The Teachers' Scrounge

News and comments from the world of public education. A middle school math teacher shared what he learned today.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Does Your School Have a Cappuccino Machine?

Wow... there's so much in this story... it's a little long, but I think it's worth the read.

So according to the Chicago Sun Times, it is NOT news that Chicago Public Schools (CPS) bought, "30 cappuccino/espresso machines for $67,000." However, it is almost news that many of the machines went unused, "because the schools didn't even know they were getting the equipment, schools didn't know how to use the machines and weren't prepared to implement them into the curriculum." What IS news, is that, "central office administrators split the order among 21 vocational schools to avoid competitive bidding required for purchases over $10,000." As a result, the auditor says the district overpaid by $12,000.

But wait! There's more!

At one CPS high school, when student athletes sent out transcripts, their grades were changed (raised, of course), then after the transcript was issued, the grades were switched back to their original score. (Wow, that's actually brilliant... How did that even get detected!?)

What's even MORE amazing, they'll never know who did it because staff shared login/password information!

But wait! There's more!!

A district elementary school was overpopulated, and enrollment was cut off. So some district employees got their relatives' kids into the school by falsifying their address information. (This one was done by lower-level employees, so of course, heads rolled.)

Surely That's All!

Crazy! I wonder if our recently nominated US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, is familiar with Chicago Public Schools. Oh, wait! He's the Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Public Schools! SWEET! Does that mean bailout money will bring a cappuccino machine to my campus>

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