Whistle-blower suit filed in charter probe | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/06/2010

Whistle-blower suit filed in charter probe | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/06/2010

A former administrator at Community Academy Charter School has filed a whistle-blower suit alleging that she was improperly fired the day after federal agents raided the school in August.
Adorable Harper, a 1999 graduate, charges that officials at the Kensington charter retaliated against her for filing a complaint with federal investigators detailing "a pattern of criminal misuse of local, state, and federal funds."


Dave Frankel, one of Harper's attorneys, said the suit, filed recently in Common Pleas Court, contends that the defendants "illegally retaliated against our client for blowing the whistle."
The suit names Joseph Proietta, the charter founder and chief executive officer; Anna Duvivier, the chief operating officer; and International Education & Community Initiatives, a related nonprofit that does business under the name One Bright Ray Inc.


The officials, the complaint alleges, ran the charter and the nonprofit "like private fiefdoms or family businesses rather than the publicly funded school and nonprofit entities they are."
The Inquirer reported in October that Proietta had five relatives on the charter's payroll and that his wife was a consultant to the school.


In addition to citing the state whistle-blower law, the complaint alleges civil conspiracy, wrongful termination, and defamation. Harper has been unable to find a job since losing her position as assistant chief operating officer at the charter, the suit says.
Proietta denied all the allegations and said Harper was one