KIRO-TV's Second Part of their Investigation into District Spending

KIRO ran the second part of their series last night.   This part was around the part of the district audit used by their team that dealt with use of district vehicles and gasoline.  I was interviewed and make a statement about being disappointed that the oversight isn't better.  This part is as sobering as the first one.  (I know that there are a variety of opinions on this series but that the district staff doesn't disagree with many of their findings is telling.)

Here is their written version of the story (but it is truncated so not verbatim).  The audit link is embedded in their written version along with a graph about employee overtime.

I still believe we have the potential to be a truly great district if we could get operations in hand.  (I hope the new financial superintendent gets this in hand.)  It is vital to get operations under control because (1) that allows real focus on teaching and learning and that's where the district should be and (2) every dollar, operational or capital, matters. 

Comments

Anonymous said…
It also would be great if KIRO knew the difference between a fiscal year and a calendar year.
11/13/13, 9:23 AM
Anonymous said…
anonymous repost "It also would be great if KIRO knew the difference between a fiscal year and a calendar year."

Not to mention getting their facts straight - something sorely lacking in last night's piece.

reader
11/13/13, 9:29 AM
Viva El Amor said…
cut copy Paste Melissa Westbrook
11/13/13, 4:23 PM
Jon said…
It's odd that people are coming here and attacking the piece without details. If you think the facts are wrong, then discuss it in a reasonable way. But just throwing out vague anonymous claims that it is wrong without any sourcing or details just looks silly, almost like you are district staff shilling for the district and doing it badly. If there are errors in the piece, be specific and say what they are, otherwise, c'mon, stop polluting the discussion.
11/13/13, 6:08 PM
Anonymous said…
One who knows--

Most of the transportation overtime, I am sure, came from having to route buses for ESY--Special Education Summer School. All three of the people sited in the report put in hundreds of hours routing the buses when they were to be on vacation. I don't think it is fair to single them out, out of context.

Not so long ago staff memeber
11/13/13, 6:32 PM
Arturo said…
Awesome work by Andrew!! Keep it up buddy!

Former colleague
11/13/13, 7:30 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday Open Thread

The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested.  It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio.  (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Read more

Breaking It Down: Where the District Might Close Schools

Update 2: an absolutely fabulous interactive map made by parent Beth Day (@thebethocracy on Twitter - she covers Board meetings and is fun to read).   end of update    Update 1: Mea culpa, I did indeed get Decatur and Thornton Creek mixed up. Thanks to all for the correction. end of update   I suspect some who read this post will be irate. Why do this? Because the district seems very hellbent on this effort with no oversight skid marks from the Board.    To clearly state - I do not believe that closing 20 schools is a good idea. I think they hit on 20 because they thought it might bring in the most savings. But the jury is still out on the savings because the district has not shown its work nor its data. I suspect closing schools and THEN leasing/renting them is the big plan but that means the district really has to keep the buildings up.   But this district, with its happy talk about "well-resourced schools" is NOT acknowledging the pain and yes, grief, that is to come fro
Read more

MEETING CANCELED - Hey Kids, A Meeting with Three(!) Seattle Schools Board Directors

 Update 2: So I have seen a message from President Liza Rankin on why she, Director Evan Briggs, and Director Michelle Sarju backed out of this meeting.  In a nutshell: - She says there was no organization to the meeting which is just not true. They had a moderator lined up and naturally the board members could have set parameters for what to discuss, length of meeting, etc. All that was fleshed out. - She also claimed that if the meeting was PTA sponsored, they needed to have liability insurance to use the school space. Hello? PTAs use school space all the time and know they have to have this insurance.  - She seems to be worried about the Open Public Meetings law. Look, if she has a meeting in a school building on a non-personnel topic, it should be an open meeting. It appears that Rankin is trying, over and over, to narrow the window of access that parents have to Board members. She even says in her message - "...with decisions made in public." Hmmm - She also says that th
Read more