Educator says school fired her for reporting abuse

A former librarian from Community Academy Charter School in Kensington has sued the school, its founder, and a related nonprofit on the ground that she was improperly fired a year ago for reporting a case of suspected child abuse, as is required by law.

The suit was filed in Common Pleas Court Friday by Georganne Hardin-Fong, a veteran educator who was hired by the school in June 2008. According to the complaint, Hardin-Fong worked as a librarian with a salary of $60,000 until she was fired abruptly March 27 by Joseph Proietta, Community Academy's founder and chief executive officer.

Proietta said he could not comment on the suit because he and the school's lawyers had not yet seen it, but he disputed the assertion that he had fired Hardin-Fong because she had reported suspected child abuse.

He said she had been fired for "job abandonment and insubordination" for storming out of his office after he told her that she should have followed the school's procedure and reported her concerns to the school's emotional support team, which includes psychologists and counselors.

The city's Department of Human Services ultimately determined the abuse complaint "unfounded," Proietta said.

Hardin-Fong's complaint says state law requires educators to report all suspected allegations of child abuse to the appropriate authorities.

The complaint is the latest legal difficulty facing the charter school, which opened in 1997. Teams of federal agents raided the school in August to investigate allegations of criminal misuse of taxpayer money.

The school also is being sued by a former administrator who alleges she was wrongfully terminated for reporting suspected financial improprieties to federal authorities.

In the latest suit, Hardin-Fong alleges that around March 25, 2009, she learned that one of the school's students might be a victim of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse at home and that adult relatives might be selling drugs.

Two of the student's relatives are Community Academy employees.

Hardin-Fong reported her concerns to a licensed social worker employed by the school. The social worker told Proietta and the two agreed that the allegations were "not reportable."

Hardin-Fong said she had been told that nothing further would be done.

She called in the report, and DHS investigated the next day. On March 27, Proietta called Hardin-Fong into his office and told her that her report of suspected abuse had made the situation worse for the student and other children in the family.

The suit alleges that Proietta "expressed the belief that sexual abuse in the home was common and that Community Academy should try to help children cope with the situation rather than involving authorities." He told Hardin-Fong that she was supposed to report suspicions only to him "and suggested that her report to the authorities was evidence of insubordination."

Hardin-Fong is the wife of Francisco Delgado, an Inquirer assistant sports editor. She and her lawyer, Andrew L. Miller, declined to comment on her suit.