Nov 20, 2009 10:21 pm US/Central
Chicago Alternative School A Study In Nepotism
Principal, Who Has Multiple Family Members On The Payroll, Defends Hiring Of Relatives
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Several members of the same family are employed at the Community Youth Development Institute, raising questions about nepotism.
CBS
A Chicago alternative school that is supposed to get wayward high-schoolers back on the right path may be on a questionable path itself. Taxpayer money is funding the salaries of five staff members -- all of them from the same family.
CBS 2's Mike Parker reports.
Welcome to the Community Youth Development Institute, where some 200 high school dropouts and truants are getting a second chance to make good.
Aaron Royster Jr. is the principal and he seems to have good rapport with the students.
"We care about them, and that's the only thing that, to me, ever works," he said.
Although the school gets an estimated $1 million a year from the Chicago board of education, board policies do not apply -- including those against nepotism.
Rev. Aaron Royster Sr. is the executive director. His wife, Mable, is his assistant. You've already met their son, Aaron Jr., the principal.
Parker asked him: "Some people are going to look at this and say, what is this, Cicero, Ill.?"
"I don't think you should disqualify someone just because they're in your family," Royster Jr. responded.
But there's more. During Parker's interview, Royster Jr. said his brother-in-law works at the school as dean of students. And his sister teaches a class in cosmetology.
There is still more. It turns out the building that houses the school is owned by a South Side church. The church rents the building to the school. Who's the pastor? The school's executive director, Aaron Royster Sr.
The Chicago Teachers Union is already dubious about the non-union alternative schools.
"You don't want to do anything where there's any kind of indication that something may be improper going on," CTU president Marilyn Stewart said.
Taxpayer funds for the school come from a middle man, a group called Youth Connections Charter School.
Youth Connections says it is unaware of any improprieties at the Community Youth Development Institute. But Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman recently said he wants more accountability in the whole alternative system. "We want to know, what is the return on our money?"
Good question. Every year, the school board pumps almost $30 million into charter and alternative schools.
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