Palmer school officials cited Fifth Amendment in charter revocation hearing – 77 times

Even in a school district with more than its share of charter-school controversies, the answers stood out. Questioned about billing practices, two officials of an embattled Philadelphia charter school cited their Fifth Amendment right to silence - 77 times.

At hearings on whether to revoke the Walter D. Palmer school's charter, the questions ranged from hard-nosed ("Isn't it true that you lied . . . about accurately submitting invoices?") to humdrum ("Do you have a master's degree?").

Daira Hinson, the Palmer school's director of administration, invoked the Fifth Amendment 22 times in the hearings, which ended last week. Richard Troutman, its controller, did so 55 times.

"It is the first time in anybody's knowledge that a witness has pleaded the Fifth in a charter hearing," said district spokesman Fernando Gallard. "It's very surprising that two high-level administrators decided to plead the Fifth when we are asking questions on issues of overpayment. We're talking about $1.5 million over one single fiscal year."

The Inquirer obtained a transcript of the hearings via a Right To Know Law request.

While last month's abrupt closing of the Palmer charter's high school in Frankford caused turmoil for students and staff, the transcript sheds new light on the scope of the school's problems - which also include an ongoing federal investigation. An agent from the U.S. Department of Education's inspector general's office sat in on portions of the hearings.

Another witness in the hearings was school founder Walter D. Palmer, who stressed that citing their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination did not make school officials "guilty of anything."

On Monday he also defended his school in an Inquirer interview, saying, "They could bring a U-Haul in, and they are not going to find any culpability."

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Palmer school officials cited Fifth Amendment in charter revocation hearing - 77 times