Independent investigator to review educators’ Cuba trip

Pittsburgh Public Schools has hired an independent investigator to review a trip to Cuba taken last month by the superintendent and other school district administrators.

District solicitor Ira Weiss said he referred the review Thursday to Lourdes SanchezRidge, a former solicitor for the city of Pittsburgh and an attorney with Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti LLP. Mr. Weiss said he will meet with Ms. Sanchez-Ridge on Monday to discuss the timeline of the investigation, as well as the estimated cost of the independent review.

“Frankly, this is a much more complicated issue than it appeared to be initially, so I really can’t give you a timeline,” he said Friday. “But she understands that time is a major factor.”

Mr. Weiss was authorized to launch an investigation of the trip this past week by the Pittsburgh school board, after news reports described the trip taken by Superintendent Anthony Hamlet, Chief Academic Officer Miniki Jenkins and three other district administrators. The

international trip during the week of April 15 while the district was on spring break was made without authorization by the full school board — which is required for out-of-country travel — and has raised questions in regard to state ethics laws.

The administrators said the trip to Cuba was part of a planned professional development visit to The Flying Classroom, a Miamibased educational organization that provides STEM curriculum and lessons via its trademark “expeditions.” It is led by Barrington Irving, a pilot who creates digital lessons and programming that bring his global expeditions into the classroom.

The school district entered a $73,000 contract with The Flying Classroom in January 2018 to provide lessons, coaching and professional development opportunities.

Board President Lynda Wrenn said she approved the superintendent’s airfare to Miami, per the district’s usual procedure, but said she was unaware the group would be visiting Cuba. International travel for district personnel requires a vote by the entire nine-member board.

District leaders and Mr. Irving have told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the trip to Miami was included in the professional development provided for in the contract, and that the administrators were unaware they would be leaving the country. The district paid for airfare between Pittsburgh and Miami, and The Flying Classroom arranged the one-hour flight to Havana and the two days spent away from Miami.

Mr. Weiss said he referred the review to an independent investigator to avoid a conflict of interest.

“Without getting into the details, there [are] the issues of The Flying Classroom contract, what exactly was covered under that contract, some of the background of the trip,” Mr. Weiss said. “There’s considerably more information necessary than I initially anticipated. It’s the kind of situation that calls for an outside independent counsel to deal with.”