I am oh so shocked that there could be anything crooked about the tangled web of for-profit education and political connections. Who could have known?
Without warning, Delaware Valley High School – a for-profit education firm whose records were recently subpoenaed by a federal grand jury – has laid off all 50 teaching and administrative employees at the four alternative schools it operates in the region.
Staffers said lawyer David T. Shulick, whose company operates the schools, owes them each thousands of dollars for work during the 2011-12 academic year. They had been expecting back pay last week but got furlough notices instead.
In late February, the FBI raided Shulick’s Logan Square law office, searching for documents related to Delaware Valley’s relationship with Chaka “Chip” Fattah Jr., 29, whose father is U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, a Philadelphia Democrat. They also interviewed Shulick.
Delaware Valley had paid 10 percent of its $4.5 million contract with the Philadelphia School District for the 2010-2011 school year to 259 Strategies L.L.C., a minority firm owned by Fattah Jr., who had an office in Shulick’s law firm. After firing Fattah Jr. last summer, Shulick rehired him in December but did not renew his subcontract.
