Boys Choir of Harlem founder continues as artistic director

Jet, Feb 16, 2004

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 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.

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

Turnbull, who was also the school's director, along with his brother Horace, choir vice president, was asked to be removed after a probe (JET, Jan. 26).

The report called for the Department to sever ties with the school unless the Turnbulls were removed.

Under the agreement, the Boys Choir Academy must find a new chief executive, hire a dean of students, and retain an independent monitor.

The academy is a performing arts and educational institution for over 500 boys and girls. The city pays for teachers, equipment and its standard academic curriculum, but the choir organization funds counselors, tutors, music training and a summer institute.