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Youngstown schools Mohip’s ties to firm from his Chicago past face questions
YOUNGSTOWN
The Youngstown school board’s finance committee chairman is questioning the district’s involvement with a company with a “not-so-stellar” past.
Chairman Dario Hunter expressed concern about the implications of the district’s involvement with Atlantic Research Partners at a committee meeting Thursday night.
“I want to know why we are spending and wasting money with not only something that is not valuable to us, but also something that could bring this district into disrepute,” Hunter said.
District CEO Krish Mohip’s ties to the company date to his tenure in the Chicago Public Schools, when he contracted with the firm for services.
In Youngstown, Mohip hired the firm about six months ago to search for principals, at a cost of $12,500.
But Hunter disapproves of the company because of its murky past.
Atlantic’s co-founder Joseph Wise was fired from his position as Duval County (Fla.) Schools superintendent in 2007 before he and David Sundstrom created Atlantic later that year.
In June 2015, Atlantic acquired parts of a company called The SUPES Academy, which is a training program for education leadership positions such as principals and superintendents, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Wise worked for SUPES before co-founding Atlantic. SUPES was part of a multimillion-dollar kickback scandal that sent former owners Gary Solomon and Thomas Vranas and former Chicago Public Schools CEO and SUPES consultant Barbara Byrd-Bennett to prison for seven years, 18 months and four years, respectively.
Mohip was a Chicago Public Schools administrator during Byrd-Bennett’s tenure as CEO, which ended in June 2016, when she resigned. She was sentenced in April.
Hunter said the new SUPES, called the National Superintendent Academy, is simply the same company with a new name. According to the Sun-Times, Wise began pursuing business again from Chicago Public Schools less than a year after the school system dumped SUPES and federal authorities subpoenaed SUPES’ records concerning allegations of fraud.
“What you’re seeing is a company that may have been involved in something shady, is being investigated for that and is now becoming a part of another company perhaps to diffuse the disreputable reports and investigations swarming around it,” Hunter said. “I just find it deeply troubling and concerning.”
But Youngstown schools spokeswoman Denise Dick said the people charged in the kickback scandal – Byrd-Bennett, Solomon and Vranas – were never involved with Atlantic and aren’t involved with the parts of SUPES Atlantic now owns.
Further, Mohip said he chose Atlantic because it has a national network to work with when seeking candidates for a desired position.
“The people who helped find principals are well-respected and successful administrators in the field,” he said.
But Youngstown school board member Corrine Sanderson, who is also a finance committee member, said she wants to see a copy of all contracts the district has entered into since Mohip took over.
“I want to know what I need to know about,” she said.