John Green has resigned from the Penn-Delco (Pa.) school board, two days after his arrest on charges that he broke conflict-of-interest laws by voting to approve district invoices for work done by the company that employs him and that was paying him more than $800 in commissions. Green and his attorney said he had played no role in the district's decision to hire his employer and that he did not know until recently that he had received the commissions because they had been bundled with payments for other sales work he did.To read The Philadelphia Inquirer article, click here.
EARLIER: John Green, a member of the Penn-Delco (Pa.) school board, faces criminal charges over commissions he received for school projects performed by a company that employs him. Green has been charged with felony and misdemeanor conflict of interest charges over his votes at board meetings to approve the company's invoices. Authorities say Green collected a commission of $838.66 over three years from Temp-Air, a company that provides temporary heating, cooling and dehumidifying equipment.
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The Penn-Delco (Pa.) School District, shaken by the arrests of a former board president and superintendent for allegedly secretly investing in a daycare company the district did business with, faces another crisis from a state inquiry. The Penn-Delco Educational and Cultural Foundation, a district-related nonprofit, received a $100,000 state grant in 2005 for classroom technology. But it spent most of the money - about $80,000 - to install a bronze statue of a griffin (the Sun Valley High mascot) and a brick "Alumni Walk" courtyard outside the high school.
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The former board president of the Penn-Delco School District in Delaware County, Pa., and its former superintendent have been charged in an alleged scheme to invest money in a company that operated child-care programs at district schools. Keith Crego, the former president, allegedly set up a company, Quick Start Pre-Schools, that provided child care and a summer camp. He is accused of using his influence to get the school board to approve contracts with Quick Start and then of demanding and receiving close to $40,000 from the woman running the program. The former superintendent, Leslye Abrutyn, allegedly knew about the scheme and eventually invested $10,000 in the company after Crego reportedly threatened to withhold a positive recommendation to any future employers.
