School board says it's cooperating with DeKalb DA

By Megan Matteucci

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

DeKalb County school officials say they are cooperating with a district attorney’s investigation into allegations of bid-rigging in school construction projects, but they are still refusing to turn over records.

Late Monday night, the school board issued a statement denying reports that it has refused to cooperate with the DA's inquiry.

But the level of cooperation is unclear.

The statement said that all board members have offered to submit to interviews with the district attorney's office.

On Tuesday, District Attorney Gwen Keyes Fleming told the AJC she never received official notice of any such offer.

“It’s not personal,” she said. “All of us are elected by the citizens to uphold the public trust. We obviously have different information, different interpretations and different opinions, but I’m confident we will resolve them.”

Last month, the DA sent an open records request to the school district asking for any documents concerning an internal investigation into Patricia “Pat” Pope, the school system’s former chief operating officer. Pope, who oversaw school construction, is accused of circumventing state bidding laws to help her husband, an architect, and his friends in construction get contracts.

The school board denied the records request.

On Monday, the board issued a statement saying it had already turned over all files -- “except for a few documents withheld on the basis of attorney-client privilege" -- before the DA filed its open-records request.

School officials won’t answer any additional questions but have said they want “any irregularities to be fully investigated.”

Fleming said she didn’t want to point fingers but hopes school officials will be more forthcoming.

“I have said publicly that the school board and I should be on the same page in terms of protecting the public trust," she said Tuesday. "We will do our part. And I look forward to them doing theirs.”

According to records obtained by the AJC, the district attorney is reviewing six construction projects.

Pope’s now estranged husband, A. “Tony” Vincent Pope, worked on three of them. His friend, Lithonia builder David Moody, worked on two of the six projects, and Turner Construction worked on at least one of them.

Authorities seized about 9,000 documents from the school district when they executed a search warrant in October.

The school board is scheduled to meet Wednesday in closed session to talk about litigation.

Staff Reporter Tim Eberly contributed to this report.