Pr. George's Schools Chief's PhD Under Scrutiny

Prince George's School Superintendent John E. Deasy received a doctorate from the University of Louisville, where he completed only nine credit hours. (By Nikki Kahn -- The Washington Post)
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A spokesman for the University of Louisville, John Drees, said privacy laws prevented him from commenting on any possible waiver to university policy granted for Deasy. But Drees said this week that "exceptions to the policies can be made based on faculty recommendations and the best interest of the student. They're rare, but they can be made."

Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, said cases such as Deasy's are unusual.

"It is true that students earn credits in a variety of venues, and those credits should certainly be recognized to the degree they're comparable," he said. "But institutions typically do not operate as credit aggregators only. Institutions typically require that a significant chunk of those credits should be earned at that institution if that institution is awarding the degree."

The dean of the University of Louisville's graduate school, Ronald M. Atlas, was on sabbatical overseas and could not be reached.

Deasy's and Felner's careers overlapped in Rhode Island, where Felner served as director of the University of Rhode Island's School of Education from 1996 to 2003 and Deasy served as a local school superintendent from 1996 to 2001.

A year after taking over as superintendent of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District in 2001, Deasy recommended that his school system pay $125,000 for a survey performed by the National Center on Public Education and Social Policy, which is run by Felner. The survey was later extended for two more years at the same price, for a total of $375,000.

John White, a Prince George's schools spokesman, said there was no connection between the awarding of the contract and the awarding of Deasy's doctorate. "They definitely did have a contract, and they provided a survey, a study, something like that, that they used in driving instruction and improvement," White said. "So he feels it was a valuable tool, and his school district wasn't the only one that used that tool."

Deasy briefed the Prince George's school board this week about the doctorate issue.

"Our superintendent has spoken to the board, and as a member of that board I am satisfied," said board member Rosalind Johnson (District 1).

Howard Stone, a former school board member who was on the board when Deasy was hired, expressed surprise at questions about the doctorate. "It would seem a little difficult for me to believe that John Deasy would cut any corners when it came to something like that," Stone said.