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.
The Gloucester Community Arts Charter School has been a subject of intense opposition, mostly for its projected cost to the Gloucester Public Schools, since it was proposed in 2008 and granted a charter last February.
The discovery of e-mails from top Patrick administration education aide and Secretary of education Paul Reville asking Chester to recommend approval of the Gloucester charter for political expediency heightened scrutiny.
Sullivan began investigating the charter approval process last fall at the urging of Gloucester's state legislative delegation — Sen. Bruce Tarr and Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante — who also launched extensive requests for records from the DESE.
In addition to questions about Chester's testimony, Sullivan writes that his own requests for documentation of the approval were not satisfied as a result, apparently, of the shredding of many documents describing how the Charter School Office came to its recommendation.
The inspector general does not have the legal authority to take any action to invalidate the charter or take any disciplinary action against education department employees, leading to questions about what steps can or will be taken in response to his findings.
Right now, a series of amendments to an education bill making its way through the House of Representatives have been the only potential avenue of redress.
We will update this story here at gloucestertimes.com as any more information and reaction becomes available. For full coverage of this and other charter school developments, look to tomorrow's print and online editions of the Gloucester Daily Times and gloucestertimes.com.
Patrick Anderson can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3455, or via e-mail at panderson@gloucestertimes.com
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