Four members of the school boards of Community Districts 9 and 12 in New York City have been indicted by a Bronx grand jury on charges ranging from bribe- taking to the theft of school equipment. (See Education Week, Dec. 7, 1988.)
The grand jury, one of several investigative bodies looking into allegations of corruption in the nation’s largest school system, also indicted a former superintendent of District 9.
Meanwhile, the New York State School Boards Association has offered to provide training in ethics and other leadership skills for candidates for the 288 seats on the city’s 32 community school boards that will be at stake in a May election. Newly elected board members will be able to receive training throughout their three-year terms of office.
The state association made the offer in response to the corruption allegations, which involve as many as 10 of the city’s community school districts.
“One of the things that became evident to the city’s central school officials was that these people had not had sufficient training,” said Louis Grumet, the executive director of the group.
The Yonkers, N.Y., school board and the naacp have the right to sue the state to recover some of the projected costs of a planned second stage of school desegregation in the district, a federal judge has ruled. (See Education Week, Feb. 10, 1988.)
The ruling last month by U.S. District Judge Leonard B. Sand cleared the way for a trial in the lawsuit, which contends that state actions contributed to segregation of the district’s schools.