Charter School Hires Convicted Felon

Q:What do you do when your charter school is under fire for cheating on tests?

A: Hire a convicted felon - whose brother is a state representative - to clean up the mess.

Additionally, only 6 of the 14 board members voted to appoint the convict, Mr. Swan, and the charter may have violated the open meetings law, which requires 48 hour notice before any meeting.

Seriously - you can't make this kind of stuff up. From CBS3 Springfield:

Many remember Fred Allen Swan walking out of the Springfield Federal Court in 2007. Then, he was facing a 2 year probation sentence. Today, he's about to lead a Springfield charter school.

Swan plead guilty to fraud and a close to a million dollar bid rigging scheme.

However, in the last week, he's been tapped to run the Robert Hughes Academy on School Street.

The convicted felon, is facing a tough task. He's being asked to oversee the school in the middle of an MCAS cheating scandal. The current principal, Janet Henry is on leave as the investigation continues.

Swan is the brother of State Rep. Benjamin Swan and he glided into the $79,000 a year job, just as his probation was over.

You can read some of the backstory about the Robert Hughes Academy's testing scandal here.