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.
| Anybody at the Trib bother to check out to which vendor the orders were placed? Who the owner of said vendor is related to? Who the owner has given money to in recent election campaigns? Sheesh, I gotta tell them everything ... |
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