My Dog Ate My Homework

Records missing on Gloucester charter school approval
By James Vaznis, Globe Staff

State education officials apparently enacted a policy of destroying virtually all documents related to the evaluation of a controversial charter school proposal in Gloucester, the state inspector general's office said in a report released today.

One key document that the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has failed to turn over to the inspector general's office since it began its investigation in November is a 29-page evaluation form, which would have specifically outlined which criteria the proposal met or fell short on, the report said.

At least two of the education department staff members who reviewed the proposal for the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School revealed in interviews with the inspector general's office that they may have shredded their notes, the report said.

Inspector General Gregory Sullivan said the reviewers' "detailed evaluation records are an integral part of the charter approval process. These records provide accountability and transparency for any determination about whether the applicant met the stated criteria."

More here.

IG: Ed chief misled lawmakers, destroyed charter documents
By Patrick Anderson
Staff Writer, Gloucester Daily Times

State Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester is accused of misleading lawmakers probing the approval of the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School in a new set of findings from the state's inspector general that also fault the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for destroying key documents.

The latest findings from Inspector General Gregory Sullivan, released today, come on the heels of his initial report to Gov. Deval Patrick that concluded that the Gloucester charter should be considered legally "void" because the process that approved it did not follow regulations.

In the latest findings, Sullivan says Chester's account of how he recommended approval of the Gloucester charter to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education last winter against the advice of his own charter school review group, is contradicted by documents and testimony.

Chester last summer told legislators on the Joint Committee on Education gathered in Gloucester for an oversight hearing that the recommendation from the education department's Charter School Office not to approve the Gloucester charter was only the beginning of deliberations on the issue.

But the Inspector General said that no other education department staffers interviewed recalled any further discussion on the issue between the time the CSO issued its recommendations and the time Chester endorsed the school.

More here.