A Philly charter and its former CEO will pay $4 million to resolve claims they discriminated against Black students
Franklin Towne Charter School is accused of fixing its 2023 admissions lottery to exclude some Black students, federal officials said.
A Philadelphia charter and its former CEO have agreed to pay nearly $4 million to resolve claims they discriminated against Black students in the school’s admissions lottery.
Franklin Towne Charter High School, in the Northeast, deliberately fixed its 2023 lottery to exclude students from certain majority-Black ZIP codes, Franklin Towne administrator Patrick Field told The Inquirer that year. The order to shut out those students came from Joseph Venditti,a longtime Franklin Towne CEO, who has since left the school, Field said.
Field sued the school and Venditti in federal court later in 2023, alleging Franklin Towne retaliated against him after he came forward about the lottery manipulation.
The U.S. Department of Justice brought the case against Franklin Towne and Venditti after Field’s allegations surfaced.
U.S. Attorney David Metcalf announced the settlement Friday.
“Racial discrimination has no place in school admissions,” Metcalf said in a statement. “Selecting or excluding students because of their race is illegal and violates the agreements schools sign when they accept federal grant money.”
Despite signing off on the settlement, neither Franklin Towne nor Venditti admitted wrongdoing.
“Defendants deny the United States’ allegations,” court documents read.
» READ MORE: A Philly charter school manipulated its lottery to keep kids out, a top administrator says
Public schools are prohibited by federal law from discriminating against students based on race or national origin; Franklin Towne violated the federal False Claims Act by its actions, Metcalf’s office said Friday.
Franklin Towne — a public charter, whose funds come from taxpayer dollars — must pay $3.6 million, and Venditti $275,000 from his private funds, as part of the settlement.
Part of the money will go to the U.S. government, and part to Field, whose suit raised the issue of the improprieties.
Field, Venditti and Franklin Towne could not immediately be reached for comment.
Federal officials said the school “has made significant governance changes, including replacing the Chief Executive Officer and hiring an independent third party to conduct all future admissions lotteries at the school.”
Franklin Towne remains a top academic performer, but the Philadelphia school board moved to revoke its charter over the lottery manipulation allegations.
The revocation hearing’s goal, the board said at the time of the vote, was not necessarily to close Franklin Towne, but to effect change. Board officials said the only tool they possess under Pennsylvania law to trigger a public accounting of serious allegations of impropriety is a revocation hearing, which includes witnesses and evidence before an independent hearing officer.
Franklin Towne filed suit against the board, objecting to its choice of hearing officer for the revocation proceedings, which have not yet begun.
Reginald Streater, the school board president, said in a statement that the charter school’s office’s “serious concerns” about Franklin Towne admissions data over several years led to the revocation notice of the school. It’s still pending, Streater noted.
“The board is committed to striving for fair and equitable access to public education for all Philadelphia students,” Streater said in a statement. “We will continue to uphold the standards and requirements that apply to all public schools and to take action when there are concerns about compliance with those requirements.”
Staff writer Abraham Gutman contributed to this article.
