The news last week that the state commissioner of education wants to revoke the charter for Springfield's Robert M. Hughes Academy for MCAS cheating was a reminder of just where the ever-mounting pile of scandals at the school began.
Back in November, the charter school's board voted to put principal Janet Henry on leave after state officials began questioning the dramatic rise in MCAS scores at the school, which serves kids in kindergarten through eighth grade. That might, at first blush, have looked like a responsible action on the board's part—until Springfield Republican reporter Jack Flynn began publishing a series of articles that raised larger questions about management at the school.
In Henry's absence, the board voted to put Fred Swan in charge of the school. Back in 2007, Swan, the former director of Springfield's Caring Health Center, pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges for bid-rigging at that publicly funded agency, and was sentenced to house arrest. Shortly after that sentence ended in March, Flynn reported, Swan had been hired to a $79,000-a-year job as a development officer at Hughes Academy.
Henry (who has denied any wrongdoing related to the MCAS investigation) has described Swan's hiring as an insider deal. In a letter quoted in the Republican, Henry claims she was pressured to hire Swan, that he rarely showed up for work and that he bullied staff, including trying to get her to sign off on a backdated "bonus check" because the state was seizing his regular paychecks to satisfy back taxes he owed.
In addition, Flynn reported, Swan's wife, Lorraine Swan, and sister-in-law, Norma Baker, were both on the board at the time he was hired to the development job. Both had left the board by the November vote to promote Fred Swan. Only six of the board's 14 members were present for that vote. Board president W. Calvin Walls Jr. told the Republican the board moved ahead with the vote with a minority of members because of the urgency of the matter.
Swan has refused to comment in news stories, while the school's attorney has also deflected questions, citing the ongoing state investigation. But at a parents' meeting at the school conducted by Swan, Flynn reported, the new principal defended himself, noting, "Nobody's charged me with anything." Nonetheless, Flynn wrote, "Irate parents called on [Swan] to step down … saying that his nine felony convictions could damage the charter school's image and jeopardize its future."
Much damage appears already done. In January, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education will vote on Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester's proposal to revoke Hughes Academy's charter. The school will be allowed to make a presentation to board members before the vote, and to appeal the decision if the board does, indeed, vote to revoke the charter. In addition, the Attorney General is looking into matters related to Swan's hiring.
The scandal at Hughes comes as the ever-simmering debate over charter schools is heating up. Gov. Deval Patrick is eager to increase the number of charter schools in Massachusetts, which could make the state eligible for hundreds of millions in federal stimulus funds—if the state applies before a mid-January deadline. The state Legislature, however, has been divided over the issue, with proponents saying the schools offer families strong educational options and critics complaining that they divert funds from regular public schools while operating without local oversight.
