Group to continue with schools pacts

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THE WASHINGTON TIMES The New York-based nonprofit group founded by acting D.C. schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee will continue working on the nearly $1 million in school consulting contracts it received weeks before Mrs. Rhee was appointed.

Two contracts — for $489,910 and $499,000 — with the group, the New Teacher Project, were approved May 10, four weeks before Mayor Adrian Fenty, in his first move after taking over the schools, appointed Mrs. Rhee.

A spokeswoman for the D.C. school system said the timing of the contracts and Mrs. Rhee's nomination were not related and that the group has been working with the school system for years.

"They were before there was any thought of this happening," Audrey Williams, spokeswoman for the school system, said of the group's work with D.C. schools.

Still, the arrangement could pose conflict-of-issue questions if Mrs. Rhee is directly involved in approving the company's work or awarding additional work.

D.C. law prohibits public officials from using their position for the financial gain of businesses to which they are associated, but Miss Williams said the chancellor's office will not supervise the group's work.

She said the contracts will instead be monitored by the school system's human resources department.

Under the contracts, the group will help recruit principals and teachers, including those in the DC Teaching Fellows program, which seeks out professionals in other careers to become educators.

Officials from the New Teacher Project did not return phone messages.

Neither the D.C. Council nor the Board of Education, which was replaced in Mr. Fenty's takeover, approved the contracts. The council approves contracts of $1 million or more and the school board votes only on contracts of $500,000 or more.