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Suspended school employees in leak probe return to work

Four of the six Philadelphia School District administrators who were suspended with pay last month while the district investigated questions about procurement procedures and leaks about no-bid contracts returned to work Monday.

Four of the six Philadelphia School District administrators who were suspended with pay last month while the district investigated questions about procurement procedures and leaks about no-bid contracts returned to work Monday.

A district spokeswoman acknowledged that "several" staffers who were placed on administrative leave Dec. 13 were called back to work Monday at the district's headquarters at 440 N. Broad St.

Sources identified the returning employees as the district's top two information technology staff members - Robert Westall, deputy chief information officer, and Melanie Harris, the department head. Patrick Henwood, senior vice president for capital programs, and Augustine Pescatore, a commanderin the Office of School Climate and Safety, also were said to have reported to work.

Shana Kemp, a district spokeswoman, declined to confirm the names of the returning employees or to provide an update on the investigation.

"Several members of District staff who were placed on paid administrative leave, as part of an on-going internal investigation, returned to work," Kemp wrote in an e-mail Monday. "As the investigation is on-going, we are unable to release any additional details."

John L. Byars, senior vice president of procurement services, and Francis Dougherty, a key aide to Deputy Superintendent Leroy D. Nunery II, remain on administrative leave, sources said.

Efforts to reach Byars and Dougherty were unsuccessful.

All six were suspended about two weeks after The Inquirer reported Nov. 28 that Superintendent Arlene C. Ackerman had intervened on behalf of IBS Communications Inc., a small minority firm based in Mount Airy that was awarded a $7.5 million emergency, no-bid cantract to install security cameras at 19 schools the state classified as "persisently dangerous."

Ackerman pushed aside a Newtown firm that had begun preliminary work on the project, sources said.

The superintendent has denied ordering her staff to award the project to IBS but acknowledged that they learned about the company after she produced the firm's business card and told them to give IBS a portion of another security project at South Philadelphia High School.

The district's internal inquiry is being conducted by Michael Schwartz, a lawyer from Pepper Hamilton L.L.P. As part of the investigation, a company specializing in digital forensics has copied several employees' computer hard drives to try to determine who provided information to The Inquirer.

At least one of the suspended employees has been interviewed about the IBS contracts by the FBI, according to state lawmakers who have called for an outside investigation into Ackerman's handling of no-bid work.