WOW!!! What if the cat was already out of the bag??? Just something to think about.

Robert M.Hughes Academy Charter School at the corner of School and Union streets in Springfield.

Fred Allen Swan Sr.SPRINGFIELD – With its future jeopardized by management disarray and a possible MCAS cheating scandal, the Robert M. Hughes Academy has turned to an unlikely troubleshooter: convicted felon Fred Allen Swan.

Despite pleading guilty to fraud and other charges in a federal public corruption case in 2006, Swan was hired as a $79,000-a-year development officer at the taxpayer-financed charter school in March.

He took over as the school’s top administrator last week, after principal Janet J. Henry was placed on leave during a state investigation into the school’s scoring on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests.

Even at a school accustomed to management upheaval, the latest shift seems especially abrupt.


Amy Hughes “It’s hard to say what’s going on right now,” said board member Amy Hughes, widow of the late Robert Hughes, in whose name the school was dedicated. “It’s very confusing.”

The shakeup is the latest sign of turmoil at Hughes, where investigators from the state Department of Early and Secondary Education are scrutinizing a spike in MCAS test scores in the spring, as well as new allegations of mismanagement and lax leadership.

Neither Swan, 67, the brother of state Rep. Benjamin Swan, D-Springfield, and former director of the publicly-financed Caring Health Center, nor board president W. Calvin Walls Jr. would comment this week.

Swan referred all questions to the school’s lawyer, Mark D. Smith, of Boston, who also would not discuss details of the investigation.

“The state is conducting an inquiry; at this point, we’re going to let them do their job, and not respond to what other people are saying,” Smith said.


Janet J. Henry But in a five-page letter sent to Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester and The Republican, Henry said she was pressured to hire Swan, despite his pleading guilty in a $900,000 bid-rigging case in 2007.

“I was very much against this,” said Henry, adding that Swan had friends and relatives, including his wife Lorraine, on the 11-member governing board for the charter school.

“Bidding and dealing with contractors would definitely be something that the development officer would have a hand in,” she added.

Adding to the principal’s misgivings, Swan rarely appeared at the school once he was put on the payroll, and threatened or intimidated other staff members when he was there, Henry claims in the letter.

“He acted like it was his school,” Henry said.

In the letter to the state and The Republican, she also claims Swan told her to authorize and backdate a bonus check for him last month because the state Department of Revenue had begun seizing his regular paychecks to satisfy back taxes. After discussing the matter with the board president, who was also a friend of Swan’s, Henry refused, she said.

“When I refused to comply, they both started giving me the cold shoulder,” the principal said. “Fred Swan then reminded me that he decides who stays and who goes.”

The board voted to put Henry on leave Nov. 23, pending the outcome of the state investigation. Besides selecting Swan to take over the school’s administrative duties, academy staffer Brian Calandruccio was put in charge of academics.

Swan is perhaps best known for founding the Southwest Community Health Center, now called the Caring Health Center. Starting with a $350,000 state grant, he developed it into a $10 million-a-year operation, serving 20,000 people across Springfield.

He retired from his $141,000-a-year job in 2005, just weeks before an audit showed the clinic had spent lavishly on consultants, dinners and trips while accumulating a $700,000 budget deficit.

Six months later, Swan was charged with steering $900,000 in construction contracts for the clinic to Springfield builder who also owned the home Swan was renting. He eventually pleaded guilty to nine felony counts of wire fraud, mail fraud and making false statements to a federal investigator.

Coincidentally or not, Swan’s federal sentence – 24 months probation, including 12 months house arrest – ended just as he was placed on the academy’s payroll in March.

By then, Hughes – a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school with 180 students – was struggling to stay open.

In 2005, state Auditor A. Joseph DeNucci found rampant financial mismanagement – a budget deficit, no-bid contracts, inflated lease payments, poor attendance at board meetings and structural problems so severe that 91 School St. site could not be given an occupancy permit.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Since opening in 1999, the school has struggled academically, as well.

In 2008, state education officials threatened to revoke the academy’s charter unless test scores improved.

Teacher turnover has ranged between 30 and 50 percent, and Henry is the fourth principal in five years.

Last year, just 18 percent of core classes at Hughes were taught by highly-qualified teachers; by contrast, 81 percent of classes at Sabis International Charter School were taught by top teachers, according to the state.

For all its turmoil, the school had reason to celebrate when its MCAS results for the spring of this year were tallied. After years of lower-than-average rankings, the academy found itself in the 99th percentile for improvement in math, and in the 83rd percentile for English.

To state education officials, the test scores looked almost too good.

State Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester confirmed this week that the results are under investigation, making the academy one of only four schools statewide to be subject to such scrutiny.

The scores could be invalidated if cheating or other irregularities are found, and disciplinary action could be taken against anyone deliberately falsifying results, state officials said.

Former Hughes board member Mary-Ann Lane, a lawyer in Springfield, said the school’s small enrollment would make sudden improvements in test scores possible.

“As far as I know, there has only been an allegation – nobody has presented proof that anything is wrong,” Lane said. “The state should tread very carefully here; they could be treading on the psyche of a lot of students.”

For her part, Henry says she did nothing wrong.

She met with state officials on Nov. 23, the same day she was placed on leave by the academy’s board of directors.

“My only guilt is stressing to the teachers ... how important it was for us to do well on the MCAS or the school could lose its charter,” she said.

Henry said the board of directors, not the staff or students, should be blamed for the school’s unsteady state.


Norma Baker Last fall, for example, Henry said she discovered that former board treasurer Norma Baker, of Springfield, is also a partner in School Street Properties Inc., which leases the building to the academy.

The school pays $8,638 a month rent, as much as $3,000 more than School Street Properties pays for its mortgage, Henry said.

With the school paying for utilities, water and trash removal and other expenses on a 50-year lease, the landlord is getting a good deal at the expense of the school, Henry said.

Baker, director of Northern Educational Services, was one of several veteran members who resigned earlier this year. A new board member, Rance A. O’Quinn, of Springfield, is also listed as an partner on School Street Properties.

When she approached the board president with the information, he told her to keep it to herself, Henry said.

She also questioned why the academy plans to renovate the building even while considering moving to another site.

Despite reporting her concerns to state education officials, Henry said she is unsure if anything will be done. “I have been under severe stress since being made principal,” she said. “Someone, anyone, needs to put a stop to this.”


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Comments (84 total) RSSPost a commentOldest comments are shown first. Show newest comments first Next comments » 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 Posted by bagpipDecember 01, 2009, 7:08PMLMAO! Good one.And they'll hire Holyjokes Baryoumb as security guard. Asselin family as tresurers, Dawson in personel, Lavigne as sex ed teacher.
What a great place to send your kids eh? I bet they were HOPING the press wouldn't find out about this.
But it is clearly illegal to hire a convicted felon in a school that gets federal or state money, high power relatives or not.

Inappropriate comment? Alert us.Reply to this comment | Post a new comment Posted by bagpipDecember 01, 2009, 11:40PMWhy did my post about notifying the DA about a convicted felon working in a school that gets federal and/or state grants. Well Republican I'll do your job for you. Tomorow I'll call the Mass Atty General and find out who should investigate this school. I wonder if the rest of them are felons too?

Inappropriate comment? Alert us.Reply to this comment | Post a new comment Posted by rgtwingnutsDecember 01, 2009, 6:28PMNow if they could just get Frank Keogh for treasurer

Inappropriate comment? Alert us.Reply to this comment | Post a new comment Posted by whoknows1December 01, 2009, 6:33PMAbsolutely illegal!! Convicted federal felons cannot work for any entity that recieves federal funds! Talk about political BS - Another reason for people to be apathetic!! A convicted felon- is that the best we can do?? SAD SAD SAD day for the city of Springfield!

Inappropriate comment? Alert us.Reply to this comment | Post a new comment Posted by annienicDecember 01, 2009, 6:43PMThis guy is something else. He makes the state, the lottery and the mob look good.

Inappropriate comment? Alert us.Reply to this comment | Post a new comment Posted by whoknows1December 01, 2009, 6:50PMEven more disgusting is NOT ONE elected officilal, from congress to the city council/school comittee, says one word!! Is it because he is black and the brother of a black state rep - therefore america's double standard and PC takes over - DISGUSTING!!!

Inappropriate comment? Alert us.Reply to this comment | Post a new comment Posted by daylillyDecember 01, 2009, 6:52PMMaybe along with Frankie there are jobs for the Asslin family the other kings of slobs

Inappropriate comment? Alert us.Reply to this comment | Post a new comment Posted by labby5December 01, 2009, 6:54PMHow can this person & the "committee" so openly do something like this. I hope that the school committee or the Mayor can do something to remove this person from being a principal.
I hope Ms. Henry gets an apology from everyone that tried to intimidate her. Isn't this a form of BULLYING!????
Where is the example here for the children of the schools???

Inappropriate comment? Alert us.Reply to this comment | Post a new comment Posted by statewereinDecember 01, 2009, 7:01PMAll that corruption in one school? 50 year lease? Well the good news is the FBI is hiring. Hopefully they have different standards. Maybe some of the 50 percent of the teachers will apply. This mess stinks worse than Bondi's island.

Inappropriate comment? Alert us.Reply to this comment | Post a new comment Posted by fmuDecember 01, 2009, 7:10PMNo one cares about the children. It's just the money that can be made by running this place as is.

The only way is if the state revokes the charter. Granted the leeches may move on elsewhere, but it'll at least end this chapter.

Inappropriate comment? Alert us.Reply to this comment | Post a new comment Posted by deer357December 01, 2009, 7:26PMWe the people need to vote ben swan out of office, because you know he had something to do with this, when someone finally stood up to these bullies she was put on leave.... BS give her back her job. We need the state audit board back in this city to fix our schools.. We the voters need to change evrybody that comes up for relection

Inappropriate comment? Alert us.Reply to this comment | Post a new comment Posted by foulmenowDecember 01, 2009, 7:35PMThis is sick, sick, sick..all these people have been in on scheming and scamming for YEARS and they've done it to their own people. Carol and Norma Baker have the NERVE to try and run a radio show on STCC that focuses on 'self-determination' and both of these witches are scheming and stealing. Swan and his family think they all are politicians or 'connected' because of Ben who, let's be honest here, needs to get out of politics and let someone else have a shot. Ms. Henry has been blessed by being asked to resign from that hell hole and if any parent there ought to pull their kid out NOW. These people walk around with their nose stuck up in the air as if they are helping their 'community' when they are nothing but incompetent leeches..

Inappropriate comment? Alert us.Reply to this comment | Post a new comment Posted by ron01118December 01, 2009, 7:40PMperhaps we should look at his track record he did take 350,000 dollars and turn it into a 10 million dollar a year business he probobaly did give out contracts without seeking bids sometimes someone that is the founder of an institution acts as if it is his own personal empire the problems mentioned are from a lack of written policy
given his track record he certainly appears to be the man for the job and by the tone of this article his enemies are many i am sure that every move he makes will be watched and they will be waiting to atack him at every oppertunity
as far as giveing him an advance on his pay is a problem that stems out of the lack of written policy
swan is like a fish in the fish tank his every move is watched and the sharks are circleing waiting to atack at the first oppertunity

Inappropriate comment? Alert us.Reply to this comment | Post a new comment Posted by robm324December 01, 2009, 11:04PMWell Ron, another brilliant comment by you. Did you not see the part in the article about how his wonderful "Business" was running a $700,000 deficit when he left? Yeah, sounds like the guy for the job to me....he is a hack and benefitting from the type of scumbag people that ran this city into the ground under Albano. Each of these people should be thrown out into the street and be working minimum wage. Awful Awful people.

Inappropriate comment? Alert us.Reply to this comment | Post a new comment Posted by iowacowboyDecember 01, 2009, 7:58PMI hope they shut the school down. Charter schools should be ABOLISHED, period. They take so much AWAY from the public schools for the very FEW students that benefit from them. Real education reform is dismantling the teacher's unions and setting quotas for student achievement or the problem teacher should be fired. Teachers should be made terminable at will so they can be fired for any reason or no reason at all. They should make it so the MCAS should be administered by state auditors and not the school being tested as a set of checks and balances. Just like amusement rides are tested by the Dept. of Public Safety and not the amusement park to avoid a "conflict of interest". Having the school administer the MCAS is a conflict of interest. They should make it so the state auditors run the school during MCAS week and the regular staff are shut out so that a teacher doesn't tamper with the tests to meet their quotas for student achievement.

Inappropriate comment? Alert us.Reply to this comment | Post a new comment Posted by notindahoodDecember 01, 2009, 8:01PMThe Republican and Mr. Flynn deserve hearty thanks from the citizenry for this article. The quality of the investigative reporting lately has taken a huge jump. Stephanie Barry has always been good, but getting the goods on "Thunderbolt" Keough, etc has been impressive. I recently resubscribed to the print edition, which is something I never thought I'd do. But I feel that you should support good journalism and lately this newspaper has done some.

Inappropriate comment? Alert us.Reply to this comment | Post a new comment Posted by mchak1968December 01, 2009, 8:29PMSo thats what it takes to get ahead and get a good paying job. Commit Fraud, embezzle and become a convicted felon

Inappropriate comment? Alert us.Reply to this comment | Post a new comment Posted by annienicDecember 01, 2009, 8:46PMThis story makes me laugh so hard. With all the money Freddy and Benjy have it seems like they don't know they have to pay taxes. Talk about corruption the FBI WOULDN'T KNOW WHERE TO START. It must be a family thing. Good luck to the swan's they are going to need it.

Inappropriate comment? Alert us.Reply to this comment | Post a new comment Posted by 52hancockDecember 01, 2009, 9:08PMTen million people out of work and the best they can do is hire a convicted felon!!!!!!!! This is so sad it is funny.

Inappropriate comment? Alert us.Reply to this comment | Post a new comment Posted by countrygirlDecember 01, 2009, 9:37PMPlease keep in mind of the high turnover of teachers at this school. Ms. Henry was the principal and she was the cause.

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junkman -

I agree that funding is a problem, but I also agree with PaulK that "this should be part of a larger debate about how to best finance public education in general". It's not as if public school funding was great until charter schools came along and ruined it all -- public school funding started having serious problems when a) the state suddenly realized that the boom times of the '90's weren't going to go on forever and started cutting back on Chapter 70 and other funding, and b) local school districts reacted by browbeating local taxpayers into trying to make up the difference, instead of facing up to the new fiscal reality and figuring out how to make adjustments. IMHO. Charter schools and their funding formula have added a new element to the mix, but they haven't fundamentally changed anything.

Because, let's face it -- why do charter schools take money from local districts? The answer is because they take students from local districts, and the money follows the students. Now, the way that happens may well be unfair -- I'm not going to try to defend the current formula -- but I think the underlying principle is basically sound: schools with more students should get more money; schools with fewer students should get less money. Obviously, there are complexities -- if you remove 20 students from a 1000-student district, you lose $100,000 which it may be difficult for that district to absorb. But it seems to me that arguing (as some people seem to be doing) that a district should lose NO money no matter how many students it loses is ridiculous.

If a district goes from 10,000 students to 1,000, it's gotta lose some money, right? And it should have started losing that money long before it got to 1,000. So the question is not "should it lose money?"; the question is when, and how, and what are the factors that determine how much it loses. I think reasonable people can disagree about what the answers to those questions are, but that's the discussion that has to happen.

And I think there are "deaf ears" on both sides. People whose knee-jerk reaction is, "charter schools are bad because they take money from the public school districts" seem no more willing to discuss the money issue seriously than people who say "charter schools are good, and where their money comes from doesn't matter". (And, quite honestly, I really don't know anyone who says the latter -- instead, I see people who choose to ignore the "you're taking our tax money for your charter school, you jerk!" crowd because they don't see the possibility of a serous discussion. Perhaps that will change -- I hope so.)

I'm a fan of charter schools generally, on the theory that choice is good, but I'm an agnostic on this Discovery School. Your questions -- "What is being sold here? What are the benefits other than change ...?" -- are good ones, and I would like to see a discussion of them. But I think the "you're taking money from our schools" charge is a red herring. Not everyone wants to go to GMRSD, and that's not a bad thing -- it's not a knock on GMRSD, it's just a recognition that people are different. The only reason GMRSD "loses" from a charter school student is that that student was counted for GMRSD and the state gave money to GMRSD for them, and then they went somewhere else the money followed them and was therefore deducted from GMRSD. Net result: GMRSD did not get money for a student who wasn't there. If that student had gone to a private school, or was home-schooled, or dropped out, the net result would have been the same -- the only difference would have been that GMRSD would never have seen the money in the first place, so there would have been no need to deduct it, so there would have been no "loss".

At least, that's the way I see it. If I'm off base on all this, I hope someone will set me straight.
 

Sittin' down here at the Lady K listneing to Hard Rain, when Bob Dylan was the darling of the folkies, ex-communists and writers from Sing Out Magazine (that is, before "get sick get well hang around the ink well.")

I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,I hear Mike Naughton's footsteps coming up on the corkboard

But as Jonathan Richman would say.... 1963, it won't come again....

A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,
I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways,
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it,
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin',
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin',
I saw a white ladder all covered with water,
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken,
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin',
Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world,
Heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin',
Heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin',
Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin',
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter,
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
I met a young child beside a dead pony,
I met a white man who walked a black dog,
I met a young woman whose body was burning,
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow,
I met one man who was wounded in love,
I met another man who was wounded with hatred,
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what'll you do now, my darling young one?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin',
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where the executioner's face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I'll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin',
But I'll know my song well before I start singin',
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Copyright ©1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music

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Sort of like JFK's "missile gap" or George C Scott's "mine shaft Gap" in Dr Strangelove? We also seem to have a "Vitamin D gap."

US has vaccine credibility gap
New York Times / October 26, 2009


Earlier this month, the US government was forced to announce that only about 28 million doses of H1N1 vaccine would be available by the end of this month, about 30 percent below the 40 million it had previously predicted. That is not enough to satisfy people who are lining up for vaccinations around the country or desperately phoning their doctors and public health departments.

Since the outbreak of the H1N1 swine flu occurred in April, federal projections have been consistently and wildly overoptimistic and have had to be ratcheted down several times. As recently as late July, the government was predicting having 160 million doses by this month.

The reasons for the receding estimates start with the fact that the H1N1 virus is not growing as fast as expected in the eggs used to produce vaccine. Moreover, some manufacturers did not even know how little they were producing until a vaccine potency test became available around August, federal officials say.

Federal officials argue, and some experts agree, that the government did a good job in rapidly marshaling suppliers of vaccine for the flu pandemic.

But, these experts say, the government’s accomplishments and its credibility are being undermined by overly rosy projections that did not take account of the vagaries of vaccine production, making it look as if the vaccine effort is failing.

“To my mind, it was overpromising what there would be based on our historic experience with flu vaccines,’’ said Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.


Does vitamin D prevent the swine (H1N1) and seasonal flu, or the common cold?
By Judy Foreman
October 26, 2009

A. It’s not clear whether vitamin D specifically protects against H1N1, a novel virus, but there’s growing evidence that it does protect against a number of respiratory infections - and that many Americans do not get enough of the vitamin.

One study showed that people taking supplements containing 2,000 international units of vitamin D a day suffered fewer respiratory infections than those not taking supplements. Another study showed the obverse - that people with low blood levels of vitamin D were somewhat more likely to have had a recent upper respiratory tract infection than people with higher levels (24 percent vs. 17 percent). Vitamin D boosts the activity of a gene that makes cathelicidin, a natural antimicrobial compound that is part of the body’s defenses against infections, says Dr. Carlos A. Camargo, an associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Harvard Medical School.

When there’s lots of sunshine, people make vitamin D naturally. But in New England, most people have low levels of vitamin D, especially in winter. The problem is a national one as well: A study being published today in Pediatrics shows that about 20 percent of children ages 1 to 11 have suboptimal levels of vitamin D.

You can get a blood test to determine your vitamin D level. People with darker skin are at extra risk because highly pigmented skin requires more sun exposure to obtain a healthy level.

The vitamin has so many benefits - including lowering the risk of osteoporosis, heart attacks, and colon cancer - that “I am encouraging everyone to increase their vitamin D intake, especially children,’’ says Dr. Michael F. Holick, a professor of medicine, physiology, and biophysics at Boston University. He suggests that children take a minimum of 400 IUs a day and preferably 1,000. “Adults should take at least 1,000 IUs and preferably 2,000 IUs a day,’’ he says.

Daniel Perlman, a senior scientist at Brandeis University, says 2,000 IUs a day is safe: “In the summer sun, the body itself is known to produce far higher levels.’’

E-mail health questions to foreman@globe.com.