Amid corruption scandal, Dauphin Co.’s Jeff Haste resigned from state’s largest cyber charter school

Former Dauphin County Commissioner Jeff Haste has been removed from Commonwealth Charter Academy’s website. Haste was previously listed as Vice Chair of the commonwealth’s largest cyber charter school.

Amid an ongoing corruption scandal, former Dauphin County Commissioner Jeff Haste resigned from his board position with Commonwealth Charter Academy, the largest cyber charter school in the state, in mid-November according to officials from the school. 

Haste, who no longer appears on the charter school’s website, served as the Vice Chairman on the board of the cyber charter school. 

Video footage from Rock the Capital, an independent media outlet based in the Harrisburg area, showed Haste attending the cyber charter school’s November board meeting. 

“[Haste] was at the table and something came up from which he recused himself,” Tim Potts, a former Carlise School Board member, explained in an interview. “I don’t remember what it was, but, obviously, if he weren’t there in a capacity as a board member, he wouldn’t be recusing himself from anything.”

Potts is a longtime advocate in the Harrisburg area and has been attending Commonwealth Charter Academy’s board meetings due to the school’s issues with transparency. He was present for the cyber charter’s November board meeting. 

Haste, who has not been charged with any offenses, has come under scrutiny in recent months due to an unfolding corruption scandal involving his dealings with Dauphin County during his tenure as a county commissioner. 

Pennlive reported in August that Haste approved millions of dollars for Visit Hersey & Harrisburg, which serves as Dauphin County’s tourism agency, without disclosing the fact that his wife was a paid consultant for the organization. 

Haste was then stripped of three powerful Dauphin County board positions after Pennlive reported that Haste received $325,000 in undisclosed payments from PrimeCare Medical, which provides health care services for the Dauphin County prison, in 2017. 

Recent changes to the Pennsylvania Public School Code would automatically remove anyone from their position as a charter school board member if they are convicted of “a felony, an infamous crime, an offense pertaining to fraud, theft or mismanagement of public funds, any offense pertaining to the member’s official capacity as a member of the Board, or any crime involving moral turpitude.”