Christopher Peak Photo
Simon Obas: Up for pre-disciplinary hearing.
An oversight board told the Achievement First charter network to continue looking into allegations that Amistad High School’s principal misreported student suspensions.
The oversight board, Amistad High School Personnel Sub-Committee, was set up last year to review alleged misconduct (after Achievement First didn’t tell board members that then-Principal Morgan Barth had pushed a kid).
The board unanimously voted to authorize a deepening probe into Amistad’s now-Principal Simon Obas at a Thursday morning meeting at the charter network’s James Street offices.
Last month, the Independent reported that Amistad was undercounting its out-of-school suspensions, listing them instead as absences, according to interviews with nine students and one school employee.
The state premised the school’s charter renewal on reducing its suspension rate.
On Thursday, the Personnel Sub-Committee received an hour-long, closed-door briefing on what network administrators have learned so far. Its four members then unanimously voted to authorize Achievement First to conduct further investigation relating to Obas’s conduct and for the Personnel Sub-Committee to schedule a pre-disciplinary hearing for him.
After the meeting, Carolyn Greenspan, the chair of Amistad Academy’s board of directors, declined to comment.
The Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) said it’s waiting to see what the committee does next.
“CSDE has been in regular contact with AF as they continue with their investigation and [we] are awaiting their findings and subsequent board decision,” said Peter Yazbak, a spokesperson for the agency.
Dacia Toll: Still no explanation.
Achievement First, for its part, offered no explanations for now.
Its leaders again declined to specify what’s happened with the Amistad’s suspension rate, including what they charge was inaccurate in the Independent’s reporting.
Dacia Toll, the network’s co-CEO, had previously told the Connecticut State Board of Education that she was “certainly disputing” what students had told the Independent.
“AF is committed to completing further investigation as quickly as possible and to providing the information our board needs to reach a swift outcome,” said Amanda Pinto, a spokesperson for the network.
Pinto said Obas remains on the job.
Obas did not respond to two phone calls and an email on Friday afternoon.