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Philly Schools Ordered to Pay $2.3 Million in Discrimination Suit By White Firm
A federal jury has ordered the Philadelphia School District to pay $2.3 million in a discrimination case that involves late superintendent Arlene Ackerman. (na fotce wyzej)
The Newtown-based Security & Data Technologies Inc. filed suit in 2012 claiming Ackerman and the school district chose a different company for contracted work because of racial bias.
SDT had started preliminary work on installing surveillance cameras at 19 schools the state had considered “dangerous” as part of a $7.5 million no-bid contract, according to the Inquirer, when Ackerman offered the work to a smaller, minority-owned firm on an emergency contract.
The smaller firm, IBS Communications, had not requested the work and was not on a state list of companies eligible for no-bid contracts.
The Inquirer reported that Ackerman said at a 2010 meeting that she was tired of the district assigning work to contractors who she said did not look like her. John Byars, a former top district procurement official, told the newspaper that Ackerman said she would change course so that “all these white boys didn’t get contracts” and asked why a minority firm couldn’t receive the work before directing the job to IBS.
