Mayor Nutter Orders Probe Into Charter Contract For MLK High School
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Mayor Michael Nutter has launched his own investigation into the Philadelphia School District's handling of a charter school contract involving Martin Luther King High School, in Germantown.
Mayor Nutter says questions remain over how the School Reform Commission, including chairman Robert Archie, handled the naming of a charter operator for Martin Luther King High School last month, so Nutter has dispatched his chief integrity officer, Joan Markman, to investigate.
"We need to bring this particular issue to some amount of closure (and) answer as many questions as can be answered," the mayor told reporters today.
The SRC in March awarded the contract to Mosaica Turnaround Partners, but that vote was followed by a closed-door meeting involving Mosaica, Archie, and Pennsylvania state representative Dwight Evans (D-Phila).
Mosaica withdrew a day later. Evan's favored firm, Foundations Inc., later withdrew as well.
A spokesman for the School District says officials will cooperate fully with the probe. A spokesman for Evans did not immediately return our call.
Reported by KYW Newsradio City Hall Bureau chief Mike Dunn
