Class Warfare

Michael Pouls made his money turning a part-time college job collecting credit-card applications from fellow students into a business that grossed millions, then flipped that into a successful real estate development business. He and Sheryl bought their Gladwyne property in 1995. The community found them “strange,” one neighbor says, because despite their loud possessions, the family was pretty quiet.

Their reputation for being low-key was borne out by the fact that of the many people who called Philadelphia on the Poulses’ behalf, some don’t seem to really know them that well. One business associate of Michael Pouls in Delaware, where he is building an “active adult” community, was eager enough to talk that he called seven times and sent a text message. But he had so little to say that it begged the question of why he was asked to call in the first place. “He seemed to think that my position as the vice chairman of the Republican Party of Delaware is noteworthy,” the associate explained.

Michael Pouls is smart and organized. Whether he pressured the administration to have Tollin removed or not, he is taking to the role of education reformer with relish. When asked how he thinks he and Sheryl are seen by other Baldwin parents, he thinks for a moment and says: “Heroic is a word that’s been used. They’re grateful someone has had the courage to speak up.”

“I don’t want to be like a hero, changing how teachers teach,” he offers later, so apropos of nothing that it can only mean that such a grandiose plan is what he has in mind. In answer to Tollin’s complaint, Pouls compiled a list of academic studies from places like the U.S. Department of Education that lauded parental involvement in a child’s education, and articles such as “Bad Teachers Have Devastating Effects on Student Performance,” which offers insights like: “If an ineffective teacher isn’t dealt with, children can be permanently harmed.”

“Controlling” is also a word that was used to describe Michael Pouls, by several parents who know the family but didn’t want to be named. “He dictates every move that his children make, and every move that his wife makes, and now he’s dictating the moves that Baldwin is making,” says one mother.

But some people say that in their experience, he’s just an enthusiastic father.

“Sheryl and Michael enjoy hosting lavish parties for their daughters’ birthdays and for the end of the school year as well,” Hope Bernstein, a Baldwin parent, wrote in an e-mail, noting that the Poulses often hired rides and clowns and provided transportation for all of the children. “They do this not to draw attention to themselves,” she is careful to note, “but to enable all of their daughter’s classmates to attend the party.”

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