.</p><p>"According to the news this Pegasus school reports, the student from this school can get privileges when they apply to UCR," she said. "If it is true, I am considering to transfer into this Pegasus school to get the priority offer from UCR."</p><h1>READ OUR FULL STORY: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-education-public-school-children-chinese-elite-colleges-2021-6">Insider investigation reveals officials helped sell access to California public schools to Chinese elite</a></h1>

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This public California school district bestowed diplomas to students at a private high school in China

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Emails obtained by Insider show how California's top education official helped a private school for wealthy Chinese kids

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California's top education official helped an exclusive private boarding school in China aimed at getting the children of elite families into American universities

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These two University of California campuses gave special perks to students at a private high school in China

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