Philly Superintendent William Hite testifies on a whirlwind day at Kenyatta Johnson’s bribery trial

The superintendent of a network of nonprofit charter schools that paid Philadelphia City Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson’s wife $67,000 told a jury Friday that she couldn’t remember ever seeing any work the consultant had done for the money.

The nonprofit’s former executives didn’t initially recall much either, a former FBI agent said.

And the chief of the Philadelphia School District testified that he dealt directly with the nonprofit’s CEO — not the spouse of the councilmember — when it came to its charter schools.

Those morsels of testimony emerged as federal prosecutors closed out the second week of their bribery case against Johnson and his wife, Dawn Chavous, with a day that ping-ponged across allegations laid out in their sprawling indictment — and featured a cameo from Philadelphia schools Superintendent William R. Hite Jr.

Hite — who is leaving his post as head of the school district this summer — was called to the stand as a government witness just hours after he had attended a Friday morning news conference at which city officials introduced Tony B. Watlington Sr. as his successor.

» READ MORE: Philly has a new superintendent: Tony B. Watlington Sr. starts his five-year contract in June

Hite strode into the courtroom, and, under questioning from Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Gibson, told jurors his contact with Chavous centered primarily around her inviting him to Laborer’s District Council meetings — and not the charter school operator she was working for.

It wasn’t until later, Hite said, that he learned Chavous and Johnson were married.

“I was surprised,” he said. “I didn’t know that.”

Just before, the jury had heard from Penny Nixon, who worked under Hite as the district’s chief academic officer before leaving nine years ago for a job leading Universal Education Companies — the nonprofit charter school operator for which she is now superintendent and CEO.

UEC and its parent organization, Universal Companies, founded by legendary music producer Kenny Gamble, are central players in the government’s case against Johnson and Chavous.

» READ MORE: Who is Kenny Gamble? From Philly soul to Universal Companies, here’s what to know.

Prosecutors say two executives at the nonprofit paid Chavous $67,000 between 2013 and 2014, through a consulting contract for which she did very little work. The government alleges that money was actually a bribe meant to buy Johnson’s support for Universal’s efforts to redevelop troubled real estate assets it owned in his South Philadelphia district.

Chavous — a longstanding charter schools advocate and politically connected consultant — has maintained she earned the money and brought value to Universal through fund-raising efforts, introductions to politicians and charter school backers, and grant applications she helped write on its behalf.

» READ MORE: Kenyatta Johnson and Dawn Chavous bribery trial: What you need to know

But Nixon testified Friday that she couldn’t recall Chavous ever contributing to grant applications for the seven charter schools Universal ran in Philadelphia at the time or bringing in any significant funds.

Over several trial days this week, Chavous’ attorney, Barry Gross, has sought to persuade the jury Chavous was a “workaholic” when it came to Universal and has presented dozens of emails she sent and received during her time under contract in which she discussed campus tours she set up, initiatives she was working on, and meetings she had organized and participated in with prominent officials.

» READ MORE: As it happened: Focus returns to famed Philly theater on South Street in Kenyatta Johnson trial

Confronted with those emails Friday — some of which listed Nixon as a recipient — the charter school superintendent acknowledged that they helped her recall some contributions by Chavous.

Johnson’s lawyer, Patrick Egan, suggested Chavous’ value to Universal was her Rolodex — her connections to prominent and wealthy charter school backers built over a career working in the field.

“Private funding involves relationships, does it not?” he asked Nixon. “And it would be good for Universal to have good relationships with private funders. So, it would make perfect sense for Universal to retain someone to have relationships with private funders.”

But earlier in the day, a former FBI agent who had led the probe into the couple during its investigation stage, said that when he first interviewed two Universal executives in 2017 and asked about Chavous’ role with the nonprofit, they couldn’t recall much either.

The organization’s then-CEO Rahim Islam and its CFO Shahied Dawan vaguely described her contract as having something to do with fund-raising or grant writing, former Special Agent Robert McManigal recalled.

When asked why Universal had ended its contract with her in late 2014, Islam said that after 14 months she hadn’t raised any money and he felt he could do a better job himself.

McManigal said he asked why it had taken more than a year for Islam to reach that conclusion while he continued to send checks Chavous’ way.

“[Islam] looked down, he looked up, and hesitated and said, ‘Fourteen months is a long time to ascertain whether a consultant is capable of performing their services,’ ” the former agent said.

Both Islam and Dawan are now codefendants in Johnson and Chavous’ case — charged with setting up Chavous’ contract as a bribe to influence Johnson.

Their lawyers pushed back Friday against prosecutors’ efforts to paint them as evasive in those initial interviews with McManigal, noting that when the agent asked Islam directly whether the contract was intended as a bribe for the councilmember, he adamantly insisted there was no quid pro quo.

Prosecutors, however, have alleged that at the time Islam offered Chavous a contract with Universal it was seeking Johnson’s aid to bail the nonprofit out of a precarious financial situation.

In 2013, the organization’s charter school operations in Philadelphia and Milwaukee were hemorrhaging money, it had recently laid off some consultants and staff, and a project undertaken by Universal’s affordable housing wing to redevelop the dilapidated Royal Theater on South Street had stalled out over zoning concerns.

» READ MORE: Prosecutors zoom in on Kenyatta Johnson’s Royal Theater zoning bill in federal bribery trial

Johnson pushed a zoning bill through City Council in 2014 that cleared the way for Universal’s Royal project to proceed.

The councilmember maintains his support had nothing to do with his wife’s work with the nonprofit.

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