Posts
Top officials ask for probe into consulting group
Bill Myers, The Examiner
2007-09-04 07:00:00.0
Current rank: # 6,840 of 7,100
WASHINGTON -
Top school officials have asked the District of Columbia to investigate allegations of fraud leveled against a private consulting group paid millions of dollars to train young teachers in the city’s schools.
On Friday, a special assistant to new schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee asked the city’s inspector general to investigate The Teachers Institute, according to a memo obtained by The Examiner. The institute has a $3.1 million “professional development” contract with the D.C. schools that goes back to 2004, records show.
“The allegations against Teachers Institute ... include: misuse of funds, waste and fraud,” wrote Rhee’s assistant, Richard Nyankori.
A source familiar with the investigation said Rhee has been asking questions about where the group got its startup money and how it used the millions of public dollars it has been paid.
Sheila M. Ford, the institute’s executive director, did not respond to requests for comment. According to its Web site, the nonprofit institute was founded in 2004 by a handful of former D.C. schoolteachers and principals. Its mission is to train young teachers in literacy programs. The group works in 22 D.C. schools and claims to have trained more than 300 teachers since it began its work.
Ford is a former principal at Mann Elementary, one of the schools that has an institute contract.
The D.C. schools have spent tens of millions of dollars on teacher training but continue to fail federally mandated tests in reading and math.
Rhee was the head of her own nonprofit group, dedicated to recruiting and training young teachers for struggling school systems.
Rhee wasn’t the only person to ask questions about The Teachers Institute.
Theresa Bollech, the mother of a special education student and a community activist, said she saw the group on the schools’ contractors list but couldn’t figure out what the District was getting for its money.
She sent a letter to Rhee in early August.
“No one could tell me what they were doing,” Bollech said. “Who is monitoring these contracts, and where’s the money going? My concerns are still unanswered.”
Got a tip on this story? Call Bill Myers at 202-459-4956 or e-mail bmyers@dcexaminer.com.
Lucy Calkins & The Teachers Institute
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Lucy Calkins probe
from the Washington Examiner:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Supposedly there is an ex-vendor of this organization that is suing its Exec Director. Is this true? What's that all about and what's the alleged charge. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who knows more.
Hi!
I don't quite follow (sorry) - you're saying there is apparently an ex-vendor to The Teachers Institute who is suing the Executive Director?
I've heard nothing about that - and must try to get follow-up on this story.
My guess, though, is that this is politics.
Don't know if you've been around when I've quoted our friend who has worked in DC.
Barney Frank told him that your political opponents (or enemies? not sure how it works) either investigate you or sue you (or threaten to do either one or both).
When that happens, Frank said, you put your head down and keep going.
I love that!
That one observation completely changed my vision of politics, especially since (sorry for the rep everyone) I had been twice threatened with legal action here in my own tiny school district.
I now automatically assume that none of us knows the full story of an investigation until we know the actors.
Anyway, this story, to me, REEKS of sue-you-or-investigate-you, and I say "reeks" in a friendly, non-judgmental way. (Seriously.)
Let me add that given what Lucy Calkins has done to disadvantaged children in NYC and, apparently, in DC, I think she has it coming. Politics ain't beanbag, and she has wielded vast, unchallenged, and unchecked power over the lives of young children.
So.
I perceive this story as politically motivated; I imagine the Teachers Institute is guilty of nothing more than "legal corruption" (I think that's a Robert Caro term).
But I don't know.
And I seem to be forgetting my rule that it's always worse than I think, don't I?
Will keep my ears open.
Post a Comment