Deal Allows Harlem Boys Choir Founder to Stay On

The founder of the Boys Choir of Harlem will be allowed to continue as its artistic director but must give up his administrative duties under an agreement reached Thursday with the city of New York.

The agreement follows a Department of Education report that said Walter Turnbull failed to act when told that a counselor had sexually abused a student.

Under the agreement, the Boys Choir Academy must find a new chief executive, hire a dean of students who would be responsible for students’ safety, and retain an independent monitor who would make sure the pact’s terms are being followed.

“I am delighted that I will be able to maintain my position as artistic director of the Boys Choir of Harlem and that I can continue to contribute to the artistic development of the children of Harlem,” Turnbull said.

Choir employee Frank Jones was sentenced to two years in prison in December 2002, after being convicted on 24 counts of sexually abusing a teenage boy.