Amy Frogge is a parent of children in the Nashville public schools, a lawyer, and served two terms on the Metro Nashville school board. When she read in Chalkbeat that the Philadelphia school board had hired a consulting firm to advise its new superintendent, she was stunned. The consulting firm would be paid a fee of $450,000 for its advice. But what stunned her was that the firm was operated by the former Superintendent of Nashville, who had left under a cloud. This was the same superintendent who brought to Nashville a leadership team that included former Baltimore County superintendent Dallas Dance. Shortly after Dance was brought to Nashville, he was convicted and imprisoned on charges relating to consulting fees on a no-bid contract, which he lied about on financial disclosures.
Frogge sent the following letter to Philadelphia school board members:
Good morning-
My name is Amy Frogge. I am an attorney and former eight-year member of the Metro Nashville school board, where I served as both Vice Chair and Chair.
I was deeply disturbed to see that your school district has entered into a contract with Joseph and Associates: https://philadelphia.chalkbeat.org/2022/6/21/23177395/consulting-firm-will-get-450000-to-help-new-philly-superintendent This article includes comments from two Nashville board members who claim that Shawn Joseph left our school district merely due to personality conflicts, when nothing could be further from the truth.
I know the contract has been finalized, but I am reaching out to you as a warning. When Joseph arrived in Nashville, his former supervisor from another school district reached out to me as well, and I wish I had heeded the warnings. I voted to hire him and remained his strong supporter until I finally realized what was happening behind the scenes.
When Shawn Joseph and his team arrived in Nashville, we were hit by millions of dollars in no-bid contracts and an array unqualified, highly paid consultants. Unauthorized purchasing increased sevenfold, which meant Joseph and his team were not following proper contract procedures. Joseph negotiated contracts in violation of state law, and he could not account for the spending of $1.5 million on a no-bid contract that he awarded to someone he knew and brought with him from another school district. He repeatedly misled the school board and split contracts so that they would not come to the board for approval. In addition, our district endured what was described as a “morale crisis,” and the school board had to hire an independent firm to assess the district’s new Human Resources department. It concluded that employee morale was the lowest it had ever been and that Joseph’s team was engaging in “unconscionable” practices. By the time Joseph left, the state recommended revocation of his state license. This is all just the tip of the iceberg. Here is a short summary of just some of the problems we encountered: https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/what-you-need-to-know-about-shawn-josephs-controversies There is much more. I have never before or after experienced such corruption and dysfunction.
Shawn Joseph’s severance agreement included a gag order for school board members to prevent us from speaking even truthfully about our experiences. Three of us had to sue to remove the clause from agreement, and we just won the lawsuit. That is the reason I am able to reach out to you today.
I just attended an education conference in your lovely city, and I hate to see Philadelphia go down the same path. I would be happy to speak with any of you about our experiences. Please feel free to call or email me.
Amy Frogge
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It is a sad state of affairs when these edugrifters continue to fail upwards. They take a wrecking ball to public schools while they and their buddies surf the waves of the community, public money. It is important for school districts to do their research on potential administrators and outside consultants before signing them on the dotted line.
I was involved in two superintendent searches during my career. The committee of administrators, parents, teachers and one high school student did a site visit to one or two districts in which these candidates had served. It helps to get a better picture of the candidate and what this person has done in prior assignments. School districts should stay away from those connected to “reform,” TFA, and business only credentials. Even those with decent credentials like Joseph should be thoroughly vetted. Also, districts should not hire candidates based on the color of their skin. They should hire those that have a vision that puts the student needs above all else.
All too often, the personnel search committees don’t perform even a five minute Google search to discover immediately disqualifying things about candidates for positions.
There was a case a few years back in New London CT in which this occurred with a candidate for Superintendent of Schools.
The committee was all ready to hire the person and it was only after a local parent did a brief search online and went to a journalist with what she found that the disqualifying information came to light.
Hope someone is sending this to the Philadelphia press.
This letter will fall on deaf ears as William Hite (the former Super of Philadelphia public schools as of June 2022) is a mentor/close friend of Shawn Joseph’s and they both came out of Prince George’s County public school system in MD. Hite is a member of Chiefs for Change (Broad Academy). Corruption in PG County runs rampant….especially in education. Shawn Joseph and Dallas Dance will continue to “fail up” and avoid any major setbacks to their grifting careers due to people like Dr. Hite.
Chiefs for Change May have many Broadies but it wa started by Jeb Bush—Mr. School Choice and High-Stakes Testing
Thank you, Ms. Frogge, for your civic courage and candor.
Hmm, me thinks that maybe the people that just hired this crook are also crooks and expect to get kickbacks deposited to their offshore accounts.
The FBI should be keeping very close tabs on Shawn Joseph since he might lead them to more crooks they can bust. “Crows of a feather flock together!” Who coined that phrase?
Thank you, Diane and Amy. Our nation needs more like you who are dedicated to all of our children.
Without a doubt these people targeted Philadelphia because of our history or corruption at The City and School District Levels. Without a doubt it’s a disgrace and NO ONE seems to care or do anything about it