The academy's troubles reach well beyond its cramped corridors in Boerum Hill.
The academy's current troubles began in June, when 19 of its former presidents — nearly all of its former presidents living today — sent a letter to its board, saying that the public expected an "exceptionally high level of integrity" in actuaries, and expressing grave doubts about Mr. Schobel's suitability as president.
The Soulsville redevelopment project, which was officially begun last spring, encompasses a 27,000-square-foot academy to help troubled students through music and a 17,000-square-foot museum of American soul music, both of which are under construction.
The academy has been in trouble, all agree.
When the Al-Madinah school got into trouble, another academy trust took over.
The coalition's academy programme ran into trouble last year when it emerged that some academies were mistakenly being given an extra £300 per pupil.
And academy members may have trouble getting their arms around "There Will Be Blood," but they will feel an urge to embrace the audacity of Paul Thomas Anderson.
At the academy, an officer had trouble reading the future admiral's name on his uniform and asked gruffly, "What's your name?
He said that the academy had been having trouble raising money because of the economic ripples of Sept 11, but that its financial situation had nothing to do with the decision to change school districts.
As the academy sees it, the trouble is awards overload, as the Screen Actors Guild and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (which gives out the Golden Globes) and Bafta (the British film and television academy) and others turn the first few months of the year into a parade of huzzahs that make the Oscars a little anticlimactic.
In reflecting on those changes in light of the current troubles at the academy, the former campus superintendent who implemented them, Lt. Gen. Bradley C. Hosmer, said, "It's likely the processes we set up at the time may be outdated for a variety of reasons".
