So has the School District of Lancaster increased their scrutiny now that Ric Curry, and the resulting consultantgate has shaken confidence in the district? We're afraid not. 5thEstate.com launched an extensive investigation into one of SdoL's most recent hires - Dr. Bernard X. James, Sr. who was hired by Ric Curry for the salary of $85,000 a year to be the Principal of Wickersham elementary at the end of September, 2003.
What we found, is that James, who lives in Philadelphia, with lunch factored in, spends only 6 to 6 1/2 hours a day on the job - when he shows up! (See also our story Dollars And Sense) Further, in a document obtained from SDOL administrative sources, James' resume failed to disclose his employment as the Chief Administrator and Principal of School Lane Charter School, less than a year before being hired as an SdoL Principal. Wouldn't James want to use that position to demonstrate why he was good candidate? 5thEstate.com has learned that James was fired after only three months on the job!
First, let's examine James' work schedule and his use of a taxpayer funded chauffeur to get him to work. When we first got this tip, we couldn't believe it. Using an independent source, 5thEstate.com contracted someone to prove or disprove that James was spending 6 to 6 1/2 hours a day to run and manage Wickersham. The surveillance observation showed the following scheduled during our 4 week investigation:
At the beginning of the day
7:30 AM - Secretary/Chauffeur arrives at Wickersham
8:10 AM - Chauffeur leaves Wickersham and drives to Lancaster train station
8:15 AM - Bernard James arrives on train from Philly and meets chauffeur outside the train station
8:20 AM - Chauffeur transports James to Wickersham
8:27 AM - Chauffeur parks directly front of the school and drops James off
At the end of the day
3:20 PM - Chauffeur takes James' bag out to car
3:25 PM - James walks out of school and gets into waiting car
3:32 PM - James arrives at train station
3:38 PM - James takes train to Philly
3:40 PM - Chauffeur returns to school to finish out secretary job until 4:30
The sad part about this story, is that long time district employee, Assistant Superintendent Drue Miles knows about this arrangement but does nothing. Nothing. Current acting Superintendent Dr. John Bonfield is also aware of problems with Bernard James.
James AWOL
James keeps to this schedule no matter what is happening. While teachers stay until 4:30 PM for a monthly faculty meeting, James pops in but leaves before 3:30 to get his train back to Philly! James also is a no-show at evening parent/teacher conferences. James left to go home to Philly while teachers stayed during parent/teacher conference November 12th and 13th and February 11th and 12th. Parents who showed up for the school's Art Night on February 11th couldn't see James because he had left the building before 3:30 PM! The kids performed music and had games to play - but no Principal to watch or appreciate their displayed artwork.
James, because of his abbreviated schedule is unable to meet teachers before or after school and has made other teachers watch over a double class so that he can talk with a teacher!
And what about Credentials?
James has taught one class, 5 PM on Thursday nights, at the University of Science in Philly since January 2000. That one class, African American Literature, is the only paid job that James lists on his resume for a nearly 5 year period from March 1998 to February 2003. What else did he do during that time? 5thEstate.com investigation revealed that James failed to reveal on his resume that he worked for about 90 days as the Chief Administrator and Principal of School Lane Charter School. The funny part? James brags about having that job on SDoL's offical website forgetting that 5thEstate.com is the truth seeker and would check his resume! While the charter school refused 5thEstate.com's request as to an explanation of James' departure, we were able to confirm that James was FIRED from the job! What was James' response to being fired? James filed a discrimination complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and the United State Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging, among other things, discrimination because James was black and - get this - because he was MALE! At press time, we were unable to find out why the School Lane Charter school board hired James and in 90 days became so allegedly racists that they would fire James, but we are working on that information.
We thought we would give James a chance to explain why we he was fired from School Lane Charter, so we showed up outside Wickersham on Friday, May 14, 2004. For the first time since 5thEstate.com was watching James, he actually was outside interacting with children. When the SdoL Human Resource Administrator left, James went back inside briefly and came back out to the public sidewalk to his attending Chauffeur, and a waiting 5thEstate.com editor, Ron Harper, Jr. and his camera crew. After identifying himself and the publication, Harper asked James -
Harper: "Why did you get fired from School Lane Charter School?"
James: "Who are you?"
Harper: "Ron Harper, Jr. with 5thEstate.com. Why did you get fired from School Lane Charter School Why did you not disclose that you worked at School Lane Charter School?"
James went into the waiting car while refusing to answer any questions.
Harper and his cameraman got into their car and drove to the train station with James and his chauffeur FOLLOWING them!
Upon arrival at the train station, James again refused to answer any questions and in fact asked the ticket seller to call the police! No police or security ever responded.
No Accountability
5thEstate.com has been the one source demanding accountability from SdoL. We broke the story concerning Shalom Partnership owing SdoL $25,000 and we called on the School board to demand an accounting of the almost $400,000 that the "non-profit" received from city taxpayers. The board refused to ask for an accounting. Thanks to the pressure of an FBI investigation, Shalom "discovered" another $13,000 OVER payment. Shalom's former head Robert Hannum said about the money in the May 6, 2004 Intell:
"It's one of those crazy things," he said. "I'm not sure how that happened."
And the money being paid back? It will be "very quietly done - we just wanted to make sure it was taken care of."
Oh really? Is the school board going to demand an accounting? SdoL board President Pat Dixon said in the same story:
"It shows they're honest people and they wanted to do the right thing."
So just who is minding SdoL's business? Bernard James has refused to answer questions about getting FIRED from a job and works part-time hours with no one holding him accountable for his spending and cell-phone use. And for this part time job and continuing unavailability, he gets paid $85,000 a year - what a country!
Stay tuned to 5thEstate.com where we will continue to hold SdoL accountable for tax dollars until the School Board shows a willingness to do its job!
