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Chicago schools' espresso machines a waste of money, inspector reports
One Chicago Public Schools manager must have really been jonesing for a cup of coffee when officials say she spent nearly $70,000 of the district's money to buy 30 cappuccino/espresso machines for a high school program. But five months after the machines were purchased, 22 remained unopened, one disappeared and three were being used at two schools--though not in the culinary arts program for which they were intended, the district's inspector general said Tuesday.Officials in a department dealing with work-school programs allegedly separated the purchases to make them appear they came from 21 different schools and were under $10,000. By doing so, the purchases did not have to be competitively bid or win school board approval, said Jim Sullivan, the district's inspector general. As a result, he said, the district overpaid for the coffeemakers by more than $12,000. "They sat unused for a number of months . . . by not letting the schools know they were coming, it turned out at the time to be a waste of money," Sullivan said.
Posted by: Fred 2009-01-08 |
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