Latest News and Comment from Education

Thursday, January 24, 2013

More charges against charter-school officials - Philly.com

More charges against charter-school officials - Philly.com:


More charges against charter-school officials

January 23, 2013|By Martha Woodall, Inquirer Staff Writer

Charter Schools - Dividing Communities since 1991

The U.S. Attorney's Office announced five additional charges Tuesday against charter school founder Dorothy June Brown and three former administrators for defrauding the schools.
The superseding indictment charges Brown, 75, of Haverford, and Joan Woods Chalker, 74, of Springfield, Delaware County, with two counts of wire fraud and one more count of obstruction of justice.
The grand jury alleged that the wire fraud and obstruction occurred as part of schemes to defraud charter schools that Brown had founded of $214,095.
Story continues below.
Courteney L. Knight, 65, of King of Prussia, was charged with two more counts of obstruction of justice. Michael A. Slade Jr., 31, of Philadelphia, was charged with one more count of obstructing justice.
The charges are in addition to a 62-count indictment a federal grand jury returned July 24 that charged Brown and the former administrators with defrauding the schools of more than $6.5 million. Those charges include wire fraud, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and witness tampering.
Before being charged, Chalker, who had worked with Brown and her charter schools for years, was