Charter school manager is jury target

AS SCHOOL officials yesterday shut down a nightclub that operated inside a West Philadelphia charter school, the Daily News learned that former School Reform Commission chairwoman Sandra Dungee Glenn had attended a party there.

Meanwhile, Rhonda Sharif, the school's business manager, who's been accused of mismanaging millions of dollars at the school and at two others, is being targeted in a grand-jury investigation, her lawyer said.

"I have no comment until I know what they need and what they want," said the lawyer, Charles Grant.

After a visit to the Harambee Institute of Science and Technology Charter School yesterday, state education and district officials said they were satisfied that no trace of booze or other materials associated with Club Damani were on site.

In a letter to Superintendent Arlene Ackerman yesterday, Harambee officials wrote that "as of March 31, 2010, the building located at 640 N. 66th Street is no longer being used as a banquet facility."

But district officials have promised to continue to investigate the allegations against the school, said Ben Rayer, who oversees charter schools for the district.

Similar allegations were reported to the district in December 2002, according to a statement released by the district yesterday.

A month later, a former lawyer for the district informed the administration that a liquor license had been transferred to the address of the school. The lawyer recommended that a hearing be held before the SRC, but district officials said they were not aware of any hearing on the matter.

The district's inspector general, John Downs, has been investigating Harambee since last year.

Calls from the Daily News last night to Harambee's attorney, Kenya Mann, were not returned.

Before shutting down, the club drew at least one notable figure.

Dungee Glenn confirmed yesterday that she went to a party at the club inside the school about four years ago.

Dungee Glenn headed the SRC from the time it formed eight years ago until last year. "It's not a nightclub. I went to an event," she said. "It was a private party."

When asked if alcohol had been served, she didn't answer and asked the reporter to e-mail questions. She declined to respond to most questions and wrote, "It appeared to be a catering hall (not a nightclub) . . . I don't remember it being in the school. It seemed like one of many catering or banquet halls I've been in."

Lisa Congo-Brower, 45, who lives on Maryland Road near Lansdowne Avenue, two blocks from the school, said her family threw a college graduation party for her nephew at the school about eight years ago.

She said patrons enter the club through a rear door behind the school. "I just thought it was attached to the school as a separate building," she said last night. "I had no idea I was in a children's cafeteria."

On Tuesday, City Controller Alan Butkovitz revealed findings of his office's investigation into Sharif, whose last known address is in Montgomery County. Butkovitz said that Sharif had not accounted for thousands of dollars in expenses at all three schools.

Besides Harambee, Sharif also managed the finances of the Math, Civics and Sciences Charter, on Broad Street near Spring Garden, and Khepera Charter, on Carpenter Lane near Cresheim Street in Mount Airy.

A construction company owned by Sharif's husband, Shamsud-Din Sharif, received $7.5 million in contracts at the three schools where Sharif worked, Butkovitz said. Calls to the Sharif home last night went unanswered. Grant declined to give details on the investigation.

Rayer said that Sharif was not on the payroll as an accountant for any of the schools she has been linked to recently and as previously reported. Therefore, they don't have enough information to direct their attention toward Sharif, he said. "If there's a criminal issue, our inspector general will investigate, not the charter school office," he said.

Staff writers Barbara Laker and Valerie Russ contributed to this report.