Melissa Bailey Photo
Jefferson & Carolina at a recent Board of Ed meeting.
While new “corridors” of investigation have delayed completion of a probe into alleged grade-changing at Hillhouse High School, the principal’s attorney questioned why a Board of Ed official has sat in on interviews.
On the Friday before Christmas, the Board of Education announced an investigation after a Hillhouse administrator came forward with charges that a student’s record had been altered. It has since become a political football, with Hillhouse Principal Kermit Carolina and his supporters charging that the case is a trumped-up attempt to penalize him for not supporting Mayor John DeStefano’s reelection. DeStefano and Board of Ed officials adamantly deny the allegation.
Because Carolina’s wife works for the Board of Ed’s human resources division, school officials turned to an outside attorney, Floyd Dugas, to conduct the investigation. Superintendent of Schools Reggie Mayo said he did that to avoid an appearance of a conflict of interest.
In three recent interviews as part of the investigation, the school system Chief Administrative Officer Will Clark has sat in the room. That fact this week drew a charge of a tainted process. The charge came in the form of a letter to Dugas from Michael Jefferson, Carolina’s attorney.
“If I recall, you were hired by Dr. Mayo to conduct this investigation as a means of allaying concerns about a possible conflict of interest,” Jefferson wrote.
“The issue in part, according to Dr. Mayo, was that Principal Kermit Carolina’s wife worked for the Board of Ed’s human resources department. Thus, this department, which would normally handle such investigations, could not be called upon to conduct the investigation regarding the matter at hand. Please note, Mr. Clark as the Board’s COO oversees the human resources department and is in effect Kim Carolina’s boss. …
“In a correspondence dated December 19, 2011 and signed by Dr. Mayo, you are clearly given the authority to question any district employee. The correspondence further instructs the employee — ‘[U]ntil the investigation is complete, you are requested not to speak to anyone else regarding your conversations with Attorney Dugas and/or the subject matter of the investigation.’ Attorney Dugas, does ‘anyone else’ include Mr. Clark? Or is he exempt?
“Why is Mr. Clark needed in this investigation? And more significantly — why are you allowing his involvement?”
Dugas said in a conversation Wednesday that he doesn’t “see any legitimate concerns.”
Clark didn’t pose questions in the three interviews at which he was present, according to Dugas. Rather, Dugas wanted him there because of his knowledge of the Tenex computer system, a key issue in the probe.
“Will Clark is not doing investigations independent from mine,” Dugas said. “I asked him to sit in on three interviews that dealt with the alleged problem with the computer system because I felt as the chief operating officer he ought to have firsthand knowledge of what those issues were.”
Clark declined comment on the matter.
Officials originally stated that the probe would be completed by last week. Dugas said he’s now “hopeful” he will finish his research by the end of this week and produce a report by the end of next week. New questions have arisen along with scheduling challenges, prolonging the investigation, he said.
“I have never done an investigation of this nature that didn’t seem to go on interminably because of people being out, not returning phone calls. Like any investigation, you start going down one alley and there’s a corridor that leads you to the right. The bottom line is we’re getting close to finish it. I’m just trying to follow up on a few loose ends.”
At that point the case will proceed to a new stage — from broad political arguments to the revelation of facts that all sides predict will prove their case.
Related stories:
• Hillhouse Rallies For Carolina
• New Suspect Named In Grade-Changing Probe
• Jefferson Calls For “Conflict”-Free Investigator
• He Was Where?
• A Standoff In Grade Probe
• Investigation Formally Revealed At “Emergency” School Board Meeting
• Out Of Public View, Schools Rush “Emergency” Pre-Xmas Meeting On Grade-Altering Charges