Besieged Chorus Hears Voices of Support

NEW YORK —  The famed Boys Choir of Harlem has performed before presidents and the pope, and filled the U.N. General Assembly with harmony. It has taught its members the value of teamwork and perseverance, serving as a pathway to prestigious colleges and careers.

Achievements that make the scandal engulfing it all the more painful.

The crisis, beginning with the molestation of a student by a counselor, has grown to engulf the choir’s entire leadership, including its founder and president, Walter J. Turnbull. Described by those around him as a strict but caring disciplinarian, Turnbull has used his program of musical participation -- its affiliated school for grades 4 to 12 has about 600 students -- to help lift children from poverty.

Turnbull and his brother Horace, the choir’s executive vice president, have been accused by the city’s Department of Education of failing to report the abuse after learning that a key choir academy employee molested a 14-year-old student.

In December 2002, the counselor, Frank Jones Jr., was sentenced to two years in prison. The teenager, who is now attending college, has filed a $30-million lawsuit against the Turnbulls, New York City and John King, who was principal of the choir academy until he was replaced last week.

Investigators for the school system have urged that the Turnbulls also be dismissed -- a position the choir’s board of directors initially accepted -- then partially reversed. Instead, the overseers have proposed to the Department of Education that Walter Turnbull be retained, perhaps in a modified role, and that safeguards be strengthened.

In a statement, the board said it had identified “significant and substantial changes,” adding that its proposal maintained Turnbull’s “vital contribution to the choir.” The statement did not mention his brother.

The Department of Education pays for and runs a traditional curriculum at the choir’s academy, where musical training is financed by donations and concert revenue.

“The issue is to inspire confidence from the community and parents that this institution operates in a safe and secure manner on behalf of the children involved,” Alan L. Fuchsberg, the lawyer representing the choir’s founder, said in a phone interview. “That’s the paramount issue.”

Fuchsberg said the choir’s board asked him to refrain from disclosing specifics while discussions were ongoing with city education officials.

Last week, as falling snow coated the streets of Harlem and softened the outlines of the brownstone Ephesus Church at 123rd Street and Lenox Avenue, community residents rallied inside to support the choir and its founder.

The church has special significance. It was in one of its basement rooms that 35 years ago Turnbull started the choir with a small group of boys -- many from poor and single-parent families.

At the rally, pews were packed with choir alumni, parents, choir academy students and people who over the years have enjoyed performances.

“I think it’s unfair. I have known Mr. Turnbull since my son, who is 47 years old, used to work with him,” said Berdell Domingo. “He was very inspired by him. And my grandson is here. I just feel they’re treating this wrong. They just want to destroy a good thing.”

Standing near the pulpit, the Rev. Edward Johnson, vice chairman of the Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement, stressed the important role the chorus serves.

“Turnbull not only sought to reach out and make sure our young people were educated well, but also had cultural values -- of our culture and the culture of others,” he said. “They had self worth.... Ninety percent are in college and graduating. Many become honor students. I would like to see Dr. Turnbull and the brother continue what they’re doing.”

A woman in the audience turned to her son. “Adam, take the coat off,” she admonished him. “You’re going up there to perform.”

The powerful combined voices of the boys choir and its sister unit, the Girls Choir of Harlem, filled the church. People stood, swayed to the beat of the high-spirited and infectious music with its intricate harmonies.

“The chorus was a very integral part of developing myself as a young man,” said Gilbert Robinson, who works in a Manhattan law firm and is secretary of the choir’s alumni association. “Dr. Turnbull kept us all in check, and kept us on the right track in doing positive things.”