Roland levels accusations at Herenton and Taylor
Criticizes ex-mayor, fellow commissioner over ethics
A Shelby County Commission member charged Tuesday that former Memphis mayor Willie Herenton either falsified his application to operate charter schools or misled the public about his connection to a controversial education group.
At a news conference, Commissioner Terry Roland also accused a fellow commissioner, Brent Taylor, of violating the county’s ethics policy when he applied for an interim seat on the commission last year and didn’t disclose a link to Herenton’s charter group.
A county attorney said there was no problem with Taylor’s actions, an opinion Roland received about two hours before publicly criticizing Taylor.
“The thing that is troubling to me is he had the information exonerating me, but he didn’t mention it because it didn’t fit his narrative,” Taylor said.
Roland also questioned the link between Herenton’s W.E.B. DuBois Consortium of Charter Schools and Harmony Public Schools — a Texas-based group that manages and consults with charter schools.
Harmony is known for employing a significant number of Turkish teachers, and critics of the organization have said it has ties to the movement of Fathullah Gulen, a Turkish Islamic cleric. Harmony officials say the organization has no official connection to Gulen.
In his application to the unified school board to open charter schools in Shelby County, Herenton said “Harmony Schools will assist the W.E.B. DuBois Consortium with start-up and ongoing school operations.”
But Herenton, a former Memphis City Schools superintendent, said this week that he included the reference only “to impress” Achievement School District Supt. Chris Barbic, who founded the Yes Prep
chain of charters in Houston.
“We thought it would strengthen our application, especially with the ASD leader because he is aware of the fine work Harmony does in Texas,” Herenton said.
Julie Shussler, spokeswoman for Harmony, said Tuesday Harmony is not working with Herenton’s organization. “The issue seems to be one of local politics as Harmony has no contractual relationship with W.E.B. DuBois,” she said in an e -mail.
“If he’s not connected, then he falsified his document here,” Roland said, picking up the application from a pile of papers. “... One of the two. You can’t have it both ways.”
Replying to Roland’s charge, Herenton said: “I’m not going to entertain Commissioner Roland’s nonsense. I am going to continue to focus on developing charter schools that will provide quality education for students.
Taylor said Monday he thought Roland’s attack on him was personal. He said Herenton had asked him to serve on the board for the DuBois Consortium, but that, “The board has never been approved, as far as I know.”
Asst. County Atty. Damon Griffin, the county’s ethics officer, said in his opinion: “Commissioner Taylor did not violate the Ethics Code by failing to disclose the fact that he sits on the Board of Directors of the Consortium when completing and submitting his application to be appointed to the Board of Commissioners.”
Roland said he disagreed with Griffin: “His opinion is that our ethics law doesn’t mean anything.”