This article incorrectly said that D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D) planned to hold a hearing on the city's summer youth jobs program. It is council member Carol Schwartz (R-At Large) who has scheduled the Sept. 18 hearing.
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D.C. Jobs Agency Director Resigns
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Victoria Cunningham, policy director for the DC Alliance of Youth Advocates, a group of nonprofit organizations that accept youth workers, complained last week that the groups were having trouble working with the city.
The mayor's report "just confirms what we were already thinking," she said yesterday. "It would have been better if some of this kind of analysis had been going along the whole time."
Donahue said about 5,000 students have been removed from the program, leaving about 16,000 still enrolled. Further adjustments will be made as more data are examined, and the payroll probably will decrease in the final few weeks, he said.
Once the problems were known, in the middle of last month, the administration "underestimated the complexity" of correcting them, Donahue said.
Donahue said that in the months before the jobs program opened, he and City Administrator Dan Tangherlini got together with Spencer and her staff at meetings intended to promote accountability.
But Spencer did not raise red flags during those sessions, Donahue said, and administration officials did not dig deeply because the program went smoothly last year. Since the problems came to light last month, Tangherlini said, he has had most of his staff working to fix the problems.
Spencer did not return calls for comment, and the Fenty administration has not allowed her to speak to media since the pay problems emerged last month.
Fenty promised to deliver the internal report, with supporting documents, to the D.C. auditor and inspector general, who are conducting a joint probe at the request of the D.C. Council.
Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), who has criticized Fenty's management of the program, commended the mayor for releasing the report. Barry started the program in his first term as mayor 29 years ago.
"I'm sure by next summer all the bugs will be worked out," he said.
Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D) said he will hold an oversight hearing on the jobs program Sept. 18. "We'll continue on with our efforts with the inspector general and the auditor so that we can see the full extent of what went wrong," Gray said.
Tené Dolphin, Fenty's chief of staff, has been named interim director to replace Spencer, and Fenty spokeswoman Carrie Brooks will replace Dolphin, officials said.
