Thursday, November 15, 2012

Fact Check: The London Trip to a Technology Symposium

When members of the Parents' Coalition discovered that the MCPS Chief Technology Officer attended a Technology Symposium in London, England in October of 2008, they asked questions and asked for documentation.  

The brochure for the Interactive Technology in Education Symposium listed Promethean as one of the sponsors.

What the Parents' Coalition investigation revealed was that while MCPS' Public Information Office first stated the London trip was 2 nights, the actual invoices showed that it was 4 nights.  And, while MCPS' stated that the trip was paid for by MCPS, the documents show that the trip was arranged and first paid for by symposium sponsor Promethean.  


After the trip, Promethean sent MCPS an invoice.  The trip wasn't set up by MCPS, arrangements for travel and hotel accommodations were made by Promethean. MCPS didn't shop around for an affordable hotel, didn't book the airfare, and didn't set the length of the trip.  The taxpayers of Montgomery County paid for what conference sponsor Promethean set up.  

The Parents' Coalition was never able to determine who paid for meals and expenses.


Collette Promethean Conference Expenses

3 comments:

  1. just tweeted:
    ProudPrincipal‏@KhadijaBarkley

    Promethean shipped 150,000.00 worth of equip to the NABSE conference and will donate it to the local school system!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow. They are really unloading inventory. This is not unexpected at the "boards" are the outdated technology. Promethean needs to clear out their inventory and make way for their next product. MCPS is helping them out by clearing out 2,000 of the boards.

      Delete
  2. KhadijaBarkley is the principal at Roberto Clemente MS. By "local" school system does she mean MCPS (i.e. her local school system) or Nashville schools (i.e. local to the Nov 14-18 NABSE conference).

    ReplyDelete

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