It doesn't look like Joe Watkins is going to get the chance to take that trip to China after all.
The embattled receiver of the perennially troubled Chester Upland School District raised a few eyebrows recently when he announced plans for a jaunt to China, where he hoped to lure investors willing to pour as much as a billion dollars into the district, building several brand new facilities in the process.
That trip likely got scuttled yesterday when the acting state education secretary filed a petition in Delaware County Common Pleas Court seeking to have Watkins removed from the post he's held since 2012.
You can get all the details here.
Carolyn Dumaresq, appointed by Gov. Tom Corbett, cited Watkins inability to turn around the district's finances and a failure to comply with the district's financial recovery plan.
This probably would not have been nearly as surprising if it happened in a few months, after Tom Wolf is sworn in as governor and puts his own person in charge of education.
There's a lot of politics in these decisions when it comes to Chester Upland, which has been in and out of state control for more than a decade. Every time there's a shift in power in Harrisburg, it usually ripples down to the local level - in other words who has their hands on the purse strings in Chester Upland.
But Dumaresq is Corbett's pick, as was Watkins. These are all Republicans. In fact, Watkins had a reputation as something of a GOP wunderkind. But it seems like even his bright star has been dimmed by the daunting task in Chester Upland, where as many as half the district's students have fled to charters.
The elected school board, while not having very much power, was vocal in their disdain for Watkins' announcement that he wanted to bring in investors from China.
No doubt part of what got noticed was Watkins' plan to have the district pick up the tab for his trip. In her petition to the court to have Watkins replaced by former Education Secretary Francis Barnes, Dumaresq noted that using any district funds for the China trip "would not be a prudent use of taxpayer resources."
Now it will wind up before Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge Chad Kenney. A hearing will be scheduled for some time in the next week.
Don't look for Watkins to win this one.
Comments