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Anonymouse
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01/30/06
Can't expect much from the DISD Trustees, but ...
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When you have Ron Price, Joe May and Lew
Blackburn on a Board presided over by Lois Parrott, it's to be expected that
we will be subjected to monthly scandals of mismanagement and financial
squander of the exorbitant school taxes we pay. |
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Still, it's pretty shocking to get all this bad news about stuff that must
have been going on or got started while Dr. Mike Moses was in charge.
Guess you can't trust educators to be administrators of billion-dollar
operations, but there have been big shot corporate types on the school board
in the past 15 years who apparently condoned or overlooked or flat did not
know about the complete breakdown of common sense and frugality in the
Dallas Independent School District. |
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01/31/06 Judd
Bradbury:
My views are only as a taxpayer. In order for the
DISD/Kinkos analysis to hold water the following would
have to happen:
Teachers would have to surrender the
portion of their salaries back to the district for
time spent making copies.
The repairmen would have to surrender
the portion of their salaries back to the district
for the time spent repairing copy machines.
The copy machine and toner contract
costs would need to be compared on a bundled basis
to determine best cost. The printer hardware
business is really a toner/ink business.
This appears to be a pretty poor
analysis of service to requirements. Any small
business owner will tell you there are a number of
printer/toner service companies in every major
city. These guys are like velociraptors and they
operate on razor thin margins.
A really disappointing revelation.
That is all money that could buy books and pay
teachers. |
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When you think about these incompetents governing the education of Dallas
children, it is even worse.
David W. Tuthill
Subject: Kinko's deal looked good on
paper, but DISD costs are up.
As Dallas
taxpayers were greeted Sunday
(1/29/06) with yet another tale
about the DISD school system, I
do not know whether or not to laugh or cry.
In the past,
we have been told how "for the good of our children's education"
that mismanagement ran rampant with
technology contracts (with yacht trips), unlimited
car allowances, unlimited cell phone bills for the
trustees. Now, we have a printing/copying
contract (with golf perk attached).
One can only wonder and fear what
will be next. And there is every indication based
upon past track records that there must be more.
Who is in charge of overseeing this
mess? Are any of the trustees awake and at the
switch when these contacts are reviewed? Probably not,
as they seem to be part of the problem.
Where is the
responsibility? Where is the shame?
I wonder how any of the DISD trustees
can show their face in public. I personally
would be embarrassed based upon the past news and would not
want to be recognized in public where I might have to account for
this mess.
The DISD administration seems to be
without shame. I have yet to read in the paper of
any trustee voicing regret or embarrassment of this
past mess. This is from an entity
that comprises more than half of my
ever-increasing property tax bill.
Oh, yes,
they do need more money, and
it certainly is not for the children. |
David is right. This is a
shameful mess, and more so because there is no shame among those who are
responsible for this mess.
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Kinko's deal is
costly to DISD;
Exclusive:
Principals lament expense; firm stands by copying, printing program
Saturday,
January 28, 2006 by
KENT FISCHER and TAWNELL D. HOBBS / The Dallas
Morning News |
EXCLUSIVE:
When the Dallas schools announced a
groundbreaking plan to outsource copying and printing to industry giant
Kinko's, W.T. White High School jumped on board.
Company reps told Principal Joy
Barnhart that she could slash copying and printing expenses by 21 percent,
money she could plow back into classrooms. Instead, those expenses nearly
quadrupled, according to district records. From 2003
to 2005, such expenses rose from $42,000 to $158,000.
Across the entire Dallas
Independent School District, copying and printing costs more than doubled.
In 2003, the district spent $5.87 million; by 2005 it was spending $12.82
million, according to records obtained by The Dallas Morning News.
... FedEx/Kinko's spokeswoman Maggie Thill
referred requests for cost figures to DISD. She did not dispute The News'
findings,
... "Based on a school-by-school assessment, we
are in fact saving the district money," she said.
District records and interviews don't
support that claim, however.
... the district's purchasing director, Greg
Milton, wrote to his boss in September. "My professional opinion is that
they've come up with this explanation as a means to justify their costs, but
the argument is ridiculous when analyzed. ... [Current charges] are double
to eight times our real costs!"
In addition to complaints of
excessive cost, public records examined by The News indicated that:
•DISD's handling of the project was led by Ruben
Bohuchot, DISD's former director of technology, who was ousted last fall
after becoming the subject of an FBI investigation into a separate
computer-services contract. ...
•The contract obliges schools to lease equipment from FedEx/Kinko's,
so hundreds of perfectly functional printers the district already owned now
sit in warehouses, wrapped in plastic. ...
•Some school budgets are breaking under the cost of operating new
equipment leased through the program. T.C. Marsh Middle School's copying
charges for the current school year would amount to more than $80,000,
Principal Kyle Richardson estimated. He said the amount he had budgeted for
the year "would not even cover three months of charges."
... Superintendent Michael Hinojosa said he's
heard complaints about the contract since arriving in the district in May.
... Enthusiasm for the contract went to the top of
Kinko's corporate ladder.
The company's stake went beyond this
one deal. Records and interviews indicate that top executives hoped to
establish a trend-setting program with DISD that could then be marketed to
other large districts around the country.
... Once the deal was inked in 2003,
then-Superintendent Mike Moses urged his employees to sign up with Kinko's,
telling them they could redirect any savings into their schools.
Trustee Hollis
Brashear, who was board president at the time, voted against the contract.
He questioned why the administration pushed for the deal even though schools
were not complaining about their equipment.
... When FedEx/Kinko's looked at W.T. White High
School, for example, it concluded that the school was spending $104,116 per
year running its Oce copiers. The company said it could save the school an
average of $45,000 a year.
Principal Barnhart told The News she
can't figure out how the company arrived at its figures. In previous years
she spent $42,000 annually for equipment rental, copying costs, toner and
repairs – the same costs included in FedEx/Kinko's billing, district
officials say.
... The conclusion: district officials could not
figure out how Kinko's came up with the estimates, which were based on a
complicated formula that included not just what schools paid for copying,
but also things like the time teachers spent in the copy room and the amount
of time repairmen spent on campuses. The estimates
also included supplies like toner, which schools had received for free under
previous contracts.
... By late 2004, some managers warned that the program was blowing
school budgets. Records show that top officials were unsure what to do.
... One of the first administrators to question
the deal was Mr. Milton, DISD's purchasing director. Last summer, he wrote
his bosses to share his concerns: Nobody at DISD really understood how
Kinko's arrived at its estimates, and therefore all were surprised at the
expenses that followed, he said. Plus, he said, upper
management didn't make addressing the concerns a top priority.
... The total copying charges, however, were
rising fast enough to put a dent even in DISD's $2 billion budget.
In 2003, the year before trustees
ratified the deal, DISD spent $5.87 million on copying,
printing, equipment and associated costs, according to district records. In
2005, districtwide spending for copying hit $12.82
million – $2.1 million more than DISD had budgeted.
... FedEx/Kinko's said that if the deal is indeed
bad for the district, DISD can simply cancel it with 30 days' written
notice. That the district has failed to do so for 2 ½ years indicates that
the program is working, Ms. Thill said.
... Mr. Moses said through a spokeswoman:
"It is very disappointing if printing costs have increased, because the idea
was presented to our purchasing department as a way to bring
cost-effectiveness to the district's printing and copying expenses. If costs
have not been driven down as promised, then the board definitely should
review and cancel the contract." ...
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Disgusting. Isn't it?
Why are we surprised? This School Board continues to let Lew Blackburn
serve as a Trustee even though he is a high-ranking employee of Wilmer-Hutchins
ISD, which is now a part of DISD. It's wrong, it's illegal and it's
typical of the DISD School Board and the whole mindset of DISD administrators.
Mike
Perry:
This is the craziest thing I have ever heard.
DISD should function as a private
corporation. They would put a halt to this waste immediately due to
stockholder/board pressure. This goes along with the waste I have
personally witnessed at DISD. I have come to the conclusion DISD is filled
with incompetent administrative staff. This is another example of no one
"minding the store". Where is the school board to
stop this waste and fire ALL those who pushed this? |
Unless we get some answers
quick and unless the DISD demands reimbursement from
FedEx/Kinko,
I'm going to oppose the DISD bond election. Like Mike Perry, I'm tired of
those fools WASTING our money and NOT EDUCATING our children.
Speaking of opposition, I don't vote in the Democrat's primary, but I would vote
AGAINST CRAIG WATKINS if I did. He's running to get their nomination for
District Attorney. This is the same guy who told White Allen Gwinn to stay
out of South Dallas politics, when Allen asked him how he could condone the
stuff that Ron Price has been doing with our tax dollars. I wrote a letter
to the DMN in response to their editorial:
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Hits and Misses
12:00 AM CST on Saturday, January 28, 2006 |
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Crazy.
Race-baiting. Offensive. Politicians from both parties have used those words
to describe one of Dan Wyde's campaign tactics in his run for Dallas County
district attorney. In at least one campaign appearance, Mr. Wyde, a
Republican, has propped up a photo of leading Democratic contender Craig
Watkins. Coincidence that Mr. Watkins just happens to be black? We think
not. Offensive, yes. Also unfitting for a person who wants to represent all
of the people.
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I'm supporting Toby Shook as
the GOP nominee for County District Attorney because he's been a hard***
Assistant District Attorney. I don't know Dan Wyde. If he's a
racist, it may give truth to the adage "It takes one to know one." There's
no doubt that Craig Watkins is a racist who doesn't like White guys who question
public corruption and unethical actions by elected and appointed officials.
I will probably catch a lot of flack for my letter to the DMN if they post it,
but Craig Watkins has already proven that he is not a person "who wants to
represent all of the people".
One Democrat I am supporting is Constable Mike Dupree. We see Mike and his
staff in Northwest Dallas as much as we see DPD officers. Mike has
developed a great teamwork with DPD to protect us and our property.
Councilman Steve Salazar says he does just as good a job in Oak Cliff and West
Dallas. We need to keep this good public official working for the good of
law abiding citizens. Mike absolutely is out there on the job for "all of
the people" of his district. If you are voting in the Democrat primary and
you are in Mike's district, I hope you will stand with him. Domingo Garcia
is running one of his guys against Mike Dupree.
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You can see from the mayhem at the DISD, your vote is important. When we
let others vote and we go fishing on election day, we wind up with a government
body like the DISD. The primaries determine who will be the candidates for
the November election. Pick Republican or Democrat, but vote in the March
primaries. Otherwise, you will be choosing between dumb and dumber in
November. Worse, we might wind up with the dumbest elected to office --
like we have with the DISD Board of Trustees. |
sb
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