Ironic Photo of the Day    Wednesday, February 24, 2010

http://media.philly.com/images/mond.jpg

This photo of former DHS supervisor Valerie Mond accompanies a
CourierPostOnline.com story about Community Education Centers. This
photo accompanies a story on the Courier Post website about  Community
Education Centers, a Philly-based company providing training services
to inmates.

The caption identifies the woman in the picture as Valerie Mond, who
was photographed while leading a "character and accountability class"
at Hoffman Hall, a prisoner re-entry facility in North Philly.

If Mond's name is familiar, it's because she's mentioned in the
Philadelphia District Attorney's 2008 Grand Jury report into the death
of Danieal Kelly, the child with cerebral palsy who starved to death
while under DHS care.

The report alleged that Mond, a former DHS program administrator, was
among the agency's supervisors who "ignored deadlines and DHS policies
with impunity" in their supervision of those responsible for
overseeing Danieal's case.

Of Mond and other DHS workers, the report noted, "a share of the stain
of responsibility for Danieal's death remains on their hands."  The
child's life, the report concluded, "did not depend on these DHS
employees taking heroic action to save her. It depended on them merely
to do their jobs."

Mond was not indicted, but she resigned after the report was released,
which perhaps was a way of being accountable for her part in one of
the most horrifying and heart-wrenching botch-ups in DHS history. It
would be enormous evidence of character if she used her own story in
the classes she teaches Hoffman Hall's inmates.

Mond, whose voicemail identifies her as working on the "Unity Unit" at
Hoffman Hall, did not return my call for comment.