Cappuccino Machines And More

Remember: this all took place on the watch of the man slated to become the next Secretary of Education.

Chicago taxpayers wound up spending $67,000 on cappuccino/espresso machines ordered by Chicago Public School educrats who knowingly and intentionally subverted rules regarding competitive bidding, according to a report in the Chicago Sun Times.

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.

“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.

What was in Sullivan’s mind when he made these ridiculous statements? CPS paid $12,000 too much? Based on what? Should CPS even have been buying cappuccino/espresso machines in the first place? Not just no, hell no.

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.

Hello? Hello? Anybody home? Just how in the heck does one implement a cappuccino machine into any curriculum? It’s a waste of money, Mr. Sullivan, because a cappuccino machine doesn’t have Thing One to do with educating students. Not one. Just why does any public school need a cappuccino or espresso machine paid for by taxpayers? Remember: these are the same people who say we can’t cut one dime of fat from any gummint-run skool budget.

Sullivan gets our Tool of the Week Award.

A co-winner of the Tool of the Week Award might be the Drive By Media reporter for the Sun-Times. It never even dawned on him to ask why CPS was buying cappuccino/espresso machines in the first place.

Wonder if Badger Blogger cares to research if any cappuccino or espresso machines were purchased by MPS.

That’s not all:

That was just one example of questionable CPS actions detailed in the inspector general’s 2008 annual report. Others included high school staffers changing grades to pump up transcripts of student athletes and workers at a restricted-enrollment grade school falsifying addresses to get relatives admitted.

The grade-changing took place at an unidentified high school, where student athletes grades were boosted, then, after transcripts were issued for college admission offices, the grades were changed back. The culprits could not be identified because passwords allowing entry to the grading system were shared by a number of people, Sullivan said. A new record system has tighter security, he said.

At Carson Elementary, an overcrowded school in Gage Park where even neighborhood kids were restricted from enrolling, five lower- level employees got six relatives into the school by falsifying addresses. Sixty-nine students from outside the attendance area got in, but they didn’t even bother to lie about their addresses. CPS had to spend as much as $252,000 to bus kids who live in the neighborhood to other schools, Sullivan said.

No, this isn’t a government operation. Sarcasm alert now turned off.

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