DN Editorial: Foundations/Mosaica school flap: Just offal?

PHILADELPHIA'S POLITICAL universe is dominated by a machine that likes to make its sausage in private, but sometimes, the bone fragments and entrails that go into making the meat leak out of the backroom and into the light of day.

No one likes looking at this offal, but no one knows how to turn the machine off. So the machine gets bigger and bigger, sucking up everything into its meat-making works- convention centers, bridges, roads, parks- until everything, even the air we breathe, becomes a political transaction.

That, alas, seems also to be the case with the our schools. Last month, following a democratic process where parents, students and community members carefully vetted potential operators to take over Martin Luther King High School, Mosaica was selected to run the school.

The losing company, Foundations, had ties to state Rep. Dwight Evans, who was not happy with the outcome. He lobbied the School Reform Commission and soon after, Mosaica stepped down, making the way for Foundations to take over by default.

Many people were unhappy with this development - including the community members who felt that democracy got kicked to the curb, in favor of politics.

Yesterday, the district announced that Foundations has withdrawn its bid to take over King. Foundations cited "unrelenting hostility" in their decision to withdraw.

King will remain under district control until next year, when the community process for picking King's operator will be repeated.

That's a shame, because it's going to be a long 12 months to try to retain the public's, and the community's trust in an open process.

Especially in light of a new development: according to a report in The School Notebook (www.thenotebook.org) the action by Mosaica followed a closed-door meeting it had with Evans and with SRC Head Robert Archie. Archie's presence at the meeting is troubling, because his law firm represents Foundations (he had recused himself from the original vote).

So was he in the meeting looking out for the school district's best interests, or Foundation's best interests?

The most troubling thing about this question is that we have to ask it.

The School Reform Commission, created when the state took over the schools, is supposed to provide management oversight of the $3.2 billion district. Gov. Ed Rendell appointed as chairman Archie, whose law firm represents at least two operators - the aforesaid Foundations and Universal Companies. We don't know when Archie's firm, Duane Morris, started representing those clients. We don't know what other operators or clients of his firm provide a potential conflict of interest for Archie's role on the SRC.

The district says that due to attorney-client privilege, it cannot provide that information.

Other members of the SRC have present or past educational ties, and that actually could be a good thing - as long as those ties are transparent. But when attorney-client privilege trumps the public's interest in a fully transparent governing board, maybe it's time for a new set of players - or new rules governing their relationships.

Given the amount of money that school reform and educational alternatives represents, every SRC member - and every legislator - should be required to publicly list all their education-related affiliations. If their jobs don't allow this, the privileges of the public, not law firm clients, should prevail. *