700 Promethean Boards - procurement still a mystery!

Examiner: Council panel questions schools’ spending on high-tech chalkboards

By Leah Fabel Examiner Staff Writer 2/24/09

Leah Fabels reports on the February 23, 2009, Montgomery County Council Education Committee meeting. Of note, is the misconception that only 2,600 Promethean Boards were purchased. That is not correct. According to MCPS, there are 3,300 Promethean Boards in MCPS classrooms. The only reason 2,600 Promethean Boards are being discussed is because that is the number that were purchased in the lease that a parent was supplied in response to a Maryland Public Information Act request to MCPS. That lease, signed by MCPS Chief Operating Officer Larry Bowers, has been made public via the Parents' Coalition website, not via Board of Education minutes or the MCPS website.

The purchase of the additional 700 boards still remains a mystery and MCPS Board of Education minutes do not reflect bulk purchases of Promethean Boards. An additional procurement of 700 Promethean Boards would represent an expenditure of approximately an additional $3.5 million.

From the article:

Councilwoman Valerie Ervin, chairwoman of the education committee and a former school board member, said the council lays out clear rules regarding when the school system needs funding approval from the council, and those rules were circumvented in this case.

“The way they went about this was not transparent,” Ervin said, adding that increased expenses are especially unwelcome in a time of economic calamity.

The school system “is taking on long-term expenses that will have to be funded in the long term,” she said. “And it’s not chump change.”