The whistle-blower whose allegations of wrongdoing in the D.C. Board of Education’s charter schools office sparked a grand jury investigation announced Friday that he will sue the city — a suit that could cost the city millions.
Steve Kapani was put on administrative leave after federal authorities raided the offices of his boss, Brenda Belton.
His lawyer, Mona Lyons, says the decision to put him on administrative leave violated D.C.’s whistle-blower protection laws. She also says that then-Board of Education President Peggy Cooper Cafritz and then-Board Vice President Carolyn Graham defamed Kapani when they criticized him for not coming forward sooner or called him a “disgruntled employee.”
“I get the idea that some people in the schools think that being put on administrative means you’re sitting at home watching soap operas,” Lyons told The Examiner on Friday. “It’s a classic punishment. It isolates thewhistle-blower and sends the wrong message to the hard workers of the District of Columbia.”
Neither Graham nor Cafritz returned calls seeking comment.
Lyons’ allegations were laid out in a letter to D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams. The letter is a legal formality that tells the city it is about to be sued.
Kapani went to the D.C. Inspector General’s Office in mid-March. He told officials that Belton was shuffling money to herself, her friends and her family through a series of companies. His allegations now make up the backbone of a grand jury investigation that has targeted Belton and her friends.
Belton was fired in October. Kapani remains on leave.
“Each day that Mr. Kapani remains on administrative leave constitutes another act of retaliation against him, while further impugning his reputation and damaging his career as a civil servant,” Lyons’ letter to the mayor states.
Sources familiar with the case said that Lyons has been negotiating with public schools lawyer Abbie Hairston to find a different job for Kapani. The board voted to disband its charter schools office shortly after firing Belton.
Hairston suggested moving Kapani to the troubled Office of Federal Grants, which was rated “high risk” by the Department of Education earlier this year, sources said, asking for anonymity because the negotiations are supposed to be confidential.
Kapani raised a host of worries about moving to federal grants because of allegations of mismanagement there and because school officials are thinking of disbanding it, too.
“If it’s submitted to our office, we will of course review it,” said Traci L. Hughes, spokeswoman for the city’s Attorney General.
