PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The administrator who accused a Philadelphia charter school of rigging its enrollment lottery is now suing the school.
Patrick Field, the chief academic officer at Franklin Towne Charter High School, made headlines in May when he told The Philadelphia Inquirer that the school’s CEO blocked students from 17 mostly Black ZIP codes from its enrollment lottery.
He has been on administrative leave ever since.
On Friday, he filed a federal lawsuit against the school, its board and then-CEO Joseph Venditti, claiming his reputation has been harmed and that he’s suffered “severe physical and emotional distress.”
The suit says Venditti, who resigned during an emergency board meeting in February, falsely accused Field of having pornography on his computer and cited a 10-year-old larceny charge against Field that was dismissed and expunged.
The school in a statement said it would “vigorously defend itself” but didn’t comment further because the suit contains personnel issues.