Nutter releases report on MLK Charter School controversy
This post has been updated:
Nutter releases report on MLK Charter School controversy
Catherine Lucey
This post has been updated:
Acting under pressure from a state lawmaker, recently departed School Reform Commission Chairman Robert Archie sought to guide a charter school contract for Martin Luther King High School to a politically connected non-profit against the wishes of parents, according to an investigation by the Nutter administration.
The administration today released a long-awaited report on the MLK controversy. You can read it here.
Nutter ordered the investigation by his Chief Integrity Officer Joan Markman in the spring after the controversy erupted. In April it was reported that Mosaica, the school operator favored by parents and the SRC, withdrew from contention for the charter school contract after a meeting with Archie and state Rep. Dwight Evans. A New Jersey nonprofit with ties to Evans and Archie called Foundations Inc., then got the contract, although it later pulled out after press reports of the backroom negotiations.
Publicly Archie – who stepped down from the SRC on Monday -- recused himself from the debate, based on an association with Foundations. But according to the report, Archie "facilitated Evans' promotion of Foundations at "MLK," in response to political pressure from Evans. It says both Evans and Archie compromised the school district's ability to "secure parent involvement in their children's schools, to make decisions according to a fair process and to garner public confidence in those decisions.”
Evans did not participate in an interview with Markman and neither did his top aide, Kim Turner.
Comments (28)
Ok. So what are they going to do about it? Burry it or file corruption charges? Funny how they let Archie resign first.— psyrus
Comment removed.- don't expect D.A. "see no evil" seth williams to open a grand jury investigation of evans, archie & nunnery
— oliver north - Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- Just trying to help the folks out.— harbc
- so...ok there is concrete evidence of wrongdoing...what are the concequences? none. and folks wonder why it goes on and on....— rpr333
- Comment removed.
- I wonder if the school district has a "Chief Integrity Officer".— brio
- Lets see if Evans gets re-elected. He basically stabbed the parents in the back by promoting his interests over theirs. who cares what the parents thought and wanted. He is the boss, right?— Getinline
- i won't hold my breath waiting for D.A. seth williams to investigate dwight evans— oliver north
- Comment removed.
- Interesting. Philadelphia has a long tradition of corruption in government.
— wendycontos - so does this mean D.A. seth williams will convene a grand jury to investigate?— oliver north
- I'm sure the Mayor wishes this would just go away. Now that it is in the public, the only cure is for all involved to resign including Evans. (Incidentally, I think Evans wants to take Fumo's place as the City power broker - he should look at where Fumo is now).— BobSG
- If you ever attended an SRC meeting, it was very obvious they were just a show to give the appearance of transparency. There was no discussion of proposals, tightly controlled input from the public, and predetermined voting. It was obvious that all business was being transacted in offices far away from the public scrutiny.
I think the district employees (including the unions), the media, and the public must ask ourselves how we let things get to this point.
And now Evans will not comment about the report. Who does he work for?
Checkout this article in the Notebook to see what Evans was saying in March:
http://tinyurl.com/3bcmmc9— tom-104 
nothing has changed since abscam & Ozzie Meyers days....money talks and bullsh*t walks..it will always be the way business is done in politics..maybe this one just didn't have the "cash in the envelope" changing hands on camera.- Comment removed.
- I guess the real question is why do any of you complaining continue to live in the city?— jimmymack
- Nunery must go now! Either he knew and did nothing,or was in on it (probably). Brio, no the SDP does not have " chief Integrity Officer" and they would be going along, anyway. If you still work for the district you don't have any INTEGRITY, because those who did were fired, while everyone watched, even the LAWYERS !!!! No one jumps off of the ** gravy train** name cash cow unless pushed off.Remember the hundreds of thousands of $$$ spent to catch a couple of " CHIEF INTEGRITY OFFICERS" ?? Ask everyone you know to call the AG office and the State Board of Ed. I have and guess what the state board has very little knowledge of what is going on....have other districts and not getting our local news. If enough of us call and ask questions, this will help to bring it to someones attention out side of this corrupt city.— ritzy ditzy
- Nunery must go now! Either he knew and did nothing,or was in on it (probably). Brio, no the SDP does not have " chief Integrity Officer" and they would be going along, anyway. If you still work for the district you don't have any INTEGRITY, because those who did were fired, while everyone watched, even the LAWYERS !!!! No one jumps off of the ** gravy train** name cash cow unless pushed off.Remember the hundreds of thousands of $$$ spent to catch a couple of " CHIEF INTEGRITY OFFICERS" ?? Ask everyone you know to call the AG office and the State Board of Ed. I have and guess what the state board has very little knowledge of what is going on....have other districts and not getting our local news. If enough of us call and ask questions, this will help to bring it to someones attention out side of this corrupt city.— ritzy ditzy
- Comment removed.
- Hmm. Has a law actually been broken here? If so, which one?— Philly Born
- Let's get the Grand Jury fired up--pronto..Bring in Evans, Turner, Archie, Nunery and the rest of this "gang" and bust 'em wide open. Evans has to be dismissed from the Legislature, Archie may face an end to his career as an Attorney, Nunery won't be Superintendent in this century and Turner, since he's a small critter in this "nest" of thieves and liars will see some prison time too. C'mon Seth..hop to it. No need to dawdle around..We've got the goods on these wretched ba*t^rds, so let's start the carnival. Perhaps Fast Eddie will represent his buddies? Pro Bono work from Ballard Spahr and Duane Morris? Those firms raked in enough money from the PHA, SDP and goodness where else over the years, so they should be able to devote a few months to defending their brethren, eh? This should help reopen the dormant PHA situation too. They've clamped a lid on that cesspool, but it's time to "flip the rock" and see what's hiding there too. Rendell's folks over there have been busy trying to distract everyone for months.. Let's see what they're up to...Oh, I'm looking forward to the poop flying on this debacle...— oblekr
- This corruption is not surprising. When the appointed school board was replaced by the SRC and Philadelphia was treated differently from other PA districts, the media swooned. With teachers stripped of their right to strike,newspapers said that this new plan would help Phila. schools. Shame on the media. They failed to recognize that this so-called reform was nothing but a patronage grab by the state. Who in their right mind thought that the state would do a better job than a mayor appointed or even an elected local school board? When the push for privitization of the public schoolss went into effect, was there anyone with a fuctioning mind that didn't understand the potential for corruption? Apparently not. The only thing that happened is a school district that was over $600,000,000 in debt, a school district thaat fired so many teachers, and Ackerman getting a $1000,000 bailout. Oh yes and the political supporters of the charter schools getting rich while class size has increased dramatically and achievement still so low.— Drumgoole
- Ackerman, Archie, Evans are despicable individuals who contentedly swam in a cesspool of corruption that they created, profiting at the expense of the very children they were charged with advocating for...they are beneath contempt...— TomTheCork
- this city is a complete mess!!!!!— psualum
- Markman should report why Nutter held on to this report for so long before releasing it. Could it be he wanted to give his good friend Archie time to resign and work up a good "I'm innocent" sweat?
Now D.A. Seth Williams needs to make a public statement about what he intends to do-or not do, and WHY?
— disbud
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
Follow Dave on Twitter.
Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
Follow Jan on Twitter
Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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