SNAFU
$67,000 for coffee machines. For the opening of a new Starbucks? Guess again. It's the Chicago Public Schools.
"Chicago public school bureaucrats skirted competitive bidding rules to buy 30 cappuccino/espresso machines for $67,000" (Link )
$2300 for a glorified coffee machine?
"...with most of the machines going unused because the schools they were ordered for had not asked for them..."
What? Not enough former or future Starbucks employees at the schools to put the machines to work?
"In the case of the cappuccino machines, central office administrators split the order among 21 vocational schools to avoid competitive bidding required for purchases over $10,000. As a result CPS paid about $12,000 too much, according to Inspector General James Sullivan. "We were able to find the same machines cheaper online," he said."
Oh, so the machines can be had for $1833 each. That makes it better. That 22% markup must be part of the local Economic Stimulus package.
"We also look at it as a waste of money 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," Sullivan said.
OK...so these were not for the teachers lounge? Public schools are apparently teaching coffee making classes...err...developing expresso enhanced curricula...'cuz we all know how well the students have already mastered history, math and Creationism. Why not just close the schools and tell the little fuckers to go get a job to learn their 'life skills'? Think of all the tax dollars we would save.
"Vaughn said the employees involved have resigned, been fired or will be fired."
Yeah. Or perhaps ignored until the press attention from the release of the report blows over. Then they will go back to fucking around with taxpayer funds.
Sigh. Schools have too many administrators, too few good teachers, and not enough baseball bats being liberally applied to the heads of the parents and backsides of the students.
*Pink*
Posted by BubbaJake (2 Comments ) | 
