Rule Deputy Chancellor Wrongly Solicited Old Firm for Donations

City investigators have found that a Deputy Schools Chancellor in the Department of Education violated conflict-of-interest laws by soliciting $60,000 in charitable contributions from the executives of his former firm for a non-profit group he is involved with.

Despite the findings, the Conflicts of Interest Board did not take any action against Christopher Cerf, with Special Commissioner for Investigation for the New York City School District Richard J. Condon instead writing a private letter to Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein about the matter, and the COIB writing a warning letter to Mr. Cerf.

Kept Edison Connection

Mr. Cerf works for the DOE but also sits on the board of the Darrow Foundation, a Maine-based non-profit wilderness program for children. Before permanently joining the DOE in December 2006, he had been president of Edison Schools, a vendor for the Education Department.

His transition between the two, working first as a DOE consultant and then becoming a Deputy Schools Chancellor, was tumultuous, with questions raised about possible lingering connections to Edison and a previous investigation by Mr. Condon, the results of which were again not made public because no arrests were made, or charges filed.

The later report, actually issued in August 2007 but first obtained by newspapers last week, stated that Mr. Cerf used his position as a former head of Edison, now called EdisonLearning, to obtain a $60,000 donation to the Darrow Foundation, requesting it via e-mail after formally relinquishing all ties with Edison. After investigators questioned him on the donation, he decided not to proceed with it, sending another e-mail to Edison executives.

The report also features a close examination of Mr. Cerf's strong ties to Edison even while at the DOE, pointing out that he gave up 6,000 shares in Edison only hours before he was due to be questioned by the DOE's advisory council about a possible conflict of interest.

The report recommends no formal actions, featuring only strongly-worded warnings and the mention of a possible $10,000 civil fine were such offences repeated.